@starstruck_k_

katherine burgess

About

Hello! I'm K (she/they), a UK-based comic artist fostering a love of space, stars, and magical realism. My work is largely inspired by Japanese manga and Franco-Belgian bande dessinée. To date I have completed professional comic and artwork commissions, tabled at conventions, and been involved in online community projects.

I am currently available for writing, drawing, and editing work or consultation (please contact me for more information). I am not currently available for portrait or character commissions, but if you'd like to be updated about this, please see my instagram profile page.

Announcements

Thanks so much to everyone who visited me at CYMERA Festival 2024 in Edinburgh on June 1st!

Comics resources

A small collection of useful links (WIP).

portfolio

explore recent projects

Amber's Adventures in ABM
Keynote Illustrations and Digital Comic, October 2023

These character designs and illustrations were commissioned by the account-based growth consultancy Inflexion Group for their keynote presentation at B2B Marketing's Global ABM Conference 2023. Additional illustrations and captions were added afterwards to form a digital comic posted on both the company's website and LinkedIn page. You can read the comic in full here.

Movie Minx
Beano Project, April 2023

This two-page Minnie the Minx spread is drawn in the contemporary cartoon style of another popular Beano strip, Betty and the Yeti (created by Hugh Raine). The Beano describes its readers as "fun and mischievous, bright and imaginative", keywords that I used to guide my decisions on this project. Apart from the initial pencils, the comic was created entirely digitally using Adobe Photoshop and InDesign.

Travelling Companions for Creative Endeavours
Zine Project, October 2022

This traditionally inked eight-page zine features three cosy travelling companions, each of whom represent a different part of the creative process. Their portraits are based on the designs of tarot cards from the Rider 'A Deck', with meanings that match each of the characters' attributes. As per the project brief, the zine folds out to reveal a full illustration on the back. Fonts sourced from Blambot.

A Queer Midsummer Night's Dream
Programme Cover, March 2019

Commissioned by an independent drama group from the University of Sussex, this pencil illustration covered the programme for their queer adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Chosen from a selection of four compositions, the final outcome features the four main actors and portrays the main themes of the production: night-time, woods, and magic.

Connor and Kylo Ren
A5 Portraits, September 2018

These multimedia portraits, drawn using Sharpie Permanent Markers and Windsor & Newton ProMarkers, depict the characters Connor (Detroit: Become Human) and Kylo Ren (Star Wars: The Force Awakens). I really enjoyed developing this technique and the looseness of the layered hatching. Prints available in my online shop soon!

contact

get in touch

For any and all business enquiries, please email me at:hello@starstruck-k.comAlternatively, and if easier for you, please use the contact form below.

My business hours are from 9:30am to 5:30pm on weekdays (Mon-Fri). Please don't expect a response from me outside of these hours. I will get back to you as soon as I can!

comics resources

useful links

This page is still a work in progress. Check back later for more!

Welcome to this collection of comics resources! While working on this website, I took a lot of inspiration from Eve Greenwood (a genius) and decided to put these links in one place so that people like me wouldn't have to trawl through the internet to find them like I did. I hope it helps!

Tips and advice

Blambot - scripts, lettering, and grammar tips
Comic Printing UK - printing advice blog
PrintNinja - comics printing industry standards
EVE G - amazing advice threads for artists
Ariana Maher - networking for newbies
Jason Thibault - publisher submission guidelines
Broken Frontier - getting coverage for your comic
One Beat - making, printing and selling zines

Free assets

Todd Klein - full book on comics lettering
Blambot - all kinds of fonts (search 'indie')
Calligraphr - create fonts from your handwriting
Coolors - colour palettes, gradients and fonts
Comic Printing UK - page templates (PDF/JPG)
Rarebit - webcomic template (HTML/Javascript)
Niki Smith - list of agents who represent comics
Scriberia - archive of interesting sketchnotes