About Swoop Nebula
Hey, I’m Swoop Nebula. I’m a graphic designer from Memphis; living in Nashville, Tennessee.
My graphic design journey started when I was just a kid. I remember one of the first things I ever really wanted as a kid was an airbrush machine that I could use to make t-shirts. I had so much passion and excitement for creating; I couldn’t wait to get home from school every day and make more. I taught myself to design on Photobucket and Microsoft Paint, still not even knowing what graphic design was. I was 15 when my dad introduced me to my mentor, Vance. That’s when everything started coming together.
Vance took me under his wing and taught me the ropes of graphic design. He introduced me to Photoshop and Illustrator, which opened up a whole new world for me. I remember getting so excited to start the different design projects Vance would assign me. Without Vance, I wouldn’t even be here in this position, teaching graphic design to my followers.
Throughout all of high school, there was only one available art class. Art wasn’t exactly valued by my school, or anyone I was around, especially when compared to sports. Well into high school, my dad told me that I wouldn’t be able to attend college without a scholarship. I deliberated over the chance of receiving a scholarship in each sport, and which would be the easiest to become the best at, fast. After landing on track & field and dedicating everything to it, I received multiple track scholarships to different schools, but none of them had a graphic design program. I ended up turning down the scholarships for this reason.
Still without a scholarship, one day I happened to walk into a college fair in my high school’s cafeteria, and that's when everything changed. As soon as I walked in, someone beckoned me over and said, “Hey, you look like an artist.” He told me about this school, Watkins College of Art. They had graphic design. I showed him some of my work, and he told me he would be in contact. I went to track practice after school that day barely able to hold in my excitement, with even more motivation than ever.
Weeks later, I received a letter in the mail. I didn’t meet the demands for an academic scholarship, but still received one solely based off of my portfolio and the prerequisite challenges.
After stepping into Watkins and seeing all of the creativity around me, I felt so overwhelmed and grateful for where I had landed. I never thought that I would be able to move away from home and follow my dreams. It was such a surreal experience to walk down the hallway and immediately find artists to look up to. During college, I never took a second for granted. I signed up for internships every single semester in order to gain experience. I interned at places like Third Man Records, The Buntin Group, and Red Pepper.
I soaked up so much knowledge at each of these places, which carried over to my next job at Future Shirts. Working as a graphic designer at Future Shirts was such an exciting time for me, because all of these corporate restrictions I was experiencing were cut loose, and I could really start to harness my creative freedom. I designed merchandise for the Chainsmokers, Kane Brown, So So Def, as well as some different music festivals.
During this time I was constantly inspired by my peers at Future Shirts. I wanted to learn more, to become better. I really wanted to learn 3D design, but I could never afford the programs (Cinema 4D). I still practiced and created what I could. I also started showcasing my art and creations more on Instagram, creating Instagram filters and posting different freelance flyers I was making at the time. Things were on a steady incline until the pandemic hit.
I was now part time at my job, which forced me to move home to Memphis. It hit hard. After this entire journey I had been on, leaving Memphis for art school, wanting to create a better future, and moving up through different graphic design jobs, I was back at square one. I spent every hour of the day applying for jobs in Nashville. I ended up applying for about 250 jobs in total during quarantine. In between the stress of the job hunt, I started making posters to keep my mind off of things.
Creating these posters was kind of my saving grace at the time. The subject of all of the posters were like a spiritual, manifestation aesthetic. Eventually I moved away from this style to focus on something that was more polished, and relatable to the masses. Rap Posters. Instagram had just released Reels, so I thought I might as well record the process of making some of the posters and post them.
Just like that, each video started getting a few thousand views. That’s more engagement than my posts have ever seen. I started posting more. Experimenting more. I found that I enjoyed making educational videos, and people were engaging with them.
After three months of applying, I landed a Web Design job in Nashville, and was finally able to move back and start fresh. From there, I have spent each day dedicating my time and efforts to growing my community, creating content, digital assets and so much more. I am so grateful to be in the position I am currently, and I am excited for what is to come.