Kayla Stark is all about humor, science, and animals

Kayla Stark illustrating on her iPad at Old School Farm Pottery

Anna: How would you describe what you do?

Kayla: I'm an illustrator and I work primarily in the children's industry. That includes picture books mostly, but it also includes chapter books, covers, graphic novels, and early readers. It's usually narrative, but I like to do other things too, like stickers and one-off illustrations. The more narrative stuff takes so long that I need a break from it. 

When did you know you wanted to be an illustrator?

I think I knew really early, maybe five or six. I was looking at picture books from the library and thinking, “Someone did this. Someone drew these things,” and I don't know if I knew at that point that they got money for it. But, I knew that they did it and I thought, “I want to do that.” But I didn't know the word illustrator. Then, when I went to college, I still liked to draw, so my family pushed me towards design because as an artist going to college, they think that's where money is. So, that's what I did. I went for print design and web design. But everything I turned in that I liked had an element of illustration, and that's where I had the most fun, when I was illustrating those assignments. So I knew early but then forgot. And then after college, I realized again, “Oh yeah, I like illustrating.” By that time, I knew the word illustrator, I just didn't know how to get there. So after college, I started taking the steps toward it.

Hand-drawn illustrations featured in the book Birds Have a Lot to Say and characters inspired by Nashville Soccer Club

Do you remember the first time you met someone that made money doing something creative? 

I didn't know there were other types of jobs in the arts world that weren't having your work in a gallery, making a painting or doing a commission. I suppose I met Amish people in my small town who do more of the craft side, and thought, “well, that's cool, they get to just make stuff for money.” But the first time I ever met someone doing what I do, it was probably Rebecca Green.

Did meeting her give you permission to do it? How do you think that changed your trajectory?

I asked her if she wanted to be friends because she was moving to Nashville from Colorado. And I thought, well, she's illustrating. I kind of want to do that, whatever that means. And she'll probably want a friend. So I asked if she wanted to hang out and be friends and then when we started talking more and hanging out. I think I realized, I mean, it's a hard job, and there's a lot of steps, but I saw what the steps were. I didn't know and then I did. So it was just seeing what someone else was doing. And I thought, “Oh, well, I could do that.” I could send that email, I could make that portfolio piece. I can make a website. Just seeing those tasks put in a specific order. I saw there's a map for it. It gave me, not really permission, but a map.

What would your main piece of advice be for someone who wants to be an illustrator?

To not be shy. And I know that's hard. Because some people don't like talking to strangers. And I happen to be one of the people that does like talking to strangers, but it opens up more opportunities. If you really put yourself out there and share your work and talk to people and talk about what you like, and what you do, and why you do it.

And doing a lot of illustrations. So you know how you want to work and what subjects you gravitate toward.

But apart from that, it's just not being shy and putting yourself out there. So every opportunity that comes to you, you could take it.

If you can form a community, that's the best thing going. That's how I found the map to doing this job, and then I tweaked it to do what I prefer. If you could find people working, even close to what you want to do and in the same world, talk to them and meet with them and hang out with them. Maybe try an online community. I have local friends who are also illustrators that I meet with pretty regularly, and if I didn't have that I think I'd be way further behind than I am now.

What are your favorite subjects?

I enjoy drawing birds and other animals. I was thinking about this the other day. There's a post on my substack about the Beatrix Potter exhibit at The Frist. There was this piece that she did for her uncle that combined humor, science, education, and animals. And I thought, “that's it.” I want to combine humor, science, education, and animals. If I could do that, I think I'll be happy. 

Are you able to express your own artistic voice when you do a commercial project for someone else? 

If you have a good editor and a good art director that trusts you to do what you do, but guides you to what will work best for the project, yes. For this bird book, I did exactly what I wanted to do. But I was guided by the manuscripts, and if there was an area where something didn't make sense, or maybe we needed to move something, they would let me know, but for the most part, I just said, “Hey, I'm gonna do this.” I got to put in some original touches like the book transitioning from day to night.

How do you balance commercial projects versus personal projects and projects on spec?

Kind of poorly. I have ADHD and I got to a point in 2021 where I wasn't able to meet any deadline. I thought it's something wrong with me and I just felt like I couldn't manage it. So I started therapy and then got screened, and started taking medication, and it helped me so much. The way I describe it is, before, I didn't have the energy to manage all of my thoughts, and how often thoughts switch and change and move around would exhaust me, but now I do have the energy to manage. It doesn't change how my thoughts work, but it gave me the energy to deal with it. Since I have been on that, I've been doing a lot better. It's hard but being organized and making lists. If something pops into your head, do that or write that down immediately because it's going to leave and you won't remember it. So doing that, being consistent. I use Notion, which is a task management system online. And I have pages for everything. Literally everything.

Reading from Christmas Ahoy!

What do you want to be doing in the future?

Right now, I have a book I've written and have been querying. I would love for that to be put into the world. I drew this lion in 2020, and I thought, “this is the best thing I've ever drawn. This is the most me thing I've ever drawn.” And I kept thinking about it. And after finishing that manuscript, I was like, “This is me. If this doesn't sell, I don't really know where to go from here, because this is the most me thing I've ever done.” 

Who are your biggest influences?

Richard Scarry is one. At the moment I've been looking at him a lot. Also, Ronald Searle, a British pen and ink artist. The way he draws characters is so weird. And Tomi Ungerer. He did a lot of stuff back in the mid-century. His stories are just weird, and I love it. There's a little bit of danger and a little bit of ambiguity that I love in a book. Especially for children. I want more of that in the world.

Jon Klassen is one working right now in kid lit, he's pretty great. He just released a book called The Skull. And I'm so mad that I didn't make it, but I also love it.

How does being married to another creative person affect your creativity?

We both understand needing that time to work on our own creative projects. And we both have the vocabulary necessary to help each other with projects. It's nice that we can understand enough about the art world to be able to help each other. But we are separate enough because he's doing pottery, and I'm doing illustration so it doesn’t feel like it's super related. And then it's fun to come together and collaborate, like we did for the kākāpō bird mugs. 

What’s your goal for the future?

I'm not shy in saying that I want to make a lot of money doing this, and I want to win awards. And I feel like a lot of people just want to draw and don't care if they make money. I do care. Obviously, I'm not just doing it for that, but I want to be recognized because I think what I do is good. Artists deserve to make way more than they do. And to be recognized for their hard work because it's everywhere. Art is everywhere in the world. Nothing would exist without it, someone designed these buildings! It’s everywhere.

Learn more about Kayla Stark at her website and sign up for her newsletter. Take her illustration course on Domestika and follow her on Instagram.