Kathryn Elyse Rodgers - Fashion Illustrator
Who are you and what do you do?
I am 24 years old, and graduated two years ago from Carnegie Mellon University with a BFA in Industrial Design. In present, I am a freelance fashion illustrator, and creator of PaperFashion. I’m also working at Rebook as an apparel designer during the day, and do fashion illustrations for PaperFashion in my spare time.
What/who inspires your work?
I spend a huge bulk of my time rummaging through fashion shows, editorials, trend reports, product design, etc. I love Nylon Magazine, W Magazine, Vogue, Clear Magazine, Surface Magazine. I get inspired by so many different things and people. I also love watching people in the cities and get a sense of their personal style. Street style blogs as thesartorialist, copenhagenstreetstyle, facehunter, stylescout are inspiring me too.
What kind of art supplies do you use?
My process of illustrating is fairly simple. I use Winsor & Newtoon Watercolors, watercolor brushes, Micron Ink pen or Le Pens. I always stick to use the best watercolor block paper I can find - which is usually Aquarelle Arches (I use the smooth style).
Do you use any software? For what kind of purposes?
Once the illustrations are finished, I scan them and clean the backgrounds/adjust contrast and color in Adobe Photoshop.
What websites do you use to promote your artwork and why?
I use a few different tools to promote my work. I sell my work on Etsy which I found it a great site for handmade/created work. Since I start my shop I use websites like notcot.org, ajnotebook.com, twitter.com, facebook.com, as well as submitting my work to various design blogs. These are great websites with alot of viewers. I think this is the key to promoting your work, to get it posted somewhere where a large audience will be able to view it. Social media networks and design blogs are a great place for this as well.
In which online fashion communities are you involved and why?
I keep up with style.com most often, since it is a great resource for upcoming shows and trends. I am also a member of ModePass. But I’m not too involved in these communities because there isn’t enough time! I mostly stick to blogs that I love.
What would be some tools that you would love to use but you’re currently not using?
As I said earlier, my work requires fairly basic and few supplies. But of course, there are a few things I enjoy using but haven’t yet figured out how to fit them into my style. I love Wacom tablets and Cintiqs. If I had a Cintiq monitor, I would love to mess around with it and see how close I could get with the illustrations to look like they were hand done.
Is there anything else that you use to get your artwork done?
I couldn’t survive without my printer, scanner, and most importantly my laptop. I have a MacBook Pro 15”, an Epson Stylus R1900 Inkjet Printer, and a fairly basic Canon All in One printer/scanner/copier.
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