Hi I'm Katie

I can only answer for my experience in animation, but to be honest going to art college isn’t necessary for getting a job.  That’s not to say art school isn’t valuable, or worthwhile if you can afford it and know you will make the best out of your time there (actually learning and making stuff).

I wanted to go to art school, but I failed to get into my school of choice and couldn’t afford it anyway.  So instead I moved to LA after highschool and got a job as the lowest rung on the ladder at an animation studio, making photocopies and scanning drawings.  Over the next decade I moved up to inking, then to layout, then finally design and storyboards, and that served as my education.

These days I think potential hirers value good work ethics and a willingness to grow and learn just as much (or possibly more) than a degree (a good portfolio and the ability to network helps too, of course).

Nope!  See above.  :]

I had a mishap with my blog a couple years ago and managed to lose all of my old posts, and a lot of the art I once had up there might be a bit difficult to dig up to repost.  I’ve had a few people ask me about my old tutorial style blog posts like the one on drawing mouths, but to be honest I now feel like I shouldn’t have been attempting to teach anyone about construction and things like that.  The drawings I posted certainly didn’t illustrate what I was preaching about, and now I feel a bit bad about that.  :<

Thanks you, I’m glad you liked Skadi!  Lessee…this is a tough one, there are a lot of mangas I really like a lot.  I love anything by Ai Yazawa, who’s Gokinjo Monogatari really influenced how I drew as a teenager.  I like a lot of Tezuka’s more lighthearted stuff…and some other favorites would be Ranma, Dragonball, Dr. Slump, What’s Michael, Happy Mania, Peach Girl…there are a lot.  :]

Hello!  These are some of my favorites:

Oof, this is a tough one…Let me sketch something and I’ll put it up in a bit!

Thank you!  I do like Tim Burton’s art a lot, but I wouldn’t consider him one of my bigger influences…maybe subconsciously?  I’m sure a lot of stuff has snuck in without me really noticing.  The ones that stand out to me would be Disney movies, which were almost all i watched as a kid, then Ren and Stimpy when it came out, then after that I was real into anime, and now I’m all into French comics (I still read manga though).  There are also tons of modern artists that influence and inspire me as well…I follow most of their Tumblrs, so you should check them out!

This is sort of a tough question to answer…personally I think everyone has a style that they are just born with, and the hard part is getting comfortable enough with drawing that it can come out and show itself naturally.  By constantly looking at art we admire, we absorb bits and pieces of it without even knowing.  It may seem slow and tedious but I believe it’s better than trying too hard to manufacture a style. 

At the same time…there’s nothing wrong with purposefully experimenting with different techniques or trying new things that don’t feel natural to you.  Pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is always a good thing…for instance, trying to draw realistically rather than cartoony, if cartoony is your normal thing.  Or vice versa.  Or after admiring a way a certain artist inks, trying to see if you can switch up how you ink to make things more interesting.  If there is an artist you admire, try asking yourself what it is they do that makes you respond to their work, and think about those ideas while you are drawing.  You can also research the artists you like, find who influenced them, and look at those drawings to get inspiration from.

I would advise not to copy surface elements of other artist’s work (sorry if this is starting to go off topic).  I think everyone does it to some degree, but really it feels so much better to draw without the burden of trying to be like someone else.  It’s important to remember that no one sees the world the same way you do- trust your own observations and draw things how YOU see them, and just keep drawing and drawing and drawing!

Brienne of Tarth

Hopefully kinda soon…right now I have a lot to do as far as work and other obligations, but when I get some spare time I wanna write a cool story for her.

Right now you can show support by going to the site and voting for me (all though as far as I know the poll is just for fun), and by checking out the show when it comes on in a couple weeks!  I think it’s gonna be pretty cool…