Meet Katelyn Blodgett

Today we’d like to introduce you to Katelyn Blodgett.

Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I am an Arizona native of 26 years old who has been drawing since I could hold a pencil. My mother (Nicole McCaigue) is also an artist so I grew up in a very creative household. I had a lot of support from her and my father to pursue my passion so I attended Arizona State University and received my BFA in Drawing. After graduation, I started working as a full-time graphic designer to pay the bills. My dream job has always been to work in an animation or game studio designing characters and creatures. After applying to concept artist jobs for years without any luck, I decided to take my career into my own hands. About three years ago, I started creating art on YouTube. With a lot of hard work, dedication, and making sure to draw what I love, I have built a community of about 43,000 subscribers and a portfolio of character and creature designs. I still work as a full-time graphic designer but I hope one day I can start a career as a full-time artist Youtuber.

Please tell us about your art.
My main artistic passion is creating monsters and creatures. I have always loved mythology and drawing creatures of legends! On my YouTube channel, I have my community participate in helping me create new and fantastical beasts. They send me animals, plants, and attributes to combine to create new monsters. My favorite part of this process is brainstorming lore and backstory to these creations. I am a story teller at heart and really enjoy creating meaning to every creature and character I make.

I create most of my art using Adobe Photoshop and my Wacom Cintiq 27 QHD. I also do more traditional art including ink drawings and copic marker pieces.

With my YouTube channel and art, I want to inspire others to unlock their creativity and let loose with their characters and creatures. I also want my viewers to learn more about the process behind creating characters and what to think about during their design process.

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
I think a big challenge artists face today is finding their audience and their voice. This also plays into the struggle of trying to stand out among the crowd of online artists. My advice is to first and foremost, create what you love. Your audience will become passionate about what you make if you are equally as passionate. Secondly, learn the platforms you are posting on and what can help make them successful. For example, on Instagram, learn how their algorithm works and make sure to do that with each of your posts. Use effective hashtags, become active in the communities you want to stand out in, and overall, be genuine on every platform. Be humble, be kind, be genuine, and always hustle hard! It’s a lot of hard work to build yourself up and stay involved but it will be worth it in the long run.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
You can check out my work on my YouTube channel, Instagram or Twitter. You can also directly support me by watching my videos, supporting me on my Patreon, or purchasing some of my work on my art or apparel sites.

YouTube https://youtube.com/katelynmccaigue
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kmccaigue/
Twitter https://twitter.com/kmccaigue

Website https://www.katelynmccaigue.com/
Art Shop https://www.katelynmccaigue.com/shop
Apparel Shop https://teespring.com/stores/kmccaigue
Patreon https://www.patreon.com/kmccaigue

Contact Info:

• Website: www.katelynmccaigue.com
• Email: kmccaigueart@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kmccaigue/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kmccaigue
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kmccaigue
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/katelynmccaigue

Image Credit:
Art by Katelyn McCaigue

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