Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelby Criswell.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m one of those people who picked up a crayon as a toddler and never let it go. When I was a kid, I was determined to either become a professional skateboarder or an artist. Ultimately, I decided to let my Tony Hawk dreams go in favor of keeping my wrists intact for drawing.
My sister and I would spend a lot of time with my dad at his graphic design job, playing on the computers, running through the photoshoots, and helping him use the spiral binding machine. I remember going to the store with him to buy Photoshop for an astonishing price. We spent the rest of the day installing the millions of CDs that came with it and had a blast turning a picture of my dad’s truck into a Monster Truck. Growing up with a program like that on our family computer was monumental for a young artist like me.
When I was around 11 or 12, my aunt saw that I was pretty serious about art and gifted me my own computer and scanner so I could post my art on Deviantart. Eventually, I got an external drawing tablet and started coloring my art on a bootlegged version of Photoshop and free programs like Gimp. Twenty years later, I’m still coloring my art digitally and sharing it on the internet. It’s wild to realize I’ve been posting for so long, but it also feels like second nature at this point.
In high school, I spent a lot of time turning songs I liked into comics, designing merch and logos for bands I made up, and building a diverse portfolio for college. I studied studio art for five semesters at Santa Fe University of Art and Design, but dropped out due to a lack of funds on my part. The school closed due to significant financial challenges, and I was one of the few lucky students to jump ship before things went south.
I worked as a shift leader at a store for years and constantly tried to pimp myself out to anyone who would hire me as an artist. I didn’t have a roadmap for how to do this, so I spent a lot of time posting online, setting up profiles on gig websites, responding to Craigslist ads, and offering pet portraits. Eventually, I was getting some work and quit my job. I have no idea how my partner and I survived on her income plus the few art gigs I was getting, but we did it.
Now, ten years later, I’m still a full-time freelance illustrator and designer. I have a few printed graphic novels under my belt, have designed and branded for countless companies, and have done hundreds of band posters, album covers, and merch designs.
During the pandemic, I started doing plein air landscape drawings on my local trails and nature preserves as a way to get out of my house and remain far from people. This work led to an art residency with Southtown Art Gallery in 2024 that shifted my whole career and taught me that I wanted to spend more time making physical work and being out in the local arts community than just at home designing.
Now, I rent a studio at Hausmann Millworks, where I paint and sew in between my illustration and design work. I show in galleries, have done numerous residencies, and have become an arts educator.
My art and my path have taken lots of turns because I am curious about everything, and I rarely say no to opportunities. Saying yes has been the cornerstone of my career as an artist.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Obviously, nothing is easy. Challenges are the cost of living a life.
I’ve dealt with addiction, financial, and mental/physical health issues that have gotten in the way of my work. But being a creative person means that I have creative ways of dealing with life’s struggles. When something is thrown in my path, I draw a new way around the blockade.
Being an artist is not easy, either, in a world set up for it to fail. Art is not supposed to succeed in a capitalist society, but I find ways to make it work. In order for it to work, you have to hustle, and I’ve learned to do that.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m most proud of the number of things I have done and how different they all are. Because of my art, I have worked in the wine industry, the comic book world, the music industry, the streetwear and fashion world, with museums, and so much more.
I like being versatile and having my hands in lots of pots. I don’t want to be known for just one thing, but rather as someone who is flexible and can learn to do just about anything.
Maybe one day, I’ll master a craft or become a sculptor or something, who knows. But for now, I’m open to all kinds of new possibilities.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Stay open.
If I said no to certain opportunities because of my lack of experience or interest in the project, then I wouldn’t be where I am today. Every project I took on that I didn’t think would suit me ended up teaching me more than I could even imagine.
Last year, I was an artist in residence at Mark Twain Dual Language Academy with UTSA’s Young Artists Program. When I signed on to the residency, I had only taught one-on-one lessons and small workshops, so this was a big opportunity to learn to teach in a real school with an experienced art teacher. I requested to teach high schoolers because I was comfortable with that age range, and specifically asked not to teach middle grade. I ended up being assigned middle schoolers, and I was terrified. Not only did I not have experience with that age range, but I also knew they could be a handful.
I followed through with the program for the fall and spring semester, and boy, am I glad I did. Not only did this experience disillusionize me to the “scariness” of middle schoolers, but it also taught me so much about patience, humility, and how to command a room. If I weren’t open to this experience, then I never would have learned these lessons.
Not only did saying yes to this make me a better teacher, but it made me a more confident artist.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.shelbycriswell.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shelbycriswell/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@shelbycriswellart
- Other: https://substack.com/@shelbycriswell
