Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katie Valentine. 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 were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?

Life always has a way of taking your plans and sending you off in another direction. I got my iPad in 2021 to use for digital planning and some doodling but I fell in love with creating art with the Procreate app. It wasn’t the first time I’ve picked up art as a hobby but this time it was different and I knew it wasn’t just one of my short lived ADHD hyper-fixations. I was working in a very toxic and psychologically abusive environment and drawing just became what helped me get through the days. I took a ton of procreate classes online and through those learned about surface design and art licensing and I knew I wanted to pursue those paths. In the meantime I opened up an Etsy shop in January 2022 to sell my designs as stickers and digital art prints. I really love Taylor Swift so I made a few stickers inspired by her songs and I gained some momentum on Etsy from them and launched my own website, MangoIllustrated.com. In February 2023 I signed up to take Bonnie Christine’s Immersion surface design course starting that March. I had followed Bonnie off and on since 2013 when I did my first attempt at learning Adobe Illustrator and surface design. I was so excited to start the course and my online sales were consistent but manageable but I had the time. Or so I thought. The Eras Tour was starting around the same time and Taylor used to draw a 13 on her hand during her tours which Swifties started doing as well and it became a tradition. But I thought the idea of using sharpie and nail polish to draw on your hand was a wee bit toxic and I decided to have temporary tattoos of the 13s made. March 10, 2023 was the last normal day of my life. The tattoos have been wildly successful for which I am so grateful. Because of them I was able to continue to invest in the product side of my business and launch a whole stationery and gift line. I went from making maybe $3k in revenue in 2022 to multi six figures in revenue in 2023. It’s absolutely mind blowing and unbelievable and I’m so proud of what I’ve built. But there’s always a but. While I have sporadic help from my fiancé and sister, I’m a one girl show and I still have a full time job (luckily not the toxic one anymore). All of my plans to pursue art licensing and surface design kind of came to a halt. I did not learn Adobe Illustrator and there were hundreds of nights where I was filling orders until 1, 2, 3 am. I wasn’t able to dedicate the time I wanted to to creating art. With that came a lot of insecurity and scarcity mindset. A lot of times I’ll post something non-Taylor related on Instagram and it gets bare minimum engagement compared to Taylor related posts. I’m constantly wondering if I boxed myself into this niche that I can’t expand out of. A lot of uncertainty comes with it because I want illustration, lettering, and surface design to be my full time career but I worry I’ll never be able to do that if everything that generates income is based off of someone else’s fanbase. This yearning for sustainable growth has led me to make some questionable investments in business coaches because I need help making this transition. In the grand scheme of things, I’m fortunate that these are the problems that keep me up at night, but they were definitely unexpected and not at all what I had planned for 2023. Fortunately I adapt quickly and have been able to streamline my product business and focus more on art and I will be retaking the Immersion course and finally learn Illustrator. But the unexpected is unexpected so I’m not making big set plans. In 2024 I’m choosing to be more intentional with my time and resources and product business. Because I do love it. Through wholesale, my products are carried by small businesses all over the country. I’ve shipped orders to every state and at least a dozen countries. One of my greatest joys is knowing that when I ship out orders, what I’ve created is going out into the world to someone who is choosing to make that design a part of their life and that’s a great feeling.

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 Katie and I’m from Charlotte, NC. I’m an illustrator, letterer, and surface designer, mom to two corgis, and a Swiftie. After getting an iPad and learning digital illustration and lettering, I started an Instagram for my art and named it after my corgi, Mango, since the first piece of art I publicly shared was a portrait of her. I built my brand, MangoIllustrated, by selling stickers of my designs and now have a thriving stationery and gift business. My “13” temporary tattoos for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour have been the driving force behind my business expansion and 2023 was a crazy year to say the least. My goal of art licensing and surface design have had to take the backseat but I’ve been able to connect with so many amazing people and small business owners through my products and selling wholesale. It took some time to get a handle on everything and figuring out the balance between my product business and my creative aspirations but with systems and processes set up, I’m ready to go full force with my illustration, lettering, and surface design pursuits. I’m building out my portfolio and my goal for 2024 is expand into client work and art licensing. I’m a big believer in manifesting and saying what you want out loud to the universe and by the end of 2024 I will have been commissioned to illustrate a book cover, license my art, and become job optional with my full time day job. But at the end of the day, what makes me happiest is that what I’m doing and what I’m creating is bringing as much happiness to the people who buy my designs and products as it brings to me.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

I was getting a lot of comments on my Instagram posts from random people saying “I really love your art and want to buy it as a NFT.” It got to the point where I made a story highlight called “NFT PSA” and fortunately the requests stopped. I’m never going to sell my art as NFTs. Primarily because the concept is so arbitrary and obscure to me that I don’t fully understand it. I have tried to, I have definitely attempted to learn about them a few times. On a financial and economical level, they seem like they’re the new bitcoin. I don’t trust these intangible concepts that are meant to hold so much value. I feel like that’s a recipe for financial ruin. On an artistic level, the ownership confuses me. Who holds the copyright? How is ownership transferred? How does the artist control the destiny of their creation? If I license a piece of artwork to a fabric company for example, there is a contract and use and ownership is specified. If I sell a digital download of one of my art prints on Etsy, I still own the copyright and the buyer can print it out for personal use or whatever use I specify is allowed but they don’t own that art. Does that exist with an NFT? And what exactly is the use of an NFT? And what is the blockchain and who regulates that? For me, as an artist, this is a wild uncharted frontier and as someone who has had their designs and listing photos stolen, NFTs seem like a lawless land that I don’t want my art to visit.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

There a few constants in the history of humanity and art is one of them. However I feel as though it’s been devalued over time. Maybe because it’s so accessible now, maybe because it is everywhere we look. But its value still seems unappreciated. A Van Gogh or DaVinci can sell for millions and people flock from all over the world to see those works. But for the artists who create the book covers, packaging designs, fabric patterns, logos, branding, wall art, greeting cards, editorial and advertising illustrations, and so much more, the trope of the starving artist is a hard one to shake. I believe a lot of that is due to pricing. While art and design are such a integral part of so many industries, so many artists struggle with how to price their offerings and fear losing out on paid work if they ask for what they think they’re worth. There is also prevalence of asking artists for free work in exchange for “exposure.” Our world would be so boring without art but budgets often do not reflect that. Additionally, focusing on the US, there doesn’t seem to be the support for emerging artists in our economy. Through various communities I’ve been a part of and courses I’ve taken, a common thread is that many artists are doing it on the side and working towards being a full time creative. In Europe, artists can quit their jobs and receive support from the government for a set time to allow them to build a sustainable creative business. In the US, we’re often relegated to working on our creative businesses outside of the 40 hour work week because we can’t risk giving up our income stability and healthcare. It’s a struggle that I live daily because our “side hustles” can be profitable, job creating businesses if we could dedicate our full time and attention to them. So many of us are creating in the fringes of corporate demands which can stifle creativity and lead to a lot of passions that aren’t pursued.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mangoillustrated.com
• Instagram: @mango_illustrated
• Other: Email list, Spoonflower, Society6 shop and more – https://linktr.ee/mangoillustrated

Image Credits
All photos are my own