Katie Scarlett Griffin: As Colorful As It Gets

Ordinary day-to-day, almost mundane scenarios come to life under the unique perspective offered by Brooklyn-based illustrator Katie Scarlett Griffin. Her reimagination of common settings like dining rooms and kitchens, mixed with not-so-conventional settings like swimming pools and tennis courts, capture everyday scenes that happen to be filled with vibrant colors, which makes it hard for our eyes to not stop and stare at her work.

What makes Katie’s pieces stand out, other than the colors, it’s her personal touch, which gives it a sense of intimacy and familiarity, as she incorporates elements from her own home into her illustrations, such as plants, furniture and other decorative elements. She also encourages curiosity, so each piece is filled with a great amount of details and hidden elements for the spectator to find and admire as they take deeper and deeper looks into her Instagram posts.

Katie’s artistic journey started when she was pretty young, as she herself told Voyage ATL: “From a young age, I took an interest in art and by the time I was in high school, I knew I wanted to have a creative career. I had the same studio art teacher, David Boyd, all four years of high school and he is a huge part of the reason I came to enjoy art so much, his classes were always fun and encouraged creativity. Later in high school, I took a graphic design course with my teacher, Meredith Wilson. I learned more about how art can be applied in the “real world” and I really started leaning into making logos and branding. After working on a poster, t-shirt and flyer for a film festival that my high school put on, I quickly decided that graphic design was what I wanted to do more”. When the 2020 pandemic hit, Katie was almost a year into her career after studying graphic design at Georgia Southern University. Her newfound free time allowed her to be creative and she started to play with animation after she bought an iPad Pro and next thing she knew, she managed to build a digital community of followers who happen to love her distinctive style and aesthetic.

But of course, she also acknowledges that struggles are an inherent part of the artistic route she is pursuing: “I think the toughest part of starting my career was when I got my first design job and quickly realized I had to work within restrictions. Many clients would turn my work into something I didn’t recognize as my own anymore. I think adjusting to the 9-5 schedule was also a challenge in itself, especially when I had to commute to work 5 days a week. When I got off work I didn’t really have the drive to create anything that was just for me. It took me a while, but eventually I was able to re-energize and start creating outside of work, and that’s how my art style was born. That being said, I am lucky to work with an agency that gets a diverse range of clients and a boss that is supportive of my freelance career! Another struggle I have that I’d like to bring up (and I think many newer artists may relate to) is the pressure to post consistently on social media channels, especially in the form of short videos (reels, TikTok, etc). While I’m open to getting more into videos, I’m at a place right now where I’m trying to focus solely on the work itself and not so much “content creation.” I always feel like I should be trying harder and doing more”. We can’t wait to see what she’s doing next, based on the amazing things she’s been showcasing in recent years.