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A Brief Bio or Personal Summary
My name is Kara! I illustrate, paint, occasionally model, edit video, and sculpt. I came over to Seattle a couple years ago (from Savannah, GA) in hopes of growing as an artist and meeting other artists. I love having new experiences and understanding all types of people and lifestyles, which leads me to be a bit all over the map. I come from a background in film and was also once certified as a yoga instructor. Every aspect of my life translates back to how will this effect me as an artist?, whether it's making decisions based on the great story I'll have to tell later, or immersing myself in a physical skill like yoga to learn better coordination and flow of movement. I'm fascinated by the darker side of human nature, and making surreal images and visual metaphors. I also really like coffee, and people who talk in embarrassingly bad puns. My goal is to one day travel the world gaining experiences and publishing comic books, and experiment with visual storytelling, mixing comics and other mediums.
Personal Facebook URL
https://www.facebook.com/araquee
Publishing History
Yes, self-published (Web or Print)
Influences & Inspirations
Honestly, I get inspiration from anywhere and everywhere. It could be a color someone is wearing, or a story someone tells, a feeling, the lines in another work of art. I have a lot of muses, people that have inspired me to draw them over and over and over, or make characters with aspects of them, or just looking at a person I don't know that interests me can inspire a certain personality or story. I love any kind of art or media that is about the dark side of human nature. I'm inspired by stories of people that explore the dark side of themselves, or growth through pain. Artist wise, recently I've been extremely inspired and fascinated by Gustav Klimt, and old fashion Japanese anime styles (artists like Katsuhiro Otomo and Tanaka Tatsuyuki). I'm particularly enamored with one digital artist Shanen Pae, her work immediately immerses me in it's mood and the story it's telling, and inspires me to start working in hopes that I can create that kind of feeling with my own work. The kind of feeling where you're suddenly transported to the world you're looking at and it makes you feel something strongly. Every day I find new works of art that inspire something in me, and I have them all saved on my computer to go back to when i'm looking for a certain flavor of inspiration. I like things that are messy, things that play with light and color in an interesting way. All of these things make my heart flutter and make me want to keep making art.
What are you currently working on?
I'm working on a lot of things at the moment! First and foremost is a full length colored comic that I've been working on for the past year and am almost finished with. It's called A Wind From Nowhere and is about two very lonely kids, a girl named Madelyn who's only friends are a flock of crows, and Harper, a angry boy who' plotting to kill his mother. The two form a friendship that goes awry when Harper asks for Madelyn's help to carry out his malicious plan. It's a story I wrote back in college and really wanted to make into a comic because of how strong the visuals were in my head. I'm releasing it sometime in May, definitely on the web but if I have the funding I'd love for it to be a printed book.
Secondly, I have a mini comic that kind of personifies the last two cities I've called home (Savannah and Seattle) and tells my relationship with them in a surrealistic way.
Another big thing I'm doing in my spare time is a series of paintings. 'm hoping to have a gallery show by the end of the summer, I'm working on 6 paintings total. There's no specific theme yet, but the ones I've made so far have been inspired by either women I know in admire in real life, or female characters I've created.
updates and images for all these can be found on my website as well!
Why should people vote for you?
It's hard to express well, you should vote for me because there's nothing I'm more passionate about than creating comics, and I'd love to win with every fiber in my being. Making comics and art is where my heart is, so that's what I'm going to be doing no matter what, because nothing else makes me as happy. I came to Seattle a couple years ago in order to grow more as an artist, meet other artists, and get my work out there. Right now there is nothing that would make me happier than to have my work shown in a gallery, to have people SEE my work and see my name attached to it, to have what I do be noticed. A huge part of this for me is getting myself out there, which can be really difficult when you're starting from the bottom in a big city.
Also, of course, there's everything I could do with the grant money. It would be hugely beneficial to all aspects of my life as an artist. For starters, I'd set some aside for art supplies and printing tools. I got a wonderful large format printer/scanner a while back that I can't afford to put more ink in right now, but need it to print zines, illustrations people want prints of, my next comic when it's ready for print. Same for when I’m ready for a gallery showing and want prints to hang up some of my digital art. Then of course, there's supplies themselves- I still do a lot of mixed media, traditional style painting and comic making, and I'm generally not in a good financial state to go buy myself more ink pens and panting tools. Also, I would take a portion of it to help paying off some of my debt and bills. My top priority in life is having the time and energy to create my art, and I recently took up a job that allows me this time, but of course there's set backs that come with that lifestyle, which is not being very well off financially. Being a comic artist is my career goal, and while I'm trying to climb that mountain it leaves me taking smaller jobs that don't pay as well, or are very draining. Which leads to the next thing, I would put a portion of the grant away to take a sabbatical trip. Somewhere maybe that's the setting for a story I'm writing, where I could go and just draw the landscapes and architecture and people, or just somewhere I find inspirational to get work done. Being an artist is a good balance of focusing and practicing your technical skills, and being out in the world to grow as a person. Part of art is experience, and part of experience is having the money to do it.
So, in short, what I'm saying is that you should vote for me, because the opportunities that come with winning this grant would mean the world to me and do so many things for my career as a comic artist. Financially, this could do so much for me and progressing with my comics, and just being named as a winner and having my art hung up for other's to view is a dream. Please vote for me!
Kara Queen
