If you’ve seen this illustration:

Or drooled over this art:

And you wanted to buy this shirt:

Congratulations, you are part of Karen Hallion’s growing fan club!

Here at Geek Girls, Inc. we are HUGE fans of Karen’s work. We recently had the exciting
opportunity to interview Karen about her work and her love of everything geeky.

15, definitely.

I can’t write to save my life. I struggle with coming up with even small descriptions of my work. When I do those designs, I put a lot of thought into how best to merge the two stories to create a new one.  Fans are so protective of their Disney and Doctor Who, I want to respect that and the two worlds that have already been created, as well as respecting the characters and their stories.  But, it's fun to play "what if.”

Well, about five years ago, I lost my job. Up until that point, I had been doing a lot of mermaids, geisha, and art nouveau work in my spare time when I wasn’t teaching and had already started to think about trying a freelance career in art.  When I lost my job, I looked around at some of my favorite artists and I thought, “I am going to focus all of my efforts to make this work as a successful career.” I started doing some pop culture designs and ended up subbing some work to Tee Fury, which was my introduction into t-shirt design, and it kind of took off from there.

When my work began to make its rounds on t-shirt sites and Tumblr, it wasn’t until I was complimented at my local Whole Foods while wearing one of my shirts that I fully understood the reach of my artwork’s success. When I said that I had designed it, not only did they know who I was, but the cashier jumped in too to say they knew me as well.  It is an odd feeling, but that was the first time I thought, “I am doing okay!”

Working as an illustrator can be very solitary. I am alone at my desk most days and nights, so I love the social aspect of conventions and the chance to get away from my hermit-studio world to be somewhere new.  I also love the traveling and I love meeting other artists and trading stories.  The best part is meeting fans of my work although sometimes that itself can be overwhelming.  Being asked to take a picture with someone, or sign their shirt, or their arm (which happened once as they had tattooed my work and wanted to tattoo my signature!) is equal parts amazing and scary at the same time. They are always fun, if not exhausting, and usually after 3-4 days I am more than ready to go back to the quiet of my studio.

Social Media really is an artist's best friend these days. I know artists who don’t have a lot of followers and it can feel like they are posting their art and no one is seeing it.  But I got one of the biggest breaks in my career from something so random. I did this silly design which was a parody of Wil Wheaton.  His son saw it on Twitter, and showed Wil.  Wil contacted me and we made it into a shirt for charity.  Hank Green, who is friends with Wil, saw my work and contacted me to sell some shirts with his company. A few years later, when he was looking for an artist for his game, he asked me. You never know what opportunities will come your way, so just keep putting your work out there.

Thank you! It's so hard! But it's so good for me.  If drawing fan-based illustrations is like eating ice cream, creating original characters, for me, is like eating my vegetables. It's challenging, and a struggle, but it is making me so much stronger as an artist, and is so worth it in the end.  And, once I got the hang of it, it has gotten much, much easier. Still I have so much more work to do on this project that it is currently a little overwhelming to think about, but everyone's response has been so great, that helps.

I sell at a number of sites and am pretty active on social media. 
TeeFury:http://www.teefury.com/karen-hallion 

Society6: http://society6.com/KarenHallion(also pillows, mugs, etc)

TeePublic: https://www.teepublic.com/user/KHallion

DFTBA: http://store.dftba.com/search?type=product&q=karen+hallion

We Love Fine (licensed Lucas, Marvel, Hasbro, Cartoon Network): http://community.welovefine.com/profile/8832

Threadless: https://www.threadless.com/catalog/?keyword=karen+hallion

Spoonflower (fabric, not shirts): http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/karenhallionart       Once purchased, people can do whatever they want with it, including making something and selling it. :)

Coloring Pages can be found through Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/KarenHallion

Calendar: thetinkerspacks.com/collections/calendars/products/2016-hallion-calendar

DA: http://khallion.deviantart.com/

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/khallion/

Tumblr: http://karenhallion.tumblr.com/

Instagram: http://instagram.com/karenhallionart/

Twitter: @khallion

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenHallion/

​Parents and teachers: Find information on helping your future engineer learn about the field here.

​Engineers: Want to be a part of the EngineerGirl role model network? Sign up for the Directory of Women Engineers here.

by Brooke

​Our editors believe everyone should have the opportunity to level up - especially when it comes to education!

Beginning in January 2016, every month we will feature a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of girls’ and women’s learning opportunities in the U.S.A. and around the world. We will also feature people doing amazing things in the fields of STEM, writing and the arts.
 
So keep an eye out for our cool new learning stuff under the “Learn & Thrive” column!
 
If you’re ready to support teaching initiatives now, have a look at this article from December highlighting 5 education nonprofits you will love:

​ ‘Tis the Season for Giving: Help Future Geeks with these 5 Education Nonprofits
 
Happy New Year!