Digital Women announced their shortlist and 40 Digital Women to Watch in 2021 list and I am THRILLED to be one of them.

Buzzin’ to be one of the 40 Digital Women to Watch 2021!

They also published an e-magazine (scroll down to read my bit).

It’s all about how I went from having 90% of my work cancelled overnight at the start of the pandemic, to pivoting my business to online virtual illustration and working for some dream clients.

At this point I have sat through HUNDREDS of online events, I’ve learned so much, and I know the ins and outs of almost every video call platform going.

LOL that they included the bit about having to heavily rely on my phone’s 4G. I’m pleased to say I’ve now moved into a studio away from the house, with reliable internet! Shout out to my phone, and EE/BT for helping me out with a giant data package.

Couldn’t have done it without internet!

(And lovely supportive friends, work pals, and online communities.)

Katie Chappell is a Live Event Illustrator with the "superpower to condense 90-minute conferences into 90 seconds". From her rural base in North East England, @katiedraws is a champion for freelance creatives and works with global clients to graphically record their conferences.
In the face of the pandemic last year, 90% of Katie's in-person event work was cancelled overnight, but instead of putting her business on hold, she threw herself head-first into working online, pivoting her live event illustration business to focus on virtual events. And it took off.
She worked with dream clients including Apple, Facebook and Google from her home studio - where the internet was so bad she "had to hotspot the 4G off her phone for most of the year".
In March 2020, Katie co-founded The Good Ship Illustration Ltd with Helen Stephens and Tania Willis, creating courses for fellow illustrators during a year that has been especially difficult for many.
Together, they created their first course, Find Your Creative Voice: Fly Your Freak Flag, entirely virtually and remotely, recording via Zoom and using Google Docs and Asana. Since opening their virtual doors, they've had over 700 students and have built up an incredible Instagram community through their free weekly Art Club sessions.

The Good Ship Illustration Ltd. is going strong and we’re planning to create 2 shiny new courses this year.

Watch this space!