Today we’d like to introduce you to Xandria Williams.
Xandria, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Although Xaniduart LLC started in the year 2021, I have always been an artist. I come from a very creative family- my Aunt, Chuancy, was an excellent oil painter when she was in college.
My father would always draw in his free time and inspire me to do the same. He now writes music and makes kinetic sculptures. Also, one of my Grandmothers was a multimedia artist much like I am today.
We inherited a lot of her craft materials when I was young after she passed, and that allowed me to play and build with seemingly unlimited resources. Growing up I was always looking for the next best thing to create and entertain myself and my siblings. My parents had seven of us and chose to homeschool us all, so there was always a need for fun things to do.
I struggled with chronic boredom, and my only cure was my creativity. I wrote songs and played the piano, made stop motion animation shorts with Barbies and play dough, and even made a few movies with my mom’s camcorder. In my early teens, I developed a love of creative writing, storyboarding, and comic book illustrating. I was obsessed with romance novels and anime, so my style developed quite quickly as I continued to write and illustrate my earliest stories.
After taking a break from art in high school and for the first two years of college, I tried my best to see if any other careers would catch my eye. They did not. So my final year at FSCJ I earned my Associate in the Fine Arts degree using up all of my extra credits in Painting, Art History, Figure drawing, Digital Design, and 3D art courses. It was the most fun I’d ever had in my journey as a scholar, and I developed a keen interest in digital art after getting comfortable with photoshop under the guidance of my art professor and sensei, Dustin Harewood.
After graduating, I began to take commissions with my new digital painting and animating skills. I started a webcomic but quickly burnt out. Creating was easier when I was a sheltered child with no one to please but myself and the six others. Now, I was on Instagram, WEBTOON, and YouTube. The world of digital art was vast and I allowed myself to get discouraged.
Years later you could still find me creating things here and there as I continued to take on clients. When Covid-19 hit in 2020, however, my art took a turn for the better. I began to create with survival in mind. It was great full I had built up a solid skillset in digital art in the previous years as it helped support my life during the uncertain times that followed. By the end of 2020, I was confident enough to start my own business to support my art career and build upon that.
In the year 2021, I accomplished much, traveling from city to city attending pop-ups, and selling my work. Later, I would be commissioned for a 5ox50 mural I would paint in downtown Jax Beach with my partner at the time, Samantha Aldana, and also create a stunning 5×4 foot abstract piece for a client I met at an event. I began to offer other services, such as animation, cover art, logo designs, business illustrations, and fabric art.
Today, you can find me at Riverside Arts Market every Saturday under my orange tent, selling my prints, denim jackets, and digitally painted butterfly earrings. Another one of my favorite events is Art Walk, where I enjoy meeting other artists and art-loving locals.
I love how much the pandemic forced me to grow, and take charge of my life. However, in an effort to keep things balanced I started to work as a bartender locally to help support my lifestyle and take a weight off of my passion. I am beyond excited to see where my art takes me in the years to come. I’m learning to trust my art, my journey, and my purpose.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I would say my biggest challenges would be maintaining the excellent mental health needed to start, run and build a solid career as a freelance Commission Artist.
It’s been hard at times to keep my inspiration up and continue to create, but I am glad I never gave up. My rainbows always come after the storms, the next one more stunning than the last.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a commission artist, I pride myself on being able to create anything for my clients. One of my passions is to see into the creative vision of another and successfully bring it to life with my skills.
I am known as the Butterfly Lady at most markets as my favorite product that I sell thus far has been my digitally painted butterfly earrings. It takes me anywhere between 24 and 72 hours to create a life-like digital painting for my designs. Then, I make prints, prep them, laminate them, and use the wing charms to create all sorts of butterfly and moth-inspired jewelry and other creations.
One of my most prized accomplishments of 2021, however, apart from starting my own business, is the 50-foot mural Samantha Aldana and I created for Greenroom brewery at the close of the year. Being my first mural it terrified me, but I’m glad I pushed through as it led to many artistic breakthroughs and newfound confidence in myself as a professional artist.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Something that helped me get over myself when I was a child first starting out drawing was the removal of all of my erasers. My father saw me as being self-critical and erasing most of my progress, as it wasn’t coming out on paper how I saw it in my head.
He told me after removing all of my self-sabotaging erasers that I should keep it all because I will want to know how far I’ve come… When you are learning a new skill it’s best to not judge yourself and also let it flow from your freely. Artwork almost ALWAYS comes out with a mind of its own, I don’t care how skilled you are.
If you have the desire to create, then you have what it takes to become an amazing artist. Don’t worry about the rest- skills come with time and dedication.
Pricing:
- Earrings- $15-$35
- Art Print – $8-$50
- Commissions- $175 and up
- Murals- $10,000 and up
- Oil Paintings- $6,000-$75,000
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/xaniduart?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
