Who are you?
My name is Kristen Boydstun, and I’m an American illustrator currently living in Munich, Germany. I love being a freelancer and balancing personal projects with commissioned work. I received my first commission about a year ago, and since then I’ve created work for a variety of clients including Monocle, Toyota Canada, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Quartz, and Air Canada enRoute.
What are you working on?
In my personal work, I’m focused on printmaking at the moment. I recently set up a screen printing area in my studio, and I’ve just started creating prints. I enjoy drawing on the iPad while traveling, and I’m excited to be able to print my digital work through such a physical, handmade process. I love selecting paper, mixing inks, and the imperfections that happen during the printing process.
Choose a favorite shot of yours. Why is it a favorite?
This is a quick sketch I made a few months back, but I really ended up liking its looseness and imperfections. I often tend towards clean, geometric shapes. This illustration has made me want to embrace a bit more of a relaxed approach, and perhaps push my work in a slightly different direction.
Tell us about your setup. What tools did you use to create the shot (e.g. hardware, software, pens, paper, blowtorch)?
My setup has evolved a lot. When I started out, I created all my work in Adobe Illustrator on an old MacBook Pro. I was sketching everything with pencil and paper, scanning it in, working on it in Illustrator, and moving back to pencil and paper when changes needed to be made. My process was time-consuming with this setup, and after working this way for a while I knew it was time to invest in some sort of drawing tablet.
I now use an iMac, an iPad Pro, and the Apple Pencil. For smaller projects I work entirely on the iPad using the Procreate app, which has been great since I can work while traveling. For larger illustrations I’ll work on the iMac in Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, using the Astropad app to turn my iPad into a drawing tablet.
Choose a favorite shot from another Player. Why do you dig it?
I love the bold colors and shapes in Jean Mosambi’s screen-printed posters. This one appeals to me because the composition is so simple and fun. He’s also done some wonderful work creating custom type inspired by vintage travel posters!
Find Kristen on Dribbble, Instagram, and at kristenboydstun.com.
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