Today we’d like to introduce you to Kelly Johnson.
Kelly, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Alright, so I’m a San Diego native. I grew up here, and only left to go to art school at the Laguna College of Art and Design. Came right on back after school, and have planted my roots here both in my personal life and my career. I grew up doing typical SD activities like surfing and not so typical activities like lurking around SDCC every July. I’ve retained my geekdom, and these days I balance my art, my career, gaming, and mountain hiking. Also I have a silly dog named Leia and she’s my favorite.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
So growing up, I used to draw a whole lot of Disney fan art. Then started taking the real art classes. I was told that I needed to ditch fan art and practice more realism. But you know, once I got out of art school, I went straight on back to fan art. Now, I design video game apparel and accessories. Full circle!
Not only have I gone back to my roots for my career, but in the past few years, I’ve also started creating my own personal work. It of course is all very, very simple in style. Even though I was taught how to use all kinds of media, from oil painting to gouache, I ended up settling on simple black and white drawings done fully in pen and ink. Most of them are of black or white variations of my dog doing stupid dog things.
I hope to bring everything even more full circle in the future with a career in visual development. Maybe one day, but for now, I’m content with drawing silly dogs and creating clothing for my fellow nerds.
In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
Something that I keep seeing happening is really an old problem – not getting paid fairly for work. I think this is definitely quite the challenge, as so many out there don’t think that creatives should be held with the same respect as any other contracted job. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been offered “exposure” as payment, or been offered to be bought lunch in exchange for a full illustration. It’s one of many challenges that I’m sure are out there for artists, and I think that it is also one that we can work to change by standing up for ourselves and our work. Don’t be afraid to charge fair prices for you work + time!
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
I do have the full range of social media handles, but I tend to stick to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. I also can be found at DesignerCon in Anaheim every year, selling prints, pins, stickers, and felted toys.
You can support me by following my work or maybe, just maybe, buying a print or a pin from my Etsy shop! I get really super excited whenever I get a little purchase notification!
Contact Info:
- Website: artofkellyjohnson.com
- Email: kellyjohnson.sd@gmail.com
- Instagram: artofkellyjohnson
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artofkellyjohnson
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/kellyjohnsonart
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ShopofKellyJohnson
Image Credit:
All design work is my own – licensed work completed for CDProjekt Red and Mojang.
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
