About SquidCat, Ink

A year of drawing

I've always loved making art. I doodled my way through every single notebook I used in high school, and took every art class available, but wasn’t confident enough to try pursuing it professionally. Instead I studied Chinese language, and ended up job hopping  my way through my 20s trying to search for something else that fit. 

I eventually began to wonder why I was trying to find out what else I wanted to do, when I had never really given art a proper shot. So I decided to treat art like work to see how it went, and challenged myself to draw every single day for the whole of 2015! Not only did I stick to my goal, I also proved to myself that making art like it’s my job really does make me happy. And, as a wonderful bonus, my drawings seemed to make other people happy too!

Aside from building up my confidence and skill, my year of drawing left me with a portfolio to build from. Not sure what to do with all of this new work, I decided that the captions I had scribbled next to some of my doodles would make for funny greeting cards...and that's how SquidCat, Ink began! 

Since its official launch in November 2016, SquidCat, Ink has grown from a few sketchbooks full of doodles to a paper goods line of over 150 greeting cards, fine art prints and stickers. These  reproductions of my original watercolor paintings feature bright happy colors and expressive animal characters (and a pun here or there) to convey universal emotions.

My goal with SquidCat, Ink is to share the joy I feel creating artwork. It is my hope that my work can act as little vessels for you to parcel your feelings in and send off to brighten someone's day. 

What's a SquidCat?

The name SquidCat is special to me because it’s a character I created during my “doodle days” in high school. I wanted the name of my business to remind me that this is something I chose to do because I love it, and because I couldn’t stop doing it.

I feel incredibly grateful and lucky to be able to do something I love for a living. It isn’t always easy and there’s often a lot I need to learn as I go, but I couldn’t be happier with the path I’ve chosen.

Thank you so much for your support. Without you liking, laughing at and sharing my work, I would not be able to do this thing that I love. Thank you thank you thank you.