About Amber
Amber Calderon has been an illustrator and designer for nine years, specializing in children’s book illustration, graphic design, and multimedia art. She is also a polymer clay crafter and creates fun and colorful handmade earrings. From a young age, she has always had an interest in art. By middle school, she began taking art as a career more seriously and began to regularly attend painting classes aside from learning different painting and drawing techniques herself. Throughout her high school years, she began taking commissions for art pieces from clients within her community.
Tennessee Magazine Art Contest
At eighteen, with the encouragement of her great-uncle Lee Hawkins and her parents, she entered the Tennessee Magazine Art Contest in the high school age group. After a brief period of waiting and anticipation, she found out she had won first place with her traditional piece that featured a beautiful green mermaid sitting on a rock surrounded by a vast ocean.
Art Institute National Poster Contest 2nd Place Winner
Not long after the Tennessee Magazine contest, Amber entered into the Art Institute National Poster Contest, which promised a fully paid for scholarship to attend the Art Institute. She created her poster which featured a man wielding art supplies, ready to create his next masterpiece.
After a few months of waiting, she learned that she had won second place, receiving a $2,000 scholarship to the Art Institutes as a prize.
College
Amber attended the Art Institute of Atlanta, where she majored in Illustration and Design. There, she learned both digital and traditional art techniques, how to manage an art business and how to find work as an artist.
Amber was on the Dean’s list for over two years before graduating in 2015. After graduation, Amber began getting to work building up her own freelance art business, which grew under the name Insane Angel Art.
