I wanted to take a moment to introduce you all to the incredibly talented artist who helped create a couple of images specifically for Oak City Soul.

Amanda Otten and I first met because she’s also one heck of a barista and I’m a sucker for a good espresso drink. Over the years of making small talk as I waited for my cortado I learned that she really enjoyed creating these incredibly vivid illustrations. I always thought she was extremely talented and when I started Oak City Soul I had an idea for an event series called “The Diggers Pit.” The idea behind the event was to find a space for vinyl collectors to get together to share rare or special records they found and be able to play it for people and allow them time to tell their stories about that record. Amanda specializes in these sci-fi styled characters that remind me of a really dope graphic novel. I thought her talents would really work well for a flyer design for the event. I envisioned a comic book story idea with this magical underground spot where you can find extremely rare gems of records. She nailed the graphic but unfortunately the idea was tabled because of the pandemic but check out the design…

I approached Amanda once again when I had an idea for a mascot type of figure for Oak City Soul. I kept thinking since the acorn was part of my logo and the catch phrase is “digging deeper” a squirrel would probably be an appropriate character. I thought a vintage Looney Tunes style would work well. I was stoked with the outcome…

Help us come up with a name for the Oak City Soul squirrel! Leave a comment below. Be on the lookout for some limited edition vinyl club swagger sporting Amanda’s work to be hitting the interwebs very soon.

In the meantime learn more about Amanda (info pulled from her website) and check out more of her incredible work.

My name is Amanda, and I’m a 27 year old artist living it up in Raleigh, North Carolina. I’ve drawn characters for as long as I can remember. Growing up, it was sketching my own, home-made Pokemon cards, and then that slowly grew into straight-up copying Final Fantasy portraits, and then it became idolizing Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (with a little Naruto sprinkled in there somewhere). I love epic, sweeping narratives, and beautifully designed characters! I love the ingenuity that’s found in fantasy and science fiction! I also just really love drawing!