November 19, 2016

Meet The Valley Designer and Illustrator: Alminda Veloria

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alminda Veloria.

Alminda, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It sounds really cliché and common but art and design has been a part of my life since I can remember. When I was little, my mom worked for a huge corporate company in the Philippines and they provided drawing workshops and art classes if you bring your kid into work so she always put me in those. I also grew up with two older brothers who heavily influenced me in art and design, both of them are also in the creative field. I looked up to them so much growing up, anything they listened, I listened to. Anything they watched, I watched. Anything they drew or wrote, I also did the same. I was part of the generation of kids where I would spend hours on the computer so I remember being on Neopets, coding and designing my user lookups or my “guild” layouts. I didn’t know at that time that I was even designing or coding, I just thought it was really fun. When I was in high school, I really got into photography my freshman year after taking Photography I. I also painted and drew, I have a sketchbook for every year in high school, it’s pretty embarrassing looking at these now haha. But I was really drawn into photography and was fascinated with traveling and my parents had a subscription to national geographic and I always looked forward to those every month. When I was 13 and 14 started this photography project called, “Sojourn”. Sojourn basically means a temporary stay. So I took a picture of my feet wherever I want while also taking pictures of the places I’ve been. I had this project up until my junior year of high school where I really got into painting and drawing. When I go to college, I had majored in Biology first and took my first science class and I wasn’t feeling it at all. So I had majored in Interior Design and during my first two years, I really enjoyed presentations and putting things together on Photoshop and Illustrator and that’s when I decided to minor in Graphic Design. I’ve been really blessed and lucky to have the experiences I’ve had. During college I got to intern with a really big interior design firm, HBA, and I also got to intern at Dimepiece which is really well-known streetwear brand for girls, and the projects* which is an international influencer agency so I got to use both my background in Interior Design and Graphic design which was super fun for me. I recently just graduated about 4 months ago and right now I’m working as a Jr Web Designer for an e-commerce fashion company. Who knew all those days I’d spend on the computer would be my job right now, right? At the moment, I’m also freelancing for We Ascend and Undo-Ordinary. Honestly, I’m still a baby fetus in the world of design and I kind of like doing a little bit of everything that I grew up with. Sometimes you’ll catch me sketching and doodling on my sketchbook, other times you’ll see me playing with code on my online portfolio, it really just depends on the ideas and inspirations I get.

Has it been a smooth road?
Definitely hasn’t been a smooth road. You know growing up with the older brothers who were insanely great at drawing and writing wasn’t an easy thing. I always compared myself to them and their work, I never really thought I was ever gonna be as good as them and sometimes I still question it. Also, college was extremely hard, I was working and taking at least 16-18 units and I was trying to do all these internships to build my resume. My sophomore year was definitely a hard one, I was literally lived in my car, I was going to two different schools and I worked at a sushi restaurant and didn’t get out until 10 and needed to go home to do my art studio projects. It took a lot of self-confidence and telling myself it’ll be worth it.

What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
One of the proudest moment would probably be being able to land an internship at Dimepiece. It was a really big deal for me since I’d been a fan of their company and product since I was in high school and being able to work with them was just awesome. I was able to be a part of their creative meetings where they discussed upcoming trends in fashion and just sharing ideas with the people I’ve looked up to as a whole team was a dream come true for me.

Every story has ups and downs. What were some of the downs others might not be aware of?
Yeah, definitely struggles along my way. Being as one of thousands of design students trying to find a job in design was a fate I wasn’t looking forward to after graduating from college. I had graduated in May and I got my first big job in design in July. In the time that I was looking was probably the toughest for me. I went on about 30 or so interviews, both in person and on call and on skype, google hangout and whatever and most of them were a no and a lot of them were just shitty offers. There was a point where I told myself maybe I shouldn’t try to be in the design field and that it’ll take a lot more work, maybe I should just do clerical work for now. So it really got to me as a designer and illustrator if my skills were even enough. I think that’s a constant struggle that all upcoming and young designers go through but I’m slowly learning to trust my skill set and I got this far and people have given me a chance for a reason. Just to be more confident in myself and my work.

What’s your outlook for the industry in our city?
LA is such a big city and the creative community here is just something else, I just feel like everyone really sticks together and supports each other with their work. Once you know someone, you’ll get introduce to someone else who’s doing really cool shit. Everyone thinks like oh you’re a designer or illustrator from LA, you must be stuck up or something dumb like that but honestly, I haven’t met anybody that’s snobby. It’s just a really big creative community that supports each other and everyone has respect for each others craft. Something I’ve learned is, you just never really know who you’re gonna bump into one of these days so just always be prepared.

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