WELCOME!

I’m Sylvia Stepp — an illustrator and visual storyteller studying Illustration with a Creative Writing minor at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit.

I create character-driven illustration and short-form narrative work shaped by a multicultural upbringing, study and travel across four continents, and a lifelong grounding in dance and musical theatre. My work centers on people: how they move, what they carry, and how stories shift across borders. Most of my work is digital, with sketchbook studies informing my characters and compositions.

I am currently available for illustration commissions and actively seeking internship opportunities for Spring/Summer 2027.

Explore my portfolio, global experiences, and creative interests through the menu above. I’d love to hear from you — feel free to drop me a note through the Contact page.

Global Perspective

My body of work lives at the intersection of my African American heritage, my early childhood in Singapore, and the global experiences that continue to shape my understanding of culture, life, and the world. Singapore is where I spent my early years and got my first lens on the world; since then, I have lived and traveled in Colombia, Greece, Peru, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and across the United States. Each place has offered new colors, textures, and perspectives that shape the way I see people, build characters, and tell stories.

Colombia: Language, Culture, and Creative Growth

In Summer 2025, I spent six weeks in Medellín, Colombia, completing a Spanish language immersion and a graphic design internship at a full‑service creative agency. I contributed to client branding and digital content while strengthening my conversational Spanish. Living and working in Medellín gave me a deeper appreciation for Colombian culture, design aesthetics, and the power of visual storytelling across languages. The experience continues to influence my artistic voice and the way I approach character, color, and narrative.

Languages and Communication

I speak English, am conversational in Spanish, and learned elementary Mandarin while living in Singapore during primary school. I am now actively studying French, with plans to live and study in France. Learning languages has taught me to listen closely and to observe the nuances that make each culture unique — the rhythms, gestures, and expressions that shape how stories are told. That awareness flows directly into the characters I create and the way I think about pacing, expression, and emotional honesty in my illustration.

Performing Arts Influence

I’ve been training in dance — ballet, contemporary, and jazz — and performing in musical theatre productions since primary school. That training taught me discipline, rhythm, weight, and how to tell a story through expression and gesture. When I draw a character mid-motion or in a quiet pause, I’m still thinking about posture, pacing, and the energy of the scene — the same things a dancer or actor brings to the stage.

Artistic Identity

My work lives at the intersection of culture, character, and storytelling. I am currently developing Spell of the South, an original short story I plan to adapt into a comic short during my junior and senior studios at CCS, and I continue to grow an original-character universe across illustration and writing. I blend traditional and digital techniques, lean toward warm and expressive color, and am especially drawn to characters who carry their cultural specifics with them. My Creative Writing minor gives me the freedom to develop characters from the inside out.

Gratitude and Inspiration

I am incredibly grateful for the people and places that have shaped this journey — the College for Creative Studies and its Pre-College Summer program that introduced me to college-level illustration, the Interlochen Center for the Arts Advanced Drawing Summer Program that deepened my technical foundation, and the artists, writers, teachers, and friends who keep me curious. Every project is a chance to learn from them and to add another thread to the work.