Kate Mottershaw is a freelance graphic designer/ illustrator from Lancashire. I was first attracted to her work when I saw the designs she had done for a bakery I follow on instagram, she created a really fun and unique mural/ chalkboard in their bakery which was unlike anything I had ever really seen before. It has a very strong doodling nature to it and looked so natural and free, as does a lot of her work.
I contacted Kate through facebook messenger and I know this is one of her preferred ways for clients to get in touch therefore thought it would be my best option and make her more likely to reply. I was a bit nervous when contacting the creatives I have done purely because I felt like a pest and that they wouldn't have time for me. However Kate's response put my mind at ease as she was very grateful and felt honoured that I had chosen her to do my report on. As she is a recent graduate from Leeds University I think she was more understanding and mentioned that she had to do something similar when writing her dissertation and found it challenging.
I asked her only five questions as I though a short amount of questions would be less daunting and make her (as well as any other people I contacted) more likely to reply. I tried to make the questions pretty open so that I would receive a lot of information from her. I asked what made her become a freelance designer and if she would recommend it to someone after they graduate. Her response was that she always knew she wanted to create things and when she was doing her degree at Leeds University she was pushed into a form of making that she wasn't very comfortable with. Due to this she dedicated time to drawing and creating things in a style she loved as a hobby, she then began to upload these pieces onto social media which got quite a bit of attention. She managed to form a little business from this and sold hand drawn, personalised gifts. She named her instagram 'Kate Illustrate' and began to accumulate a strong following. She said that it was really satisfying for her as she no longer had to follow rules or be told what to do, she was making work she loved and people were appreciating it and would tell anyone to go for it and become freelance.
What I really like about Kate's instagram is how it not only contains her finished work she shows the process and behind the scenes of her doing it as well. I asked her how she maintained such a strong instagram following and if she had any tips. She said It is a lot of hard work as it requires her to keep up with the latest trends to make sure she is posting what people want to see. She also recommends having an interesting instagram story to encourage people to then click on her profile and view more of her work. She said to also make friends with people local to you that also have a small business as they will be more likely to support you and shout you out on their instagram.
In terms of inspiration Kate said that her biggest inspiration is an artist called Rory Dobner, someone I had never personally heard of before however after finding out about him I really love his work. She has been a huge fan of his since she was 16 and got the opportunity to meet him and explore behind the scenes of how he works last year. I also asked about how she deals with creative block and she said that she works very fast and takes on a lot of work so doesn't really have much time to stop however if she needs a break then she uploads things onto social media as then she is still doing something productive.
I also asked about how she has found the transition from university to freelance. To this she replied that she really misses being at uni and would love to go back to the lifestyle she had back then but is also really happy about how far she has come and how successful she is now. She built the foundations of her business throughout her final year of university and has managed to develop it further now she is no longer a student.
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