We recently connected with Khadijah Glover and have shared our conversation below.

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

I would say it was during my high school years when I discovered you can go to college for animation. It was that point in time where high school teachers had you start thinking about your future career. At the time all I knew is that I wanted to make cartoons and researched everything under the sun to find a job that lined up with that in mind. Through my research I discovered that you can have a job as an animator, concept artist, background painter, character designer, storyboard artist and so much more. And each of these roles contribute to a completed cartoon or animation. At the time I did not know which role I wanted to do as a career, but used those roles as a starting point to find colleges who taught the skills for them. That is how I discovered a slew of universities that had animation specific degrees that taught the skills of those different roles.

Until I started that deeper research I thought my only option was to go into graphic design. It was the only degree that felt remotely close to what I wanted to do and was the “artsy” option my family approved of because it was perceived as a more financially stable career path. I grew up in a household that saw my interest in art & cartoons as a hobby. Something to not be taken seriously as a career because they were under the belief that to be an artist is to struggle and not be financially viable.

It was an uphill battle to convince them that I wanted to do art as a career, but after showing my family universities that taught animation, viable career options and proving that my passion for art is more just than a hobby, I felt comfortable in my decision to pursue animation as my creative career at the time.

Khadijah, 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?

What is good everyone? My name is Khadijah(Kah-Dee-Jah) and I am the artist behind the brand VulpiPunk. My brand is all about serving spooky cute art to all of my goth/alternative nerds out there.
I started VulpiPunk because I noticed there was a lack of artwork that had spooky, dark & alternative themes at the various conventions I have been to. As someone who has a gothic aesthetic and prefers darker color pallets, it is very disappointing that there are not many art pieces I could buy that align with my style. Through deeper research I found that there are gothic art brands out there, but they exclusively sell online or they have not gone to markets my state. Sadly I can count on my hands how many alternative art brands I have come across in my 10+ years going to conventions as a consumer, And that makes me so sad. So in the Fall of 2023 I decided to pursue one of my long time goal of running an art business and at the start of September 2024 the business went live.
The goal of VulpiPunk is to provide stickers and prints to consumers who have dark and alternative aesthetics like myself with plans for stationary on the way (notepads, planners, etc). I feel we as a whole are under represented at conventions and I want to use my brand as a means to connect with those individuals. I want them to feel seen at these events and join the fun of shopping for products that align with their aesthetics easily. My long term goal for the brand, is to inspire other creatives with alternative styles to start their own art businesses and add more spooky, dark & gothic inspired art to the market.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Shout out the the book “The 12 week year”. This book helped me get past the 1st step of starting a business. I am incredibly grateful that there are entrepreneurs that have come before me and decided to share their process and experiences. With out them I 100% believe I would be further behind in developing my business and reaching my business goals
The book “The 12 Week Year” has been a huge game changer in how I break down larger goals into manageable tasks. The process behind the book is to set a major goal you want to achieve and give yourself only 12 weeks to reach that goal. The book has you take that goal, break it down into the main tasks required to get it done, then you assign one task per week in a 12 week period. The idea is that even if you do not complete the goal you will get more work done towards that goal in 12 weeks than you will in an entire year.
My old process was to set a goal and then write down EVERY task needed to reach that goal, organize those tasks, and then start tackling each one. I consider my way of doing things very chaotic and I am defiantly of the type who needs a foundation to work from to get things started. So this book really helped me process and understand how to break down tasks reasonably and a pace to schedule them at
Id like to give a Honorable mention to YouTube University as well. There are so many different creatives, artist, & entrepreneurs who has shared their business and knowledge that has help build a foundation for what my business is today. From creators like Kelsey Rodriguez who focus on the business side of being an artist or Katnipp who documents their journey growing their business, these two and many other creators have inspired how I have structured my own business. I few more creators who inspired me are Mimimoo Illustration, Uncomfy, Mualcaina, & Roberto Blake.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I have a Bachelors degree in Animation and fell in love with the 3d modeling/painting aspect of the process. I have been a huge fan of 3D modeling and animation for over 15 years and that is the one aspect of my degree I do not use enough( especially in my business). One of my many long term creative goals is to sell artwork on my shop that has a hybrid of 2D and 3D styles. For reference think of the innovative work used in the “Into the Spider-verse” movie & the Netflix series Arcane. Both studios use 3D animation for the scenes but digitally paint on top of those scenes to create the 2D look of them. Starting my business was the tip of the iceberg towards this goal and over time I want to integrate more 3D aspects into my work flow. Personally I have not seen many artist use 3D modeling into their work like this and in the long term will help me stand out amongst my peers(especially for those who care about the nerdy process stuff)

Now, I mentioned earlier how I stared my business to add more spooky cute art to the convention scene, right? Well none of that would be possible without the many content creators who have shared their business advice online or documented their business journeys. By having this business I can share what I learn with other aspiring artist to give back to the communities who have helped me so much. When it comes to sharing information, we are all saying same things, but if the way I translate it resonates with one person, Ill be happy to know I helped one person get it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vulpipunk.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vulpipunk/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@vulpipunk
• Other: I would like to share my Blue Sky in lieu of twitter https://bsky.app/profile/vulpipunk.bsky.social

Image Credits

The artist in the pink shirt is goes by the brand name “TheFlyingTacoz”