Meet Emma Gronda

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

Hi Emma, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

As an artist, my work ethic originally came from my anxiety and imposter syndrome. I spent a lot of time comparing myself to others. I was scared of disappointing my family, friends, and mentors. Or not living up to my lofty standards of what my life and work should be. Putting all this pressure on myself allowed me to push myself and my art but at the cost of my self-esteem. I felt a lot of pressure to catch up to my talented and successful peers, which caused me a lot of fear paralysis and missed opportunities.

Now, I’m being kinder to myself and redirecting that intent more productively. After finishing up school and starting a non-creative job, I let myself take a break from art social media, and I couldn’t feel more creative and imaginative.

Recently, I’ve been working on new projects and revisiting old hobbies like writing and scrapbooking. Having the space to have different creative outlets while not expecting anything specific from myself has changed my motivations. I work hard and do my best to show personal pride and confidence in my abilities- not to compare myself to others.

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

I’m an illustrator and concept artist interested in world-building and bringing the imaginary to life. Much of my work has been based on themed entertainment, including haunted house design and themed quick-service dining. Most recently, I’ve discovered the world of pixel art, video editing, and writing.

My love for themed entertainment and the imaginary comes from my childhood. My parents have always been adventurous, because I’ve had many opportunities to travel and explore museums, zoos, and theme parks. Even something as simple as a local flea market or an antique shop had the potential to discover a hidden story- made up or otherwise.

I’m working on learning as many new skills as possible and falling in love with art and creation again. I used to feel like my time, abilities, and skills were quite limited. But I’m finding that curiosity and experimentation in all facets of life, artistic or not, have improved my imagination and creativity. In the upcoming years, I hope to have my hand in many pots and try out new art styles, mediums, and experiences.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Three skills that I admire in others are creative problem-solving, empathetic teamwork, and adaptability. I’m working on these every day! In any career, the ability to reflect on yourself, work with others, and self-edit helps you grow. In my experience, learning when to push and pull, especially with these skills, makes your life better.

For those early in their journey, I would recommend being open to any experiences. Rather than pressure yourself to be perfect on the first go, it’s healthy to practice and experience rejection, failure, or frustration. Experience feeling uncomfortable helps you know the difference between good and bad fear.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?

Rather than go all in, I think it’s best to be well-rounded in your craft and take time to work on developing new skills. Expertise in a variety of things allows you to make better-informed decisions, work efficiently, and produce stronger work. Additionally, when you have a wide range of basic knowledge and know your weaknesses, it’s easier to play up your strengths and hide imperfections.

For example, after playing more video games, I became interested in game asset art and retro pixel art. I was completely unfamiliar with where to begin, what resolution to make the canvas, and what programs were popular with pixel artists. After a little bit of research, I got started.

Although character design is my weakness, even my beginner’s knowledge helped me create more interesting and narrative-focused illustrations. I knew I would feel frustrated about integrating the characters into my environments creatively. So I focused on shape language and proportions and creative distinct silhouettes. By the time I was working on environments that characters would be interacting with, I knew I could emphasize the setting and downplay the characters in my compositions. My characters could still stand out in silhouette alone.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.emmagronda.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emma.gronda.art
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-gronda02