For a while, Marikit Studios felt a little too tidy. It showed my art, yes. It had the things I had made. It technically did its job. But somewhere along the way, I realized it didn’t quite feel like me anymore. And if there is one thing I’ve learned about creativity, it’s that the things we make tend to grow with us. So Marikit needed to grow too.
A Little More Than an Art Portfolio
I’ve never really been just one kind of maker.
I paint. I draw. I journal. I write stories. I knit things. I make tiny objects, experiment with 3D printing, fuss over dolls, build characters for D&D, collect odd little inspirations, and occasionally decide that an ordinary object desperately needs to become cuter. Trying to fit all of that into one neat little category called Art started feeling wrong.
Marikit isn’t only where I put finished illustrations.
It’s where I make things.
Sometimes those things are polished pieces.
Sometimes they’re experiments.
Sometimes they’re tiny handmade creatures, journal pages, dolls, printed objects, sketches, props, crafts, characters, stories, or something I made simply because the idea made me happy.
So the revamp started with one question:
What would this website look like if I stopped trying to make it behave like a proper portfolio and let it behave more like my studio?
That changed everything.
Welcome to the Maker’s Table
One of my favorite parts of the new Marikit is the Maker’s Table.
This is where the non-traditional art gets to come out and play.
- Knitting.
- Crafts.
- 3D printing.
- Dolls.
- Handmade experiments.
- Things made with yarn, plastic, paper, paint, glue, questionable engineering choices, and sheer determination.
Basically: the things that usually end up scattered across my desk while I say, “Wait, I have an idea.”
Instead of hiding those projects because they don’t fit neatly beside paintings and illustrations, I wanted to give them their own proper home.
Because making is making. And honestly, some of my favorite things I’ve created have never belonged inside a sketchbook.
Everything Marikit Is Creating
The Gallery is changing too.
I wanted it to feel less like a formal exhibition wall and more like opening the door to my creative room and seeing what I’ve been up to.
So instead of only focusing on traditional artwork, it can now hold the wider world of everything Marikit is creating.
- Art and illustration.
- Journal work.
- Characters and stories.
- The Maker’s Table.
- Curiosities and handmade things.
- Little pieces of imagination that probably don’t need a category at all.
There’s something freeing about that.
Creative people are constantly told to define their niche, choose a medium, build a consistent style, and make everything easy to categorize.
Meanwhile my brain is over here going:
Watercolor! Rabbits! Fantasy! Journals! D&D! Dolls! Tiny knitted things! Let’s print something in 3D!
So I have decided the website can simply keep up. 😂
Making It Easier to Keep Making
The revamp isn’t only visual.
I also wanted the site to become easier for me to maintain.
Instead of rebuilding pages every time I finish something, I’m setting Marikit up more like a living portfolio system.
I can add a project, give it a category or tag, and let it appear where it belongs.
That matters because the best creative system is the one that doesn’t interrupt the creating.
I don’t want publishing something to feel like another administrative project.
I want to finish something, photograph it, tell its little story, and add it to the collection.
Done.
A Fresh Coat of Watercolor
Visually, I wanted the new Marikit to feel softer, brighter, and much more personal.
More watercolor.
More whimsy.
More little illustrated details.
Less generic website iconography.
More things that look like they might have been pulled directly from one of my notebooks.
Marikit has always been the part of my world where I’m allowed to be playful, sentimental, nerdy, experimental, and occasionally ridiculous.
The website should feel that way too.
Not overly polished.
Not corporate.
Not trying very hard to impress anyone.
Just warm, curious, handmade, and unmistakably mine.
A Studio That Can Grow With Me
The nicest part about this revamp is knowing it doesn’t have to be finished.
In fact, I don’t think I want Marikit Studios to ever feel completely finished.
Studios change.
Shelves fill up.
Sketchbooks pile up.
New obsessions appear.
Characters wander in.
Someone buys another notebook they absolutely did not need.
Ahem.
The website should be able to change along with all of that.
So this version of Marikit is less about creating the perfect portfolio and more about building a home for my creative life.
A place for finished work and unfinished ideas.
For beautiful things and strange little experiments.
For stories, paintings, bunnies, dolls, yarn, dice, curiosities, and whatever I decide to learn next.
It feels fresh.
It feels a little magical.
And most importantly—
it finally feels more like me.
Welcome back to Marikit Studios. 🌿✨
There’s plenty more to make.
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