Hey First name / friends!

 

Something really exciting happened this week! Skillshare featured me in an interview on their blog! 🎉

 

We talked about design trends, art licensing, and how I approach creating artwork that actually sells. If you've ever wondered how I decide what to create (and why some pieces take off while others don't), this interview is a really fun peek behind the curtain.

 

👉 Read the full interview here

 

A lot of the concepts I shared in the interview — things like identifying trends, designing with a destination in mind, and creating work with commercial appeal — are exactly what I teach in my newest class, Design to Shine. 

 

It's available on Skillshare now, so if anything from the interview sparks a lightbulb moment, the class is where we go deep on all of it.

 

 

Not a Skillshare Member? 

 

And speaking of trends, if you haven't grabbed my free 2026 Trend Report yet, now's the time! I put this together every year to share the trends I'm seeing in art licensing and surface design, and it's the same research I use to guide my own portfolio. It pairs really well with the interview if you want to see the trends I'm talking about in action.

 

 

Ok, so I know we've done mushrooms for this challenge before. But I don't care because they're SO FUN to draw and they're still one of the hottest motifs in surface design. 😅 

 

Mushrooms have been going strong as a trend for a few years now and they still keep getting picked up for licensing all over the place.

 

I actually talked about this in the Skillshare interview, too. My Blooms & Shrooms class is a perfect example of creating on-trend artwork with licensing potential.

 

The piece I made in that class has been licensed on a ton of products, which is pretty cool considering it started as a class demo!

 

If you've participated in a mushroom challenge before, here's a fun twist for this time around: challenge yourself to recolor your existing artwork! Creating color variations is one of the fastest ways to multiply your portfolio, and I have a full tutorial on how to do it in Procreate for you!

 

 

I also cover recoloring in detail in my Blooms & Shrooms class. It's my most in-depth class for creating professional illustrations in Procreate, so I'd highly recommend checking it out if you haven't already!

 

Make sure your shrooms using the hashtag #CreateWithCatCoq and tag me @catcoq in the post (not just the caption) so I can see what you make! I can't wait to see your take on this prompt! ✨

Here are a few of the amazing submission from our last challenge! 

 

Make sure to click on the photos to see each artist on Instagram and give them some love! When we help each other grow, we all rise : )

 

Have a fabulous week!