Caitlin Doughty

I first came across Caitlin Doughty on her YouTube channel “Ask a Mortician.” I don’t think I’ve watched every single video she has created, but I’m getting close. Caitlin advocates for death acceptance and a healthier grieving process while making really fascinating videos exploring the funeral industry and famous deaths. She has also written several books and has her own actual business too, so, legit superwoman here.

I was a bit nervous about drawing her actually, because I had never ventured beyond drawing characters. It’s one thing to draw Lucifer from the TV show and another thing entirely to draw Tom Ellis, even though it is the same body. One feels like it could be much more an invasion of privacy. To mitigate this, I used a thumbnail from one of Caitlin’s videos as my reference. My logic was that if she chose to put out that image of herself, it probably isn’t super creepy to draw it.

In a similar vein, I’m not going to share any in-progress pictures this time. I may have sent them to my husband to terrify him, but they don’t need to be shared with the general public. Robot eye Caitlin Doughty shall rest easy tonight.

One unexpected problem was in trying to take the final photograph of the drawing. I put so much lead into darkening Caitlin’s hair, that some part of it was always reflecting and thus appearing washed out. I went through so many rooms in my house trying to find a balance that I found acceptable. Maybe if I make enough money I could actually invest in some studio lighting. Dreams are good, right?