EP46: A Small Town Girl with Big Time Talent

Illustrator Katie Vaz shares her experiences with creating her own dream job -and life -by navigating through life choices with intention, determination and by being open to synchronicity and so-called coincidences.

Special Offer from Katie:

I’ll be releasing new holiday cards around the time this airs. I’ve created a coupon code that would be just for RSG listeners for 20% off orders in my Etsy shop until December 20th, 2017. The code is READYSETGRIT .

Katie Vaz is an illustrator/author/hand-letterer/graphic designer living in Upstate NY. I design my own line of greeting cards, prints and other stationery products, which are sold both online and in brick and mortar shops. I also work with a variety of clients on branding, packaging design, and illustration projects.

Hand drawn stuff makes my heart happy. All of my work starts out that way, simply with a pen and paper. I love seeing this unique and imperfect human quality that comes out in hand drawn illustration. Whenever I see things out in the world that are created in that style, I feel connected to the art. It usually inspires me to stop whatever I’m doing and make something with my hands.

Do you ever feel something emotionally, but can’t ever find the right words to say it? That’s me. I’m terrible at talking about my feelings, but not terrible at writing them down on paper. When it comes to my greeting card line, my art captures the sticky sweet, awkward but funny, sometimes emotionally heavy things I want to say to the people I care about. If you want to say something special to the person you care about, my cards have got you covered.

I particularly love polka dots and cats. When I’m not drawing cute things, I’m usually baking or dreaming of the next place I want to visit (Thailand, anyone?). I’m inspired by cozy color palettes, vintage knick-knacks, flowers, mid-century children’s book illustrations, the feel and smell of paper, and things that look happy (like cats or cake).