Sit Down With Our #090 Featured Artist

Katrina Young

Instagram / katartillustrations
Featured Artist / #091 ScrawlrBox 


Katrina Young is an Australian Fine Artist and Illustrator. Her artwork spans many mediums and themes, but at it’s heart, Kat’s work aims to tell a story.

Often full of whimsy, and a hint of nostalgia, much of her artwork is influenced by her own experiences, beit an interesting alleyway she found in Shinjuku, Japan, the sun through the trees on an afternoon dog walk, the soundtrack to her favourite movies, or her personal battles with chronic illness.

What is it you love about creating withCopic markers?

It’s a unique medium that allows the blending, layering, and colour-theory-play that I love about paint, with the precision and smoothness I love about digital, while still having the handmade feel of traditional work.

We absolutely love your style. Soft, whimsical and delicately detailed. What would you say influenced your progression to this?

To be honest I have never actively worked onmy ‘style’, I started being very photo realistic in graphite as a young teenager, but like most artists I think you just absorb little things here and there from things you love, be it movies, books, music, places, other art etc and subconsciously add it as you collect it.

Your artwork contains a lot of fantasy type scenes, what do you find most inspiring about that genre?

I guess I have just never grown out of my childhood obsession with books like the Lordof the Rings, or shows like Sailor Moon. I love things that have a sense of mystery (think ghosts, or archaeology/forgotten history or treasure hunting) or a feeling of something bigger than you (space, magic etc) and often this genre can evoke emotions and feelings like these that you don’t quite get to touch on in your every day life.

How did you first get into art?

I’m an only child and I was moved around a lotas a child. I never went to a school for more than 3yrs, and as an introvert I really struggled to make friends, so I discovered not only was drawing a fun solo activity at home, but it also drew people to you with something to talk about which is much easier to start a friendship with!

Do you have any challenges with alcohol markers? How do you over come them?

I’m always learning and making challengesfor myself (otherwise I get bored) so once Iwas comfortable with how they worked and reasonably confident in my abilities with them, I would start wondering if I could do things with them like textures, or depict glow and lighting. My current self-imposed challenge is creating alaglyph art (where you create 2 images on top of each other and each image is visibleon its own when viewed though a coloured film (usually 3D glasses). I overcome all these challenges with practice and stubbornness.

Has working with alcohol markers influenced how you work with other supplies?

To an extent, I think it has influencedhow I think with colour the most, butthey are my most recent medium, so if anything they are influenced by all my previous knowledge, and when I return to the older mediums I bring them back with me as a solution to things now. Sometimes when I’m painting for example, I will pull out a few Copics to add some colour boosts, or some finer details etc.

Do you start your ideas with rough sketches and evolve them from there?

I have Aphantasia, and so can’t see images in my head, so I have to sketch or block things out first. I work from feelings instead, so there is some translation that needs to happen before I properly start.

How often do you make time to create for yourself?

Since I had my daughter 4 years ago, in any spare time I had, I prioritised my own work purely for survival. I had PND and drawing is my therapy, so for my own mental health I had to step back from commercial or commission work and just do what I loved. I was incredibly surprised to find that this is actually what people wanted to see, and now am in the very privileged position where I just create for me, and then offer that to others.I only take on commission work now if itsa passion project.

What does your typical weekend look like?

Up before the birds... Coffee and Family time. Mornings start with a toddler knocking on our bedroom door entirely too early for me, then she crawls into bed for cuddles, at some point my newborn wakes up and he comes to bed too for a feed, there’s usually 2 dogs and a husband trying to fit somewhere in the bed too.

We’ll try to find something fun to go out and do on at least one of the days, we try to tackle at least some of the house work on the other day (and I usually fail). When my husband takes my daughter to swimming class I try to packas many art orders as possible before they get back. - It’s all incredibly glamorous.