How To Find Your Voice As An Artist: Renee Chio Shares Her Advice

Renee Chio reveals how to find your voice as an artist in this week’s podcast interview

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“If you’re true to yourself, your own self will show in your art.“

~ Renee Chio

Ever wondered how to find your voice as an artist?

How do you make art with a style that’s uniquely yours and no-one else’s?

Renee Chio is now a big noise on Facebook and Instagram. She’s got thousands of followers loving and sharing her creations…and gets countless commissions for her art.

But it wasn’t always this way. Just a few years ago, this animator and self-taught artist was struggling to get noticed with her early pieces.

So what changed? Renee Chio found her voice.

And in this week’s podcast, you’ll find out exactly how you can, too.

how-to-find-your-voice-as-an-artist-renee-chio — A recent animation by Renee Chio

Renee Chio Reveals How to Find Your Voice as an Artist

Renee Chio is from Mexico, but she went to animation school, Vanarts, in Vancouver, Canada.

She says: “I decided to study animation after being introduced to digital art in high school and programs such as Flash and Photoshop.

“However, I ended up moving to Canada because there weren’t really any suitable animation schools in Mexico at that time.”

Although she went on to study 3D animation after this, Renee always knew 2D animation was her thing.

Therefore, after returning to Mexico, she got a job at Anima Estudios, where she worked as a 2D animator for four years.

Why Renee Chio Became a Freelance Artist

However, having developed an interest in digital painting while at high school, Renee soon found that her desire to become an illustrator and artist grew and grew.

So, in 2011, she decided to take her skills to a new level by attending a four-week Imaginism workshop in Toronto.

Around this time, she started posting her work on sites such as DeviantArt, but it took a while to build up a following of people who admired her work.

She says: “I started posting my work on this site and some others, but I wasn’t really popular at all – nobody knew anything about me.

“But, once I started doing a different type of art in 2012 and posting it on Facebook, people started liking it and I started getting a bunch of followers! So, from 2012, everything changed for me.”

But what really changed for Renee in 2012?Here are some of the questions we asked Renee Chio in this week’s podcast:

Do you really need to go to art school?
How do you choose the right course of study for you?
How do you become a successful freelance artist?
What’s the best way to find and develop your own style?
How do you find the balance between studying and making art? (Clue: This has a lot to do with if you’re having fun or not!)

You’ll find the answers to these and many more questions in this week’s podcast.

We hope hearing all about Renee’s creative journey really helps you discover how to find your voice as an artist.

And, if you enjoyed this podcast, you might also like:

PK094: Social Media for Artists With Derek Rodenbeck

PK079: How to Develop as an Artist With Chaz Sutherland

PK054: Jesse Aclin on How to Have Fun With Your Style