Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie Scarlett Griffin.
Katie Scarlett, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
From a young age, I took an interest in art and by the time I was in high school, I knew I wanted to have a creative career. I had the same studio art teacher, David Boyd, all four years of high school and he is a huge part of the reason I came to enjoy art so much, his classes were always fun and encouraged creativity.
Later in high school, I took a graphic design course with my teacher, Meredith Wilson. I learned more about how art can be applied in the “real world” and I really starting leaning into making logos and branding. After working on a poster, t-shirt and flyer for a film festival that my high school put on, I quickly decided that graphic design was what I wanted to do more.
I attended Georgia Southern University and had some really amazing and helpful professors along the way. I studied graphic design and was enjoying it, especially logo design and branding. At the end of my junior year, I took an animation class on a whim just cause I had some friends taking it. I quickly realized I loved it and had a knack for illustration too. Animation was always something that really intimidated me for a long time, but once I understood the programs I was able to just enjoy it. I believe this is when art style really started developing. My animation professor, Derek Larson gave me the creative space to combine animation with graphic design in several creative projects.
Fast forward to post-college— I got a Junior Graphic Design position at Treebird Branding, a design agency in West Midtown, Atlanta. Treebird bas worked with a lot of local businesses around Atlanta including Star Provisions, Atlanta Beltine, and more.
Once the pandemic hit, I was almost a year into my career. Of course, we started working from home and like everyone else I had a lot of extra time on my hands. One thing I realized I was missing now that I had a full-time design job was creating art for fun. The pandemic gave me time to get back into being creative for myself. I bought an iPad Pro and being drawing many different things and playing with animation too. Once I felt confident enough, I began posting my art on Instagram. I follow many artists there that sell their work and other fun products, and that was something I really wanted to do!
Over the course of the next couple of years, I really honed in on my distinctive art style and steadily built my following to 10K. I remember the first time I printed my work, I sold out in a couple of days. I had pieces going as far as Australia and Italy, it was crazy to see my work reach others that were so far away. Since then I’ve been given many opportunities both locally. I’ve had the chance to work with brands like Wacom, Heinz, Thrillist and more. Locally, and have a piece that can be found in Ponce City Market in The Print Shop.
Around the end of 2021, I wanted to take a chance with my art career and decided to move to New York City. I was balancing my full-time design job with a full-time art career.
I now live in Brooklyn and have gained a lot of experience in selling my art. I love participating in the local markets here and sharing my work with travelers and people who live in the surrounding neighborhoods. Living here has helped me gain more confidence as an artist.
As for now, I’m balancing my design job and Treebird Branding and Illustrating Freelance. I’m looking forward to the future of what comes next in my career!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I think the toughest part of starting my career was when I got my first design job and quickly realized I had to work within restrictions. Many clients would turn my work into something I didn’t recognize as my own anymore. I think adjusting to the 9-5 schedule was also a challenge in itself, especially when I had to commute to work 5 days a week. When I got off work I didn’t really have the drive to create anything that was just for me. It took me a while, but eventually I was able to re-energize and start creating outside of work, and that’s how my art style was born. That being said, I am lucky to work with an agency that gets a diverse range of clients and a boss that is supportive of my freelance career!
Another struggle I have that I’d like to bring up (and I think many newer artists may relate to) is the pressure to post consistently on social media channels, especially in the form of short videos (reels, TikTok, etc). While I’m open to getting more into videos, I’m at a place right now where I’m trying to focus solely on the work itself and not so much “content creation.” I always feel like I should be trying harder and doing more.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My pieces are known to have bold bright colors with animated elements. I typically draw interior spaces that are filled with plants, interesting furniture, and decor. I do also do outside things like cityscapes or scenes of nature. All my works have a similar underlying peaceful and serene feeling to them. They are all warm and inviting and offer the viewer a chance to put themselves in the space.
I think I am most proud of developing a recognizable art style that evokes a positive emotion in people. It makes me happy to see people’s reactions to my work and know that it’s making someone happy to have my art on their walls. One of the sweeter comments I received was from an elementary school teacher that said she often projected one of my looped animations for her students in the morning for a peaceful start to their school day. It’s things like this that make me want to keep going!
Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Back when I first got started, I learned a lot through the Women of Illustration podcast by Dina Rodriguez. It kept me inspired and gave me helpful tips. Each episode interviewed a woman in the industry and covered different topics.
Contact Info:
- Website: bykatiescarlett.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katie.scarlett/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katiegriffindesigns
- Other: bykatiescarlett.shop
Image Credits
Picture of Tote is by Elon Francis
