Uploaded November 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
"I’ve had a different upbringing than most. My mother and her family are Slovenian Canadian citizens—with English as their second language—and my brother was diagnosed with autism when I was very young. At one point, I realized that the one thing that bridges everyone together is the understanding of an image. My brother learned how to associate words with images via flashcards. This led me to an extremely impactful realization: language is changed to accompany images. I also loved to draw and took great joy from the communicative aspect of illustration; I really wanted to tell stories and make them accessible to everyone. I knew I wanted to be an illustrator when I was 17, even though I didn’t have a strong concept of what being an illustrator meant! "
[More at: commarts.com/fresh/nicole-rifkin]
Music: Numina "Beyond Infinity"
"I’ve had a different upbringing than most. My mother and her family are Slovenian Canadian citizens—with English as their second language—and my brother was diagnosed with autism when I was very young. At one point, I realized that the one thing that bridges everyone together is the understanding of an image. My brother learned how to associate words with images via flashcards. This led me to an extremely impactful realization: language is changed to accompany images. I also loved to draw and took great joy from the communicative aspect of illustration; I really wanted to tell stories and make them accessible to everyone. I knew I wanted to be an illustrator when I was 17, even though I didn’t have a strong concept of what being an illustrator meant! "
[More at: commarts.com/fresh/nicole-rifkin]
Music: Numina "Beyond Infinity"
