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

Kris, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

I think one of my biggest regrets is not taking that leap of faith sooner.

I’ve been drawing for most of my life, but it’s only in the last few years that I decided to start seeing if I could make a career out of it. It would be easy to put the blame solely on mental health issues and learning/developmental disabilities for why I didn’t put myself out there sooner, and to be fair, this was a pretty substantial chunk of the reason I didn’t start taking things seriously sooner… but one of my biggest mental blocks to exploring this path was my own insecurity.

I felt like I couldn’t post anything unless it was PERFECT, and with so much of this industry hinging on having a good social media presence, the idea of posting something like that every single day to appease predatory algorithms made me feel like I was fighting a losing battle. I think if I had taken that leap of faith sooner, I wouldn’t have had to fight so hard and struggle so much to be seen online in an age where the internet is run like a business. To this day, it’s one of my biggest regrets.

Kris, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Kris, and I’m an artist. That’s probably the most broad description of me, but I like to dabble in a lot of different things.

I started the same way I think a lot of artists do, which is with a cheap notebook and some mechanical pencils that I was supposed to be using to take notes at school. Later on, my grandpa gave me my first drawing tablet, and since then, making art has been one of my most comforting hobbies. I learned a lot by looking at artists I admired and developing my style based on things about their art I liked.

In a way, my art is a Frankensteins Monster of all the things I love.

Digital art makes up the majority of my portfolio, with a lot of it being fantasy and horror art, with a little bit of fanart sprinkled in. But truthfully, I’ll jump at the opportunity to try new things.

Most recently, I’ve started posting comics on Tapas, attended local art shows throughout the past year, looked into the video-making process for platforms like YouTube, and I’m also working on setting up an online shop to sell my art. I’ve even started learning how to make linocut prints in my spare time, which has definitely been a game-changer for me. (All of these can be found on my website at beacons.page/antikrist ​once they’re available.)

You can definitely expect diversity with my art, be it in materials, content, style, or meaning. I am of the firm belief that you should make what you love, and eventually others will fall in love with it too.

I can promise you everything I’ve made, I’ve made from the desire to create, not to appease to an algorithm.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have diagnosed Autism and ADHD, which means I’m either incapable of sitting still long enough to finish a drawing, or I’m fixated on it for so long I forget to eat and sleep. I’ve had to learn ways to accommodate myself in this respect, and I’ll probably be learning more and more about it until the day I die.

I carry around an iPad and a sketchbook or two so I can draw wherever I am, I keep a large water bottle and snacks near my desk so I remember to eat and hydrate, and I more or less make sure everything I need in order to work is set up before I even sit down. I still struggle with things like marketing my art and maintaining a strong social media presence, but I’m experimenting with tools to help with that as well.

That being said, I don’t want to give the impression that I resent my neurodivergence. It’s an inseparable part of who I am, and I like to think there are certain aspects of it that actually serve me well when it comes to art. My ability to notice details most miss and my tendency to take in more of my surroundings definitely shaped how I approach certain drawings, for example.

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

I love being able to take ideas and make them reality. Need some drawings for a tabletop game? I got you. Want to spruce up the boring beige walls of my rented room? I know exactly what to put there. Just got an idea for a story and want to make it reality? Time to stretch my wrists and get started.

There’s a lot that can be said about the act of creation in any context, but being able to make my wildest dreams a reality is the driving force that brings me back to my sketchbook or my tablet every single day.

Contact Info:

• Website: beacons.page/antikrist ​
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/antikris__t/profilecard/?igsh=MXJpc3I1amhjODJoeA==
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@_antikrist?si=bcPi2dBegJc0nxka
• Other: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/antikrist.bsky.social