Bored Panda reached out to Kate to learn more about her work. She began by guiding us through her creative process, explaining how each illustration starts with a simple idea and develops into a completed piece: “Generally when starting a new illustration, I get an idea simply by listening to music, walking outside, or doing something outside my house. I usually do this at the same time as I'm thinking of a theme, and usually, an idea begins. When I get to my studio, I loosely sketch the idea stick-figure style until I see it concretely. I move on to the actual sketch and that's when I decide whether to do it traditionally or with Procreate. I finish the illustration by colouring it until I deem it finished and that's it. For me, the hardest part of illustrating is coming up with an idea and first putting it on paper. I always find that to be the most time-consuming. Figuring out colours would be second to that as well.”
When asked how her style has evolved since she first began drawing, the creator of Poopikatt explained: “Well, I used to want to go into character design for video games such as World of Warcraft and let's say that's definitely not the path I chose. A teacher in school once told me my work was "pretty" but didn't hold any form of storytelling, and that teacher ended up being a children's book illustration prof. That's kind of what kickstarted me into storytelling and the world of children's illustration, which I had never thought of before. That's also when I began drawing traditionally again for the first time in a long time and my style went from just characters to something a bit bigger!”
Of all the projects Kate has worked on, we wondered if there was one that stood out as her favorite or most memorable. Here’s what she shared with us: “There have definitely been a couple of projects. The first one would be illustrating ‘Being Different is Truly Magnificent.’ I just remember loving working on this book, and I still love the way my work looks in the book to this day. Another great one would be the beginning of working on board games. I can't say the name yet as the project isn't out to the public, but I worked on a new board game with Ravensburger which I absolutely adored working on. The process was challenging and new, but it was something super fun. I also enjoyed it because it was a big project, but also a shorter one if that makes sense.”
Lastly, we asked the illustrator about the dream projects or collaborations she hopes to pursue in the next five years. Kate said: “Ah, I hope to get into graphic novels for middle grade, that would be my #1 dream. Another tie would be working on other books such as PB, CB, or MG books and covers. I'm also still waiting for a collaboration from Caran d'Ache or Prismacolor for traditional art media, haha! One day, I hope!“
