Today we’d like to introduce you to Aiyana de Vera.
Aiyana, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I feel like I’ve always been doing art. I have my friends, family, and teachers to thank for starting and growing my passion for art and life.
I was a shy kid and I was lucky that my kindergarten teacher would let me read picture books during recess so I have a lot of memories admiring the art. From that point on, I was confident in answering every “What do you want to be when you grow up?” question with “Illustrator.” My school had a really great program called Meet the Masters and after each assembly we had an art project that we completed together as a class. It was a wonderful opportunity to experiment with different mediums and art styles and it helped me along in my art journey. I watched The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring when I was younger and our box set included the appendices on how the film was made. It changed my life seeing all the departments coming together to make a movie family that created such an immersive, unforgettable world. I knew that I wanted to be a part of a movie family of my own and make things that others could experience and love. I didn’t know how to do that, but I still continued doing art as a hobby.
It wasn’t until I was 14 and watched Tangled and How to Train Your Dragon that I started considering art as a career seriously. I saw that animation isn’t a genre: it’s a medium of film. I saw that going into animation was my way to still doing art, making film, AND finally getting the movie family I wanted.
There’s been a number of bumps along the way, but I eventually chose art as my major in college. I did my lower divisions at LBCC and attending gave me new life. I’m so grateful to all of my professors and friends I made there and I really do consider it home. After a few years, I transferred to CSULB and I am proud to say I just graduated Magna Cum Laude from CSULB with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Pre-Production (though it says “Illustration” on the degree haha). I’ve met a lot of wonderful people and I like to think I’ve got my own family made of friends and I’m excited to see where life takes us.
Has it been a smooth road?
I think a lot of my own obstacles and challenges have been internal.
All artists are no stranger to doubt. Of course, it’s difficult grappling with the questions of “How will I make a living off of this?” “Am I actually good or is everyone not willing to tell me to stop?” “Am I only good at art because I used all my time on it rather than focusing on something that I could also be great at?” Even today, I have to wrestle with the questions and it’s taken years to realize that I am strong enough to do it all. I wouldn’t have picked art if it didn’t call to me and if I want it that bad, then I better work hard to get it and keep it.
It’s also been hard with this kind of shame that I feel when I tell other people I’m an artist. I’ve been so lucky in having such a supportive family, especially being a Filipino family. Culturally and societally artists are looked down on, so it always feels hard talking to older people that definitely aren’t artists themselves that I’m an artist. I know I should be proud, I’ve worked so hard and so many people sacrificed things for me, but I can’t help but being afraid they think lesser of me for it.
Fun fact: I actually failed my high school art classes.
I was going through a lot emotionally as a teen and as a young adult. It was hard for me to even see the point of being alive no less going to school and being thrown to the world afterwards. I couldn’t find a reason to do anything no less schoolwork, even if it was art.
I have gotten better since then and I’m glad to be here and with art as my career. I still feel really lucky to be able to pursue art and to have such an incredible group of loved ones in my life that have helped me and love me. It’s a long road ahead still, but I couldn’t have better people to travel with.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I’m currently a freelance illustrator that is known for backgrounds, historical fashion drawings, and my papercraft (being art made from cutting paper and gluing it together), but in my free time I try to explore other crafts and activities outside of drawing.
I’ve been doing backgrounds for a couple of films the past few years and there’s nothing greater to me than working together with the directors to make something people are stunned by. As a background artist, it’s a great way to create a world that is full and beautiful, but most importantly lets the animation live and shine in it. It’s fun to get directions and just really do as much as you can within the parameters, I think that’s where the creativity really comes in. I love seeing the progress from a very bare sketch to a full-blown, detailed piece.
I tend to tackle art from a research perspective first, so over the years it’s become easier and easier to come up with ideas because I’ve built up my knowledge through research. You should see how much I have saved on my Pinterest and my bookmarks haha. I also love playing with shape and meaning; I feel like it gives my pieces a little bit of heart. I was telling a friend earlier that I see a lot of my illustrations as embodiment of characteristics and emotions. I recently did an illustration of a sad clown and there were a lot of people that told me they couldn’t believe I’ve made a clown they weren’t afraid of and really like, though to be fair it’s a tame clown and actually a self-portrait haha. I appreciate that a lot of people like my work even if my subject matter isn’t really in their taste.
My fashion illustrations and papercraft are admittedly on the back-burner right now while I work on backgrounds at the moment, but those are where my strongest passions lie. My research helps me do fashion illustrations and I remember saying to several people when asked what I wanted to do if I pursued costume illustration. I said, “I want to be the Kiera Knightley of costume illustration, I want to do mostly period pieces.” We’ll see where that goes, but I’m excited to see.
As for papercraft, people seemed really stunned by these. I’ve always loved doing crafts with paper, but after seeing what Brittney Lee could do with paper, I wanted to really experiment with that. It’s such a strange process because paper will always have hard, definite shapes because they’re individual pieces of paper so you’d think it’d be difficult to work with, especially when people prefer the looseness of sketch. The best part though and what I hope people see is that you have to lean (literally in some cases) with how your body and paper interact. I could have the most perfect sketch, but guaranteed I’ve never had a perfect cut that follows the exact shape I drew. It’s a great practice in discipline and openness to the process. Not everyone does papercraft and if they do it’s always different which is really enjoyable. The physicality of it makes it so worthwhile and I think people are really amazed by it, I know I am!
Art always evolves and it evolves with you, so I’m excited to see how life and collaboration changes me and my art.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I’ve been lucky enough to be born and raised in Long Beach. I’ve had the privilege to visit animation studios, befriend artists, and even go to school with a dedicated animation program. I understand that my opinion comes from this place of privilege because so many people give up everything they know to come here, especially to Southern California, to make their dreams come true. We have such a long artistic history and a strong creative culture and industry, but I think the best thing about art is that you can make and share art anytime anywhere.
I think a lot of young artists feel like they have to come here for their art to be valid which isn’t true at all. Your art will always be worthwhile no matter where you make it. I do know that some people’s dreams have California written all over them and of course, I think they should pursue it! But I hope people don’t wait until they get here to start creating things they want to make. Art is everywhere and I think SoCal really needs to see and listen to artists that aren’t from our own backyard.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aiyanadevera.carbonmade.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aiyanadevera/
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aiyana-de-vera/
Image Credit:
Aiyana de Vera
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