Today we’d like to introduce you to Olivia de Recat.
Hi Olivia, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve been writing and drawing all my life, but never saw it as a viable career path until I started sharing my work online, gaining feedback and traction. In 2017, The New Yorker published one of my cartoons, and I never looked back. I’ve been sending them my work ever since!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’ve been very fortunate along the way. I’ve had a lot of support and encouragement and have met so many people who have been unrelentingly kind. But creative timing is something you can’t force, you just have to be prepared and excited and willing to work hard. So there have been moments where everything has felt very full and easy, and others when it’s been hard and confusing. When YOU are the one telling YOU what to do each day, that can get a bit nutty. And there have, of course, been periods of self-doubt. I think making art is just like that for most people. But I appreciate the responsibilities and challenges that come with the inherent freedom of my job and life.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a cartoonist and writer whose work focuses on relationships and emotions and the beauty of the mundane. My drawings are quite simple and I like to pair them with writing to deepen my understanding of a given topic.
I’m very proud of my first book, which came out in July of 2022. It’s called Drawn Together, and it is a hand-written and hand-drawn collection of true love stories. It also charts my own relationship journey and what I learn from the couples I interview. It’s the most involved piece of work I’ve ever made, and I really committed to the process of writing it, even when that was difficult.
All of my work is about connection. Small moments, the specifics that make human life so funny and wonderful. I try to infuse my art with a lot of empathy and humor.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Finding mentors hasn’t always been easy, but I think it helps to expand your idea of what a mentor can be. Most of us think of a mentor as someone who is older than us and has more experience in our given field. And those types of connections are definitely really important, especially for the practical aspects of work and for understanding the emotional and journey. But so many people can be our teachers. Our friends, our family, our pets! Even, say, strangers at the grocery store. Though, I should clarify: maybe don’t try to network with a stranger at a grocery store.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.oliviaderecat.com/
- Instagram: @drawingolive
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drawingolive
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/drawingolive
- Other: https://oliveit.substack.com/
