Interview with Cherese Douglas

Do you have any advice for those who would like to use art as a means of emotional relief, but don’t know where to start?

Yes! My advice would be to research mediums you’re interested in that fit within your desires and budget. I started with watercolor because I’ve always been attracted to that kind of artwork. You don’t need fancy or expensive supplies to get started.

I would also recommend watching and doing beginner-friendly tutorials on YouTube. It’s free, and there are quite a few talented artists on there who are happily giving tutorials.

The most important thing you can do for yourself is to just… start. Try not to think about getting it ‘right’. Just dive in and focus on the process, not the result. Remember when you were a kid and you could just draw or paint on paper just for fun? Try to approach it like that. Be that fearless kid again! I believe in you! And hey, if you find that art isn’t your thing, that’s okay too. You got to find what works for you!

What made you take the leap to build a creative brand?

Calling what I have a ‘brand’ is being very generous, so thank you! To me, I’m just some random person trying to make a living by selling art. I don’t feel like a ‘brand’.

The process was very slow. I started posting art on Instagram just for fun. I had taken up watercolor as a hobby and a coping mechanism for Major Depressive Disorder. I do other things to help, like take medication, go to therapy, etc. Then it kind of snowballed into me taking classes, watching tutorials online, and eventually realizing that this was what I wanted to do.

Then my classes shifted from learning how to paint flowers and landscapes to how to start an art career in ways that I knew would work for me, like print-on-demand or licensing.

I eventually settled on a combination of selling prints and originals on my website and print-on-demand websites. Unfortunately, print-on-demand didn’t work for me, and with certain changes, it made more sense for me to just focus on creating and maintaining a space for myself and my work that I could control. Now I only sell my work on my website.

How has your creative process changed over time? Is there anything you do today that you wish you had known to do years ago?

I don’t know if it’s really changed that much aside from me adding more mediums (Hello gouache and acrylic paint pens!). I don’t think it’s possible for me to stick to one medium, style, or even subject! It’s more fun for me to rotate and incorporate new ones. I guess that’s the biggest change.

That and learning to take more breaks… and being kinder to myself. I’m not going to nail everything on the first try, or even the fifth, and that’s okay. I’m a perfectionist, so it’s hard for me to focus on the process and progress and not the result.

I try to remind myself that making art is a ‘safe space’. The world just falls away when I am doing something creative. I feel strongest and most capable when I make art. It’s supposed to be fun!

When that critical voice starts to creep in, it becomes more stressful and less relieving. I can get stuck on trying to get something ‘right’ or ‘perfect’ for literal hours if I’m not careful. Now, when I start to enter that mindset, I step back and put everything away. If I don’t, I’ll get too tempted to work on it again!

How do you define success as an artist? What do you wish to accomplish?

I want to do so many things! It’s a problem. I get overwhelmed by choice because I just want to do everything, you know? But if I have to drill it down, success to me is finding people who connect with me, my art, and my journey. Being able to make a comfortable living from my work wouldn’t hurt either, haha. I think that would be nice. I don’t need to be rich.

I’d love to expand my shop. I sell prints and originals, but I’d love to eventually expand to stickers, pins, and maybe notebooks. I’d also like to sell my prints in bigger sizes. The smallest is 5×7” and the largest, depending on what medium, is 11×14”.

I’d also love to tackle more mediums. I want to try alcohol inks, resin, oil, impasto, pendulum painting, acrylic pouring, sculpture, pottery, pastels… I can go on for hours! But that’s a bit further into the future. I’m starting to dabble in gouache and acrylic markers right now. I think that on top of watercolor, digital, and acrylic is enough for now.

Cherese Douglas, Valentine Girl #1 (Arrow Version), 2023, Digital Art

What does being a Black artist mean to you?

That’s a good question. I think it means allowing yourself to take up space and express yourself in whatever way you see fit. It means freedom and creativity. It means not putting yourself in a box, but at the same time, being proud of your ethnicity in a world that is trying its best to make you feel shameful for it or pressure you to assimilate or accept less because of something you can’t control.

It allows us to tell our stories or express ourselves in ways that don’t translate well in other mediums or in a fun, hands-on way that challenges us or lets us attack it in different ways. It showcases the spectrum of our community and our experiences. We aren’t, and were never meant to be, just one thing.

How did you learn the skills to create? Did you take art classes or are you self-taught?

I am self-taught. I learned how to draw with the book You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler. He used to host the show The Secret City on PBS. He played Commander Mark. It taught kids how to draw. I bought it on a whim. You do one drawing per day. He breaks everything down step-by-step in a really fun and digestible way. He also has bonus challenges if you want to take things further! I highly recommend it.

I learned how to watercolor through tutorials on YouTube and classes on the learning website Skillshare. Same goes for digital art. Abstract painting was a hybrid of Skillshare, YouTube, and the book Happy Abstracts by Etta Vee. She’s a Black female artist who makes these gorgeous abstract brushstroke paintings. She sells prints, originals, teaches classes, and writes tutorials! She also licenses her art out to major brands and has a print-on-demand shop on Society6.

I honestly love to learn! I have so many classes, videos, and books saved across multiple websites, haha. I’m slowly taking them on.

In your journey as an artist, what has been the most unexpected experience, realization, or challenge?

Everything from May 2023 to January 2024. My perfectionism got the best of me, and I overworked my hands and wrists painting and drawing. I could barely hold a paperclip, let alone a brush or a pencil. 

Then, I found a lump on my body where there shouldn’t be. A few doctor visits, an ultrasound, and a surgery later, I found out I have a very rare disease called Rosai-Dorfman Disease. My body likes to make a lot of a certain white blood cell. They like to group up and form benign tumors. That’s what I found earlier in the year. They don’t know why people get it and it affects everyone differently. I had to get a battery of tests. 

The stress nearly destroyed my mental health. I couldn’t make art. My business went on a ‘hiatus’ until I knew how Rosai-Dorfman would affect me. I had to pass on multiple opportunities. It crushed me. It was like my life had been suspended and I’d been redirected into another I never asked for. To top it off, I got COVID in December. 

I’m doing better now. I’m making art, running my shop, and my disease is being monitored. Everything looks good!

What is your biggest barrier to being an artist? How do you address it?

I’d say it’s a tie between calling myself one and having the financial means to take myself and my ‘brand’ further. I do everything myself, so it can be tough, especially when you have mental health issues. 

I wish I could afford more help, especially with social media and marketing. It’s harder to do it all in a way that works for me. I have to work around, with, or through my mental health. It’s a really tough balancing act. I address these things by taking things day by day and budgeting my time and finances accordingly. 

Me being unable to call myself an artist is more imposter syndrome and insecurity than anything else. I don’t feel like I’m good enough to call myself an artist. But I’m learning to embrace the label and just… keep making art. It makes me happy. I make art; therefore, I am an artist. It’s as simple as that. Mostly. I’m not very confident, can you tell? I’m working on it.