What is “Creatch?”

Creatch is my series of somewhat monster-like characters! I had been using facebook to document my creative process up until now, but this new blog is where I’ll be documenting everything going forward so here’s a re-cap for you!

Slightly different from most of my subject matters, the characters of my series Creatch are colorful just like anything else I make! My favorite part about this series is that it’s loved by art-fans of ALL ages! Men are especially drawn, often racing their kids to my booth to see what it’s all about.

Although adults seem to be some of my biggest Creatch fans, kids love them just as much and I couldn’t be more thankful for this opportunity to connect more closely with the younger fans. And with the child screaming inside of me. I feel that children are the only ones who can relate to having an overactive imagination, I turn to the little ones closest to me for help in exercising my imagination and for their input on these characters and this series.

When I initially drew up the characters for Creatch (2015), I had one goal in mind and that was to develop characters/a concept that I could use in reoccurring artworks & scenes. This also gave me a subject matter that I could turn to when I needed to create something quick and on a whim, especially ideal for live-art events, as I’m not very good at coming up with concepts at the go.

I developed the initial gang of 20 characters right on this board, titled ‘First Impressions’, which has since sold. Inevitably, stories for the characters started to develop in mind as I drew them up, and so did my ideas and plans for this series.

The artworks to follow have helped me in building a visual story-line foundation for the series.

Over the course of the next year (2015-2016) I worked on my first installment “Meet the Creatch.” This consisted of individual portraits for all 20 characters. Using a family photo wall concept, I painted each one to look as if it was a framed portrait which included a name plaque. Through this, we learn their names for the first time! These individual portraits were perfect for introducing each character individually and also allowed me to build on their individual personalities a little more.

I also painted a larger “family photo” because what’s a family photo wall without it? ‘Family of Friends’ shows all 20 of the original characters grouped together.  This is also when we learn that the characters do in fact know one another, so much so they consider one another more than just friends, but family!!

As I neared completion of the photo-wall artworks in fall of 2016 I received notification I had been accepted to the Historic Irvington Halloween Festival Street Fair here in Indianapolis. This is an annual street fair that I had aspired to pop-up at since we moved here in 2014, so I was especially thrilled to have been accepted!

In light of it being a Halloween event, it only seemed right to hold the official “Series Release” at my pop-up gallery there that day!

This was the first time the ‘Meet The Creatch’ artworks were exhibited and showcased all together!

I went all out, stocking my inventory with Creatch posters, prints & merchandise as well as some fun one of a kind hand painted items!

Since creating the series, I’ve used the characters in a variety of fun projects! Oftentimes I also receive custom orders for custom Creatch paintings or painted products!

My next step was to figure out where exactly they lived.

I decided on a condo building to represent my once-career. I spent nearly 9 years, the majority of my twenties, in Property Management. I truly loved the industry and while the company that I worked for was top notch at burning it’s employees out, they also allowed me the opportunity to move up in the industry and to learn a magnitude of things. From accounting to computer software, business management to customer service, legal contracts to event coordinating. I did it all, I learned it all- and it gave me the best foundation possible to do what I do today.

Instead of managing buildings filled with homes & people- I’m managing a brain overflowing with creative ideas now! Hence the building extending up from my head!

As a child I was fascinated with cutaway illustrations, often drawing cutaways and floor plans like the books/illustrations I obsessed over. My art has always been an escape for me, and I often spent hours immersed in these alternative realities.

My Mom actually found one of these drawings in a box of Halloween decorations just as I was completing this piece- a Haunted House floor plan I had illustrated as a child (pictured here).

There was no question that this condo-building would be a cutaway, giving us an insight in to the homes of each character, and developing their stories even more.

I started working on this piece in late 2016 but it continued to take the back burner to other more pressing projects. It was also a bit of a struggle for me on account of the tiny scale I had to work on to create all the rooms and details, oftentimes using dots and lines vs my usual blending and perfecting with strokes. It made the perfectionist in me cringe!

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Then, this fall I received an invite to be the Featured Artist for the Historic Irvington Halloween Festival’s AFTER PARTY, and specifically the characters of Creatch. This not only meant that I would have my Creatch series artworks on exhibit during the event, but that my artworks would also be used on flyers and merch. advertising the event around Indy!

I couldn’t resist, since I had released the ‘Meet the Creatch’ pieces at their Street Fair the year before it seemed like the perfect time to release the condo building- I worked around the clock to finish it in time!

I’ll be making another blog post in the coming days regarding my next installment in to this series- be sure you’re subscribed here for updates, this surely wont be the last one either!

Thanks always for reading, and for your continued support!

Much love,

Mindie

(Available Creatch artworks, prints & merch. can be found here in my shop!)