Today we’d like to introduce you to Alethea Perez.
Hi Alethea, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
I started out doing a lot of freelance work, followed by a great deal of graphic design for a wide variety of companies. I worked for a radio station in college and then Mountain Dew followed by other opportunities. And while I enjoyed creating for others and seeing others people’s creations come to life. There’s beauty in creating your own creations. I opened Inkeater originals on 12/12/12 as a way to start selling my creations to the world instead of just creating for others. My shop mainly focuses on portrait and linework creating hand-drawn one-of-a-kind unique drawings of the weird, scary, and imagined in the form of greeting cards, buttons, keychains, and more. Beyond running my own shop, I also create animations for Channel Frederator alongside my own creations La Loca y Su Abuela and Moco Industries.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh, not at all I think the bumpy road comes with the territory. From figuring out how to package the first painting that we sold to figuring out customs forms for our art. Other struggles have been my printer dying during the pandemic and trying to fulfill orders and being unable to buy a new printer bc your model was constantly out of stock. That year I bought at least 10 printers only to be sent an email and told oh, sorry we don’t have this in stock. It was definitely an ongoing joke to my family whenever I said I had purchased a new printer. And instead having to trust and rely on a third party to print my supplies which definitely had its learning curves. To dealing with shipping changes in Europe and having to make tough decisions like no longer shipping to Germany bc of their regulations in disposing of packaging. And I think growing as a company in general and realizing you’re outgrowing your own needs and needing to invent ways to streamline your process like buying a dedicated mailing label printer.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
During the day I work as a manager/content creator for a sound archive. And by night I work freelance on creations for others and myself while running my shop Inkeater Originals. I am an artist and creator with many hats. I specialize in graphic design, video editing, animation, and portrait work. I’m known for my portraits and animations. I am most proud of having celebrities actually purchase from my shop such as Pepper from AHS and General Lee Roy from Poultrygeist. And getting to meet Ma Petit and gifting her my art and her giving me her blessing as an artist. I think what sets me apart from others is my skill set and ability to take others people’s ideas and transform them into a reality.
Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I think you should always take the risk; you never know what is on the other side. I genuinely believe any time I’ve taken a risk it’s been rewarding, and it’s led me to some amazing opportunities in my life or great life lessons that I wouldn’t have experienced otherwise – such as working for mountain dew and getting invited to be in a commercial. I think you should always take the jump even if you don’t know what’s on the otherwise. Creating my own shop and selling my creations has led me to meet so many awesome people and creatives.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://inkeateroriginals.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inkeateroriginals/
Image Credits
Inkeater
