Today we’d like to introduce you to Jocelyn Short.
Hi Jocelyn, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I got started at my community college studying art after high school (spent longer at the community college than I intended), but after that, I transferred to a four-year school, The Academy of Art University in San Francisco in 2013. I did their online program, so I did my bachelor’s program in Visual Development there from home, here in Maryland. After I graduated in 2016, I did a mentorship with a concept artist named Anthony Jones, which helped me to apply the skills I learned in school more directly. From there, I just started selling at work at conventions because at that point, I had been an attendee of conventions since I was 14 years old and had seen a myriad of artist alleys, so I figured with where my artwork was at that point, I decided, “I can do that.” I was also not entirely sure of my skills at that point to work for videogames and animation like I intended, so I started to sell work just to see what would happen there. The first year or two, I only did 1-3 conventions, and then each year after that, I tried to increase the number of shows that I attended, which has been very effective for me in getting client work outside of shows. Since attending shows, I’ve been afforded opportunities to work on an indie-videogame, several comic book and novel covers, as well as illustrations for conventions themselves. I’ve also gotten an opportunity to develop a pitch for a production company for my original characters called Bearers. That project is what I’m currently still developing, and that artwork has gotten me lots of work to this day.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Is a creative journey ever really smooth? lol I’ve absolutely struggled with self-doubt, procrastination, debt, trying to develop confidence in dealing with clients as well as charging for rates that make sense for my business to be at least semi-viable; the whole gamut. I’m grateful, though; through the struggles, I’ve uncovered a sense of resilience I didn’t realize I had and a determination to make this continue to happen for myself. I have also realized that I want to be in service to my respective communities through my work. I’m extremely grateful for the amount of support I have from my family and friends. They’ve definitely helped me through every step of the way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a character concept artist and illustrator for the entertainment industry so I’ve done work for novels, comics, and videogames. I’m known for my character illustrations as well as my original series of characters called Bearers. I think I am most proud of my ability to keep trying, showing up and growing into this career in a very heart-centered and purposeful way, fully embodying my sensitivity despite how terrifying and revealing it is. Some specific career moments that make me feel very proud to look back on are every time I see my work published on book covers and getting to hold the books in my hands, getting to host a character design workshop with Wacom, and how I got to interview with the art directors at ILM for a position a couple years ago and just knowing my work got me on that call with them made me very proud.
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
I define success as fulfillment from being present through doing things that are hard and/or important to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jocelynshort.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_jocelynshort/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jocelyn.s.104
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelynshort/
