February Newsletter
Live Events, More Patterns, and Manifestations ✨
Happy February!
Thanks for welcoming my emails in your inbox two days in a row!
Also wow, it’s finally February. Did January seem endless to anyone else? Maybe it’s just that finally I slowed down after a busy holiday season. But anyways, I hope you had a lovely January, whether is was quick or a little bit slow. I really love hearing what you’ve been up to, so please feel free to share in the comments!
Here are my updates…
What I have for you this month:
Commissions
If you missed it last month… I am reopening commissions, and I’m now taking up to THREE per month! I usually reserve only two spaces, so I’m excited to be offering more per month this year. Here are some commissions I’ve completed in the past:
Wedding invitations / save the dates / maps
Birthday invitations
Pet portraits
Custom stationery
Gift tags and wrapping paper
Recordings from Live Events
Watch now - Illoguild Live: Creative Goal Setting
Watch now - Art Gym: Icons Workshop
Weekly Artist newsletters:
In case you missed any, here’s what I wrote about last month:
Hi, it’s me! 👋 (introduction post)
Art Gym: Creating with Icons (Live workshop recording)
Unlimited access to the Library of Toolkits, Live Events, and all past newsletters are available with a monthly subscription.
Upcoming Live Events:
Illoguild Live on Monday, February 5 at 7 AM EST / 12 PM GMT
(open to all subscribers)
Join the guild as we chat about productivity and how we organize projects for success! To check the local time and register, use this button:
Art Gym: Animals Workshop on Tuesday February 27
(open to paid subscribers)
Join Adam Ming and me in our second Art Gym workout! We have tons of good stuff to share with you about drawing and simplifying animals. If you’re a paid subscriber, scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to sign up.
Updates from last month:
Test Print of My ABCF at School
This book is in collaboration with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Western Australia, and it’s nearly ready to go to print! I did a test print at home to get a good sense of how it’s coming along. Now I’m in contact with the printer in Australia for a test print. After that, 300 or so copies will be printed and gifted to children who have CF.
If there’s anyone in the US who wants a copy, let me know. I’ll be ordering some to the US from Australia!
More Pattern Design
Last month I shared a bunch of patterns I created. Now I cannot stop creating patterns and putting them on mock-ups. It’s way too fun to see the designs come to life! I played with some simple patterns since last month involveda lot of intricate hero patterns. Here’s my favorite:
And here’s a peak at the process and a few other mock ups from other simple designs that I painted:
New Birthday Cards
Here are some birthday cards I made recently. The winter is a busy time for birthdays among my friends and family! Each one has significance for the person I made it for, so that makes them really enjoyable to create.
Minted Challenges
I just discovered Minted Design Challenges! Artists can submit designs for a variety of topics. The current submission category is Baby Shower and Special Holidays (I submitted specifically for Diwali). The designs I submitted are above.
Minted also provides stock photography if you want to design a photo card, so I gave that a try too! The design of the border is inspired by rangoli.
For the baby shower contest, I wanted to practice some more watercolor flowers. My submission is inspired by the floral arrangements at my sister-in-law’s baby shower. Heres a look at my process for the baby shower invitation:
Rejected… again!
I was rejected from another agency. Oh well, onwards and upwards! Honestly I’ve been rejected so many times from so many places that it barely hurts anymore. Of course there’s a sting, but I’m already over it. This is all part of it.
So what if my art wasn’t the right fit? I’m still doing some pretty cool things! Including doing something I can’t tell you about yet!
Manifesting
I purposefully put this section about manifesting right after the section on rejection, because I believe a positive mindset is crucial in this industry. I signed up for the MATS Manifest Your Dream Creative Career course, because why not? It sounded like such a positive and fun way to start the year.
The coolest thing happened in day one of class. Lilla, art agent and teacher, does art tarot readings during the class. I thought it’d be inspiring to receive a reading, so at the beginning of class, I wrote, “I will be selected for a reading with Lilla.”
And then I was chosen!!
Her reading was mystical and psychic, and I was so there for it. Since then I’ve really been leaning into intuition, and some interesting things have happened. A book I thought I lost the chance to do suddenly came back, and I’m starting it this month. My art was selected by art agent Jehane as a special mention in her 12 Days of Christmas challenge, out of 2,000 submissions!! Also I got a shout out in a Peloton class (yes I’m a peloton person, and it’s really rare to get a shoutout). I got to sign a contract for another secret project. With all these good vibes, I honestly considered going to buy a lottery ticket… Although class ends this week, I’m grateful to have started the year with such positivity and momentum.
Our assignment the first week was to collect items that are important to us. I gathered these items and found that arranging them was very meditative. I could feel the power of them all being together, because they’re all things that are special to me. They have memories attached to them, and that makes them powerful to me. They ground me in what I value in my life.
Monthly pup-date
And lastly, Auggie’s sending cozy thoughts to everyone!
I really do love hearing what you’ve been up to, so I invite you to share in the comments. And I hope you all have a wonderful start to the month!
See you all next week!
Katie
PS - Remember to sign up for the illoguild Live here, and if you’re a paid subscriber, you can sign up for Art Gym with the button below: