Meet Scott Biersack: Freelance Illustrator, Graphic & Type Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Scott Biersack and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Scott, is there something that you feel is most responsible for your success?
This is an excellent question. I’d like to think a lot of my success came from hopping into the social media realm at the perfect time. It was around 2012 when social media platforms were in their prime if you ask me. Sharing my work across various platforms allowed me to get my work in front of the right people and led to some amazing projects. Simultaneously, I believe my work ethic and determination helped play a part in the success as well. I was willing to put in the time to practice and hone my craft which helped me land bigger and better projects.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My work lies heavily within the type / lettering / illustration fields. I believe typography and illustration truly go hand in hand with one another to make a cohesive piece. Having a firm understanding within both fields easily allows endless possibilities. Along with that, type design became a recent passion of mine as well. I like to tell people lettering can be the gateway drug into type design. The two fields also go hand in hand and I naturally fell into exploring the creation of my own fonts. Getting to where I am today took many many years of practice and focus but also plenty trial and error, burnout, depression, the list goes on and on. Like many things in life, it’s never a straightforward path to get from point A to B. I feel like a lot of my career has been throwing myself in a million directions to see what sticks. Being freelance means I can explore a number of avenues thanks to the flexibility I have. Whether that’s a 3 month contract, 2 week project or even 1 large project and taking the rest of the month off, it’s all over the place! The one thing I’ve learned through trial and error is how to avoid burnout. As a creative, it’s very easy to get exhausted and creatively drained. I have a million ideas I want to explore but I know I only have a finite amount of time in a day. The best way to avoid burnout is a multitude of things, those being: taking regular and frequent breaks from your work, get outside in nature (take a walk, bike ride, whatever!), get adequate sleep (aim for those 7/8 hours folks), if you have a typical 8-5 schedule, DON’T work on weekends. Take the time to yourself to relax and rejuvenate. And lastly, do that one thing that brings you peace and eases your stress — it’s going to be different for everyone but I personally enjoy meditation, occasional reading or cleaning.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Oh there are SO many folks that deserve a shoutout! I’ll try and shoutout the most influential in my life and career. First and foremost, Kenna Watters for her passion and patience. Kenna guided my early design career from high school to college and continued mentoring me as we worked together at an advertising agency. Next, my parents for always telling me I can do anything I set my mind to. They pushed me heavily to do what I love and never look back. And more recently, all of my type design teachers at Cooper and in Paris that helped reignite my passion for type — Jean François Porchez, Mathieu Réguer, Troy Leinster, Ken Barber, James Edmondson and SO many more. I firmly believe that you can’t get anywhere in life on your own and with that, I owe a million thank you’s to the many positive affirmations from strangers and friends across social media that help push me to keep creating.

Website: www.youbringfire.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/youbringfire
Twitter: www.twitter.com/youbringfire