Today we’d like to introduce you to Jay Cronin.
Jay, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’ve always been interested in art and have always drawn and sketched to pass the time as long as I can remember. I remember being young and waiting until my parents went to bed so I could get up and turn on the lights in my bedroom to draw in my sketchbook until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. As a kid, I used to draw dinosaurs, bugs, and monsters. Then in my teens, I would draw skulls, comic book characters and robots and things like that. In high school, I started to play music in a local band, and my interest in art steered me in the direction of becoming an amateur “designer” for the band. Naturally, I took on all the bands art needs, from flyers at first, then later on to band logos, CD covers, t-shirt designs, photo compilations, banners and more. At first, the designs were pretty rough, but over time I started to realize I had an eye for design as well, even if it was untrained in the beginning. As I got older, my interest turned into a passion, and I tried to expose myself to as much art and design as possible. I decided to pursue a degree in fine art and focused my talents in graphic design. I graduated with a BFA from Sam Houston State University in 2012 and have spent the last decade or so working as a professional graphic designer. As I continue my journey, I find inspiration everywhere and I am constantly on the lookout for great projects to start or design and illustration ideas I can bring into reality.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do? Why? And what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I consider myself an artist in many ways. I have interests in making music, working on print and digital design, drawing, and illustration and especially hand lettering. My focus lately has been on hand lettering projects. I love the way hand lettering fuses my love for design and my experience drawing and using mixed media. I think of hand lettering, in many ways, as a puzzle. In terms of typography, I love the process of piecing the design together and deciding how to balance the letters and words to fit together just right. I get to emphasize each part of the design the way I want to communicate the point or thought of the design perfectly. I will tweak the balance, spacing, and emphasis of each letter or word, sometimes endlessly, until everything all of a sudden clicks and fits together. When it comes to digital illustration projects, I have spent the last few years developing a way of stylizing my drawings and design work to give them a hopefully recognizable quality. I want to continue to try new methods and incorporate new techniques, but I approach illustration by layering shadows and highlights with sharp lines and vector brushes. I think this gives some of my illustration work an aggressive quality. I have always liked to focus on the action of the scene and tried to frame the composition to capture that moment.
What do you think it takes to be successful as an artist?
I think success as an artist can be measured by the level of satisfaction you have at the end of the art/design process. All things considered, I find myself feeling more satisfied at the end of my projects than not. That being said, all artists deserve to be compensated for the unique services they provide. It is very important for each artist to learn and decide what their time and special skill set is worth. To be honest, I still struggle with this myself, but I would encourage more artists to be mindful of their time and effort and take that into consideration when taking on projects and selling their services and products. Every artist needs to find their own passion. If you have passion for what you do it can be reflected in your work. This is an essential quality for the success of an artist.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I showcase most of my creative design work on my Instagram account. I also have a link there to my website and online store with all kinds of products printed with my work.
Check out some of my artwork @jaycronindesigns on Instagram.
I also work as a graphic designer for The Label Smith, a label printing production company and I work on most of the label designs for many of the sausage and meat products you see at your local grocery store. Some of my illustration artwork can also be seen on Omen Longboards at your local Zumiez.
Contact Info:
- Address: 580 county road 685 Dayton, Texas 77535
- Website: www.jaycronindesigns.com
- Phone: 8326933379
- Email: jaycronindesigns@gmail.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/jaycronindesigns
Image Credit:
All photos and work belongs to me.
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