A 30-year-old Old Town artist has just completed her first book illustration and hopes to do more. She used the Internet extensively on the illustration project, and is growing her business using various cyberspace tools.
Kate Cosgrove’s “White Girl” comic strip in the now-defunct Lansing State Journal’s “Noise” drew appreciative followers, and her art hangs in Capital region galleries. But the book project takes her in another direction.
The book is part of a multi-piece project for Chicago Welcomes You, a group that prepares materials to help refugees become acclimated to a bustling city. “Ah Mu Weaves a Story,” by Sara Gilliam, focuses on The Karen—Burmese (now Myanmar) refugees coming from camps in Thailand.
Cosgrove worked closely with the Nebraska author who had spent time with The Karen people. The culture there is very different from ours, Cosgrove says, and those differences had to be reflected in her art. The Karen sit on the floor rather than in chairs; magenta carries a special significance to them; unmarried girls wear only white, while married women wear brightly colored clothes.
Cosgrove competed for the $1,500 assignment and got the job in January. She completed the pencil drawings with guache paint in March, with lots of e-mails in between.
The book has been so well received, it will be distributed nation-wide. A second printing of the bilingual books will be available to the public at the Chicago Welcomes You site.
Meanwhile, Cosgrove has posted her work on ETSY, an online community for artists and craftsmen, on eBay, and other sites.
“The Internet cracks the world wide open,” says Cosgrove. It gives her a global marketplace, allowing her to sell work from Alaska to Australia. She also uses social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook and regularly posts a blog.
Her next project? She’s trying to get a publisher for a bilingual children’s book using Spanish and English, a model that is scarce. And she’s using Facebook to grow a group of supporters for the book.
Source: Kate Cosgrove
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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