Patron Spotlight: Miskelle (Patreon)

“Yes, the white hair is real. A lot of people tell me I look like a witch. I am okay with that.” –Miskelle

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“I mostly drew to annoy my teachers in school… and it worked,” 26-year-old Michèle from Montreal tells me when I ask her about her artistic origins. “I was this shitty kid who didn’t study and knew all the answers, so I made a point of showing I was bored by drawing and reading in class.” Regardless of her original intentions, she quickly found a passion in art, even though fibromyalgia causes hand pain that can make drawing difficult. “It’s still a side gig, although I consider myself a professional artist,” she explains. She’s been doing art professionally for four years under the name Miskelle.

One of the main types of art that Miskelle produces these days is enamel pins. She’s only been designing pins since February of this year, but she’s already learned a lot from her experiences. I ask her if she has any tips for artists who want to break into the growing enamel pin trend. “The real difficulty I had with doing pins was that I wasn’t using the right software,” she says. “Photoshop is not something all companies work with, and it was a nightmare for my first order. Now I use Illustrator and everything goes much more smoothly.” She also recommends doing your research on pin manufacturers to make sure you don’t get scammed — a Facebook group called PMR: Pin Manufacturer Review is a good resource for this.

“For my first ever pins, I decided to make thirteen different LGBT flags as unicorns, mermaids, and dragons because I totally did not know what I was getting into!” she says. “I also did a Kickstarter for them and totally winged it. Do not recommend!” She explains that while everything ended up working out well, there were many sleepless nights throughout the process. “Over 200 back and forth emails with a pin manufacturer over the Photoshop files I mentioned earlier,” she recalls. “But we got funded and so far I’ve sold over three thousand LGBT flag pins, and I wear mine every day!”

Her favorite pin is the Asexual/Demisexual Poly dragon. “I get so many thank you’s because Ace/Demi pride pins are rarely included,” she explains. Despite the misinformation that may lead people to think asexuality and polyamory can’t coexist, she says that pin is one of her best sellers. “It warms my heart when people thank me for the LGBT pin set,” she says. “I have never received so much love for anything else I’ve created, and I feel like I make a difference in people’s lives when I see their faces light up over my pins.”

If you’re a pin collector yourself, keep an eye out for Miskelle’s second Kickstarter coming in early 2020, which will consist of witchy pins. “I’m much better prepared, let me tell ya!” she assures me. “It will have pins such as a crystal ball that says ‘I can see through your bullshit’ and a broom with that says ‘flying the hex away from here’.” She’s also including stickers and keychains as stretch goals.

I ask her if she has anything else she wants to talk about in this spotlight, and she has enough suggestions to fill another few interviews, from her work-in-progress graphic novel “Heirs of Blood” to World of Warcraft inspired cosplay redesigns to her pin and print store, reopening January 10. If you want to learn more about all the creative things Miskelle is dabbling in, make sure to follow her on Instagram!