2013 Challenger: Kate Santee

And we’re off!

I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t drawing, and I figured I might as well get paid for it. In the past year I’ve been getting my footing in a career as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator and have taken on many exciting new projects, including my first published illustrations for the children’s book Silly Nomads from Palmerston Close. I’ve also cut my teeth into comics and illustrated several short comics and strips for Arcana’s serial anthology, Steampunk Originals.

This will be my second serious attempt at the 30 Characters Challenge. I only did a handful of characters in 2011, and in 2012 I was preoccupied with a job search and a post-hurricane power outage, but this time I really want to be deliberate about creating art on a consistent schedule.

Here are some sketches from my first official participation in the challenge:

And a sketch of the protagonist from a comic that might be appearing in Volume 5 of Steampunk Originals:

You can see all this and more on my personal art blog.

I have a few  ideas for a personal comic I’d like to flesh out, so I’m aiming to articulate some character concepts I’ve got in my head and eventually come up with a narrative that could tie any of them together, even just a small handful. On the technical side of things, I want to push my artistic style to see if I can portray a diverse range of body types and facial structures, and I’d like to play a bit more with color (as much as I like rough sketches, I’d like to get better at producing a finished product).

Good luck to everyone who’s taking the plunge this year! I’m looking forward to seeing tons of cool characters!

Category: 2013, Participants