We were lucky to catch up with Kerin Cunningham recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kerin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today 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?

The short version is that I went to prestigious art school, barely learned anything, and then taught myself everything.

Don’t get me wrong, art school made me a better at making art, mostly by forcing me to constantly be creating new work. Technically speaking, that’s one method of learning, and I’m grateful to them for the discipline it gave me. But it did not teach me how to be a professional artist who makes money and a living for herself. It also didn’t lend any merit to the thing I’d wanted to do since I was fifteen years old– I wanted to make merchandise with my artwork on it, which was something none of my professors saw as a viable career path.

The summer after I graduated art school, I was working in a museum that was sometimes used as an event space. They were hosting a comic convention one weekend, and as I walked around and saw all the vendors selling their art, I realized that there was nothing stopping me from doing the same thing. I spent the next year learning everything I could so that when the next summer rolled around I could set up a table, display my artwork and see who would buy it. That was my first ever convention where I sold my own artwork. The next year I added two more, and then I added conventions a little further from home, until I was traveling all over the country with it. At that point I was not just making art, but learning how to produce and turn it into tangible objects, learning how to market myself, and getting better and better at it.

When we were all stuck at home in 2020 I was able to take a step back and realize how much skill I’d gained in making merch for myself. I still loved making things, but it was lacking the challenge I really need to be my best creative self. My dream job, and the catalyst for me going to art school, was the idea that someday I could make artwork that would go on merch for my favorite bands. From where I was standing, the only thing keeping me from doing that was that I had to figure out how to get into the music industry, or at least get the attention of it, so they knew who I was and they’d want to invite me in. Spending a few years on the peripherals of the comics industry taught me that fan art was one way to do that– I’d seen my peers use it as a jumping off point for professional work, and I thought maybe I could use fan-made merch designs as a proof of concept for what I could do in the music industry.

I spent a few months grinding away at a concept merch line for My Chemical Romance, who had just reunited at the time and had fans who were hungry for new merch. I launched it on Kickstarter, it blew up beyond my wildest dreams, and did exactly what it was designed to do– got the attention of the band’s management, who asked me to work on official merchandise for them. It was the breakthrough I needed, and it’s one I’m so grateful for, because I’ve been working in the music industry ever since, doing what I’ve always done– making artwork, getting better at my craft, and teaching myself how to survive as I go.

Part of me wishes I could’ve sped up my learning process, but I also know that the time it took to get here is measured in experience I’ve gained. I’m grateful it happened this way; I stand pretty confident in my skills and what I’m able to do because I’ve had a lot of experience figuring out how *not* to do it. I know what works for me and what doesn’t. I know that any growth I have now is built on the back of all the growth I had to do to get here.

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.

I’d say I’m an Illustrator first, a Merch Designer second, with experience in creative direction and running my own business, too. Whenever someone asks me what I do “I’m an Illustrator” is what comes out of my mouth, because that’s what I specialize in and that’s how I prefer to visually communicate. My best work happens when I’m drawing and using that skill to tell a story.

I love making tangible pieces of art. I started as an illustrator making flat drawings and art prints, but I really felt myself come alive when I started making things, specifically merchandise, and having it go from a little scribble on a post-it note to a full-fledged thing you can hold in your hands.

These days I mostly make merchandise for clients, primarily in the music industry, but I still run my own business where I sell any merch I feel like making. They’re both interesting ways to work. Working for a client is an exercise in both working within constraints but pushing them as far as you possibly can and finding the best possible product in between. Making merch for myself is purely seeing what comes out of my brain when I have no limits at all other than my own imagination. I think I thrive when I can balance both, so I try to as often as I can.

The thing that I’m most proud of, beyond the artwork I make, is how adaptable I am. That’s one thing I can confidently say about myself– I’m never going to be the best draftsman, the best designer, the fastest worker, any of that. I’m always working hard and improving on those things where I can. But more than anything else I’m smart, and there’s nothing I can’t figure out how to do. I truly believe that. I never tell myself that I can’t do something– I ask myself, “how are you going to do it?” And then I do it.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I believe in the idea that merch is more than just a t-shirt, or an enamel pin, or a sticker or anything else you can hold in your hands. At its best, merch strengthens bonds; Whether that’s the bond between a band and their fans, or fans to communities of other fans. Good merch represents an idea in a way that’s unique and makes people feel seen. It can do amazing things; Merch sales can help support touring bands and make sure they get to keep themselves and their crews fed. It can bring two strangers closer together just by recognizing a design made for something they’re passionate about. And it can be armor, the way it was for me when I was a teenager and so unsure of myself– Sometimes wearing a t-shirt of your favorite band is a reminder that you’re not alone in the world, and that you stand for something, even if that something is how much you love music. Good merch can be more than just good design if you let it.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Knowing how far I’ve had to come to be able to do this. I think back to when I was three years old, drawing caterpillars in crayon that my dad hung in his cubicle at work, or making my own stuffed animals with my mom when we couldn’t find the characters I liked at the toy store. I think about going to Hot Topic at the age of fifteen and staring up at the t-shirt wall, or the merch booth at the Crazy Donkey, and saving up my money to get t-shirts for my favorite bands. I think about that hope and wonder I had as a young creative, and I think about how burnt out and beat down I was after I graduated art school, being told that no one would buy a t-shirt with my artwork on it unless I was “famous”, and having no idea where to go from there.

I’m not someone who creates from a place of emotion– more often than not I see my work more as visual problem solving– but I do take all of those feelings and that experience with me. Everything I make comes from that place. I really consider myself so lucky to be able to do this, and I know that I couldn’t do this without the communities of people around me; My family and my peers, every person who’s ever bought a piece of art from me or given me a professional opportunity. I’m so grateful to them. But I also know that I’m able to be the creative person I am because of all that I’ve been through, and all the hard work that I’ve done to get here. If I have a career, it’s because I’ve willed it so, and because of that I get to spend my life doing the thing I love the most. What’s more rewarding than that?

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kerincunningham.com
• Instagram: @kerincunningham
• Twitter: @KerinCunningham

Image Credits

Photo of the makeup packaging in a desert landscape ONLY: Ren Cannon

All other images: Kerin Cunningham