Meet artist and illustrator Jasmine Lucey of J.Lucey Designs!

Tell us a little about yourself!

Hi, I'm Jasmine, a graphic designer raised in Honolulu, Hawaii but currently living in southern California. I currently work at a top digital marketing agency designing content for and managing social media accounts for some incredible brands! In my free time, I like to read, cook, make random crafts, go to Disneyland with my boyfriend, and take our dog on adventures! I've been a massive Swiftie since I was in middle school, so a lot of my art is inspired by Taylor's lyrics, and I love brands such as Rifle Paper Co. and Kate Spade, which have contributed to my bright, feminine art style.

What drew you to your craft?

I grew up surrounded by art supplies as my mom has been an avid crafter since I was a baby. She would have scrapbooking parties with her friends each month, and later became a representative of Stampin' Up!, a craft business. I was always creative as a child and loved any chance I could make something for school projects, and was definitely that over-achieving kid in the class that wanted to have the best projects and presentations. When I was in college, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, so my parents originally pushed me to try science and pre-med, since my dad is this insanely brilliant NASA-awarded scientist. Two weeks into my freshman year and I knew it was not the right choice for me. I ended up majoring in business administration, but by my Junior year, I had taken up an interest in graphic design and taught myself several Adobe programs. I did small marketing gigs for my sorority and Hawaii club that I was a part of such as flyers, email marketing, and event posters. By the time I graduated in 2018, I knew I wanted to get into design. The rest is history!

What is your favorite thing you have ever made?

During the pandemic, I saw some TikToks about tiny houses, and I mean really tiny. I immediately went to the craft store and picked one up, as I am a huge fan of miniature things. I had assembled a dozen or so tiny metal models, so tiny homes felt right. Now, I've assembled two tiny homes, a tiny bookstore, and a tiny music store! They take roughly 8 hours to assemble, and I have stayed up until 2am completing them, but once they're done and I get an acrylic case for them, I love admiring them and am so proud of them.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

When I grew up, I wanted to be an architect or a person that designed book covers. I was obsessed with The Sims growing up, and would spend hours designing and decorating houses. My parents had some pretty strict rules in terms of limiting my electronic consumption, so if I wasn't designing digital homes, I was likely reading or making some cute art project–many times it was making paper houses. I know they say never judge a book by its cover, but I 100% to this day will pick up books at Barnes & Noble based on their covers. I thought it would be so fun to design them, and even got a chance to design a woman's biography book cover as a freelance project!

How would you describe your creative process?

My creative process can best be described as having an idea in my head that I know will look great, but not knowing how to explain it. This comes up a lot at work when I'm strategizing with my teammates about a potential creative for a client and I tell them they just have to trust me that I have this great idea, and 99% of the time, they are indeed impressed and the creative is exactly what I envisioned! When I create art for fun, such as lettering or illustrations, those are very trial and error. I'll work on a single lettering piece for hours only for it to look like someone spent an hour or two, tops. I am very critical of my own work, but I don't think that's a bad thing! I'd rather be critical and put out work I am so proud of and have worked hard on rather than lacking self-awareness and putting out work that is mediocre.

What advice would you give yourself 10 years ago?

My advice for Jasmine 10 years ago, I would've been 15 (!!), would be to go after what I want to do, not what others have in mind. I love my parents and am so close to them, however, at the end of the day, they're my parents. They wanted to be sure I'd be able to support myself and have a career, and the idea of art wasn't something that really crossed their mind when it came time for me to pick a major in college. It was actually my first manager-turned-mentor that pushed me to pursue art. My first job was a summer internship after my freshman year of college working at a local bank back home in Hawaii in Human Resources. I loved being introduced into the "real world" and learning everything the bank had to offer. My boss on my first day asked me "what do you love doing?" We formed a bond over my four summers working at that bank where she honed in on my art skills and gave me projects that would let me express my creative ideas. She knew how much I wanted to please my parents, but also knew what my passion was, and she really inspired me to go after a design career.

Why is it important to support local artists and makers?

As a small business owner and occasional freelancer, I know firsthand how hard it can be to have your work seen after you work hard on them. Social media platforms don't make it easy to get views and followers, so having people share your work, repost your content, buy your products, and support you in any way can feel so good. I was able to grow my Instagram following over the last couple of years and have made many virtual friends with other designers and small business owners, and we constantly share and support each other online. You never know what opportunities or potential sales could come out of someone sharing your post or snapping a photo of a purchase they made from you! Don't get me wrong, I love the convenience of Target and Amazon, but nothing compares to the care and consideration that a small business owner will put into your order or the love they put into making their products.

Why do you love doing what you do?

I recently decided to pull back on freelancing, as well closed my online shop because they weren't bringing me the joy that they used to. My design role in digital marketing is fairly new (about 6 months) and I have loved pouring my heart into creating content for brands, even if nobody knows that I was the one behind the creatives. It's very surreal to be running an Instagram account and seeing posts that I created get attention from huge audiences, sometimes even celebrities that I look up to and admire! Even though they won't know the person behind them, I have pinch-me moments about it all the time!

For the first year and a half of the pandemic, I was freelancing and running a small business selling my art, and I loved making people smile with my positive messaging that I shared through my lettering pieces and my stickers, and hearing stories from people about how my art made them so happy! Art is truly incredible and I feel grateful to have created pieces that people can connect to.

What advice do you have for other makers who want to start their own business?

There's a lot of advice I could give, but I'm also a type-A person so I'll give you this: stay organized, have a plan, track your expenses/revenue/finances, and if you're going to do it, do it right. You don't want to be two years into your business and have no idea about how much you've spent vs how much you've sold, or have mixed your personal and business finances. It's crazy to me how many small business owners or Etsy sellers I've talked to when I've posted about doing these things on my Instagram story who have told me they actually have no idea how to do their business taxes, they've never got a seller's permit, they never registered their business, etc. Don't use the excuse "what if I don't sell anything" or "well, nobody knows about my shop so it's ok if I wait to do these things," because that's not a good mindset! What if you sell thousands? What if your shop goes viral? Stay organized from the beginning!

You can find Jasmine’s artwork in the shop, including prints, pins, stickers and more!