On the Beat With Andrea Ev of Evkami Art

I recently covered Anime Magic for the first time. Anime Magic is a anime and Japanese culture convention held in Rosemont.

As I meandered through the artist area, I saw the Evkami booth. Among dozens of very appealing booths, this one stood out. I was so impressed, I asked for a picture with Andrea, the creative force behind Evkami. Although I was armed with my video cam, it was a bit too loud and active at the con to get a solid interview, but I took her card to contact her later for one.

Earlier today, the interview came to fruition. I was excited to learn more about Andrea and her career.

Andrea is a graphic design artist in the Chicago area. Her creations include keychains, patches, pins, plushies, stickers and more. Her beautiful plushie creations caught my eye first, but then I was pulled into all of her other colorful, culture, whimsical, intriguing products.

The first thing I learned was Anime Magic was also Andrea's first convention as an artist. I was happy to hear that, because I love following the journeys of creators, especially from the beginning stage.

I questioned Andrea about her artistic process, specifically how she knows (or feels) a project is done. I'm always fascinated learning how artists decide they are satisfied with their creations. In doing research on Andrea, I saw a social media post of Nessie artwork where she added a boat, because she “felt something was missing.” This is the perfect example.

Andrea also talked about her first time experience attending a convention as a creator. Although anime isn't her main focus, Anime Magic was an excellent choice and the attendees, including me, loved her work. She talked about how it felt having folks come up and admire her work and what her friends thought of her burgeoning success.

I also learned Andrea came to the Chicago area from Wisconsin. She was looking for new and more opportunities and she is finding them. I was also happy to hear she will be doing more conventions. I really look forward to seeing Andrea at future conventions and seeing her new creations.

Until then, I will continue following her journey on social media. I encourage all to follow her, too. She is as interesting as her art. She posts pictures of new products with fun, short descriptions.

For more info and to see all of her work, go to Evkami.com and at Evkami.art on Instagram. She will also be at the DuPage Comic Con September 10 and Milwaukee Comic Con September 24.