Katherine marched over to my cubicle to ask me one question: “Cece, I need your opinion. What do you think of these boots?” I looked down and saw two pointy black boots on her little feet. She felt unsure of how they looked and needed a little reassurance. Although they might take some getting used to (these babies were shiny!), I said she should keep them. I knew she was eyeing them for a while and finally mustered up the courage to buy them.

Everything about the boots said “Katherine”: bold, feisty, and unafraid to have an opinion. These things are what I love most about her. 

We now refer to the shoes as her “li’l boss boots.”

The image above is of my sketches for a card I made for her. I wanted to test out the colors and practice drawing the boot in a simplified/cartoony way that captured their essence before I drew the final version. Sometimes, I think the sketches are the best part of a drawing.