Meet Marcel Glenn | Graphic Designer, Digital Producer & Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Marcel Glenn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Marcel, can you share the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
The biggest lesson my career has shown me is not to give up and ensure to set goals for yourself. When I was graduating from high school, I knew I wanted to be a graphic designer and a teacher literally told us to write about our future goals. It’s easy to get distracted by our lives or our own personal struggles. A good habit is to always set short-term goals and long-term goals for yourself. Before I went to college, I made a lot of long term goals, which included graduating from university, ensuring I had an art focused major, and making my parents proud. Additionally, after college I made sure to work at an internship and then I knew I wanted to be a graphic designer for different brands, and luckily I stayed vigilant and applied to those opportunities and I’ve been able to graphically represent major corporations. My career has also showed me how to effectively communicate, advocate for myself, remain self-motivated and adapt to any task at hand. It’s also showed me you’ll have some bad times as well. You’ll be rejected at points or you may not acquire the opportunity you want. However, you have to take those no’s and keep moving on towards the opportunities meant for you. Sheryl Lee Ralph said, “What is fi yuh, can’t be un fi yuh!” in a TED Talk. My mother, similar to Ralph, is from Jamaica and it means, what’s meant for you, will be yours.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art is based on what inspires me. From Jamaican, African culture, to music, to amazing superheroes, I take inspiration from all of it and create digital artworks and portraits. Sometimes I mix elements from graphic design into the art. Experience sets me a part of other graphic designers and artist. All of my experiences as a graphic designer for popular brands led me to create my own design business, Celmation Design LLC, and my own artwork, which depict Black, Latin, Asian visuals and provide imagery for underrepresented communities. My journey in corporate design and in the art world has not been an easy road. Anything worthwhile always comes with its trials and tribulations. As a Black graphic designer and an artist, doors have been shut or even remain close for me based off my race, but as the saying goes, “as one door closes, another door opens.” You have to retain thick skin in the creative industry because you’ll be told no a lot and sometimes the no’s are not based on your experience or qualifications. Rejection is a part of life. Take the negative energy and channel it into creating new opportunities for yourself and keep going harder and people will eventually recognize your greatness.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
In Cleveland, we would have to go to Lindey’s Lakehouse in a beautiful restaurant set above Lake Erie. We would also have to visit Shaker Lakes Nature Park. I get a lot of my inspiration from nature and I also love meditating in nature. We would have to visit any Lifetime Fitness because it’s a great workout. We could also hit any of the West 6th bars for a drink. In Jamaica, we would need to go to the Royalton Negril and have amazing jerk chicken, rice and peas, Bok Choy, stew chicken, all the rum in the world, see the clearest water and enjoy the greatest beach “under di sun man.” 🇯🇲

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First, I have to thank my Mom and Dad. My Mom has always been supportive of anything I’ve ever wanted to do and always empowered me to believe in myself, stay consistent, educated me about our Jamaican culture and provided a great work ethic to model. My Dad is also an illustrator and has always taught me his methods, cultivated my interest in art and has always supported artistry. I also need to thank organizations such as Young Scholars, The Ohio State University, Cle4Equity, AfroAnimation. I owe gratitude to my professors from OSU who worked at Pixar and told me to “think outside the box.” I owe a lot to Chris Friason and Yolanda McDavis, who have been my mentors within the industry. Special thanks to Tyler Coy for giving me so many opportunities to exhibit my artwork within local art galleries. Special thanks to my friends, Cece Hatfield and Demetrius Bewley, who keep me going. One of the books, which continuously keeps me motivated is “Born A Crime” by Trevor Noah. It depicts his adversity in South Africa, and being half-Jamaican and creative, I can align with so much of his life. And most of all, thanks to the most high, God!

Website: www.celmationdesign.com

Instagram: @celmation, @celmationart

Twitter: @celmationart

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marcel.c.glenn

Youtube: @freshestgiant