Catherine Hébert spent close to twenty years working in the visual effects industry, starting as a concept artist and working her way up to VFX supervisor on film and television productions. But throughout her career, she never stopped illustrating on her own time. The studio's name comes from a quick doodle Catherine made of her childhood cat Russell when she was a teenager. Her mother pinned it to the kitchen board and kept it there for years. When Catherine finally decided to take the leap and start selling her own illustrations, her mother produced the old drawing, now framed. Russell, who was not ugly at all, became the studio's mascot and logo. The Ugly Cat Studio grew from that leap into a full independent art business, shipping fine art prints internationally and building a loyal following through weekly livestreams, organic content, and wholesale partnerships. Every piece is original and hand-illustrated by Catherine. No AI-generated content, no mass-market designs.