Kit Fox shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Kit, so good to connect and we’re excited to share your story and insights with our audience. There’s a ton to learn from your story, but let’s start with a warm up before we get into the heart of the interview. What are you chasing, and what would happen if you stopped?
There’s always that urge to “go home again” even if home doesn’t necessarily mean the place where we grew up. I have a stable home now that I worked really hard to get, that I’m really proud of, but I also think there is a cost to traveling, that you’ll always be missing somewhere else. World events and shifting climate are giving me that bug again, to see where I’d fit in best.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Kit Fox and I am a professional illustrator for monster/supernatural romance novels. There is so much to love about my job, especially as someone who’s been drawing monsters since I was a little girl, and never imagined it would become a career. On a given day I could be working on creature design, a sweet romantic PG book cover, or something very adults-only. It’s a strange time for artists with the rise of AI theft and the difficulty most people have of spending money on something that isn’t considered essential, and it’s amazing how many. of my clients are determined to keep human artists in the spotlight.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was Miss Piggy, honestly. As a little kid, I was a loud performer, a one-woman show of dumb jokes and partially remembered songs and cartoon voices, and I was convinced that I was a star. In school, I learned very quickly that my style of weird wasn’t wanted – not by other kids and certainly not by authority figures. In a small town in the 90s when folks didn’t really understand ADHD and weirdness, I often felt like I was being punished for trying to be myself. I was told that I was just too much. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve learned that a lot of kids had the same experience.
Of course, it isn’t true – we’re not too much and we do not have to tone ourselves down for anyone. I may have stepped back from trying to be in the spotlight, but I’ve never stopped being unusual, colorful, bizarre, and making lots of mistakes.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
I was in a mentally/emotionally abusive relationship for nearly a decade. I hate talking about it because it feels like I have to prove that it happened, like people won’t believe me. The person I was with was so well liked by everyone, so funny and humble, that it’s impossible to explain what it was like when no one else was around. When I finally left him, I had to leave Hawaii too, which had been my home for 11 years. I had to leave my friends and family that lived close by. I started over where no one knew me so I could excavate the version of myself that I wanted to be. That leaves a big ugly scar.
It’s never easy. I still have frequent nightmares that I’m back in that life. I still miss my former home so much. But all that struggle had to happen so I could get right here, right now, an entirely different and happier person.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Good art, good love, homemade pizza with a nice crisp crust, excellent books. When you boil it all down, what matters most is making great things. This is why humans are special, this is our purpose and our therapy and our joy. When the world is beautiful, we make fascinating things. When the world is ugly, we make fascinating things.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days.
I am head over butt in love with my job – and it’s a new and scary feeling. I am never so comfortable that I don’t believe it could be taken away from me some day. When I was a baker, I was excited to bake. When I worked with dogs, I was excited to see them. Even in jobs where I was happy, I was still an artist. I went home and washed off the flour or dog hair or whatever, and I made art. Now I actually get to do that for a living, and every challenge is such good fun. When I can show an author something that really touches them or makes them happy or revs their engine, it’s a thrill.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kitfoxart/
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kit.fox.art
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/voodoopastry
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/kitfoxart
Image Credits
Images shown are the art and property of Kit Fox.
