My name is Katya. As of writing this, I am 29 years old and eagerly looking forward to applying to graduate school. From a young age, I was very interested in the arts. This interest was cultivated by both of my parents as they encouraged me to draw and paint.

High school was a bit arduous for me, and because of that I immediately entered the workforce after graduating. I occasionally took classes at my local community college, but working took priority.

In the Fall of 2022, I was working as per usual, but goofing off at the front desk a bit. I was messing around with some character concepts and art in MS Paint (since that's what we had available on the computers). My co-worker said that the characters looked like something out of a video game. I took that offhanded comment seriously and started making assets for a non-existent video game. I made character sheets for RPGMaker 2003 and made the little characters walk around in a very basic mock-up.

I also started thinking about college again. I was very slowly, at a snail's pace, working on a Graphic Art's Associates from MPC. But I had finally come to the decision that I was going to be a Librarian, which requires a Master's in Library Sciences, which requires a Bachelor's of some sort. While looking at local universities and their programs, I found one that perfectly intersected my interests at UCSC.

With the encouragement of one of my closest friends and co-workers, I applied to college. "What's seventy bucks for your future?" is what she said. And the rest was history.

I am completing my two years at UCSC in these next two weeks, and I am eager to see what comes next.

My pursuit of wanting to try every art form under the sun has lead to me having a cursory knowledge of just about everything. And I am also happy to keep learning/trying even more stuff.

Here's a bit of what I can do/know:

• digital/traditional artist, graphic designer

  • Digital: ClipStudio Paint, Paint tool Sai, Procreate, Illustrator, MSPaint , Aseprite, Blender, Canva

  • Physical: gouache, watercolors, pen and ink, pencil, markers, clay, acrylic paint, sewing, crochet

• writer [sometimes]

  • Mostly write for personal projects and writing exchanges

  • Genres I've written: sci-fi, fantasy, horror, bit o' romance

• will get things done [always]

  • I supervise people at work and make sure that we stay on task while simultaneously making sure that my tasks are completed in a timely manner.

  • I will never be the person that flakes in a group project unless I am literally dead/dying. Even so I am very good at communicating when things go wrong.

As a lifelong consumer and fandom participant, there are many things that I have been passionate about.

I love all forms of art and media, but webcomics, cartoons, and video games are my real passions. Favorite genres include, but not limited to: horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and comedy.

I'm heavily inspired/influenced by works like Homestuck, Gravity Falls, Portal, The Stanley Parable, Ib, Off, and Undertale. Media that has one questioning the fabric of reality always appeals to me.