We were lucky to catch up with Mercedez Brust recently and have shared our conversation below.

Mercedez, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I had gone to school for Illustration and Game Design from 2014-2019, during that time I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. I had dreams of learning to tattoo but wasn’t sure what that path would be. Also, everyone told me I needed to go to college, that that decision was the most important thing I could do during that time. So, I went through my schooling trying to figure out what I could do and sort of trying to figure out what my career would be.

Near the end of my schooling, I had just had my first two art shows, one as my senior show at Webster University and the other soon after with Warm Soda Magazine in Alton, Illinois. During my first show, I really doubted if this is what I wanted to do, I just wasn’t proud of the work I had created and wasn’t confident in my abilities to make it as an artist. Sooner after I received my degrees, I was been accepted into another show called Phantasmagoria II, this show really just sparked something within me.

I created my first Medusa artwork for Phantasmagoria II, and that illustration had a face covered with bright green serpents and I just really resonated with the piece. I felt like I was always hiding, I wasn’t confident and I didn’t really want to be seen. the story of Medusa is important to me as well and I felt like I really was started to show my style and personality in my art. That piece ended up winning an award for the show and really helped me to start to believe in myself.

Soon after that show, I created my first print and sold out. I was so proud and my friends and family were really excited for me. I was excited to start tiptoeing into a career as an illustrator and continue working on a portfolio to find an apprenticeship in tattooing. But, unfortunately soon after this point is when Covid-19 happened. The pandemic was hard of everyone and I was no exception. I ended up moving in with my then boyfriend and really struggled with my mental health. Everything stagnated and I had stopped drawing and stopped pursuing my dreams.

Around September/October I got the itch to draw again and my partner and I really started to talk about me creating a business with my art. After several coffees and a few weeks of research, BLKCatStudio was created. I had started an Etsy shop and started to create more and more art. Things were going really well and I couldn’t believe it! It was terrifying and also exhilarating to get orders for illustrations I made and to have people I didn’t know ask me questions about my art and my story.

After sometime of growing and drawing as much as I could, (and also with a ton of support from my mother and my fiancé) I got the chance to show my artwork to Jeremy Lambert, a tattoo artist and owner of Trust Tattoo Company. I was terrified. I had grown a little bit more confident in my abilities but this was a big jump. But, it went well and I have now been apprenticing under Jeremy for the last year and the shop will be having its two year anniversary party at the end of March.

I do believe maybe I could have started working on my career sooner, perhaps taking it more seriously in college but, I also do believe things happen the way they are suppose to. I’ve worked hard to get everything lined up correctly and I can finally say I am proud of myself. I have regrets about going to college sometimes, I also believe maybe a game design degree wasn’t the smartest idea. The degree was neat at the time but I don’t think I’ll really do anything with it in the future. I think if I hadn’t worked on that degree I could have work a bit harder on my art degree and learned a bit more, but I still grew my skills during art classes and I made a lot of connections during that time in college.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Mercedez Brust and I am an illustrator that owns a business called BLKCatStudio. I started my business in 2020 with just a few prints, but now we have been able to expand the amount of prints available plus we’ve created stickers, bookmarks and we’re currently working on an apparel line. I got into creating my shop with a lot of support from my partner, mother and friends that saw the potential when I didn’t.

My artwork generally revolves around darker, macabre themes. I really enjoy illustrating skulls and animals along with botanicals like mushrooms and Venus flytraps. I find that there is a lot beauty in those subjects that people usually don’t see, plus you can add a lot of depth with meanings of your subject matter.

Recently, my fiancé and I were able to take BLKCatStudio out of St. Louis and had a very successful market in Kansas City! We participated in the Boozy Book Fair hosted by the Gilded Page and really just had a wonderful time with the hosts and the people there. But, usually you can find us doing markets here in St. Louis or online!

Outside of the business, I am currently learning to tattoo and I also work with clients to create custom prints, album covers for bands, and other artwork that people commission me for. I have worked with several bands now and currently have about five or so album covers on Spotify. I have worked with two of my favorite artists, Erameld and 7th,Realm a few years back and also with several STL local bands like Mongoose and OfMonarchs.

I never would have imagined my art would go so far. I wasn’t very confident back then but I’m proud of my work and I am glad other people enjoy it as well!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I think something non-creatives struggle with an artists journey is that it is not a set path. There are multiple avenues a creative can go down and its not always a guaranteed thing. I have had people ask me where I see myself in five years or ten, and I for sure have my dreams, but none of that is absolutely going to happen. My goals are to be a tattoo artist and to be a full-time artist with my art shop, but who knows how that will go. Maybe I will get there or maybe I will keep doing it on the side and work a part time gig.

We don’t really have a flow chat of what to do next. There are no real guides and no set way to do it. I have friends that have gone into graphic design company’s and friends that after going the corporate route for twenty years, that have decided they just now want to start working on their art. I feel a lot of non-creatives have that set path. They do the internship, get the job, get the promotion, and maybe they keep moving up or maybe they just stay in that position. Artist though, I feel like we are always doing something different, there is so much out there to learn and try.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

That is a hard question, like I have said, the non-creatives might not understand our journey and I believe society as a whole doesn’t really understand either. I believe for us to have a thriving creative ecosystem, we need to let go of the idea of “everything needs to make money”. Things are hard right now economically, but I think the pressure of having to make money really dampens the creative juices sometime. I have struggled with the idea that everything I do has to be successful and make me money for a long time. It wasn’t till recently that I realized that concept and pressure was causing me so much burn out. I would release a product and it would not sell, I would be so stressed about it and so concerned that maybe I was failing to then end up burnt out and unable to draw for a long period of time.

I think as long as you enjoy your art, then your are successful. If you are still drawing and still working on your craft but, you have no sales, you are still winning. You are still an artist and you are still progressing. I understand the stress, like I said the economy sucks right now and we are all struggling, but sometimes you just have to keep creating.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://blkcatstudio.etsy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nyxilia/
• Other: Beacons: https://beacons.ai/nyxilia

  This has all my other links!

Image Credits

Mercedez Brust