Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katie Flack. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Katie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
One of the greatest projects I’ve worked on was illustrating Gus’ Special, Magical, Most Favorite Hat. I had had a desire to illustrate children’s books for a while when Madeline approached me about illustrating the story she wrote about her son Gus. I knew it was the perfect opportunity to fulfill my desire. Madeline is a good friend of mine from Clemson and her story is about her son, Gus, who has autism. I wanted to create something beautiful to accompany their story. I have a background in working with children with special needs and have a passion for helping them in any way I can. I saw a need for more stories featuring these wonderful children! This project is much larger than the story and illustrations; it is a message of inclusion, community and creating more books featuring children with special needs as the main character. It is part of a larger vision to expand this area of children’s story books. I want to create books that follow these main characters with special needs on their adventures.
Katie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I have had an interest in art since I was very young. I did after school art programs, summer art camps, etc. but I never viewed my art as a potential career. During the pandemic I was able to finally travel this amazing path, embracing art full time, and have never been happier. I have this drive to show what a successful art career looks like and inspire others to pursue art if it is their dream. Over the years I have been asked to do many different projects, and whether I’ve done it before or not I normally say yes. This has led me to working on so many different projects and pushing myself beyond what I thought I could do. I paint in oils, watercolor, draw in charcoal, make digital royal/renaissance pet portraits, house paintings, portraits, logos, coloring books, and illustrations. You name it and I will do it! My absolute favorites are charcoal portraits (normally of adorable children) and plein air landscape oil painting. It is fun working with people to bring their visions to life and while I enjoy creating other people’s visions I also love seeing beautiful scenes that inspire me and creating my own original work. There is nothing better than spending the afternoon painting in a beautiful garden, on a city street, down by the river, or just in my own backyard.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
On my journey to creating the Collegiate Coloring Books series I have run into a lot of confusion and rejection. During most of the first five years of creating this series I was working a full-time job and had very little time to work on the illustrations and the process of licensing. As I moved further along I was met with many obstacles and little to no guidance on how to continue. I thought about giving up when I was charged expensive fees, couldn’t find the proper insurance, had coloring pages rejected and was turned down by stores. In my heart I knew this was something I wanted to do and I received enough positive feedback from friends and customers that I knew I couldn’t give up! The whole experience has helped me handle rejection and continue stronger and better. This project started as a small suggestion seven years ago to make a Clemson coloring book. It took five years of persistence in the licensing world and illustrating every page, finally ending in a full coloring book. I have done so much to make this successful, including pulling a wagon full of coloring books around campus selling on game days! I now have three successful coloring books with more to come!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I had to unlearn that having a “traditional” 9-5 job is the only path that truly works. I knew I would be happy if I could be creating all day, but not having the stability of a regular paycheck scared me. Almost everyone I know has a traditional job and being the one person who is piecing together her own career feels unstable at times. I know now that I can and will make this crazy art career life work for me because it is something I love and I will not give up. There is a different path for everyone and nobody should let a less traditional path scare them.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.katieflack.com
- Instagram: katieflackart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katieflackart
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-flack/
- Other: Collegiate Coloring Books www.collegiatecoloringbooks.com Etsy www.etsy.com/shop/KatieFlackArt