HELLO THERE
I’m Suzanne Blanck, a midwesterner transplanted to Arizona. I know that I’m still a Midwesterner at heart because I still constantly crave being lakeside, all things green, and the long a’s in my accent still haven’t left the building. I am lucky to have a wonderful family: hubby Tom, two magical daughters, and a one-man schnauzer named Charlie.

MY JOURNEY
Long, long ago with my shiny new BA in Graphic Design in tow, I began working at boutique design studios and eventually stumbled into marketing and advertising. By 2002 I had launched my own company, BLANCKSLATE. The watershed moment happened early at my first National Stationery Show where exposure to so many buyers literally grew my business overnight. It was a level of success that I didn’t see coming and one of my top five best life experiences. Designing hundreds of products under the BLANCKSLATE brand, I was dealing with logistics from routing procedures, manufacturing, and packaging to quality control and inventory. In 2006 my first baby girl was born and working 90 hours a week became no bueno. That’s when I began to license my artwork. Since BLANCKSLATE’s founding I have been privileged to work with leading brands like Barney’s of New York, Anthropologie, Target, American Greetings, Oopsy Daisy, Greenbox, Itoya, and many more.

WHY I’M AWESOME
My graphic design roots have given me a practiced eye for great composition, scale, and the deets. While coming from a marketing and advertising background taught me that the end game is to always sell. While I have a clear aesthetic of my own, I can infuse my visual language with the identity of other brands, client requests, and project briefs. I’m exceptional at observing trends and using color as the special sauce that kicks consumers from “that’s cute” to “that’s mine!” Listening closely to clients’ needs and knowing how to ask the right questions makes me easy to work with. One of my strongest assets is curiosity. I have an unquenchable thirst to learn more and gain new skills. Motion design and editorial illustration are my obsessions today, but it’s the curiosity that keeps the fire burning in my belly and catapults me out of bed each morning.

HOW I MAKE MAGIC
I’ve used cut paper as a medium far before it became a current trend. I will always fancy using gouache and black ink because I love holding a paintbrush and the idea that something creatively “unplanned” might still happen. And I firmly believe oil pastels can cure any bad mood. But, like most illustrators and surface designers, I work in Procreate using brushes that replicate the real ones. Listen, it’s practical and easier to translate into Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator and helps me keep pace with the Mach 10 speed of our current century. I am also gaining proficiency in After Effects so I can bring my illustrations to life!

COMMISSIONS
Unlike many artists, I love a good commish. In fact, being art-directed is my favorite way to work with clients. Commission-driven projects give me the opportunity to work closely with talented art directors that know what they need, causing every job to end with a client benefit. And that makes everyone look good and helps to build great working relationships.

LICENSING
My licensing catalog is focused on work within my aesthetic wheelhouse that is on-trend and feeds my current curiosity obsessions. I welcome collaborations and suggestions for everything you see in the BLANCKSLATE licensing portfolio.

OUTRIGHT SALES
I am always open to outright sales of my artwork and actually prefer that to licensing. My creative juices are always flowing, so I’ll be making more to fill the hole your purchase created! Thank you for the sale—and the momentum.

If you have made it this far on my ABOUT page, give me a call already! At the very least, add your name to my list so you can be the first to see the latest additions to my catalog. My mind is brimming over with ideas and color combos and I can’t wait to play with you!