VIP Creator Highlight: Jen Stephens

The PVS Virtual Internship Program

​In today’s industry landscape many art students are hard-pressed to find opportunities to gain real world experience and training to supplement their higher education and career development. Prime Vice Studios has established its Virtual Internship Program to give opportunity to talented students who wish to gain valuable experience and/ or earn academic credit for their efforts. 
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This interview series seeks to highlight our interns, share their testimonials and assist them on their creative journey

Jen Stephens

About The Creator

Jen is an illustrator and comic artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. Her work often features motifs of fantasy and inspirations from different historical styles of character and clothing design. This passion for design and illustration began when Jen was very young, practicing art as a family tradition taught to her by her father. Her father is a carpenter and a painter who encouraged her to pursue art and to take it seriously. Due to this encouragement, Jen has spent her years learning about illustration and the story making process.

PVS Internship Experience

Jen, thank you for doing this interview please share why you chose to do an internship with PVS?
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As a sequential art major, I was expecting for there to be little opportunity to get an internship focused on my specialty. However, I was surprised to find that was not the case. As soon as I saw the listing for a sequential art company internship I knew I had to apply.

Nice. We’re happy that you saw the opportunity and applied. What was your experience with PVS  like?

I’ve had a great experience with the internship. It really gave me some time to sit with my story concept and just research and take my time with developing it. There was an entire weekend where I fell down a rabbit hole of researching French castles and writing down every little note about their design details and taking virtual tours. I really appreciate that I had the freedom to be able to do something like that and go in depth to different aspects of my work that I would usually be rushed through on a school assignment.          

Knowledge & Skills Gained

Please elaborate on the knowledge and skills you’ve gained working with us this summer?

Because of that freedom, I feel so much more prepared for any future freelance work I may take on. I’m very grateful for those professional skills I’ve gained as well as the confidence I’ve gained to put myself and my work out more. Even if I don’t pursue the IP (intellectual property) I’ve worked on during this internship to completion post college, I’ll be happy if at least one person can read what I’ve done so far and be inspired by it in some way.

Pivotal Moment 

Please share a story highlighting a pivotal moment of the internship.
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The opportunity I was given to pursue a Google Certificate was also very rewarding. I chose to pursue my certificate in UX design and the skills I learned through that program helped me to begin designing a stronger personal website to share my work. For me this was pivotal in helping me gain confidence in working on my personal work and supplying a starting point for my professional career.
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Vision For The Future

Imagine us sitting down together two years from now or further looking back. What specific accomplishments would have to happen for you to be happy with your progress? What do you hope your comics and IP will do in the world?
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In two years, I will have been happy to have finally started my projects. Hopefully, I will have graduated and begun working on several smaller comics to build up my brand and future customer base. I know progress will be slow and it may take a while, but I would love to make a series that truly and deeply impacts people. As long as I achieve that to some degree I feel I will be very satisfied with my accomplishments. 

Advice For Creators & Future Interns

Jen, who would you recommend for this internship for?
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If you have a passion for storytelling, or an interest in character creation or comics then I would recommend this internship. It will help you to make your own schedule and build the skills to share and pitch your work to the outside world. My only advice is to truly work on something that you feel passionate about.

What advice would you give to interested students?

My advice would definitely be to make a schedule and stick to it. The flexibility is great in the schedule, but if you get too complacent or do too little work it may make it harder on you in the end. Just pace yourself, use the resources given to you. Do work that feels fun and refreshing and just follow what you want to work on and it shouldn’t be a problem committing to a schedule. Ultimately, just try and make it fun!

Final Thoughts & Follow Up

What type of clients, audience do you want to connect with or work for?

I’m willing to work with anyone whether it’s for professional or personal reasons. I’m able to help with comic creations, character designs, and many other types of commissions. As long as someone has a vision and a passion I’m able to turn it into reality!

This was great Jen. Thanks for taking time for us to learn more about you and your art. We wish you continued success!

Follow Jen’s work or reach via the following contact info:​
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Social Media: Ig: JenCaye  
Email: j[email protected]

Creator Art Gallery

If you or someone you know would like to apply to be a PVS intern, apprentice, or volunteer fill out an application by clicking the button below. ​

VIP APPLICATION