January 2024 Newsletter
🎊 Happy New Year!! 🎊
Happy New Year! 🎊
How are you feeling about 2024? I’m feeling hopeful, because of a fortune cookie I opened last night.
Fortune cookies on New Years Eve are part of a new family tradition from my sister-in-law. Everyone eats a fortune cookie on New Years Eve, and the enclosed fortune becomes part of your resolution/intention/goal for the next year. Mine said, “A wave is about to carry you to success.” I’ll take that!
Another tradition we have is to choose one word for the year. It’s a word to help stay grounded and aligned with goals. This year mine is: roots. Last year I planted the seeds, and now I’m focused on laying some solid foundations. (Not just in art - I’m getting married this year too. So family roots and art roots!)
If you have a word or fortune of the year (or another tradition), I’d love to hear about those! And I am wishing you all a creative and fulfilling 2024!
Now here are the updates from December…
What I have for you this month:
Commissions
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
Wedding maps
Kids birthday invitations
Pet portraits
Custom stationery
Family portraits
Gift tags
Wrapping paper
And the super fun part is that I can get the art printed on nearly anything to make your vision come to life! I’ve printed stickers, cards, art prints, gift tags, wrapping paper, and more!
Reserve a commission spot here.
TWO Live Events!!
I’m really excited to announce that I am co-hosting two live events this month!
Be sure to catch the monthly
Live on Monday, January 8. (open to free and paid subscribers)And stay tuned for more details about Art Gym, a new live sketching event, hosted by
and me on Tuesday, January 23 at 10 AM EST / 11 PM MYT (open to paid subscribers)
Weekly Artist newsletters:
In case you missed any, here’s what I wrote about last month:
Unlimited access to all past newsletters is available with a monthly subscription.
Updates from last month:
Patterns, patterns, patterns!
Last month my goal was to practice creating patterns. I combined this goal with an instagram challenge called Jehane’s 12 Days hosted by the Agency Jehane Ltd. It’s always so motivating to create art alongside other artists. Plus it was super helpful to have deadlines to make sure I stuck to my goals.
Here are the hero patterns I created for the 12 Days of Christmas:
I really wanted to maintain hand painted elements and textures, so I painted most of these on paper before arranging the icons digitally. Working in this hybrid mode has brought me a lot of joy recently. The analog techniques feel so grounding, but knowing that I’ll be making digital edits takes the pressure off to paint perfectly.
I also created additional patterns to make a larger collection for some of the prompts. Here are the mock up of the pattern collections:
Lastly, I imagined some patterns would go on clothing, wrapping paper, and even plates and mugs. I had so much fun mocking up these patterns on to various products. It really made me feel like my art had come to life.
I learned a ton this past month, and if you’re interested in patterns, I highly recommend this incredible course from Tati Abaurre!
Holiday Cards and Shop Update
Aside from creating patterns every other day, I was busy shipping out holiday cards and DIY Sticker Cards to all of you. Thank you so much to anyone who supported my small business this holiday season! Every order truly meant so much <3
As I learn more about art licensing, I’m interested in giving that market a try, which means I’ll be adding fewer cards on my shop. If there are any cards you’re interested in, grab them before they’re gone. I’m not planning to get more printed at this time!
Monthly pup-date
And lastly, here’s the monthly pup-date! I’m pretty sure this pup received more gifts than any of the humans 😆
That’s is for my updates! Please feel free to share any of your updates in the comments— I always love hearing what you’ve been up to!
See you next week for the monthly illoguild question,
Katie
PS - Remember to sign up for the illoguild LIVE on January 8!
I think my word will be "stillness." ✨
That’s a great idea for a new years tradition, I remembered I had a fortune cookie at home and I just opened it. I should then ask for more help this year, which sounds like a great motto! At home we eat 12 grapes and with each one we either set a goal or a wish. Have you heard of it?