Meet Kate Adkins: Motion Design Art Director | Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kate Adkins and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kate, can you tell us about a book that has had a meaningful impact on you?
Feck Perfuction: Dangerous Ideas on the Business of Life by James Victore was a great book that I read recently. As someone who struggles with perfectionism, it gave me the inspiration and justification to stop trying to be perfect and just be myself in art and in life! Victore makes the point that it’s actually the imperfections in art work that gives it a charm and brings it to life. This is so true but for me, it’s hard to appreciate the imperfections when it comes to my own art. I’ve been trying to remember this lesson when I’m finishing all my work lately and it’s definitely been easier to call things done. Feck Perfuction is also full of tough love about the importance of having a point of view in your art. Victore speaks on the fact that having a point of view will always mean that someone won’t like your art (or won’t like you). And although that can be really scary, it’s best to just embrace it and move on with life and with art! Personally, I am still working towards saying “Feck” it to perfectionism for good but this book helped me take an important step forward! 

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Since I do a lot of art as design in my day job, my free time art tends to be more loose, drawn by hand or sculpted, and mostly silly things that bring me joy (hand lettered sayings, psychedelic nature, alien-like characters, etc.) I recently started a Sticker Shop on Etsy, which has been a fun quarantine project! It’s a great feeling seeing my designs come to life off the screen for once. There are only a few for sale so far, as I have only been printing the designs that I personally want to stick on everything – so I’m hoping others will enjoy them as I have. In the meantime, I’ve been working on more illustrations which might eventually turn into stickers, or who knows what else! If you’d like to check out my sticker shop, it’s at kamotiondesign.etsy.com

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I were to take a visiting friend on the ideal day in LA, we would start at the Getty for some great art and views. Then head to the beach; Depending on the person, I would either take them off the side of Highway 1 in Malibu if they prefer the beauty of nature or to the Venice boardwalk if they prefer people watching and touristy fun. Then I’d take them for some sushi at Katsu-ya (*YUM*), A comedy show down on the sunset strip, and some delicious drinks at Tiki-Ti. *Warning: this great day doesn’t take into account the logistics of travel times or the current pandemic 😉

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shoutout to LIMBS and WAGE, two fantastic motion design groups for women and gender expansive artists. LIMBS is a casual meetup group based here in LA, founded and run by Rachel Yonda and Heather Aquino. And WAGE (Women And Gender Expansive) Motion Design Leadership Initiative, was recently started by Heather Aquino as an interactive FaceBook group where she shares interviews with leaders in the industry. These groups have really encouraged me to get to know my peers in the motion design industry, which has been absolutely wonderful! I also love that they strive to be inclusive of everyone who feels under-represented in the industry. These groups have taught me a lot and have been a great community of support over the past couple years!

Website: kateadkins.net
Instagram: instagram.com/kamotion_design
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kateadkins/
Other: kamotiondesign.etsy.com