Meet Nina Aragon: Illustrator & Visual Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nina Aragon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nina, why did you pursue a creative career?
The short answer is: I always wanted a job where I could help other people, but still really like what I was doing.

The long answer is that it took me a while to realize the second part of that statement.

Originally, I went in to the University of South Carolina doing pre-med. I’ve always been really good at school and more specifically science classes, and in my mind that was the easiest way to get a job that helped others. And for a couple years, that’s what I did, but I always took some art classes and other humanities on the side. Those were always my “fun” classes, something I got to treat myself too after studying all week.

To me, art was something I always enjoyed, but never would pursue because I didn’t want to be a “starving artist”. Which is silly, of course, but that’s something that I felt had always been drilled into me. I still felt that way when I switched out of pre-med too. I liked the classes, they were interesting, but I didn’t feel strongly enough towards them to commit the next six years of my life to. I hate the stereotype that people who do art are bad at STEM classes, so I will say now: I was good at what I did. I could’ve been a good doctor; I just didn’t think I really wanted it enough to dedicate basically my entire 20s to pursue.

I spent a while bouncing around different classes to see what I liked before sitting down with myself and trying to figure out what I really wanted to do. I still wanted to be able to help other people, but I had never really considered the different ways you could do that besides being a doctor or a lawyer or whatever those other sole six jobs little kids know about. I checked out a lot of different classes then: computer science, business, English. None of those really stuck either. Up to this point, I had never thought about a job as something I could also have fun doing too (not that I don’t think being in the medical field could be fun, I just personally thought of it as a means to an end, do x and people are helped).

I had been taking art classes all throughout my college career and finally decided to talk to one of my professors about it, Marius Valdes. It felt almost like a last resort, I had tried so many other things, but I didn’t know what to do. He was the first person to tell me about illustration, and he was also the first person to tell me that art could be a stable career. Valdes also just made it seem so fun, and when I talked to him he really believed in me and that I could be really successful as an illustrator. Sometimes you just need someone to tell you that they believe in you.

That’s when I finally allowed myself to consider doing art as a career, and that I can help people in different ways besides healing them. And that made things so much easier, I think, to realize that I was allowed to enjoy whatever my career would be while also helping people. I had known that I had always enjoyed doing creative things for years, but it wasn’t until then that I realized it could be more than just a hobby. After that, everything sort of fell into place. I talked to Valdes, my guidance counselor, and some other professors and ended up transferring to the Savannah College of Art and Design and finished a BFA in illustration, and now here I am.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I do a lot of different things! I’ve dabbled in a lot of mediums, printmaking, bookmaking, drawing and painting, digital art, motion, and most recently some ceramics. I think that within mediums I have more of a “set-style” but that’s also something that I don’t really think about when I make art. I know I want a lot of my pieces to be dramatic and also fun, maybe not in the conventional sense, but at least fun to look at. The most cohesive thing I do is probably think about how my colors interact with each other. I love using limited color palettes to help tell a specific mood or feeling. Even if something I make is very fantastical, I want it to feel believable, like you’re getting a snapshot of a moment of their lives and the world they live in. If you don’t know the story behind it, I want you to be interested in it, to want to find out a bit more.

A word of advice: a lot of artists get stuck on trying to find their specific style, but I think that it’s really just something that comes with time. You’ll find different ways you like to create things, and then you’ll find quicker and easier ways to do them, and then that becomes your style more than anything. I also think that the way you tell stories through your art is a bigger part of style than how you make something.

I think the most important part of making art, at least for me, is the story and context behind it. I like to help people tell the stories through my art, and I think that there are a lot of fascinating stories out in the world that people don’t pay much attention to. However, people are more willing to pay attention if there’s something interesting to look at. I think that’s why I’m also drawn to portraits a lot, I always like to talk to clients about the personality of the person or pet I’m drawing for them, what they’re like and how they feel about them. I think that makes everything feel more believable, and it translates over into the art for more personality versus just copying over a photo.

For an illustrator, I think that the easiest part of it is making the work. The hard part is everything else; sending mailers, figuring out how to get your work in front of people who could hire you later, figuring out taxes, keeping all your files organized, not burning out, a good work-life balance. A lot of that can be solved with good time-management, but it definitely took me a while to figure it out. The hardest part was definitely burnout and work-life balance, but for me it was really important to be firm about that. Once I made my schedule and took out time for relaxation I HAD to do something else that wasn’t art related. It helped me reset my brain, get out of the house more, and look for inspiration in the rest of my life. It’s easy when doing freelance or working remotely to just stay inside all day drawing or painting or on the computer and not really interact with other people, but forcing myself to do that helped me a lot mentally and helped me get better perspective on whatever I was working on. I know everyone always says it, but it’s so important: you’ve got to take a step back every once in a while. Otherwise you’ll burnout too much.

Lastly, I think the most important thing that I’ve learned so far is nurture your relationships with people. I don’t mean that in a “you should always be networking” kind of way, because people can always tell if you’re being fake or not. I mean it in a way that if you really admire someone or their work or what they do, you should reach out to them and tell them! Be genuine to people all the time and be kind. You should check up on those friends that you haven’t talked to in ages, and it feels a little weird to say something since it’s been so long, but trust me they’ll be touched that you said something. Especially people from college. If you’re a creative, celebrate your other creatives friends’ successes! Connections are really all we have with each other, and when you’re genuine and help other people then they’re going to want to do the same for you.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m currently based in Greenville, South Carolina, and there are so many cool places to check out. Food-wise, definitely check out Greenfield’s Bagels & Deli, it’s a local Jewish bagel shop that I am obsessed with. Their homemade bagels and breads are so good, they have incredible sandwiches, and there’s a ton of options for sides. I love their cheese bagel and their everything ones, but honestly you can’t go wrong with any of them. My go-to is their turkey sausage, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel (for about 5$) if you’re looking for recommendations! If you want to venture out and get drinks, I’d recommend either Local Cue or Up On The Roof. Local Cue has cheap beer along with board games, shuffle board, darts, and pool, while Up On The Roof is a rooftop bar with a pretty view of Greenville.

The downtown park area is really pretty to walk around, plus we have free parking garages on the weekends, and if you’re more into cycling or a longer walk the Swamp Rabbit trail (22 miles total) goes through downtown Greenville over to the nearby Traveler’s Rest. There’s also a cute local grocery store on it called the Swamp Rabbit Cafe & Grocery, they have a lot of local goods and produce there. If you like hiking, we’ve got Paris Mountain nearby with some pretty trails too! The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people in my life that have impacted me to be where I am today, and I’m so sorry if I forget to include anyone (just know if you’ve touched my life in some way I’ll always be grateful to you).

Of course I have to thank my family for the support they’ve given me to get to this point, especially my parents. Especially for the love and understanding and god, the patience they had to have for me to get here.

A big shout-out to college radio as a whole, but more specifically WUSC.

I’d also like to thank some of my professors I’ve had over the years, thanks for helping me figure out what I want to do and how to do it well: Marius Valdes, Arden von Hager, Mike Wimmer, Megan Berkheiser, Frol Boundin, Kurt Vargo, Dr. Nicol Auguste, and Stephen Gardner. And to those that have supported me along the way: Siobhan, Sammie, Jo, Rachel, Kristin and Nic, Dylan, Austin Prescott, Kristin Streetman, Liz Perry, Amanda Richardson, Mason Chauvin, Amanda Jayapurna, Nikki Swiderski, and Tate Meyer.

And, of course, all my friends and classmates that helped me get to this point without losing my sanity. Thanks for everything.

Website: https://neens-art.com/

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