Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristen Barnhart.
Kristen, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My name is Kristen Barnhart. I’m a freelance illustrator/designer and very small business owner working from my home studio in Denton, Texas. I just graduated from the University of North Texas back in May 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in communication design AKA graphic design. While I was in school learning about graphic design, often times struggling with the structure of design, I found myself mindlessly drawing in lecture classes and leaning more toward illustration based projects for school.
After a series no’s to various colleges because of money, I found myself at a community college then transferred to UNT knowing absolutely nothing about the insanely intense life communication design would bring me. I feel very fortunate to have ended up at UNT because it was one of the greatest and most challenging 4 years of my life. I felt very discouraged most of my time in school because designing was not as easy as drawing for me. Then my junior year in 2016 came around and I found myself interning for May Designs, a lifestyle brand located in Austin. It was a huge turning point for me, confidence wise. I started drawing even more and believing in myself as cheesy as that sounds. At the time, enamel pins were starting to become very popular. They were EVERYWHERE. I had that thought, “Well if they can do it, why can’t I?” So I did.
I designed my first enamel pin, opened an Etsy shop with some other things, and that’s how this whole shop thing started! Now it’s 2018 and kb illustration has expanded to its own online shop. My amazing boyfriend gifted me a screen printing kit last year and now I screen print shirts in my studio! I also have banners, art prints, buttons, and more. It’s exciting to look back and see how far I’ve come and how much I’ve grown as a human. This shop is kind of like the wood board that has your height marked on it at your parent’s old house. It keeps growing with me!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My journey has not been smooth. I’m definitely on the crunchy peanut butter route. Once I realized I could use my skills as a designer to make products people really like and actually make money from that, running an online shop became more of a reality. I quit my part time job at Target when I felt like I could make enough money from my shop to pay for everything. It was definitely risky, but I think I benefited from my naive outlook. I didn’t know what to expect, or what I was doing really, so who knows what would happen? I just wanted to try.
I used to use old boxes to cut out backing boards for orders, cut individual packaging out of scrap paper, draw everything for every product by hand, it was very DIY. I have definitely grown over the past 2 years, but I feel like I’m still at that pre-teen business stage where I kind of know what I’m doing, but also I still have to ask my mom for rides to the movies? Does that even make sense?? I guess I’m trying to say that running a business, small or large, at any stage, is a lot of work. Being a fresh freelance designer graduate is difficult at times! It’s a lot of messing up and learning and moving on. My goals are constantly exceeding the last one. But everything leading up to this moment in life helps me make quicker, more confident decisions. Having a really supportive community of artists and business owners has also helped me immensely.
KB Illustration – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Kb illustration is a place where I can give life to my illustrations in physical product form. I think you could describe my art as sardonic optimism. I’ve wrestled with anxiety and depression and a lot of that comes out in my art. I have a shirt design with “sad but optimistic” on it and I think that pretty much sums it up. I think there’s a message in my work of being okay with feeling the low points. Acknowledging that there is sadness and darkness but sometimes there’s a sprinkle of humor mixed in with it. Making jokes about stuff makes me feel better. Jokes are a great way to relate with others too. I love when someone says “OMG that is so me” to my illustrations or products. Some people don’t get it though, which is totally okay. One lady looked at my work at an event and said to me “so are you all about anti-inspiration?” Maybe she’s never felt sad…
I’d say kb illustration is best known for the It’s Okay, I’m Okay shirt. It was the second design I ever made and it’s still the most popular one to this day. I think the phrase can be used in various tones and situations. Maybe as a reminder to ourselves in troubling situations, or as a sigh of relief, or an exclamation of joy. It’s a comforting shirt and I’m glad it has helped a number of people feel a little bit better when they put it on.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Shop wise, jumping off the Etsy boat and opening my own online shop has been one of the proudest moments for me. I have a long list of issues with Etsy, so I was ready to move onto something that allowed much more freedom for my shop. I worked with my photographer friend Wesley Holmes on a very fun photoshoot for the site and had a bunch of friends/family help out with modeling. It was exciting to use a lot of my skills from school to create something very special to kb illustration. I also have a few shops over the US that carry my shirts in their brick and mortar stores which is amazing. People actually shop for my shirts! IN A STORE!
Freelance design wise, I’d say having illustrations published in the book Now Say This By: Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright, was very surreal. Seeing “Illustrations by: Kristen Barnhart” in a REAL book is so cool.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kbillustration.co
- Email: hello@kristenbarnhart.com
- Instagram: @kb.illustration
- Other: www.kristenbarnhart.com
Image Credit:
Wesley Holmes
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
