Hi Kaitlin! You are always so bright. To start, could you tell us a little about yourself and your creative journey?

So, I’m Kaitlin, ha, I was born and raised in New Jersey, I still live here, and I absolutely love it! In 2018, I started my freshman year at the School of Visual Arts as an illustration major, and 4 years later, I graduated with a BFA in 2022. I was always that kid that your parents would say was “artistic” because I liked to make a lot of crafts or put random colors of paint on paper. I remember that for many years, my birthday or Christmas gifts always involved some sort of art tool. Art was always my answer, and when it came time to go to college, I had hesitancy, but I full went for it- an artistic career. Over the course of those 4 years in college, I started to develop my voice more. I really liked using ink on paper and making black and white art full of contrast. But when I realized the type of illustrator I wanted to be and the work I wanted to get, I knew I had to start using color. I experimented a ton over the years, and then my senior year, “it” finally happened,  combining my love for line art and my love for flat bright colors, and that’s what I’ve been doing since!


I know it’s a classic question, but your style is so consistent and distinctive—what are some of the inspirations behind it?
How did you develop that visual voice over time?

Some inspirations behind my work really go back to a lot of nostalgic things in my life, and also beyond my existence into earlier vintage aesthetics. I loved 
looking at old 90s children’s books. I grew up in the 2000s, and I loved the charming scenes and often very warm and textured drawings. I’ve also always had a love for collecting, and that translated to my love for thrift shops and vintage shopping, where I often find treasures that inspire me in all sorts of ways: making characters, pattern choices, color choices, motifs, many things! I also love collecting vintage magazines and seeing the golden age of illustration when ads were all painted and drawn. All of these things, over time, just started to influence the work I made, I think very organically!

Especially, your use of bold color is so striking—do certain colors hold special meaning or emotion for you?

I love pink! That’s all I can say, haha, and bright colors just make me happy!


You graduated in 2022, so it’s been about three years now. I noticed you’ve worked in both design and illustration.

Your packaging design projects are super fun and vibrant—what excites you most about working 
on packaging? How does the process compare to creating editorial or personal illustrations?

Packaging projects are so exciting because they are items that will be physically available to hold and to see, and I think that is something so special in our digital age. In the editorial, sometimes I get illustrations published in print, but it’s not always the case. Meanwhile, packaging is for the purpose of having a visual draw for the customer, the stakes are high, and it is so exciting for someone to trust me with that! A lot more “brain work” definitely goes into packaging vs editorial or personal illustrations. I think, though, packaging sometimes overlaps with my personal ideas because often packaging illustration jobs are coming to me for my specific voice and interests, and with editorial, while using my voice, I often am “locked” into a specific topic to draw. 

Do you remember a moment that felt like a turning point in focusing more on illustration professionally?

Hmmmm, that’s a hard question! I think I was “always” focusing on illustration professionally. Not everyone is able to jump right into it after graduation, so even as I had other work, I was still always pushing to make this career happen. 
But, I suppose it started to feel very real after my first full year illustrating. It was the first time I felt like “wow, yeah, this could actually be my career”!


Your illustrations are always full of imagination and play—it feels like your creative well runs deep!
But have you ever experienced burnout or creative block? If so, how do you navigate those moments and recharge your creativity?

DEFINITELY! I actually don’t consider myself the most creative person! I almost prefer just drawing over brainstorming ideas, to be honest! I think I just don’t have consistency when it comes to being an  “idea” person. Sometimes I think I have some clever ideas, and other times I am drawing an absolute blank! So, burnout/creative block comes very easily to me now with the amount of work I do, especially in editorial, where the idea is everything. After my second professional year, I was extremely burnt out, and I was very worried! My head felt so empty. I then realized I had barely drawn for myself that whole year, and maybe picked up an actual pen only twice? So! At the beginning of this year, I made a vow to draw every day in a very casual manner. I bought a journal and every day I “doodle” journal. Very casual, and I am not hard on myself if I miss a day. And that has been very healing and has helped me feel much more rejuvenated. It’s so so SO important to draw for yourself after working for so long for other people. I also recommend making art TOTALLY different from what you normally do. 


I absolutely love all the products you make—your zines and stickers are so cheerful!
As a fellow stationery fan, I’m curious: how do you run your shop? Do you have any advice for individual artists who are just starting out with vending or selling their own work?

I feel like I have little advice because it feels like I am currently failing at running my shop, LOL. It’s a lot of time-consuming work, I don’t always have as my main “job” is my professional illustration. But! In the past, I used Big Cartel to run my shop, which I found super easy and intuitive. I created lots of Instagram content to “hype up” its opening and also my first product launch. In that same vein, the advice I would give to people just starting out is to definitely build an audience first! I’ve seen people open shops without an audience and build an audience through it, but I think that can definitely take a lot of time and money. Keep creating your art, and people will resonate with it. I think the time will feel right when you want to open your shop, if it’s one of your more casual goals, like it was for me. Also, start small! You don’t have to order 100 prints, find local print shops with low print minimums, test the waters, and see what sticks!

Outside of client work, what’s your dream project?
Are there types of work or themes you’d love to explore more?

For a while now, I have really been wanting to work on a large-scale ink drawing. I have this knick-knack shelf/bookcase that holds all my treasures, and I would love to be able to document it by drawing it as a life-scale drawing. I just haven’t found the free time to start!



Has there been a piece of feedback or advice that stuck with you and changed the way you work?

I feel like a lot of different things people have told me over the years have made me a better illustrator over time, and it’s almost hard to remember a specific note as they all blend together into a jumble of subconscious decisions I make. 

I suppose one thing I can think about now, in relation to editorial illustration and also burnout, is to always make sure to draw something you like. It can be easy to draw something just to fit a prompt, but sneak in little things you enjoy drawing so that you have fun when completing the work. I think this has ultimately also developed my style over time!


We’re still a very new magazine, but we’re dreaming big — Is there anything you’d like to see us feature in the future? We really hope to build a strong and supportive creative community through it.

I am so excited about Pretty Wishes and its future! We really do need more projects like these in our creative communities. I’d love to see something, maybe like a community prompt! Maybe with some issues, the social media can post a prompt, and artists can submit work to the prompt, and maybe a few get chosen, and a page out of the magazine can feature the artworks! I think it would be a great way for more people to get involved and share artwork together!

Thank you so much for your genuine ideas. We hope we can make it come true!



Follow Kaitlin Brito @kbrito_art