Today we’d like to introduce you to Katherine “Kae” McSpadden.
Hi Katherine “Kae”, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born the second out of four kids in Luxembourg after my father got a job transfer there. We moved back to the US when I was nine years old after my sister (the youngest) was born. Since I was eight years old, I have always loved drawing and making artwork, starting with trying to draw various Disney and Cartoon Network characters. At the age of 10, I became obsessed with The Simpsons, which inspired me to go into voice acting after being so fascinated by how the show’s voice actors like Dan Castellaneta, Nancy Cartwright, and Hank Azaria are able to change their voices to voice dozens of characters on the show.
Throughout high school and college, I mainly focused on art, animation, and visual storytelling, but I will occasionally take an acting class to help improve the expression and body language in the characters I draw. My art is heavily inspired by films by Disney, Guillermo Del Toro, and Satoshi Kon, and video games including Jak and Dexter, Final Fantasy, and Resident Evil. My senior project was making the animated short film Wilted, which made its debut at Northern Illinois University in December 2013. In addition, I participated in anime conventions and art shows to promote and sell my artwork and enter various art contests, becoming a two-time finalist in the Design a Dance costume design contest for the show Dancing With the Stars and winning the opportunity to make an art installation piece for the music festival Electric Forest in 2018. In the same year of making the art of Electric Forest, I decided to pursue my long interest in voice acting by taking Bang Zoom’s Adventures in Voice Acting classes taught by Tony Oliver. I continued taking more voice-over classes taught by Chuck Huber and Dorah Fine. I began to audition for some projects, but it took a year to start to gain momentum and connections with fellow voice actors and get recommended.
After the outbreak began and while in lockdown, I was able to piece together my first voice-acting resume and demo reel. I was able to participate in Now Voice This, a voice-over contest that draws in over 2,000 participants, making the finals and the semi-finals twice. One contest I won was the opportunity to voice one of the Prinnies in the game Prinny 1 & 2: Exploded and Reloaded. In August 2020, I enrolled in Exceptional Minds, a nonprofit organization that helps autistic adults find work in animation and visual effects. During my time enrolled as a student, I got the opportunity to create Christmas card art for Mitsubishi and Exceptional Minds. The school projects were a great opportunity for me to work on my writing and maintain my voice acting skills, such as the fake commercials I made, The Plume, Cavity Queen Crunch, and the Capstone project promoting the Coral Reef Alliance. I got my big voice acting opportunities through the school when I got cast to voice Rita and provide additional voices for the English Dub of the Israeli show On The Spectrum on HBO Max and provide scratch voice-over for Julia’s mother in the Sesame Street animation “Backyard Camping.”
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has been hard because both the art and the acting worlds are so competitive trying to stand out of a crowd is extremely difficult. Building an art portfolio is always tough trying to decide which ones to show and what fits what the client is looking for.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Character Design, Fantasy Art, Illustration, Visual Storytelling, Writing, Voice Acting
I am most proud of the installation art Find Your Wings that I made for Electric Forest and achieving roles in big projects on the HBO Max show On The Spectrum. Getting into voice acting has allowed me to meet an befriend so many talented actors.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
I would say to others to don’t be afraid to experiment with your art and trying out new things. It will truly allow you to grow, explore new things, and stand out of a crowd. It can be anything, try different art styles and media, try acting as a variety of characters to see what you are good at, regardless of the character’s age, sex, personality, etc. It can put you into the shoes of different characters and provide various archetypes.
Pricing:
- Voice Acting-$0.25 per spoken word
- Full Colored Digital Illustration-$300
- Full Body Character (No Background) -$100
- Black and White Pencil Art-$150
Contact Info:
- Website: artstation.com/kmcspadden
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artbykaemcspadden/?hl=en
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-mcspadden/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaeMcSpadden
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCK1CMxEnOuVrjV5W3l3rclA
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/kaemcspadden
- Other: KaeMcSpaddenVO.com
Image Credits
The image of characters I voice are my character the Cavity Queen, April from the webtoon comic Love and Lust, Prinny from Atlus games and Vaxena from Clunky Hero
