Chicago-based illustrator and painter, Kate Pugsley, creates humoristic characters that are simply delightful. Ice skating bears, sea-horse riders, and an elephant holding a bouquet of flowers are just some of the quirks you can find in her artwork.
With more than 210k followers on Instagram, an online store that sells her selected prints, and a houseware brand she runs with her husband, Pugsley, she clearly has her work cut out for her. But it took her quite a while until she fully embraced her artistic lifestyle.
“My understanding of adult life and work was really limited, but I couldn’t imagine doing anything else as a career,” she told Freelance Wisdom. “Although I studied illustration at RISD, my early work after school was closer to fine art; I mostly worked with oil paint and presented work in some gallery shows. I had a few different day jobs while painting nights and weekends. I finally decided a few years after college that illustration was what I really wanted to do, so I made it happen.”
“Once I felt like I had some pieces I was happy with I put a portfolio together and started reaching out to art directors and sharing my work on social media. It’s not always an easy or secure job, but it can be very fun and rewarding,” she added.
Take a look at some of her work in the gallery below.
