Today we’d like to introduce you to Sydney Christensen.
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 grew up loving everything that has to do with art: Drawing, painting, sculpting, acting. As a kid, I wanted to be an artist when I grew up; and having a dad as a cartoonist and graphic designer certainly contributed to that.
Throughout high school, you could find me either in the art room or on the stage. Some of my first experiences as a graphic designer were when I got to do several posters to advertise school plays and school dances. When I got home from serving my mission for the LDS church, I decided to pursue a degree in Elementary Education because I love teaching and it seemed more realistic. As I was going to school, I had my first child in 2017. It was a traumatic delivery and recovery, and I turned to the arts to seek healing.
That is when I decided to start Sydney Christensen Creations. I posted drawings and shared my work online as consistently as I could as a new mother. In the winter of 2017, I started getting drawing commissions- portraits and pet portraits. I got sporadic commissions starting at that time. In 2019, a year before graduating with my teaching degree, I felt extremely impressed to change my major to Graphic Design and Advertising.
I was scared to switch majors because I was supposed to start teaching in 2020! But I followed my gut and switched majors, even though it added on more years of school. A year later during the pandemic, I was so grateful to have switched majors! I was grateful for my experience in Elementary education because it has helped me in my life as a mother, and I would soon find out that graphic design is a great career choice so I can be a mother at the same time. I got laid off from my job at the time due to things slowing down during Covid. This inspired me to really kick it up a notch with turning my art into a business. My husband and my kids have been my biggest fans and support in this endeavor.
I continued studying and doing drawing commissions, taught art lessons, and eventually started graphic design commissions, too. Now that I’ve graduated, I have a great part-time job as an in-house graphic designer for Summerhays Music of Orem, and I have been seeing more and more consistent business for Sydney Christensen Creations!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The biggest struggle has been keeping my confidence up as an artist. It is an incredibly competitive field, and it gets easy to compare work. But I am slowly learning that collaboration instead of competition has been a big help in this profession.
Another obstacle is staying consistent in my work, as I am a working mom with two young kids and planning on growing our family even more. But I truly enjoy what I do, and I want my kids to know that they can do anything both in their future family life and their careers.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I do graphic design for digital and print advertising (logos, branding kits, banners, flyers, online advertising, business cards), photo editing, photo restoration, and hand-drawn commissions, and I occasionally teach private art lessons. Before studying graphic design, I was known for my realistic charcoal and graphite drawings. But now I am steadily more known as someone who can make a logo that’s right on brand.
The thing that sets me apart from others is what I am most proud of: I can hand draw most of what I do, so each client can ask me for anything they can imagine and I can make it from scratch. I don’t necessarily need any stock photos or clip art, as I can make it myself. I’m not just a graphic designer, but an artist as well.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love the layout of our town and how close-knit it is.
Everything is here, you don’t have to go too far for what you need, or to find good recreation. And it’s a wonderful place to raise a family. I am not a fan of the occasional nasty smell from the sewer plant haha
I love being surrounded by the beautiful mountains and being so close to a lovely temple.
Contact Info:
- Website: Sydneychristensencreations.myportfolio.com
- Instagram: @Sydney_Christensen_Creations
