We recently connected with Aaron Sutherland and have shared our conversation below.
Aaron, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
When it comes to the topic of resilience and where I get it from I don’t have one sole area where I draw it from. Resilience for me at least is something that comes from a multitude of places that vary day in and day out with the biggest sources of it being from my family, my friends, and reflecting upon my own life experiences. As a black male being brought up in south side of Chicago growing up in place where drugs, violence, poverty, and lack of opportunity ran rampart resilience was something that was instilled in me at a young age. Since then just witnessing my family especially my mother sacrifice so much no matter the circumstance to make sure I had every opportunity possible to succeed and thrive really made me value all that I was blessed with. Seeing my mother move heaven and earth regardless of whatever bad luck or unfortunate occurrence we’d find ourselves in to make sure I was taken care of and happy heavily reinforced that idea of resilience. It would go on to inspire me to fight whatever bad situation I was in to strive to create a better life for myself. If the year of 2024 for me were to have a theme I would say resilience would probably be it. On January 4th of this year I was fired from my job of almost two years for a mistake I didn’t even realize I made at the time. I was devastated, losing a job is a world shattering experience as is and to have it happen to me not even a week into the new year left me depressed and discouraged. I was in a dark place at the time and the world felt unforgiving and for the first time in a while I felt myself truly doubt my career and skills as an artist and designer. Giving up on my career and accepting defeat began to feel more and more like the only option for me but even then I still had a deep undying feeling of hope. That small feeling of hope that I could still make it out this dark place that I could still find a way to beat my current predicament remained. Regardless of how small and fleeting that feeling of hope was I decided to act on it. That hope stemmed from faith in myself and faith in God as well. I believe till this day that I wasn’t put on this planet to just suffer, that I wasn’t given any challenge that I couldn’t beat, and that I didn’t make it this far to just make it this far. I had seen my fair share of shitty days and circumstances and in the end they never keep me down. With all of that in mind I began to improve upon things such as my resume, my portfolio, and networking skills. I reached out to old professors, I attended design networking events, I put my own art in shows all with the hope that it would lead to my next job and opportunity to better myself and my life. In mid April my resilience would pay off and I would land a Graphic Designer role at Northwestern University, while the role was one of a temporary contract I still for the first time in 2024 felt some resemblance of true relief. Going forward I would work there until the end of June when my contract would unfortunately come to the end, another job gone within the year. Although sad my contract had to come to an end I wasn’t as sad or hurt as I was when I lost my last job, I felt reassured if anything. In my lowest point I was able to land a role and gain a title I’ve worked to add to my resume since I graduated in 2021, I created work that was greatly received and seen all around Northwestern’s campus, and while being out of work for four and a half months I came into this role and excelled in three short months. Skipping ahead to now, while I might be right back to where I was looking for my next design job I’m more reassured than ever. I know I can succeed and I know I will. The word resilience invokes a lot of feelings, reactions, and experiences within me but if I were sum all of those up using another word the word I’d use is fight. In my eyes to be resilient is to fight. In my life to fight isn’t always being strong to the point where nothing can stop me or knock me down it’s getting back up when I’ve been down it’s also realizing that I’m human and I will be knocked down I will feel weak, I will fail, and I will lose. Even with all that being said I will always rise up as well. That frame of thought is where a lot of my resilience comes from the idea what no matter what I’m going through regardless of how much it gets me down or how much it’s hurting me I won’t let it defeat me, I will pick myself up no matter how long it takes and I will fight it I owe it to every family member and friend who’s supported me on my journey to keep fighting and to be resilient to the end.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m a Artist and Graphic Designer who’s currently on the hunt for their next permanent role. My medium is digital art, I use mainly Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to create my work. While my career as a Graphic Designer is still developing and in it’s early phase with me only being out of college for just about three years my love for creative problem solving along with art and design is something that has been with me since a child. Ever since I was a kid I’ve been expressing my creativity in different ways which eventually led me to becoming an Artist and Graphic Designer. When I was young I often found myself making something out of nothing. That form with me constructing robots taller than I was with whatever boxes and trash I could find, drawing my favorite cartoon characters, or creating toys and gadgets from cardboard. Long story short I was always creating something and over time that quality would go on to define me. As I grew older the inevitable question of “What do you wanna be when you’re older?” started to come up and as a kid who just liked drawing and arts and crafts this question would be one that’ll scare me for years to come. As time went on I would tell people I want to make art and a lot of the responses I would get were “that’s not going to make a lot of money” or “that’s not a real job”. This led me try different things and take classes like wood working and engineering in hopes of sparking an interest in a suitable career. To no surprise I wouldn’t like any of them as much as I did art. Fast forward to class registration for my freshmen year in high school and I had all my classes selected except one elective course. With the school year starting soon I needed to choose something as an elective but nothing piqued my interest. It wasn’t until my mom suggested I take a course called Graphic Design I that I would because completed enthralled with the subject. From the description she thought it’d be something that I’d like and she was 1000% right. It felt that through Graphic Design I finally had a tool and a method to essentially create anything! I would go on to love my graphic design class and even get invited to travel to Europe with my school’s art department through it. I was obsessed, I would stay later after school to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator on the school computers and when I couldn’t stay late I would use the school’s online portal to use the Adobe products at home. A couple years later I would take a Graphic Design II class in my junior year and have my confidence in this being the right career for me be validated after winning several school design contests. My designs for the class graduation cards, senior T-shirts, and even the school handbook were all contest winners. Finally after so long I found something a career that fit like a glove for me. Eventually this led me to going to DePaul University and having the privilege to go to a university with such a great design program. Four years and a global pandemic later and I would have a degree in Graphic Design paving the way for where I’m at now and cementing my passion for what I do. I think the most exciting part about what I do and essentially about being a designer is the fact that the only limitation is my own imagination. I think that very imagination and wonder are what make my work special, the fact that it all started from a small idea to being something tangible that the rest of world can see and admire is what makes it invaluable and special to me. After all, the reason I’ve made it this far is because long ago a little boy had the idea to bring whatever his mind desired to life using nothing but household trash and scraps. Making something out of nothing, that’s what has and always will drive me to create.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Reflecting on my journey as a whole I would say three of the most impactful qualities I gained were being teachable and willing to learn, being unconventional, and just being genuine to yourself. To be teachable is an invaluable quality to possess not just because it shows others your passion and willingness to learn but also because it enables you to always strive for improvement and knowledge. Through the quality of being unconventional I believe is how any individual truly finds themself as an artist and creator. To break borders and find your niche can only be done by not following the rules but following one’s heart and own judgement and possessing that means you means have a great understanding of yourself as an artist. Lastly my advice to those early in their career on how to be genuine to themselves is to simply listen to your heart and bet on yourself. To me to create is to take an idea you crafted in your mind and will it into the world through the use of your skills, expertise, and overall expression. With that being said there’s no right or wrong way to do it, just do it the way YOU want. Create for yourself as well, not everything you make has to serve some profound purpose or to be for a client or someone else, most of my artwork was made simply because I wanted to and I had fun doing so. With all that being said I would say to never turn your back on your inner child, make or do things that would blow your mind if you told your younger self about it.
All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?
The challenge I would say I’m currently facing is that of keeping my creative drive and passion alive while being on the hunt for a job in the design field. As someone who has been searching in the field for the entirety of 2024 I can say that the task is honestly soul draining. Whether it be applying to job after job after job with little to no response from employers or recruiters for months on end, or the draining task of constantly selling yourself by putting out your resume the current landscape is rough and demanding. All of these factors combined will take a toll on anyone’s mental health and confidence but as a creative I feel that this has taken a tax on my creativity and artistic drive as a whole. Due to the bulk my energy being used to survive coupled with the self doubt that arises from being rejected or ghosted by employers, the task of creating becomes one that is currently harder than it has ever been for me. Being a creative is unique compared to other career paths and occupations because creativity is our most valuable asset, it’s a skill that can’t be taught, it has to come from inside and is different for every person. It is for that reason that the current challenge I face is such a troubling one. In short my artist ingenuity is absolutely taking a hit from the predicament I’m in currently. Whether it be the cultivation of new ideas or the innovation required to bring them to life nearly every stage of the creative process is being stifled and effected negatively for me now. When all your energy day after day is being used to put yourself in a job market that very seldom rewards your work it’s hard to retain the hope and will to create anything. While being difficult it’s not impossible it’s just not as easy as it was previously to create and make artwork and I fear that it’s this way for a lot of other artists and designers currently as well. All negative effects aside this essentially benefits creatives by forcing us to think outside the box to evolve our creative processes. Although I’m not sure there’s a one time fix for any of these ailments we face what I’ve been doing as of late is remedying them over time instead of all at once. For me this entails drawing inspiration from sources outside of myself for creativity. Music, nature, video games, movies, work from other artists, and the people in my life close to me all help to fuel my creativity and serve as a spark of inspiration. These are all fixes that I wholeheartedly believe will help me evolve as an artist and designer and I can’t say I would have discovered them and utilized them to this degree if I wasn’t facing the challenges I am now. Now of course any of these aren’t a one time fix but I find performing activities to recharge my creative battery helps immensely as well. Activities like going for a walk, cooking a new dish, or discovering new music all help to fuel the artist in me. All in all as creatives I believe we all possess the innovation to discover new ways to create, cultivate, and thrive and while it might be harder to do so for me as of recent I know I have what it takes rise above this current challenge and become more than my misfortune.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aaronsartanddesign.com/
- Instagram: ams_art_design
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaronsutherland99/
