Meet Bailey O’Hara | Illustrator & Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bailey O’Hara and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bailey, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Ever since I was young, I was surrounded by creative things. I grew up crafting, drawing and painting. It would seem I always had a plethora of art supplies at my disposal. It also helped that my grandfather had a made career in art, so the idea and influence of making art my career was deeply rooted.

I had never really connected deeply with any other topics or subjects throughout school, either. Sure I liked history and writing was sometimes fun, but that didn’t ignite inspiration or drive the way art did. I knew I had options to do whatever I wanted, but nothing else appealed to me the way the field of creativity did. Upon reflection, I would’ve even considered going the culinary route (as I also love food)–but that in of itself is also another beautiful form of art.

I was also extremely lucky to have a family that never discouraged my dream. They knew it could be a legitimate and successful route in life, and I am forever thankful for that perspective.

In short, I think the most simple reason I chose to pursue an artistic career is simply because I love it so much why else would I want to do anything else?

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve had an intimate relationship with art throughout my life. It’s been passionate, comforting, exciting, inspirational–the list goes on. It’s played such a core role in my life that it’s truly been one of my main constants.

Drawing has always given me happiness. Design has given me perspective.

I love drawing people, that has always been my go to. Portraits, bodies, figures and poses–they just stimulate my creative need so much! I don’t really know if I have a definite style to my illustration, because I like experimenting and exploring with every piece. I have experience drawing both digitally and traditionally, as I was very involved with the fine arts before college.

Design, however, is a relatively new journey for me. I’ve learned it isn’t really “art”, but rather objective and communicative creativity. Being able to develop logos, create brands, and building relationships between business and audience is something that I’m very interested in. To me, it feels like getting to know a person, but for a business. I definitely still have so much to learn about design and branding, which excites me. There’s so much more to understand, experience and learn that being able to go through that learning process gives me hope and inspiration.

These two elements, illustration and graphic design, are actually quite different. It’s my career goal to be able to find a way to marry both of them, so I may illustrate and design in tandem.

Like any relationship, I’ve definitely run into hardships with my own relationship to drawing and design. The last few years have proven to be a struggle, as my inspiration and motivation were fleeting. It was like a three year long art block–and even though I could go through the motions of drawing and designing, my jive was gone.

Life transitions, personal struggles, and world changes have all affected how I create. It was actually quite emotionally painful, as it truly felt like I had lost touch with my best friend. I was never truly happy with any work that I had produced. I even disassociated from my work, like someone else had drawn this picture or designed this flier. I wasn’t proud of anything I was creating–therefore I didn’t create as much. I found I wasn’t drawing as often as I used to and I wasn’t challenging myself creatively when I would design. It was a real bummer that lasted for a few years.

Currently, I’m happy to announce I’m finally breaking free of that funk. I’m a stubborn person, so I think is what really helped me overcome this obstacle was to just keep doing it. Even if I wasn’t confident or reassured by my own abilities, I would accept that new client, I would attempt that commission, I would finish that sketch even if it didn’t meet my own high standards. This persistence and dedication (albeit very slow) has and is paying off.

It proved to me that even if I have to take a break, experience setbacks or have self doubt, I can still create. And I can still create well.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many artists and creatives I know who deserve recognition with a hefty shoutout.

Here are definitely some of them:

Faith Woodward @woodwardcreative
Cole Navalta @navaltagraphics
Katie Czarnecki @katieczar
Jaylyn Begay @boo_jay_snaps
Erynn Mitchell @_renaissancewoman
Gabriel Messa @messa.art

Instagram: @bexo.hara, @bexo.designs

Linkedin: Bailey O’Hara