Meet Cynthia Osaseri | Visual Designer & Illustrator

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

Hi Cynthia, what do you attribute your success to?
Honestly, I think the most important factor behind my “success” is finding a strong community. Being around people  who I have the same  or similar goals as I do, and carrying a variety of insights has been a tremendous boon to my abilities as an artist. Not to mention, being surrounded by people who celebrate each other’s wins and encourage you to work through failures, gives you the security to really pursue your craft.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I have many stories to tell. I think of nearly everything to the minute detail. Currently, I am most excited about returning to those stories and figuring out ways to convey them to other people. My primary objective is for the audience to be curious about my images, to take away that there is a story there, a lived-in world, and actual people, and if they are curious enough, I would love to tell them more. I have never considered myself the best artist in any given group, but I do have a willingness to learn. I truly believe you can learn just about anything, or at least enough to get yourself by. I admit that and a bit of stubbornness has gotten me far.

However, it has not been easy. It still isn’t. I am still running into some of the challenges I had before I started as a professional. However, I would say one major difference is that I have built a foundation of learned experience, through a continuous road of trial and error.

One may have to learn the same lesson multiple times, but I encourage people to equip themselves, and not be afraid of failure. Regardless, it is paramount to never ever let anyone take away the flowers that you earn, not even yourself. Do not allow your present self to betray your future self. If you are in a bad situation, professionally, personally, artistically, start coming up with a game plan to get out of it. It can take five months, it can take five years, you may have many resources, you may have none, but use your strengths and start setting a plan. My biggest pitfall is an absence of knowledge, but one of my strengths is being a perpetual student. As artists, we should be comfortable with the uncomfortable, but do not stay with an unsatisfying predicament just because it’s familiar. It is perfectly okay, if not optimal, to start over, rather than fix past mistakes or bad decisions. Listen to yourself, if you can identify the problem, you can figure a way out. Your most important advocate is yourself.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I am, admittedly, a bit of a homebody. However, my favorite places have been Ponce City Market and the High Museum. The Galactic Quest comic book store is a gem. And of course, I encourage anyone coming to Atlanta to look up local media festivals, such as Atlanta Film Festival, LadyFest Atlanta, WonderRoot, Atlanta Underground Film Festival, and much more.

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?
I want to shout out to the legendary mentor Angela Sung and the prolific Kayleigh Ma, founders and leaders of Warrior Painters and Warrior Art Camp. Taking a class from Angela was the first step in becoming the artist I always wanted to be. The community they have fostered through Warrior Painters is amazing. When taking Angela’s design class, I became close with several incredibly talented classmates, and from there was led to the Warrior Painters, an artist community built for plein-air painting. It includes not just plein-air painters, but artists from all walks of life, both casual and professional, all around the world. It was there that I was exposed to the most interesting and kind people, who by just viewing their work and process, motivated me to be better.  A number of those students, artists, and teachers I consider invaluable mentors. Of course, along the way, I owe much to the support of my family who encouraged me while I pursued my education and skill training.

Website: https://www.cynicaldrawings.com/portfolio

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cynical.drawings/?hl=en

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-osaseri-77681aa4/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cynicaldrawings?lang=en