Today we’d like to introduce you to Cat Scully.
Cat, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve wanted to illustrate books basically since I first opened one. I wanted to be the one creating the worlds, telling visual stories in any form I could. In college, it was a stroke of luck that I was randomly placed in a freshman introductory creative writing course, something that gave a taste of what it would be like to enter a creative writing major. I remember my first assignment, going up to the instructor and asking him if we could really write anything we wanted. That was my first real experience where creating worlds was something I was encouraged to do, rather than something I was doodling along the edges of my high school notebooks.
I ended up majoring in writing and graduating cum laude from the Honors College at Western Carolina University, and my favorite subject under that umbrella was screenwriting. It seemed the perfect marriage of my writing and illustrating abilities, but publishing was always in the back of my mind. I still wanted to create content for books but wasn’t sure where to start. Meanwhile, I got my start in an internship at Cartoon Network, which launched me into steady work as a graphic designer and animator. It wasn’t until some years later when I had my first son that the experience of having him made me re-examine all the things I was afraid of and wasn’t going for out of fear, and I finally realized publishing was the big one I was scared of. I worried I wasn’t good enough to get my art in books.
I queried agents for about six months before landing my first agent on a book I had written in college called Jennifer Strange. During the revision process, I started posting my art online via Twitter and Facebook and had my first inquiry into I would do art for hire. I drew four character cards for novelist Stefan Bachmann and his book THE PECULIAR, which caught the attention of Claire Legrand. She asked if I could do world maps and I shrugged and said sure, why not? I’d gotten past the fear of trying, so I felt what did I have to lose? There was a chance it wouldn’t make it in the book, but I wanted to give it a go anyway. I drew the map for Simon and Schuster’s WINTERSPELL, and they loved it so much they included it in the book! I was thrilled of course, but I had no idea of the floodgates it would open that would turn my map-making into a full-time business.
From WINTERSPELL, I went on to work for clients like Penguin Random House, Scholastic, Disney Hyperion, HarperCollins, Sourcebooks, and more. Last fall, I worked on nineteen world maps between August and January alone. I’ve been enjoying the process more and more as I study digital painting and traditional watercolors and how I can incorporate them into my work. Every map is unique, and I try to give my best to each and every map I design. I’m currently branching out into designing chapter headings and book covers as well, plus my book JENNIFER STRANGE (which is fully illustrated) will be coming out next July 2019 with Haverhill House Publishing!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing about the publishing journey is smooth or expected, but there are moments of luck and unexpected timing. You go into the field knowing it’s a labor of love and your craft and the friends you find along the way help you navigate the ups and downs more than anything else. The biggest thing that has helped me through the lows has been the tremendous community I found in my fellow writers and illustrators, who always seem to be trying to lift each other up. It was hard leaving my first agent, for example, but it was through the community I was able to sail through that storm and happily onto the agent I work with now, who is a delight.
It’s also a struggle to constant hustle, find new gigs and balance home/work life when publishing is a hurry-up-and-wait industry. Things either happen very quickly or in six months, and you have to learn to be both patient and flexible. You wait on a manuscript for six months or a year or more, which means forcing yourself to focus on something else while you wait for your agent to pitch your book to editors and for them to read your work. Having worked a lot on the other side, marketing books and being part of the process of developing a marketing plan, it’s made me a lot more patient with publishing than I was when I first started. You find out that everyone is trying to help you succeed, but everything takes the time it takes. You learn to write the next book, to have a life outside of publishing, or focus on the day job. It becomes easier. Working on world maps and watching other people succeed brings me so much joy, and it has helped me forget my own waiting process of my books.
If you’re young and just starting out, the biggest advice I give to writers and illustrators I mentor is to keep learning, trying to improve your craft, read and study. Basically, keep going. Someone out there is waiting for your art, your story. Be humble about your work, but know when to fight for it too.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I specialize in world maps for books, but my style tends to be adaptable to the project. I also try new techniques with every map. For GIVE THE DARK MY LOVE by Beth Revis, I watercolored her entire map, and it was giant. For LABYRINTH LOST by Zoraida Cordova, I digitally painted everything. It depends on the feel of the book and what the client wants. I love to collaborate and also experiment in my process. Some maps are part traditional paint and digital, some are all ink like a comic book.
I’m known for maps, but I’d love to be asked to do more monsters and character art. Luckily, more of those projects have been knocking on my door lately.
Which women have inspired you in your life?
Every woman I’ve ever met in publishing inspires me. It’s a tough industry. I’ve met writers struggling to get their first agent for years, writers who leave their first agent that are struggling to find a new one, women who hone their craft through study and dedication until their work shines, writers who are unknown leap into the spotlight through not giving up, women who stand up for others and champion their beliefs and defend minority voices by lifting them up and never backing down. So, there’s no one specific because it’s honestly every single woman and female-identifying voice I’ve encountered both in conferences and online that gives me the courage to keep going.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.catherinescully.com
- Email: catherinescully.writer@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catmscully/
- Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/catmscully
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
