Meet Shauna Lynn Panczyszyn | Shauna Lynn Panczyszyn | Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shauna Lynn Panczyszyn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shauna Lynn, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Honestly, there wasn’t much thought behind it. I had moved to Orlando, Florida, at the time for a job that fired me a few months after I started and freelance was the plan until I could find another job. My parents were both incredibly supportive and said to give freelance a shot for 6 months and if after that it wasn’t working, then job hunt. That was in February 2013, and I just passed 11 years working for myself.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
One thing that set me apart in college was how textural and organic my work was. At the time, that very clean Swiss style was trendy and my work was just never that. Once I accepted that and let myself just create, my work began to flourish.

I worked in my field, graphic design, for about 2 years before I pursued freelance illustration. Early on, I did mainly lettering. I would play a little bit with character work and such, but never enough to really pursue it or improve upon it. It wasn’t until the pandemic shutdown that I finally sat down with myself and realized I wasn’t feeling 100% fulfilled by the work I was doing. Don’t get me wrong, I loved getting to letter and a lot of what I was doing prior to 2020 was live illustration at events and conferences, but with the shutdown, all of that went away and I had to really figure out what I wanted out of my career.

The shutdown period allowed me time to do exploratory work and it was during then that I realized that I wanted to pursue children’s books. I had avoided them for years because every time I would tell someone I was an illustrator they would immediately follow up with “Oh I wrote a kids book and I’ve been looking for an illustrator!”. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do children’s books in that time, but I wanted to do them with the support of a publishing team so it wasn’t just one on one with the author.

I reached out to my now agent in October 2020, with no children’s book work and when we got on a call that week he asked me to explore character work and see what it would look like in my style. The hardest thing for me was feeling like the character work I did matched with my lettering work. I spent a little over 3 months deep diving and hyperfocusing on character work and followed up in February 2021, and he signed me that day. My character work has continued to develop over the past three years and it’s at a point now that I can say it does match my lettering work, which has been very rewarding.

One thing I’ve really learned over the years is there’s an ebb and flow when it comes to progress. It’s not always going to be linear and you’re going to go through phases where you just do not like anything you make. The majority of 2023 was that for me, I still did work and I finished two children’s books, but the personal work I was trying to make was just not landing for me. I have never had an art burnout last as long as it did, but it ultimately ended up being good in a weird way because around mid-January of this year I realized in the middle of sketching one day that the burnout had finally dissipated and I was making things I was proud of again. The burnout period was a period of growth that I did not realize at the time was growth. The best thing I did during that time was to keep drawing, even if I didn’t come out with much finished work, and take breaks when necessary.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh, I have TOTALLY thought about this, and might get to do this in the fall. So, I live on the border of Illinois and Wisconsin, and it’s about 40 minutes to an hour north and south to get to Chicago and Milwaukee from my house, and because of that I have places in both areas I can take her to.

Let’s assume she and her husband are here for 5 days:

Monday: Chicago suburbs to start. I would take them to Walker Bros. Pancake House for the best breakfast ever, followed by a drive to downtown where we would go to the Art Institute of Chicago, then to see the Bean, then to the Starbucks Reserve on Mag Mile. Dinner at The Smith, which best friend and I have gone to in New York, so we know it’ll be a good dinner.

Tuesday: Drive through the suburbs into Glenview to show her where my parents grew up and where I spent Christmas most of my childhood, then Hackney’s for lunch. After that Libertyville and a few other walkable downtown Main Streets just to enjoy being outside. Chicago tavern style pizza for dinner (deep dish for best friend).

Wednesday: Milwaukee. I would coordinate with my sister and her boyfriend to help me show them around Milwaukee. I don’t know the area as well, but the two of them know some great places to hit up. I would definitely bring them by the Milwaukee Public Market. Dinner at Jin’s Sushi and Seafood Bar in Milwaukee for all you can eat sushi.

Thursday: Depending on the weather, boating. If it’s a nice day out, then we’d go to the marina and go out on my parents’ boat on the lake for a few hours. Dinner with my parents at Wilmot Stage Stop Supper Club for a great steak dinner followed by a Brandy Alexander for dessert.

Friday: Visit downtown Antioch, the single block downtown in my city. I’d take them to Little Bean Cafe for a latte and breakfast, then we’d go peruse the shops in the area. Depending on how long we were there, I may take them to Lake Geneva to walk around there and get lunch at one of the restaurants there.

Overall, it would be a pretty chill week. Somewhere in there we would get Chicago hot dogs for lunch because those are a must.

If there was time I would also recommend Shedd’s Aquarium and the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, and any special exhibits the Art Institute may be offering.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My parents 100%. They have been my biggest supporters and cheerleaders throughout my business journey.

My little sister is another who has been a big cheerleader, and my best friend has also been a big cheerleader and has had my back for years.

All of them have cheered me on, let me vent when needed, offered advice. I truly wouldn’t be the person I am without them.

I also have to mention the whole team at Brunet-García Advertising (now part of Fors Marsh). They brought me on as an intern and they pushed me to explore my individual style and ways to bring that into the work they did. To this day, they’re still supporting and cheering me on, and I took the lessons I learned there with me and have implemented them every day.

Website: https://shaunalynn.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shaunaparmesan/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shaunaparmesan

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shaunalynnpanczyszyn

Other: https://www.threads.net/@shaunaparmesan https://bsky.app/profile/shaunaparmesan.bsky.social

Image Credits
Image of me drawing at computer: L.E. Baskow for Las Vegas Sun Times 2017 at Adobe Summit Image of me drawing in front of mural: Pennsylvania Conference for Women | Client: Prudential | Agency: IMG LIVE Everything else is taken or made by me.