Meet Beth King

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Beth King. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Beth below.

Beth, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

When I was a child, I had no problem telling people I was an artist! I spent all my free time making things, what else would I be? It wasn’t until I went to art school for college that I started thinking maybe I wasn’t “good enough” to call myself an artist. My program was very competitive and people were constantly talking about building their portfolios. I on the other hand, loved to create of course, but I was more interested in building community and making friends while making art! Eventually, the competitiveness of the illustration program became too much for me and I decided to switch to Art Education. My classmates viewed the art ed program as a demotion but it was the best decision I ever made. When I became a teacher, there was no room for imposter syndrome. I had 20+ kids looking to me as the “expert”. They would ask, “are you an artist?” I always said yes. Hesitantly at first, but over the years I became more and more confident in that answer. Being forced to answer this question with no choice in my response, helped me to believe it for myself. Not only that, teaching brought me more inspiration than I ever imagined. Seeing the kids take my project ideas to the next level encouraged me to be more free with my own creativity and try new things just as I was asking my students to do. Becoming a teacher lead me to finding my own style and conquering imposter syndrome, so that now I can say confidently, I am an artist and an art educator.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

What I love about my “job” is that it consists of such a variety of creative activities! I teach after school art classes at Art Strong as well as classes for adults and babies at Sunnyside Arts. Because I am an independent freelancer, I can teach anywhere I want! The consistency of teaching at Art Strong has lead me to make lasting relationships with the kids there and I am constantly inspired by them. When I am not teaching, I am working on my own projects. Painted paper collage is my preferred medium and I am passionate about children’s lit. Last year I wrote and illustrated my first book- Every Flavor Imaginable. It is about a Panda that runs her own boba tea truck! It has been so much fun to see kids’ reactions to it and I have also had opportunities to teach art lessons based on the artwork in it! After reading the book to a group of kids at a school one time, a boy came up to me and said, “I want to be an illustrator too.” That kind of interaction is what I live for! Currently I am working on another book, this time collaborating with one of my students. The story was her idea and I am working with her to illustrate and edit. It has been such a life-giving experience so far. I love empowering kids to see their ideas come to life!
Besides children’s book illustration, I also have a series of New York themed collages made out of the New York Times that I sell as prints and stickers on my website and at various art markets.

Services I offer are: pet portrait commissions, private art lessons, and private art events! I’m open to other types of commissions as well but I only accept those that are consistent with my style.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Reflecting on my journey, I would say that the three most impactful skills I developed were: building community, listening to what brings me joy, and trusting the process. People have always told me that networking is the most important thing in being an artist trying to build a career. That always intimidated me so much even though I’ve always loved meeting new people and making friends. Once I stopped trying to “network” and focused on building community instead, those relationships that helped my career came naturally. I met one of my artist friends that has helped me most just by posting about how much I liked his artwork. He responded, and now we are friends and support each other in our art ventures. Spreading positivity and actively looking out for ways to build other artists up will attract people who want to support you in return. Networking is all about looking for people who can give something to you but building community is all about looking for ways you can give to others.
When it comes to listening to what brings me joy, I simply mean that I stopped trying to figure out what other people want me to do/make and focus on making what I like to make! Trusting the process is a tough one because so many times I’ve started projects or made goals that seem impossible to finish. Breaking things down into manageable steps has been essential for me to not get overwhelmed with the bigger picture. Even when it looks like I haven’t made any progress, I have to take time to reflect on the small moves I’ve made and remind myself that every little thing makes a difference and in a year I can look back and see how it all added up.

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I am always looking for people to collaborate with! I would love to gather with a few other self-published authors/illustrators and discover together what it would look like to move into traditional publishing. I am naturally self-motivated but when I collaborate with other artists that have similar goals, that’s when the real magic happens!
I am also always on the look out for independent artist vendors. Art markets have become very expensive to secure tables at and I would love to organize more markets that are affordable.
Art is naturally collaborative since it involves a creator and a viewer at the very least. I think it is the most beautiful thing when artists get together to enhance each other’s styles and strengths rather than competing with each other. Any way this is possible, I am in!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lovecommabeth.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovecommabeth/