038: Karli Pablo

Based in Washington State, Karli Pablo is a self-taught digital and traditional artist who blends her Chamoru and Norwegian heritage with the Pacific Northwest landscapes she grew up in.

To Pablo, art is a powerful tool that allows people to experience the world through another's imagination. It can offer an escape from reality or provoke deeper thought about societal issues.

Her choice of art form is driven by the satisfaction she finds in painting, both digitally and traditionally. She enjoys experimenting with colors and brush textures, primarily using acrylics or gouache for traditional pieces. Her parents' outdoorsy lifestyle significantly influences her work, which often reflects a deep respect for nature. Raised to appreciate the land and animals, her art frequently incorporates natural themes, resonating with her cultural values of stewardship.

Inspired by her grandmothers, who were both talented artists in their own right, Pablo carries forward their love for art and creativity. Her Chamoru grandmother's passion for drawing plants and using vibrant colors, alongside her Norwegian grandmother's expertise in fiber arts, have together shaped her artistic journey to carry on their legacies through her creative vision. She also draws inspiration from fellow artists and beloved childhood influences, such as the creators behind Brother Bear (2003) and the Disney Fairies book and movie series, which she depicts in her own artwork by often incorporating brightly colored illustrations of fairies.

When facing creative blocks, Pablo takes breaks and engages in different activities like sewing, sculpting, or cooking to reignite her inspiration. She believes artists should allow themselves the time to recharge rather than pushing through art blocks.

Nature is a recurring element in her work, providing context and depth to her paintings. Her signature style includes flowy brushstrokes, bright highlights, and rosy cheeks, adding a unique touch to her characters. Interestingly, she compares her approach to creating textures using makeup to imbue life to her characters.

Pablo's artistic process involves choosing from a list of ideas, gathering references, and creating thumbnail sketches and color keys. Whether working digitally or traditionally, she focuses on layering and detailing to bring her visions to life. Like many other artists, she struggles with shyness and imposter syndrome in sharing her work with the world online. Despite this pressure, she combats them by creating art she enjoys at her own pace.

She emphasizes the vital role artists play in society, providing historical perspectives and entertainment, and encourages aspiring artists to explore their creativity and have fun with their chosen medium.

“Find a medium that interests you and dive into exploring your creativity with it.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, if you feel like your first pieces aren’t “good”, or if the materials you use are the cheapest on the market. A lot of us started by making super cringe-worthy drawings using nothing but scrap paper and old pencils.

What matters is that you start the journey of creating art and have fun!”

— Karli Pablo

To read Karli Pablo’s, full interview, continue reading below. Also, follow her on Instagram (@karlilli_), where you can check out her work and request commissions. Thanks again!

Please introduce yourself and describe what you do.

My name is Karli Pablo, I’m a self-taught digital and traditional artist based in Washington.

My art consists mostly of brightly colored illustrations of fairies and nature often inspired by my Chamoru and Norwegian heritage, as well as the Pacific Northwest landscapes I was raised in.

How would you define art?

Art is a chance to glimpse into another person’s imagination and experience the world through their eyes. It has the ability to provide an escape from reality, or make you stop and think about the problems we face on a deeper level. That makes art a very powerful tool.

Why did you choose your art form?

While I don’t work exclusively with just one medium, I find painting digitally or traditionally extremely satisfying. Laying down some colors and experimenting with how they mix, or playing with brush textures is a lot of fun!

When I paint traditionally I like to use acrylics or gouache, though it’d be fun to try painting with inks or oil paints someday.

How does your background (education, culture, etc.) affect the artwork you make today?

My parents are both more reserved, outdoorsy people, and those traits kind of rubbed off on my siblings and I and affected our lifestyle growing up. We’d rather be somewhere quiet with our dogs or observing wildlife than in the hustle and bustle of the city or surrounded by people.

At home we were brought up to care for gardens and farm animals, and whenever we get out of the house to have some fun it’s spent hiking in the woods, camping, fishing, or hunting. This has given me a deep sense of respect and appreciation for the land and animals, and my art tends to reflect it with a heavy focus on the natural world.

Growing up I also read a lot of books and watched movies that depicted fairies as little stewards of the environment, and that really resonated with me. It’s part of why I love drawing fairies or people interacting with nature, and I think it’s an important value for both the Chamoru and Norwegian cultures that I come from to be good stewards of the land. To take care of things for the next generation.

Who do you idolize?

I try to stay away from idolization, we are all just people after all.

I do however look up to both of my grandmothers and admire them. My nana on my Chamoru side was a fantastic artist, she loved drawing plants and was a fellow lover of the oranges, golds, and greens I include in my art currently. She would teach us words in Chamoru and taught me how to make lumpia, and always reminded me “Anyone can be an artist”.

My grandma on my Norwegian side is a fantastic artist as well, though she prefers the fiber arts of spinning yarn, weaving, locker hooking, and needle felting. She taught me how to sew and how to make lefse. Several days of the week were spent at her house growing up.

Both of my grandmas were and are loving, generous, and infinitely creative ladies, and I strive to carry on those traits.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Aside from nature and my heritage, I often get inspired by the work of fellow artists. It’s interesting how that works in the art community, someone might make a piece with a detail that stands out to me, so I’ll try making something similar based off of that, and then my piece sparks inspiration for another artist and so on. A big part of art is that we’re all just indirectly bouncing ideas off each other and it’s a great thing.

I also pull a lot of inspiration from the artists who created my favorite books and movies growing up, Brother Bear was a big hit in our house, and so artists like Paul Felix and Aaron Blaise had a big influence on my own work. As well as Denise Shimabukuro for her work on the Disney Fairies books and movies.

What do you do when you're stuck on an artwork or lacking motivation or inspiration?

I take a break and rest, wait for inspiration to hit me again. If I can’t handle not doing anything, then I might take a break from my usual art routine by creating something for myself in a different medium, like sewing or sculpting, or cooking a new recipe. Sometimes I’ll just enjoy art made by others too via reading, watching movies, or scrolling through the instagram explore page to find inspiration.

I think artists are too hard on themselves when it comes to art block and churning out art, you are not a machine. There is no shame in taking a break or working on island time if you’re not working within a deadline for a client.

What do you like incorporating most into your art?

Nature! Whether it’s plants, animals, or water, it can provide so much context as to where a painting might take place, the season it’s in, and the scale of things. I love diving into studies of the flora and fauna I paint too, learning how they interact with the environments around them and how they relate to different cultures.

What is something that you add to your art as your signature?

Flowy brushstrokes. It adds a lot of movement to my work and a painterly texture, especially to my digital pieces. I also like adding bright highlights and rosy cheeks to my characters, it’s fun, like doing their makeup, and it gives a sense of an inner glow to the characters that really brings them to life.

Take us through your process for making art.

I actually keep a long list of all the painting ideas I come up with over time, so I’ll start by choosing one of them, and then look for references that inspire me and can help me put the vision I see in my head onto some paper.

Sometimes I create my own references too by posing myself and taking photos, creating stuff in The Sims, or using my own nature photography.

After I choose my references, I start making little thumbnail sketches, as well as color keys, and choose my favorite out of each of those to base my painting on.

Next I make a larger, more detailed sketch and that serves as my outline for the piece.

When I’m working digitally, I like to place my base colors under the sketch layer, and then create a new layer on top of them both and that’s where I get to work painting everything.

I try to keep layers to a minimum, about 1-3, but the sketch and the base colors are the real groundwork for a painting, so on top of those I really only have details like lighting and shading to focus on. All the polishing until I feel like it’s finished.

What do you struggle with the most when making art?

Putting myself out there. I am very shy and very quiet, a people pleaser, and I struggle with imposter syndrome. It’s tough to take the leap sometimes in the age of social media where hundreds of people could see your work and not all of them will like it, not to mention how easy it is to fall into the trap of comparing oneself to other artists.

The way I combat it is by making things I like and making things for fun at my own pace.

What role do artists have in society?

A very important one in my opinion. Many of the things we’re able to learn about and enjoy in life are available because of artists. Things like literature, films, images, music, dance, and fashion all tell stories and provide us with historical information and perspective, as well as entertainment.

What characteristics do you think all artists share?

Perseverance. Whether it’s your livelihood or for fun, creating art and honing the skills necessary to create good art involves more time and hard work than a lot of people recognize.

Every piece we create, we put a piece of ourselves into, and it can get tough to stick with it when artists aren’t valued very highly in an age of instant art generators and cheap, factory-made pieces. But, we’re still here doing it.

What’s your favorite place in Guam?

Mount Lamlam! I am an earth-y, mountain loving girl. My painting of an earth goddess sitting on top of the mountains and watching flying turtles was actually inspired by the view of the hills from there.

How has your artwork evolved over time?

Aside from technical skill, it honestly hasn’t changed much.

My family has paintings I made at 2 years old of mermaids, butterflies and fairies, and here I am today at age 22 painting the same things, but with a little more detail and intention.

When I was 13 I taught myself how to draw digitally using a mouse on this online photo editor called Pixlr, and then I got my first drawing tablet at age 16. Now I do most of my art digitally, but I still occasionally dip back into the traditional mediums.

Why did you choose to become an artist?

It’s nothing profound, art is “my thing”. It’s what I’ve always been decent at and what I enjoy.

Whether it’s drawing, painting, sewing, woodworking, or sculpting with clay, in my soul I’ve always known that this is the right path for me.

Is your art geared towards a specific audience?

I mostly aim to connect with other young women, but it’s been really cool to see that many other groups of people seem to enjoy my work, and I’m incredibly glad and honored that they do.

Do you have any tips for aspiring artists?

Find a medium that interests you and dive into exploring your creativity with it.

It doesn’t matter how old you are, if you feel like your first pieces aren’t “good”, or if the materials you use are the cheapest on the market. A lot of us started by making super cringe-worthy drawings using nothing but scrap paper and old pencils.

What matters is that you start the journey of creating art and have fun!

039: Elena Cruz

037: Jennifer Sablan Andrade