Jobs & Careers | Self-taught digital artist creating eye-catching designs

Najhon Johnson, 22, has turned a childhood passion for drawing and art into an occupation.

Johnson is now manning his own digital business, NovaNation, which offers digital artwork. For Johnson, it all comes easily to him.

"My set-up is a laptop and a drawing tablet, where I can use a stylus to interact with the screen of said tablet. I use Autodesk SketchBook Pro as my software and yeah, the rest is normal digital art process," Johnson said.

Calabar old boy Johnson, who is self-taught, has established a market for his creations in a relatively short time.

"I've been doing this for two years now. The brand name is NovaNation; a name that just came natural to me," he said, explaining that his pieces are trademarked Nova Nation (two words) for design purposes.

"The commissions (jobs) make about US$600 to US$800 monthly, so it's been a blessing," the artist said. He recalls the very first time he made money from one of his pieces.

"Because it was local and way before I made this hobby into a business, I was nervous. I can't lie. I was saving up to buy the drawing tablet I use now, so I wanted the best first impression. I had to crawl before I could reach anywhere. That first piece was sold for J$1,500," he said laughing. "And now, depending on what they really want, the highest is US$90."

By virtue of being a digital business, there is no physical location or set-up for customers to visit. Therefore, he has been using social media to boost NovaNation, and says it has been the driving force behind his success so far.

"I've always wanted to put myself out there as a freelance artist, so it just came natural to use social media to boost that influence. Over time, I have just been using platforms like Instagram and Twitter to get my commissions," he said.

Offering advice to persons in the art communities on those two platforms helped him to build up his customer loyalty.

"I help people within the community that I situate myself in, which is the anime community, and by that support, it comes full circle," he said. "I appeal to the anime community. I'm specifically using Dragon Ball as that franchise to target. It's popular and easy to form yourself from it, due to its trending nature."

Everything is done digitally - including deliveries and payments - allowing the business to extend beyond the borders of Jamaica.

Once he announces what he calls 'commission reopening', the orders come filing in, sometimes up to 15 a day.

"The customers make their request and wire their money to my PayPal link on my page. I mostly have international customers," Johnson said.

He has plans in place to advance the business.

"I'm making logos so that I can make clothing with my drawings," he said.