We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kaitlyn Blade a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Kaitlyn, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I have always been fascinated by the arts and the idea of being a creative. However, I didn’t always believe that it was possible to be a professional artist full time. I was always drawing anything I could from a very young age, but during the last 2 years of high school I felt a little lost. The societal pressures of the future were weighing down on me as I believed I needed a “good paying job” instead of believing that art could be my future career. I didn’t know what path I wanted to take, and there weren’t many professional artists around me that I could get advice from. My junior year of high school I acrylic painted for the first time, and fell in love with it. I started a new relationship with art and for the next year after that I was painting and learning nonstop. Even though art was becoming a huge part of my being, I still let external pressures persuade me into majoring in computer science when I started college. I felt the need to be in a major that would give me “better chances” at a good future. It wasn’t until the day of freshman orientation, when they called out the majors and told everyone to go with the group they felt was right for them. I heard Fine Arts and felt that was right. I signed up for art classes and changed my major immediately. I am so grateful to myself for doing so. The passion inside of me shined through and showed me that I always knew deep down that an artist is what I was meant to be. I went through 4 years of art school and never gave up on my artistic journey, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am now a full time artist and content creator, learning everyday how to be successful and productive post-graduation.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Kaitlyn Blade and I am a full time artist based in Kennesaw, Georgia. I mainly focus on oil painting and/or drawing the human figure with a combination of surrealist and modern art styles. I heavily enjoy color theory, dreamlike imagery, and exploring narratives and emotional themes in my work, especially by using the octopus creature as a frequent subject. I also use myself as inspiration to create a relationship between me, the viewer, and the artwork. I started my artistic journey in 2016 with first learning how to acrylic paint. Once I became a college student, I began experimenting with many different mediums, and I now call myself an oil painter.

The processes of the painting and drawing practice and watching the different ways artists create form is part of why I paint. The idea that any artistic choice can be made to perfect a piece, is a thought very present in the way I create, and makes the artistic process exciting.

I also consider myself a content creator and have been making videos seriously for about 2 years now. I am on TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube and show snapshots of my life, my artistic processes, and thoughts/emotions as an artist and person. Making videos is another activity I’m passionate about because I love the idea of leaving my story for the world to learn who I am and what I am about. It has been difficult to balance both creative outlets: painting and content creation, but I am still grateful I am able to.

I have an online website and shop that I add to frequently. I currently provide custom paintings, original artworks, art prints, and stickers. I enjoy working with people because every person is different and I can create something from just an idea, that perfectly envisions what is described. The reaction that people have to my work, the ability to connect with someone through just visuals, and the combining of creative ideas makes me want to keep creating not only for myself, but others too.

In my art career so far, I am most proud of putting myself out there and taking the leap to pursue art full time. I made the decision on my own and I love seeing myself grow into the person and artist I am today and I am soon to become. I’m extremely grateful for my past self and creative inner child that never gave up on the dream that has been inside of me since birth.

I hope people feel something from my art. I think the most important thing that people can experience and keep close to them is human emotion. Awareness and reflection have become a huge part of my life, as I work through my past, enjoy who I am and what I choose in the present, and prepare for my future. So my main goal is to create, and have people understand and relate in their own unique way.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I graduated college in December 2021. That means 2022 was the true beginning of my full time art career. I had been in school my whole life until then and it was completely life altering to be without that structure for the first time ever. I hadn’t realized how much I was using school and routine as a crutch to get me through everyday life. And having to be depend on just myself to be productive and disciplined was more difficult than I could ever imagine. I no longer had grades, attendance, deadlines and other people to structure my life around. As a result, my sleep and productivity took many hits. I felt completely lost, and ended up overwhelming myself with this new amount of freedom and change in routines. I had just began content creating as well, so trying to allocate my time to painting, making and editing content, self care, social life, having an online shop, and more… it was a lot for me and my brain. I became aware of how little I was painting, and decided (with the help of my therapist) that it just meant change was happening and I needed to change my mindset a long with it.

Now, I am still figuring out what works for me regarding productivity, feeling content with my processes, and finding direction and intention in my daily tasks. But I think I am meant to adjust to this new full time artist lifestyle. Trying new things and learning what I like and dislike is all a part of that. Just like when painting, I must trust the process of myself too.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media is very tricky. There are many ways and reasons that people go viral or become successful on any platform. I chose the route of just posting what I want when I want. As someone with anxiety, it wasn’t a great idea to get stuck on the algorithms and a schedule. I tried that and I felt unhappy and rushed, more like a machine, not a human being. Like my routines as an artist, my content is still a work in progress, but I know that being driven by art instead of the follower or like count is what is important, at least for me.

Focusing on follower count never left me motivated so I just kept posting whatever, whenever, not worrying about trends, hashtags, or what others were doing. While focusing on those things can help, I try to understand what I like first before I think about others’ opinions.

I created my most recent painting titled “Don’t Lose Yourself”, posted it because I liked it, and made a very simple video showing the final brushstrokes of the piece – a video I wasn’t even going to post, might I add! I noticed people were really enjoying it and eventually my follower count on my art instagram went from 2,000 to 10K in less than 2 weeks. We are now at 22K!

Building a social media presence is about consistency in the type of content you make. To do that you have to be true to yourself first and what you enjoy about your content and creations. Sometimes it is even chance. So my greatest advice is to just post any and everything, and do it in a way that brings you joy. There’s no harm in posting something you are proud of. And please don’t be discouraged by how many people are seeing your things. One person is more than none. I’ve had my art instagram since 2016 and it took about 6 years to get where I am today. And that’s with lack of consistency and not knowing how to make videos. Imagine what you can achieve in a shorter amount of time, especially as social media continues to progress right in front of us! Once you are able to stop micro focusing on numbers and algorithms, the followers and engagement will come.

Contact Info:

• Website: kbladeart.com
• Instagram: @kbladeart
• Twitter: @kblvde
• Youtube: Kaitlyn Blade
• TikTok: @kbladeart
• Pinterest: @kaitlynblade