Arianna Pena Rocha
Artist Statement
After 6 years of getting my associate's in general art studies and bachelor's in creative communication, I’m a professional graphic designer, digital illustrator, and freelance business owner since 2018. I originally was from Ceder Park, Texas and have been moving around the state since I was a little kid. Only 4 years ago I settled into the valley as a graphic designer and University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley student. What influenced me to start going towards an artistic endeavor when it came to my career was during middle school. Often, I would get hungry in the middle of class and not have any coins on me to buy snacks from the vending machines. So, I started to offer sketches for a quarter each to earn enough money to buy one Poptart whenever I got hungry. From that point on, I always wanted to find a way to monetarize my talents and still be able to have some control on the creative output. I did want to be a traditional artist growing up; however, I saw myself struggling with the idea of pushing my illustrations to companies for commercialization. So, I moved towards designing graphics such as flyers, posters, t-shirts, stickers, and other marketable products for advertising. I have worked for the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley in the Student Life Request department and for the City of McAllen’s parks and recreation department as a graphic designer intern. As a freelance artist, I create illustrations for private clients of their personal characters which range from original stories and tabletop games for freelance work. Both of my jobs primarily use digital software which ranges from clip paint studio, photoshop, to illustrator to create artwork.
What inspired me to become a designer is the artists who derive in the graphic design industry despite the necessary standard and expectation for professional, modern, and sleek designs that barely push the boundaries and rules of design. With design I feel like I can include more cartoony and cuter stylization into a very corporate heavy industry. This influenced me to use more of my cartoony and heavy stylization in my professional work as one of my strengths and unique trait of my style. My methodology is heavy on communication with the client and making sure we are both on the same page when it comes to the design. Are they satisfied with the direction, if not, what can be done to better aim for what they want, and do they have any additions they want to add. Making sure the customer is satisfied enough that they would want to come back and recommend my services to others is my main goal in my career. My life goal is to be able to be creative no matter what job I end up with in life. To be able to use my imaginative and decorative talents while being able to live life without too much worry I feel is a humble want.
