Today we’d like to introduce you to Tessa Kissick
Hi Tessa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Art and I have always had a complicated relationship. I originally really disliked it in elementary school but grew to appreciate it through the years as it was something I always seemed to return to. Towards the end of high school when I was faced with the crossroads of what I wanted to do with my life I chose art as it felt like the only thing I could do. I wasn’t enjoying math courses so I crossed engineering off my list despite spending 3 years in an engineering program. I later crossed entomology off my list after hearing about how much memorization was required. I always felt the most comfortable when I was making art, so I finally caved after hearing about Savannah College of Art and Design which didn’t require me to jump through any additional hoops beyond a simple application. From there my love of art just grew and grew as I was thrown head first into a pool of infinite possibilities.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
A lot of my struggles with art have mostly stemmed from my personal journey. It’s a weird feeling going from being the only art kid to being in classes with tons of other art kids. It took a long time for me to get used to not comparing myself to my peers and developing healthy relationships with my peers. There were also loads of times where I sat down terrified I’d spent years in art school for naught and worrying whether or not I was on the right track.
Learning self care was the first super important part of my journey as well. There’s only so many nights you can spend back to back pulling all nighters before your body and mental health take a steep dive. The thing that sucks is there is no right answer or one way to do something in art; a lot of it relies on you figuring out what works for you and waiting for art practices to click ideas together in your head. I never initially liked digital painting until I found digital brushes and a workflow that made sense to me. It took about 3 years of throwing stuff against the wall before more advanced illustration practices started connecting all the ideas and tips I’d picked up along my earlier years.
Finding ways to grow tougher skin was another difficult thing for me. I’d never really experienced critical critiques before so it took me awhile to get used to the critical gaze of my earlier professors. It helped me to record the critiques I received on paper or type them out as they happened so I could return to them later. I continued seeking critiques from peers and professors which slowly helped me grow an understanding of good critiques and how to give them. My peers were a massive help throughout the years as they proved to be staunch allies in navigating this new, foreign side of art. They made it not only a lot more approachable and digestible, but proved to be great resources for different points of view thanks to their own personal visual libraries.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an illustrator focused on concept design for animation and games. For those unfamiliar with this line of work, concept or visual development artists work through early ideations for character, prop, and/or environment designs. We work tirelessly and exhaustively through countless ideas to help funnel and distill nebulous ideas into an iconic design.
So far, I’m most proud of my growth and journey through art. I feel like I’ve really figured out my direction and where I go throughout my SCAD journey and I’m excited to see where I go in the future. I’ve been told my color usage is good, but I hope to tie together a stronger concept portfolio in the coming years and break into the art industry.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Something that has always surprised people I know is the fact that I am actually not an extrovert! A lot of my friends always assumed I was an extrovert since I was always helping out others, running a club, making spaces for peers and friends to interact outside of school, etc. Not that I don’t enjoy that stuff, but usually it takes a few days to get my social interaction battery back up afterwards. I’ve always found those activities fulfilling and worthwhile because of all the fun memories it creates and the opportunities it opens for others to become connected no matter how much it drains my social battery. At the end of the day as long as I’ve helped someone out and made their day, that’s what’s worth it to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tessakissick.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vesper_wendelle/
