Kelly Emmrich

Kelly Emmrich is an illustrator and animator living and working in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Her work has appeared in the magazines 'Moonhood Magazine,' and 'Dream Noir.' She studied creative writing and animation at the University of Mary Washington. She is currently working as a beer label designer for a microbrewery in Afton, Virginia.

Published Artwork: in Beyond Words, Whispering Prairie Press, The Ephimiliar Journal, Alluvian, Landlocked, Levitate, Dream Noir, Meat For Tea, Waxing and Waning, and The Emerson Review.

You’re a new addition to the crayon box: Which color are you and why? 
My favorite color is yellow, so I’m going to stick with it. Yellow is such a happy and hopeful color and I love using it in my work.

How did you become interested in art? 
I took a digital art class my junior year in college, and I became hooked. I’d always loved art, and I started drawing for fun as a child. I lost touch with it a little when I started college, and it took one amazing class to get me more interested in it again.

What has your path to art look like?
I took art in high school, but I fell out of love with it. I didn’t end up drawing or doing anything more with art until I took an intro to digital art class that was required for my digital studies minor. I fell in love with art again. I then took an intro animation class and a video art class. I applied and got into the graduate animation program at Pratt Art Institute, but I didn’t end up attending due to some personal issues. I moved to NYC in the fall of 2018 and worked in a series of different office jobs. First for a fashion PR company then a Blockchain company, then finally a floral design company. Every night when I got home from work and would just draw. I started posting to my Instagram regularly in January 2019, and I slowly got better at digital art. 

Who are other artists that have influenced your work? 
Most of the artists that influence and inspire me currently are mostly working animators and video artists. I’ve been trying to get better at animation lately so I’ve been watching a ton of it. Mike Perry is one of my favorite animators. The way that he uses color is just great. A huge inspiration of mine is also Pipilotti Rist. I’ve had the honor of seeing her video installations in person and wow. They are so incredible. Another influence for me is freelance artist Nicole Rifkin. She has done illustrations for the New York Times and many other publications. Her work is so textured and moody.

Broadly speaking, have the events of 2020 changed your practice? If so, how?
Yes and no. I had more time when lockdown first began to spend all day drawing. I work full time for a brewery and food truck as a graphic designer and kitchen help when needed, so work slowed down considerably until around mid May. When Virginia started to reopen, I began working again, but moreseo in the sweltering food truck than on my computer. I’ve had less time than I would like to focus on art.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
A professor once told me that I never have to decide what I want to do forever. I just have to decide what I want to pick first. I’ve held onto that sentiment for everything I do.

What does a typical studio day look like for you?
I try to make a checklist of everything that I’d like to work on that day and I work best in the early mornings. I usually wake up at 6am and start working on either commissions or personal work. I don’t have a regimented schedule. There are some days where I don’t feel inspired to do anything creative and there are some days where I feel like I can’t stop drawing.

Do you have a favorite part of the artistic process? 
I think the beginning of a project is my favorite. I love coming up with ideas and creating different sketches, and for animations storyboarding.

What is your favorite tool to create with? 
It’s so different for every medium, but since I work primarily digitally now, I’d have to say that my favorite tool is the gouache brush pack that I downloaded on photo

How has your practice changed over time? 
I’ve become a lot more chill with the way I create. I used to draw like I was running out of time. I felt as a social media creator that I had to create postable artwork daily so that’s what I did when I first started posting on my art Instagram. Now that I’m animating more, I take longer breaks. I don’t feel that same frantic pressure that I did when I first started.

Where do you find sources of inspiration? 
Honestly everywhere. During quarantine, I’ve been going on walks and hikes daily. There’s so much to take inspiration from. I get inspired by video artists and painters on TikTok as well. When I start a new piece I do collect a few pictures on pinterest or try to figure out a color palette. 

If you could become one of your characters/works of art which one would you become, and why? 
Oh wow. I’ve never thought about this. Honestly I want to live in most of the scenery that I draw. I think I’d like to be the woman in my piece called “Animals and Balance” with blue skin and many animals and flowers. She just seems so peaceful and she’s truly living the Disney princess dream of having animal friends.

Which superpower would you have, and why?
I would definitely want some kind of plant or garden superpower. I would love to make a tree grow or flowers bloom. 

Typically how long does it take for you to complete one piece?
For my illustrations they each take about 4-12 hours depending on how detailed they are. For my recent animations, they take about 10-30 hours. I honestly love the whole process of creating. I don’t really notice the time passing.

Lush green landscapes, and scenes from nature feature prominently in your work. How do you capture these scenes? Do you take photographs, or draw, or just work from memory? 
I live in a mountainous  rural area currently, so there is no shortage of inspiration around me. I try to take a lot of my reference photos, but I also like to scour Pinterest for inspiration. My nature scenes are some of my favorite pieces for sure.

In one of your pieces you write “New York City has always been this unreachable dreamscape,” how did living in NYC affect your artwork? Did you find living in NYC defied, or met your expectations? 
I only got to live there for a year, but I’d dreamed of living there and thriving when I was a kid. I think I had this preconceived notion that moving to my dream city right after college would magically make my life better. Moving to NYC did start me on my art journey, and I am so grateful to it for being my first home after college. The cityscape didn’t really inspire much in my art. I spent most of my free time in Prospect Park and Fort Greene Park just sitting under the trees. Honestly my work became more tied to nature while I was there. Now that I’m living in the countryside, I’m much more drawn to cityscapes. New York didn’t disappoint me, but I wasn’t very fond of the person that I was while I lived there. I had to really hustle while I lived there to make ends meet, and I felt a little defeated by some of my hardships. Maybe I’ll move back one day when I have a little more money in the bank.

Your art touches on various political issues: feminism, healthcare, the Black Lives Matter movement. Would you say your practice is inherently political? Do you think it is the responsibility of artists to address politics through their work? 
I like to think that art can inspire social change. Nothing I make is too groundbreaking, but I have a degree in English with a concentration in creative writing and journalism. I’ve been trying to use my journalism knowledge and combine it with art. With some of my current animations, I’ve been trying to uplift Black voices. I’m just trying to be a better ally for the Black Lives Matter Movement, and it felt necessary and meaningful to create art in support of it. I just personally felt wrong posting my usual fields when there is so much turmoil in our country. I think every artist is different, and it’s not my place to tell artists how they should react to BLM, Covid, or the environmental crisis. 2020 has been a generally hard year for everyone, and many artists create art as an escape or a therapy. However, I am an activist and I felt compelled to use my art skills for the support of social change.

What is your favorite accomplishment thus far?
I think having my art on the cover of a literary journal was such a special accomplishment. I didn’t expect it so early in my career and it was a huge goal of mine for 2020 to have my work in literary journals.

What is your ultimate professional goal? 
I’m not entirely sure. I have so many different things that I want to accomplish in my career. It’s more like a checklist rather than one goal. Some of my top dreams though are having a video art installation, animating a music video, and making an illustrated children's book. I’ve never been one to have an ultimate goal.

A lot of these questions have been heavy: let’s lighten it up for the last one: For one month you can go anywhere in the world for an artist residency where do you go and why? 
Oh wow that would be a dream. I think I would like to go to Peru. My best friend from college was from there and spoke about it so fondly. Also I’ve been taking some Spanish classes during quarantine, and I would love to be able to speak it fluently.