Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kristyn Start. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kristyn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
My parents were separated most of my childhood & my entire adult life. I was raised solely by my Mom. She fostered my talent for art my whole life. From carrying around sketch paper, charcoal pencils and art markers for me since I was a toddler; anytime there was an opportunity she’d sit me down & let my creativity flow. Didn’t matter if it was at a dinner table or in the pew at church. She never hindered my need & want to create. So every idea that ever has popped into my head, I have been able to try and she celebrated my failures as much as my successes.
Kristyn, 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?
It all started with a sharpie mural on my Mother’s bedroom wall when I was really little. Now most children would be punished for what I did & the mistake would have been painted over shortly afterwards. Not my Mom, she saw a spark and fostered my creativity until the day she passed away. She never painted over that mural either, she didn’t have the heart to even when she sold my childhood home. All through my formative years my Mom kept sketch paper in her purse at the ready along with charcoal pencils & art markers. She gave me my first oil painting set & easel when I was 8 years old and I’ve been painting ever since. Every idea that has ever popped into my head I had been encouraged to try to create, she celebrated my failures just as much as my successes. She’d say its not a failure it’s just incomplete, you’ll get back to it one day. As a teen she entered me in local art shows, stage craft at the local theatres which I also participated while at school. As a young adult, I worked night full time to pay for art school which I attended as a full time student. Those years I remember creating a lot & drinking way too much coffee…not a whole lot of sleeping though. My first customers however, also at art school as I used to sell on sight charcoal portraits to other students to scrounge up enough money for art supplies & class books. After graduation I worked at a cooperative gallery for many years and then moved south where artist can afford to purchase housing instead of scraping together enough rent money to pay your share. I registered for a business license still operate now under StudioKES it will be 22 years this October; however, I’m jumping ahead of myself. Around 1997 I got attended a miniature portrait & landscaping exhibit and was hooked. I began creating miniatures, watercolors, oil paintings tiny enough to fit on dimes in some cases as well as the dollhouses that would house such wonders. Which is what I was creating at the time I registered for my business license. Fast forward to around 2015 I was pondering publishing a collection of short stories that I had written since childhood. I showed a few to a dear cousin and his response caught me off guard. He said I don’t want to read these, I want to play these. I asked how does one play a story and that was when he introduced me to the amazing world of tabletop role play gaming. I released my first adventure in 2018 followed up with four additional books and two in the works. Much like my art though I had more than one idea with regards to those, I couldn’t just do books? I have to create everything you could possibly need in order play through the adventure furnishings & accessories galore. Everything gaming & book wise is available at my Etsy Shop and all my miniatures, paintings, galore is available to view on my portfolio site where I can put together Special Orders. I also have a blog site, youtube, instagram, facebook & twitch for livestreams. People ask me all the time where do I get all my ideas? Truth is the ideas are non stop the trick is turning them off long enough so I can take an nap.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
Yes, all of my products are from scratch made in either my home studio or a rented space if I need specialized tools. I was always great at figuring out what I needed to do in order to transfer my ideas to paper, execute from paper to prototype and finally from there to finished product. Art supplies; I’ve never been nervous about asking hard questions, when sourcing materials I always purchase domestic and make sure every aspect is ethically sourced unfortunately those two things do not always sync up. My Nana had a strong impact on that way of thinking as she would tell me the horror stories of witnessing sweatshops and child labor atrocities. So much so, that if I am unable to find an ethical source for something such frames for my paintings, I will literally make them from scratch myself. Though, you also don’t need to specialize in every aspect of your design. There are other artists with focuses much better equipped to create parts you may need and you can ask them for help. Rather than struggling & wasting time, money, and materials this scenario is a great opportunity for collaboration. I encourage everyone to not just focus on the idea & end product but make all the steps in between a reflection of yourself.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Twitch.tv & YouTube honestly, I started live steaming painting on twitch.tv which lead me from miniature painting to painting rpg miniatures and into illustrating for my first published book. During the pandemic I created a YouTube channel where I began creating ASMR videos packing orders for my customers. My business prior to this was steady but I had to hustle to every convention & art show imaginable, I had to invest thousands hoping to have a successful outcome for each event. After streaming & uploading videos customers starting coming to me, at this point I make more money staying home in my studio than I ever have traveling across country to sell at a convention. I still livestream on twitch daily because I like to chat with people in real time, whether it’s creating a painting or putting together a puzzle or playtesting a new video game during my lunchbreak.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://studiokes.etsy.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristyn_e_start/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StudioKES
- Twitter: https://x.com/Kristyn_E_Start
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CountessPeacock
- Other: Online Portfolio:
https://studiokes.weebly.com/Blog Site:
https://kristynestart.weebly.com/
