Today we’d like to introduce you to Kat Bell.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
So when I was growing up, my family moved around a lot and I never really got a chance to get settled in one place. I was always the new kid at school – I’ve been to 4 different elementary schools in Texas and California – and I always lost contact with the friends I made. But my older sister was a constant and I consider her my first best friend. Most of our days as little kids were spent making up stories and characters together, and then we would draw and/or act them out. I guess that’s larping. We were basically larping. Before I even knew what that was.
Even once my sister got into her teens and outgrew play-pretend little kid stuff, I kept drawing, worldbuilding and making up characters cause it was fun as hell to do. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do as a career- I think almost everybody has a point in their life where they wanna be a teacher, doctor, or lawyer so I was like. Okay, I guess I’ll do one of those. But then I started watching the bonus features on the Spongebob movie and Invader Zim DVDs where you could watch the rough animatics when I was like eleven. It was pretty much that moment where I was like, “Woah, these drawings look a bit shit, but they’re telling a story. MY drawings are shit! And I like making up stories. This is how they do it?? I can do this as a job??” Then as I entered my preteens and teens, I was actively using the internet. I started posting Sonic the hedgehog and Homestuck drawings on Deviantart and it was all downhill from there.
Around when I was 14 and a freshman in a Texas high school, a friend suggested a college called California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and I thought. This is it. I’m going all-in on going to cartoon school. It’s skate or die dude. I either get into CalArts, or I die (not actually die I’d just be really sad). Also, please don’t do this. Please don’t bet it all on one school that is hard to get into and put it on a pedestal. But I was a teenager and did it anyway. So I applied to CalArts my senior year of high school.
Smash cut to me getting my rejection letter.
Nevermind it’s okay I got into Cal State Fullerton. I ended up going there for two years and had a ton of fun and learned a lot! During the second half of my time in high school and the two years I spent at CSUF, I realized: hey I’m actually nonbinary and feel better being called they/them instead of she/her! I was lucky to have a few other LGBT friends help me put the pieces together and support each other. Then the 2016 election happened, and it really radicalized me. I realized: hey I really hate this and I don’t want to be ignorant to the horrible reality that is our country and its history! I think those two realizations really motivated me to reapply to Calarts and think harder about how gender, sexuality, race, politics, art, and animation mutually influence each other, and how you represent things really really matters.
The same year, 2016, I reapplied. In spring, on my birthday of all days, I got my acceptance letter and I felt like I had achieved something I’d been striving for years. I mean, one of my first thoughts was “wow 14 years old Kat would be so happy to see this, they sure are in for it”.
Fast forward a bit, and I’m now in my final year at Calarts and I’ve grown a lot as an artist and a person. It still feels kinda crazy that I’m here, especially when I think back to my preteen self making crudely drawn comics and Sonic fan characters. I’m almost 24 and I’m eager and scared to see how post-school adult life will play out.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Uh, it’s been. Medium? I feel lucky and privileged to be able to go to college at all, to have parents who support me and to have actually got into Calarts. Getting rejected that first time was crushing and made me really doubt myself. But it also made me really examine what I was doing as an artist and how I still had so much to learn. Those two years sat CSUF really helped me and prepared me for what was to come at Calarts. And I really do owe it to my high school art teacher, Miss Kim, my parents, Lindsay, Stevie for all supporting and encouraging my growth. And also, my CSUF painting professor and 2D design professor for being absolutely brutal but honest. I lost so much sleep for those classes but they paid of.
I think my time at Calarts itself as been somewhat rocky, especially because of imposter syndrome, feeling like I’m not the right fit and I’m not good enough and I’m letting my peers, professors, and parents down. But as the years go on, and I hear underclassmen talk about the same exact worries, I realize it’s pretty common to feel that way. I don’t think I’d rather be self-assured and think I’m the best artist. I wouldn’t learn anything. I also realize people who have “made it” in their own ways still question how and why they made it at all. So I’m just not gonna question it, if I’ve made it somehow, I’m just gonna keep going and try to have as much fun as I can while I do it.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
The little kid play-pretend games I did with my sister where we would basically roleplay a character and run around together. 2nd is also waking up really early on Saturdays to watch new episodes of cartoons on the TV with my sister, and then coming home from school to watch Avatar The Last Airbender. 3rd is my dad being really excited about sports and teaching me how to throw a baseball, football, basketball, spike a volleyball, swing a bat, pitch, play tennis, wrestle, basic football plays, etc. I have so much hidden sports power that I can use at any time. So watch out. Also, that was three memories.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gatacatz/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/gatacatz
Image Credit:
Kat Bell/gatacatz
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