Ash Aarrestad is your bestie-next-door voice actor with a wide array of professional creative experiences. You’ve heard her friendly welcome at Dolly Parton’s theme park resort, as the hype-woman for NBA’s Portland Trailblazers and she's lent her chameleon voice to an array of audiobook characters. Known for her emotional range, fearless versatility, and a finely tuned ear for dialects, she brings depth, wit, and a hint of mischief to every role. Whether it’s heartfelt or hilarious, Ash makes it sound like she was born to say it.
Graphic designers named Mike from Prague with 20+ years of experience. I love the web and I thrive off of using its full potential to complete business challenges.
My forte is beautiful and user-orientated graphic design. I create logotypes, icons, and illustrations. And design websites, applications, games, and user interfaces.
"Making decisions based on the hope of what could go right vs. the fear of what could go wrong". More about this coming soon!
“How to Not Hate Everyone You Work With” - it’s a little edgy haha. It’s about how to better understand people you work with (team members, clients, etc) so that you can push projects along without losing your sanity. (Spoiler: it all comes down to communication styles. You don’t have to like everyone. You just have to understand them).
Recapping a decade of drawing, designing, and making mistakes. Insight on getting started, finding clients, pricing, working for yourself, "networking", and some life lessons learned along the way.
The theory of "Short steps long vision", soft selling your work, becoming a top tier internet sleuth, and a couple hot takes on the design industry may be included.
We live in the most advanced and connected times ever in history, and yet, as creatives, we often feel numb, overwhelmed, and burnout.In this talk I share my journey and three realizations that helped me cultivate a sense of wonder and enjoy a richer, more meaningful life as a creative professional.
You’ll learn how symbolic visual elements light, color, composition, and subjectmatter, can tell a story. Through a live digital painting demo, and guided practice,you’ll explore how allegory and symbolism can elevate your work across editorialillustration, branding, children’s books and personal projects.
CREATIVE SOUTH 2026 — WORKSHOP
Joel Santana | Illustrator
Beyond Pretty Pictures:
The Art of Visual Storytelling Through Symbolism
Most illustrations stop at the point of “pretty” or “well-crafted”. But what if your
work could say something deeper, something more meaningful and story-driven?
In this hands-on workshop, Joel Santana (clients: DISNEY, Penguin Random
House, Foot Locker, WACOM |founder of ImageMakers Society) will walk you
through his digital painting process for creating art that tells a message.
You’ll learn how symbolic visual elements light, color, composition, and subject
matter, can tell a story. Through a live digital painting demo, and guided practice,
you’ll explore how allegory and symbolism can elevate your work across editorial
illustration, branding, children’s books and personal projects.
Walk away with an illustration study exploring contrasting symbols and a practical
framework that adds intention to your work. Whether faith, philosophy or personal
narrative drives your work, this workshop will help you create art that resonates.
Bio:
Joel Santana has spent 20 years bringing stories to life as a professional illustrator
and designer. His work has been featured by Disney, Footlocker, BOSE Music,
Penguin Random House, mobile gaming studios, Comm Arts Magazine and more.
He's also passionate about teaching, having instructed over 30,000 students in
digital art worldwide.
Social & Contact:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/imjoelsantana/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@imagemakerssociety
Website: https://imagemakerssociety.com/
A quick and dirty A to Z run down on the world of merch design and production. We’ll explore everything from designing for apparel to creating stickers, patches, pins, and everything in between. Perfect for creatives looking to bring their ideas off the screen and into the world of merch.
A quick and dirty A to Z run down on the world of merch design and production. We’ll explore everything from designing for apparel to creating stickers, patches, pins, and everything in between. Perfect for creatives looking to bring their ideas off the screen and into the world of merch. Each attendee gets an extra top secret merch box as a thank you for attending. (shirt size and email needed when signing up)
Brooks is an illustrator and designer based in Denver, CO. Fueled by adventure, bold graphics, and handcrafted art inspired by nature, pop culture, and anything with skulls on it. For the past decade he has been creating art under the name Nowhere Land, where he works with small and large businesses to design custom apparel, beer labels, branding, murals and everything in between.
Graphic designers named Mike from Prague with 20 years of experience. I love the web and I thrive off of using its full potential to complete business challenges. My forte is beautiful and user-orientated graphic design. I create logotypes, icons, and illustrations. And design websites, applications, games, and user interfaces.
Graphic designers named Mike from Prague with 20 years of experience. I love the web and I thrive off of using its full potential to complete business challenges. My forte is beautiful and user-orientated graphic design. I create logotypes, icons, and illustrations. And design websites, applications, games, and user interfaces.
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