We were lucky to catch up with Kirk Shannon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kirk, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Growing up in the country most of my friends and family were into working on cars, dirt biking, going to the camp, fishing and other similar outdoor activities. Although I did enjoy those things as well, I also really wanted to stay inside, play video games and draw the characters and monsters I saw in those games.

Thankfully, my Mom never had issues with me wanting to stay inside and play all those games while drawing obsessively. Other than the odd time she thought I may have needed some sun. She always supported my interest in art and would take me to the library as much as possible when I was young to get how-to draw books and read the comics there.

Without her support I may never have taken to art to begin with and more importantly, pursued my passion for it into adulthood. So many kids lose interest in art at a certain age because it’s something only “kids” do and not something an adult should be spending their time on.

I am forever grateful my Mom never made me feel that way and instead encouraged me to draw, draw, draw.

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.

Hi my name is Kirk Shannon and I’m a pen & ink illustrator from Canada. I illustrate mainly in black and white with both traditional inks and in digital with a focus on illustrations for books as well as art for boardgames.

I started working in inks in 2013 during a 365-day drawing challenge. Essentially my buddy and I challenged ourselves to draw at least one thing every day for the entire year. When I got to October I was really looking for something different to try as I mostly drew in graphite or digitally. I had heard of this thing called “Inktober” (created by Jake Parker) and thought, “why not”? I really had no experience in ink but after a month of nothing but ink drawings I was hooked.

I started doing a lot of horror fanart as I’d always been a big fan and the inky medium seemed perfect to bring out those spooky imagery and feelings. I stared to get decent traction on Instagram when posting these which encouraged me to do more and more. I bought books on inking and watched as many videos as I could find on line on how to ink and work in black and white.

The first time I actually started to make some money from my art was in 2018 at the tender age of 38. I had been up to that point, and still am, a graphic designer by trade. Mainly UI/UX work in the eLearning industry and just dabbled in art when I had the time. I decided to start streaming my artwork online on a platform called Twitch in 2018. I had seen some artists on there and was inspired to see them sharing their craft so willingly and openly and it was really cool so I started up a stream and started to build a following.

One day someone said in my steam that I should set up an online store and sell my artwork. I was always under the impression that although I had a passion for art it was just a “hobby” and no one would ever really want to buy my art. Why would they? Even though no one every told me otherwise. Typical imposter syndrome scenario but I did end up setting up a shop and to my surprise it took off and I sold my first original ink drawing. A cabin on a hill.

That really was the start of it. Through streaming I gained more of a following and folks started to approach me for commission work on their characters, tattoos, illustrations for books and boardgames.

I couldn’t be happier that folks find enjoyment in the work that I do and it’s an amazing feeling to help them bring their creations to life with some ink.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the tougher lessons I’ve had to unlearn is that I spent a lot of time when I was young “learning” to draw using almost solely from comics. Starting around 12 or 13 I would trace a lot of comics and as I got older I moved onto studying various artists while trying to mimic their style as best as I could without tracing. Typical things kids do when they get into drawing.

However, I did that for far too long and I ended up “learning” anatomy from wildly exaggerated characters with proportions that made no real world sense, shading that didn’t really reflect reality, etc.

Not until my 30’s did I go back and do proper anatomy studies starting off with life drawing classes, anatomy books, and how-to videos online. It took a long time, and I am by no means an expert, but I feel so much more confident in illustrating characters knowing the ins-and-outs of how we work and more importantly, I can bring my own voice to character art.

You got to know the rules before you can break them.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I don’t have a massive following on social media by any means but what I’ve noticed with most artists with large followings on social media is that they create what they are really passionate about.

They don’t chase trends or rely on gimmicks to get followers. They are authentically really, really into whatever, fairly often, niche thing they really enjoy. Be it nothing but Pokemon fanart, paintings of fast food, graphite dog portraits or clay sculptures of birds.

Their passion is evident and their joy in their craft is infectious and brings in people with the same interests.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kirkshannon.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirkshannonart/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Dreln
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KirkShannonArt

Image Credits
Kirk Shannon