Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Michael.
Hi Katie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve been illustrating ever since I can remember. I’ve always had a pencil in hand and have been drawing anything and everything since a very young age. I loved creating characters, naming them, coming up with their backstories and interests, and everything in between. When I was about eight, I realized that I could combine my lifelong love of books and reading with my love of art, and from then on I’ve wanted to be a children’s book author and illustrator. My childhood best friend and I went so far as to write and illustrate a story about our stuffed animals at the time.
As I grew older, I continued drawing constantly and filled countless sketchbooks, paper scraps, and napkins with my illustrations. I explored media and learned more technical skills through art classes at my local arts center. I always had a book that I was reading as well, so that helped keep me inspired with more stories to tell and characters to illustrate.
By the time I reached high school, I knew I wanted to be an illustrator. I worked very actively throughout those years on building my portfolio and applying to art schools. I visited SCAD Savannah my junior year of high school and fell in love with it. As a kid who grew up in Ohio, moving further south where I could study thirty minutes from the ocean and see palm trees every day was an absolute dream. I graduated high school in 2018 and moved to Georgia to pursue my illustration degree.
While at SCAD I learned so much about the illustration industry and who I am and want to become as an illustrator. I got to focus on children’s books, which has been a lifelong passion of mine, but I also discovered surface design in my junior year. That lead me to intern at Carter’s the summer before my senior year of college, and I also fell in love with creating patterns for children’s apparel! My senior year at SCAD I was able to go back to Savannah after a year and a half spent back home in the Midwest due to the pandemic, and I loved getting to build connections with my peers and experience the city more fully. I also got to actively participate in our Illustration Society, and was co-President my senior year and got to lead the club through activities to build networks, illustration skills and help prepare us for life after college.
I graduated from SCAD this past June in 2022 and immediately moved to Atlanta for my full-time job as a print designer with Carter’s, this time doing patterns for baby clothes and pajamas! I’ve loved my time there so far and recently celebrated six months with them. Meanwhile, I am actively pursuing children’s book illustration in my free time and hoping to build a freelance career in that area!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
For the most part, I’ve been lucky that the journey has been smooth! I’ve always known I wanted to be an artist, and I’ve been blessed with a family who has been supportive of my interests and given me the tools and space to explore my creative endeavors growing up. The biggest hurdles came along with the pandemic and having to navigate the biggest years of art school 700 miles away from my campus, peers, and faculty. It was easy to get discouraged and lose sight of why I was doing what I was doing. I got very burned out and struggled with fatigue from so much time sitting on my computer and staring at screens, and I missed out on some big college moments being so far away from my friends and peers. I had only taken a couple of classes in my major when the pandemic hit, and it was a lot harder to make friends from a screen so far away. I took charge of the situation though and focused on other hobbies to get my spirits up by getting a job where I could see friends a few times a week teaching lifeguarding classes, reading more, and spending more time outside.
Those struggles made me so much more grateful for the time I got to spend in Savannah in person my senior year, getting to make up for lost time in my last year of school, and even now getting to be in person at my creative job.
Currently, my new challenge is navigating post-grad, when I don’t have a next class to take or another set milestone to achieve. I’m trying to pursue freelance illustration, but it’s easy to feel discouraged when you get rejection letters and more no’s than yes’s. But this is all normal and what everyone goes through, and I just remind myself that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. There’s so much more time than what the quick pace of college would have you think to achieve your dreams.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a children’s book illustrator and surface designer. I love to share everyday magic through my art. I love the way that children see the world as magical and exciting, and even the everyday moments have beauty to them. I try to carry that sentiment into my illustrations and the worlds and characters I create. I love to use color and texture in my works to create a warm and inviting atmosphere. I love to use gouache, colored pencil, and digital media to create my illustrations.
I’m especially inspired by nature, endearing characters, and narratives that help to educate and include everyone in the world of books that I love so much. I’m a huge history nerd, and I love to illustrate different time periods and movements throughout history. I also love to illustrate classic stories in new ways, to make them interesting and accessible to a new generation of readers.
My favorite project to date would be my original story that I wrote and illustrated last year. I wrote Float during my sophomore year of college and delved into topics like swimming, anxiety, and our relationships with friends and family. I got to illustrate in my senior year, and I now have a book dummy that I am currently seeking publication for. I’m really proud of it and the whole process just makes me want to illustrate more!
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
For me, success is measured in how happy I am with the work I’m creating. If I continue to create illustrations about things that inspire me and I get to be telling stories in some way, I feel that I’m successful. I also think that success doesn’t have to be career-related. For me, a successful day means that I got outside, spent time with my cat and friends, and maybe got to read a good book or spend some time swimming or crocheting. I love delving into other facets of my life that feed into my art. I don’t think I can be truly successful if I’m stretched too thin to enjoy it.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://katiemichaele.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katiemichaele/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katiemichaele
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/katieemichael
Image Credits
Katie Michael
