Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelsee Thomas.
Hi Kelsee, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve freelanced off and on as an illustrator for a majority of my life, mostly out of necessity because I was broke! Haha! But as far as where my business is now, that story mainly started from a mentor of mine, Lauren Nostro, pushing me to start freelancing with my work about a year and a half ago. I remember her saying as loudly as a proud Italian from Buffalo can, “I’ve seen people way less talented charging for this stuff, Kelsee! You’re amazing! You should start freelancing!”
So I started, and to my surprise, people actually paid me for my work. I started out with what you’d expect, logos and branding for startups and podcasts. There were A LOT of portraits. Still are! People love to be drawn! And it went on like this for the first couple of months. But at the beginning of quarantine this year, I kept myself busy by starting a challenge, #100heads. I basically spent the next month drawing 100 of my followers, which was smart because like I said, people LOVE to be drawn. So I got a lot of shares on social media spreading my workaround, which caused more commissions/projects to come in. But once I finished the challenge I realized, “These people may want these as a print and I like some of my other work. Why don’t I start an online store?” Within a week, I’d bought myself a high-quality printer (gift to myself for my birthday), some nice photo paper, a crap-ton of ink, and some packaging, and kelssweetie.com was born and live online! That made my work spread even more as the orders came in and people shared their new products on Instagram. Next thing you know, I had big companies and book publishers in my inbox! A clear sign that everyone should ALWAYS TAG AN ARTIST ON SOCIAL MEDIA! You have no idea how much that helps their business grow.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
So far, I believe things have been pretty smooth. Then again, a year ago I don’t think I could’ve told you that I’d even be where I am now in my freelancing career, so every sale and partnership is still a surprise to me! Haha! However, now after a couple of months of the store being open and starting to get more consistent work, marketing the store for consistent sales has become a learning curve and planning my time properly for my usual quick turnaround on commissions has been a process. I’ve definitely transitioned into the part of my career where actual planning has to be involved, which after “professionally wingin’ it” to get here, become a process in itself.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in color and portraits mainly…well basically entirely. Purple people with green hair, orange couples with big pink speech bubbles, that kind of thing. The more colorful, the better when I work on projects. Recently, I worked with La Colombe, a big coffee company based out of Philly, for their #FuelYourVote campaign. I designed the packaging for the special roast they released in partnership with Vote.Org, with proceeds going towards providing accessibility to all voters for the 2020 election. Considering how important this year’s election was, it was an honor to have my work be the face of a huge cause that was helping. Not going to lie though, it was also pretty cool to have friends and family send pictures of the coffee in stores and their orders from online. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to stuff like that.
I know of some other great illustrators that are doing amazing work with saturated color palettes and referencing relevant pop culture subject matter, so I’m not sure if currently I have a specific point in my work that “sets me apart” from the pack. Like I’ve said before, as far as my personal work and even my commissions, I try to inject as much personality as possible into every piece. The wonky speech bubbles, colorful line work, and technicolor palettes are really just an extension of me and how my mind works. I don’t think I’m necessarily reinventing the wheel with my pieces, but I don’t really try to. Just making stuff that I’d love to see out in the world. Apparently, others have gravitated to it so far!
The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
If this interview and the other amazing opportunities that have come my way this year are any indications, it’s that you should do that THING you’ve been wanting to do! I’ve spoken at a couple of seminars and classes this year (which is insane to me), and I always get the question, “How did you start your store? How’d you begin your freelancing business? What did you do to get here?” Honestly, I wish I had more profound answers for those questions, but my answer so far has at least been truthful. I JUST DID IT. Over the last year stuck in quarantine, I’ve learned that we all over-plan and over-think things way too much. Expecting them to be perfect out the gate.
Wanting to avoid embarrassment if we get something wrong because it’s our first time. I think social media has made us like this; wanting something successful to show off on the ‘gram. If I would’ve used that same thought process, I’d still be designing my store or not have even started freelancing at all while I was still doing “research.” Sometimes the best research is actually doing the thing you want to do. Sure, you’re bound to mess up, but that’s part of the learning experience. I don’t think this journey would’ve been half as fun if I felt like I knew what I was doing 24/7. The pandemic has forced me not only to learn this but also realize time is not flying by as fast as we all think it is, and you have time to mess up and learn how to succeed! Hopefully, I can keep that same energy whenever “outside” opens back up officially again.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: Kelssweetie.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kelssweetie/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Kelsee-Thomas-Illustrations
