In the spotlight this week is illustrator Cate Anevski and her charming and whimsical illustrations.

 
Who I Am: Cate Anevski Website: www.cateanevski.com Blog: cateanevski.typepad.com Etsy: beeskneesindustries.etsy.com Cate, please tell us about yourself. My head is filled to the brim with bizarre images. These images are inspired by dreams, books, movies, nature, my pets, and everything else I’ve ever seen. I decided to become an illustrator so that I could share these images with everyone, whether they want to see it or not. What do you create? I make illustrations in a variety of media. I do mostly portraits of girls in fantastic scenarios. I love to tell a story using the same character over and over. In this way, I hope to make the viewer place herself in the character’s shoes and go along on the journey with her.

What are your favorite techniques and/or supplies? My favorite drawing paper are the scraps left over from window mats. They erase cleanly and take ink and pencil beautifully. I use Copic pens, because they write nicely and are also refillable, making them better for the environment (always a concern in my work). For the color, I use the Corel program Painter, in which I find more and more fun tools every day. Tell us about your creative process. I always have a wealth of ideas floating around in my head. (I suppose I’m just lucky that way.) If I’m ever stumped, I refer to my sketchbook, where I write or draw virtually every idea that occurs to me. Once I’ve chosen the image I want to draw, I cozy up in my big armchair with a mug full of pens pencils and my lap desk. I sketch out the composition in my sketchbook (or on any junk mail scraps that happen to be around) and then set to work penciling my illustration. Once I have it just right, I ink the whole thing and erase the pencil lines. Once this is done, I scan the image into my computer and take it into Painter. There I add colors and textures to make my work come alive. Finally, I have these professionally printed on photographic paper, which I have found to be the most archival option. In what ways do you live artfully? Other than some freelance design, illustration and crafting are all that I do all day. I generally get together with friends and “make stuff,” as we say. It never matters what we’re making, be it an animated film or a pot of stew. My friends and I just love to create. We all tend to have some emotional issues (comes with the territory with artists, right?), and being creative in any way is always the way for us to feel better. Hence, we make stuff whenever we can. Do you sell your art? If so, where is it available for purchase? I do sell my work. It is available at my Etsy shop as well as at a few shops around the country that I have listed in the Et Cetera section of my Web site. What is your personal motto or mantra? A quote that keeps me going a lot is “Whether you think you can or you can’t, either way you are right.” Basically, I just try to remember at all times that if I never try, I will never succeed. What is your favorite topic that you’ve participated in at Inspire Me Thursday? ATCs/ACEOs. From Cate’s blog: “I finally tried my hand at ACEOs, and (guess what) I liked it… A whole new world has been opened up to me.” [Check out Cate's complete blog post here.]

· · ·

Be sure to visit Cate online view more of her inspiring artwork: Website: www.cateanevski.com Blog: cateanevski.typepad.com Etsy: beeskneesindustries.etsy.com

· click here for details ·