Kathrine Gutkovskiy Interview – 50 States (New Mexico)
Kathrine Gutkovskiy – “it is practically always sunny and the sky is so beautiful”
This week Creative Chair is in New Mexico talking to graphic designer turned children’s book illustrator Kathrine Gutkovskiy.
This is the 25th Edition of 50 States, marking the official halfway point for the series.
You can see more from Kathrine Gutkovskiy on Behance.
Tell us a little bit more about yourself and what you do
My name is Kathrine Gutkovskiy. I am children’s book Illustrator, and seven years ago I moved from New York City to join my husband in Los Alamos New Mexico.
We have two beautiful kids, and when I am not creating illustrations for my clients, I draw for them. Illustration as a profession and true passion came into my life not that long ago, but some of my favorite illustration style works were done years ago as personal projects while I was working as a full-time graphic designer in New York. Apparently, an idea of making book illustration my profession had been in the back of my mind for a long time, and finally I decided to give it a go. At the moment, I am fortunate to work on two exciting book projects, and although it is a bit hard with little kids, it is very rewarding.
How has your state influenced the work that you do?
The way that New Mexico influenced my work is through the incredibly bright and vivid colors in nature all around me. The truth is when I work I close the office door and disappear from the world. But when I am not in the office the fact that it is practically always sunny and the sky is so beautiful, especially at night, must have a positivize effect on everything that I do here including art projects.
Of your own work, what is your favorite project and why?
My favorite work would be “No Sleep Again” because it is a personal project and I feel for the main character. My kids were the inspiration for this work (for a week straight they would take turns waking me up as if they had a secret pact, which I found remarkable considering the fact that my youngest didn’t start talking yet).
Other projects that I really enjoyed working on were “Trees” – because of the number of different facial expressions I had a chance to create and possibly ”Old Friends” – because of the good aura it has to it.
The 110th 366 Award goes to Kathrine Gutkovskiy for her outstanding creative work.
And finally, if you died and got reincarnated as a song, what would that song be?
I would like it to be Yann Tiersen’s “Sur Le Fil (Violin), but probably it would be something like Nina Simone – Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair ????
