We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Katura Gaines. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Katura below.

Katura, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I’ve always had an interest in art, especially cartoons and comics. When I was in elementary school I bought my first art book, after that I continued to study and take art classes. When I got to high school, there was a digital media class that changed my life! I learned that I could draw whatever I wanted. I then went to college, and learned even more about art as a craft, techniques, and how important it is to not be afraid to start a painting over. I think what could have sped up my process was staying in school, honestly. Independent study has it’s own strengths, but school helps with networking and you also have a teacher to help you through the hard parts. I also wish I had figured out what kind of art I wanted to create, it’s important to know where you’re going to have a goal that’s achievable. As far as skills…I want to say that there’s a specific secret, but honestly I feel like not giving up is a skill? Knowing that it’s okay to make mistakes, and understanding that you need to keep trying to succeed is more important than anything else. When it came to obstacles, it was really finding the self motivation to keep learning and push myself to get better at my craft. It’s easy to get lost in the idea that there are so many other people that are “better” than you at what you’re trying to do. I have to remind myself that everyone started at the bottom at some point.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Little things about me: I love cartoons and silly things, my favorite color is pink, and I am black and Native American. Art has always been a part of my life, it started with seeing my mother’s paintings and reading her comics. After college, I decided that art was what I wanted to do with my life, but I didn’t really have the money to get there. I started studying independently, learning what art schools taught classes about and went from there. I started posting my art online, gaining followers, and eventually I was commissioned to illustrate some books! Now, I’m illustrating full time, working with publishers to create characters, and I have also started working on my own series! I guess what sets me apart from others is that I saw a void in the market when it came to representation of people that look like me! I wanted to be able to create art that made us feel included. Because of this, I’ve been a part of several projects where I can make a difference, and my voice matters. I think I’m the proudest about the support that my art has gotten, and the way I’m told my art makes people feel. I love being able to do what I love to do for a living, but also making a positive impact, and inspiring other people to draw and pursue their dreams. What I want people to know about me, and my brand is that anything is possible if you put in the work!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I built my social media presence 100% organically! Which to me is really cool. The tips I really have, is that I made sure to join groups with other creatives, this created a network of people that could share my work, but it also made it easy to collaborate too. Posting regularly is also super important, but just making sure to get your work out there is the most important. Most people give up before they even put their stuff out there.

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 people cared about my work as much as I cared about theirs. You can spend a lot of energy on other peoples’ lives, and problems; ultimately, you’re the only one that will care about your work as much as you do. The saying, “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself,” rings true. I had to learn this lesson the hard way, I hired a friend to manage some things for me (I was working two jobs at the time), and it resulted in a clerical error that took MONTHS to clean up. I ended up losing money, and the error cost me over a thousand dollars. That’s when I realized that even though I felt like I was spread too thin, it was better for things to take a bit longer than for them to be rushed, and for mistakes to be made. To this day, I wish I had just done it myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.shannonassociates.com/katuragaines
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theartofka2ra/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theartofka2ra
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/theartofka2ra

Image Credits
Katura Gaines