Spaces // Vanessa Gonzales

As you can tell, I’ve been absent from the blog for the past week. I took some personal time last week and blogging kind of took a little rest. Sometimes life throws you a few things and you just have to tackle them. BUT I’m back and sharing the workspace of Pasty Chief turned Graphic Designer, Vanessa Gonzales. Vanessa is the creative mind behind HelloVanny and is about to take the dive into fulltime freelance. Check her out!

Tell us about yourself as a creative.
I’m a freelance graphic designer with a passion for web. I occasionally blog over at HelloVanny about my life, work and design. My boyfriend, Aaron and I have been together for nearly 5 years and frequently collaborate on websites together (I design while he develops.) We’ll soon be opening up our own digital crafted goods shop called, Neue Reform. I like to stay busy!

Describe your creative journey.
Growing up my family was always encouraging me to draw and take art classes. I took everything from ceramics, drawing and photography in school and at one point became obsessed with painting on canvas. I eventually went away to art school for college. While I obtained a degree in baking + pastry arts (I love designing cakes!) half way through my program I found myself putting off my homework to teach myself graphic design. I enjoyed it so much! After graduating, I worked as a pastry chef at The Wynn in Las Vegas and while I worked there started to build up my design portfolio. Though I still love pastry, working at The Wynn only solidified my decision to pursue graphic design as a career. I’m currently working on my portfolio and plan to make the transition to freelancing full time in just a few short months (!!!)

Share a little bit about your space.
My style is very minimal. I don’t like having too much stuff on my desk at one point and definitely like to try to keep things clean. You can always tell what kind of week I’m having by how messy my desk is. When Aaron and I made the move from Las Vegas to San Diego last March it was a major downsize in regards to space. We moved from a 2 bedroom house into a TINY 1 bedroom apartment. We had to completely flee from the norm and turned what should be the living room into a bedroom and our bedroom into an office. Though I know this current space isn’t permanent I do love that we have a designated room for us to work in. Also, our American Bulldog Molli equally loves our space just as much as I do. You can constantly find her sitting in my computer chair sleeping or observing, ha!

What’s your favorite thing about your space?
My favorite thing about my space is definitely my desk. I love how big it is and love that it allows me to spread out. Really making it easy for me to sketch, scan and move to my iMac without having to move much.

What’s one thing you think every creative needs in their space?
A sketchbook! No matter how creative you can be on the computer I always think it’s great to go back to your roots and sketch your ideas out. Last year I purchased a dot grid book and love that it works as a guide when sketching out websites. It’s also very beneficial when lettering! 

Thanks Vanessa!

Find her: Website | Blog | Twitter