The Sketchie
Beast Art

Meet the Artist



ARTIST STATEMENT
I'm a life-long creative and have indulged creativity in many forms; as a designer and commercial illustrator, as a crafter, as a self-taught tribal belly dancer, and now as a digital fine artist. I've created for fun, for a living, always for passion.
People ask what inspires me. Anything. Everything. Typical things. Random things. I don't stick to a theme. I have received no formal training in fine art, yet there is no stricter vetting process than my own. My art reflects my basic nature—a bit of wanderlust, a bit quirky, a bit atypical. The beauty of creating fine art in comparison to my commercial art career...there is no wrong way to represent, as long as it's done with conviction. To quote a line from a best-selling artist's guidebook, "the most visible artists often have more audacity than talent." I like that.
I've been told I communicate with visual intensity that evokes, provokes, pokes for attention (middle child syndrome), or finds humor, like love, in all the wrong places. I would describe my style as Corrupted Beauty. I intentionally degrade my art pieces with cracks, fissures, scratches, offsets, spatters and other elements that can either represent societal breakdown or something aged and well-loved. The concept of beauty is there, but distorted, as it often is in life.
ART MEDIUM
I refer to myself as a pixel painter. My medium is digital, however my works don't necessarily reflect that fact. Visitors at my art shows are often surprised to learn I'm a digital artist and I must admit, I love the eye pop and the jaw drop. They often ask how I achieve the look of a 'real painting'.
While I sometimes use photos as inspiration or guide, I don't use them as digital shortcuts as many digital artists do. I sketch all pieces first in Adobe Illustrator, then import them into Photoshop to manipulate the vector art into something with light, depth and movement. It's a layering technique I have mastered.
ARTIST BIO
Victoria Johnson, using the pseudonym The Sketchie Beast, is a native Southern California designer, commercial illustrator and now fine artist in the digital medium, Since entering her first painting in a public competition at age seven to earning an Associates degree in Commercial Art and Photography, creativity has been her calling. Having once indulged in sketching and painting as a hobby, it was not long after her career as an independent designer blossomed that her brushes and canvases were stowed for design softwares and hard deadlines. Until receiving a digital pen and sketchpad as a gift. The Sketchie Beast was unleashed and in hot pursuit of a dream. In the short four years of being a digital fine artist, she has created almost 400 artworks and participated in local, national and international exhibitions, both physical and online. She participated in her first solo show in 2022; the first digital artist to be given a solo spotlight at La Habra Art Gallery, La Habra California.
ARTIST SHOWCASE
SOLO SHOW
The Power of Portraits
La Habra Art Gallery, La Habra CA
September 4 - November 4 2022
FESTIVALS & COMMUNITY SHOWS
Laguna Art-a-Fair (Juried)
Laguna Beach CA
June - September 2019
RAW Natural Born Artists Showcase
The Mansion
Costa Mesa CA / January 16 2020
The World in Our Backyard
City of Stanton Community Art Show
May 8 2021
Fall Family Fun Art Festival
Museum of the San Fernando Valley
September 9 2021
Ontario Festival of the Arts (Juried)
Ontario CA / October 8 2021 and October 15 2022
28th Annual Studio Arts Festival (Juried)
Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine CA
June 4 2022
GROUP EXHIBITIONS / PHYSICAL
Off the Easel (Juried)
ART ON 30TH/ASHTON GALLERY
San Diego CA / February 2021
Sway Forth
MOM AND POP ART GALLERY
Richmond CA / May 5, 2021
Art in the Time of Corona Vol 2 (Juried)
DabART LOS ANGELES
September 2021
Portraits, Human and Animal
MVA GALLERY
Bethlehem PA / November 2021
Pop Culture and Trashy (Juried)
SHOCKBOXX GALLERY
Hermosa Beach CA / November 2021
Third Community Art Show
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS GALLERY
El Paso TX / November 2021
Here Kitschy Kitschy (Juried)
SHOCKBOXX GALLERY
Hermosa Beach CA / November 2022
GROUP EXHIBITIONS / ONLINE
Pets International
Exibizone Online/Artistonish Magazine
February 2021
Artsy Shark Featured Artist / November 2021
Migration
Gallerium / February - March 2022
NOW SHOWING
Local Artist Installation
Ontario International Airport
November 2022 - April 2023
BOARDMEMBER
La Habra Art Association
La Habra California