Meet Nova Baggerly

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nova Baggerly a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nova, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

I developed my confidence and self esteem through working out at the gym and feeling confident with my strength and endurance. When I’m able to go to the gym and lift weights that are heavier than before it makes me feel empowered and confident. I didn’t work out much before but decided I needed a change when I noticed my weight wasn’t where I wanted it to be. I started going to the gym every day and pushing myself. I used the apple watch and tracked how many calories I burned through closing the circles on my watch. I had to stay disciplined through this and kept a log of my efforts in my notes. Seeing my new self made me feel amazing.
Another way I feel confident is through looking in the mirror and telling myself that I can do anything. I have to my biggest cheerleader. Self-motivating and self love is very important. Self love and self care are great ways to increase self esteem. Either through an increased skin care regime or focusing on the foods that are eaten throughout the day. Just taking care of yourself can make you feel confident and make you feel like you are doing something that’s worthwhile and something that will be helpful towards future endeavors and goals.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

Hello. My name is Nova, and I’m an artist. I am from Ocean County, New Jersey, and I currently work as a hair stylist. In my spare time, I used to only enjoy drawing doodles and artwork for fun. Recently, I have decided to take my artwork to a more professional level in order to create a profitable business. I enjoy creating oil paintings and doodles in my notebook, however, I specialize in digital artwork.
As of recently, I have been creating digital album art. I would love to expand my horizons and continuing doing album work. I have been dabbling in the effects of digital animation. In my most recent piece titled “Star Crossed” created for the band ‘ASE’, there is a man on a forked road that is looking at the mountains and the stars. The one star in the sky is passing overhead and there is an aurora that is glowing above the mountains. I am still new to creating digital animation but I will keep working on it to make it seem more fluid and even. If I can continue to make more animations than I will eventually become more familiar with it and even be able to make the more complex one’s that I have seen other artists make.
These other artists have specific characters that they have made and that’s also a new project I want to work on. Through tutorials I hope to make some future characters come alive. I am not positive the nature of the characters currently. Whether they are human or animal but I know that I want them all to have different emotions and colors that correspond with their emotions.
Right now I am working on developing a website on Squarespace to advertise my Fiverr website. This is the newest project and it’s almost complete. The main bones of the website are set up but I need to add in some more pictures and I want to try to make a moving video. Recently I cut someone’s hair at my main job and they were also an artist and I had the pleasure of seeing their website and how they constructed it. They have a moving video of them floating as an anime character and waving on an island. I think it would be great to implement something like this on my website as well. I am going to have to research what designing software I would need to make this.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

The three most important qualities are having a subject matter that is of personal interest, using complimentary colors, and having a good source of light in the artwork.

Complimentary Colors:
The complimentary colors in a piece are important. For example the purple shadows placed next to a yellow lightbulb will make it pop because they are complimentary. The same can be done for an oil painting that is more abstract. When the abstract strokes are done in warm colors there can be smaller strokes of cooler colors done next to them to make the subject look more vibrant.

Interesting Subject Matter:
When working on a new artwork, the subject matter should be something that is of personal interest to you. If you are lacking in motivation to complete a piece of art it will help if it’s a subject that you enjoy drawing. For me that would be eyes. I love to draw eyes because they are really unique looking on each individual. They are definitely an important feature on a portrait of a person. So mastering that feature by sketching them over and over will be a helpful tactic to improving how realistic the eyes look in the artwork.

Light source:
The light source needs to be coming from one side of the artwork. If that is kept in mind when completing the piece then all the shadows and highlights will look accurate. An art piece full of light is pleasing to the eye and the viewer will enjoy it more.

Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?

The best thing to do when feeling overwhelmed is to make a list of everything that needs to be accomplished. Doing the easiest tasks first will assist in gaining the momentum needed to keep moving. It’s hard to get started doing what needs to be done but once one task is completed then the rest will follow with more ease.
When building something that has an instruction manual it’s best to make sure that all the pieces are in the kit. The same goes for starting a new adventure in a new town or place. A map would be needed, a means of transportation, and the destinations. As long as there is clear organization then there would be no reason to feel overwhelmed. Organization and preparation is key.

Contact Info:

• Other: My Linktree: https://linktr.ee/novacuts?utm_source=linktree_profile_share&ltsid=d472d1c1-0a91-4692-803f-80ca2fff8996