Meet Dayana Carolina Chang Ledesma | Illustrator and Animator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dayana Carolina Chang Ledesma and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dayana Carolina, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I have been drawing all my life, I knew I wanted an art related career when I was very young. At first it was fashion designer, but later I discovered it is way more enjoyable to draw characters doing something or to communicate an emotion through an illustration. But art for me is a way to keep all the wrong things happening right now, from the outside of my mind, away from my thoughts and have a little moment of calm.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Art is one of those things that you have to be able to accept failure, because for me, failure was the only thing I had for become better at it. And if I wanted to be part of the animation industry, I needed my art to be pretty as well as emotional. But through a heavy amount of practice, I am proud of my artwork.

The easiest way to become a good artist is via good academies, but most of them are extremely expensive, and for a person like me that had no money, I couldnt afford to attend to one. My local art school offered a new 2 years course, that lacked of content, but it gave me the potential to start, later on I had enough money to pay for a one month intense cut out animation course in an animation studio, and it gave me the opportunity to learn from professionals and to show them my worth. I got a job in the studio.

The main lesson I keep with me from this experience, and what I would say to anyone that is going through money difficulties, is to never give up, even when the future is mostly dark, believe in yourself, everyone has something to say to the world, and if you can not go to an art school, if you have the potential, they will see that. Practice a lot, learn from the best and keep aplying, and if you receive a reject letter, go back to your portfolio, learn from your mistakes, study more and try again, you can do it.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
First, I would take them to see the volcano Teide, one of the important things here. Then to sightsee La Laguna, Bajamar, Puerto de la Cruz, Candelaria and Santa Cruz, places I really like because of the beautifull scenaries and interesting history. And for museums, obviously Fine Arts Museum, Nature and Arqueology Museum, and the art expos available at the time.

For food, it is not a visit if you don’t try a guachinche (a local food restaurant), the worse its sign, the better the food, I once went to a guachinche whose sign was hard wood with something written on it with acrilic paint, but the food was so good!

Lastly to have a drink, I would take them to one of the bars from Anaga avenue at Santa Cruz, and to Blues Bar at La Laguna.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I really enjoy 90s anime shows, like sakura card captors or hunter x hunter, it is one of the main reasons I am working in the industry. Those had a way of keeping me plug in the tv all day! The colors, the movement, the details in the background, AND THE CLOTHING, just amazing.

But in a more personal part, I think what kept me studying was my mom, even tho my family is filled with doctors and engineers, she always wanted me to pursue the career I wanted, and even when she gave me hard critics on my drawings, she made me want to work in this so badly

Website: https://dayismyflower.carrd.co/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dayismyflower/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dayana-carolina-chang-ledesma/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DayIsMyFlower

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZUGJXoTIB0TMHIdwYrKwdA

Other: https://www.artstation.com/dayismyflower