An interview with new illustrator Nastja Holtfreter

One of our wonderful new illustrators Nastja Holtfreter has been kind enough to answer a few questions for us regarding life as an ultra talented and wonderful illustrator! From inspo to tips to life as an illustrator - have a wee read.....

Where do you live/work? 

I work and live in the middle of Berlin in my home studio.

What do you love about working there? 

I have two kids and I can work, when my kids are home. So it´s the best way to combine family and work for me. My working space is very quiet and when I look outside I directly look into a great and magnificent tree. When I need some people around me I can easily work in one of the many coffeeshops nearby.

What are your dislikes? 

Sometimes it can be very lonely and a studio with some other illustrators would be nice. I also would need more space for all my samples and books. But due to my family situation it needs to be close to my flat and that´s not so easy to find.

What do you love most about being an illustrator?

For me it´s the best job in the world. I do what I love for a living. And holding products with my illustrations on it and especially my books in my hands is so amazing.

How do you work – what are your techniques?  

I mostly work digitally but I also love to paint in acrylic and gouache. I always start with many drawings. Then I scan them in and redraw it with my wacom tablet. I also like to do some textures with paint or drawings with a nip pen, which I mix up with my vector illustrations in photoshop.

What is your favourite thing to draw? 

Animals, animals, animals...

Are there any tricky parts to being an illustrator? 

It´s really tricky becoming an illustrator, especially one who can make a living with it. It took me years to make it as a freelance illustrator, I tried out a lot while I had a part time job as illustrator and screen designer for a small agency. But I had times when I wanted to quit and become a chocolatier instead.

What or who are you inspired by? 

I´m inspired by nature, traveling, my kids, instagram and pinterest, books, doing nothing, other artists and illustrators, animals, trends,... my eyes are always open for inspiration:)

What do you like to do in your spare time when you’re not illustrating? 

My kids are my spare time - my husband, too:) I would and should do more yoga - I do it once a week and I would love to read more books. The weekends we always spend in the nature. We have a little house in the forest, far away from the city, I love to do long walks through the forest. In summer I do Stand-up paddling and I looooooove to travel.

How did you get into illustration? 

My mother is an children’s book illustrator and I always wanted to become one, too. I studied graphic designs (as there were no possibilities to study illustration in that time) and then worked as an illustrator and screen designer for an agency producing children’s TV and websites. After having my kids I started to work as a freelance illustrator. My plan was doing surface and pattern designs but then some book publishers found me and asked me to do books with them. This was a dream come true! Since then I did lots of board books, which I mostly also write.

What are your three top tips for aspiring illustrators? 

You have to really, really want this. It can be very hard and frustrating in the beginning.

You should try out a lot and if something don´t work then try out something new.

Try to have multiple income streams and never undersell yourself!

What’s your ultimate dream? 

I had a lot of dreams in my illustrators-life, that I never thought could come true and today so many of them are already true!

But I´m still a day dreamer and I like to dream big, so my ultimate dream would be a children´s book which is known in the whole world!

A lovely little gif

One of our wonderful artists Valeria Valenza has created a fabulous gif that you can view below!

Valeria created the gif simply on her iPad using the computer programme Procreate with her magic pen. Amazingly she used no sketches, it came straight form her head to paper, isn't she a talented bean indeed!

View more of Valeria's fabulous work below:

http://www.plumpuddingillustration.com/work/?page=1&artist=61&name=&cat=1&id=54

Visit to Northbrook College

This week our lovely agents Chloe and Beth took a trip to Northbrook College to give a talk on the wonderful world of publishing and what we do here at Plum Pudding. 

As well as this, Chloe and Beth set a brief with the title Sylvia and Bird with which they had to create some character sketches and a couple of spreads. They then got the chance to have their work and portfolios reviewed.

Over all, a very lovely day indeed and true to their word were all dressed in Plum Pudding purple!

Take a look at some pictures below and also a link to the Northbrook College website:

https://www.northbrook.ac.uk/

The Plums have moved office!

We do apologise for being off the radar this last few days! However we have been in the middle of a big glorious move to a wonderful new office!

Although it is only 10 minutes down the road, it is 100 times lovelier than our old office and it is a space all of our own! 

We have had a hectic few days but we are now lovely and settled and super excited for our wonderful Plum to come and visit!

Please see below a few pictures and our fantastic new website image and map drawn by the wonderful Antonia Woodward!

An interview with the lovely Sharon Davey

Presenting one of our wonderful new illustrators Sharon Davey! Below she has been kind enough to answer a few questions for us. From her likes and dislikes to her tip top tips for aspiring illustrators!

Read away!

Where do you live/work?

I live and work in sunny Surrey but I’m originally from Stockport, Greater Manchester and we defiantly harbor a northern spirit in the house. Everyone who enters is fed and no one ever wears a coat.

My desk at home is facing a wall full of pictures, so the squirrels fighting with the overfed pigeons in the back garden don’t distract me.

What do you love about working there?

I used to work from the kitchen table and need to tidy up everyday at 3pm so having my own space is phenomenal. I like noise when I work so I love being in the middle of our family space. If I’m home alone working I have to have music on or I end up talking to our cat, Eliza Doodle Davey.

What are your dislikes? 

I really don’t like it when toddlers lick a runny nose, yuk! But apart from that I pretty much like everything about my life. I’d really like to find a recipe for flapjacks where I don’t just burn a pan of oats.

What do you love most about being an illustrator?

I am so in love with my job - it’s the best. It’s my dream job and it allows me to be 100% myself. I love the ideas stage; choosing, creating, and goofing around with more absurd ideas. Listening to writers, art directors and now agents about their thoughts of what I’ve drawn is great fun. They always see something I’ve missed and it’s the feedback I require to be part of the illustration world rather than just drawing for myself.

How do you work – what are your techniques?

I’ve developed my work over the past year to streamline the process. So, it goes a little something like this, I usually sketch a page or two of character drawings, sometimes using reference but mainly right out of my head. Generally I forget to use my sketchbook and prefer printer paper so I can scan the images, but I try to go back and tape them into my sketchbook in the right order. Then I draw and scan, draw and scan for what seems like days; characters, locations, textures, individual plants, random shapes. Then I rearrange in Photoshop, either recolouring lines and going to final artwork or if my line widths are too various I print off this mash of drawings, light box and redraw everything at a similar line width and start again. I colour digitally and like to keep my original line work as lively and interesting as possible.

                                  

                                              

What is your favourite thing to draw? 

Grumpy looking animals. I like to draw things with attitude problems and distrusting looks- they make me laugh. I’m much more at ease drawing humor and will sit like a fool with a big smile on my face laughing at my own jokes.

                                        

                                 

Are there any tricky parts to being an illustrator? 

That cold clutch of your heart you feel when a deadline is approaching and talking yourself round from freezing and putting it off into a “RIGHT! Let’s do this attitude.” Also letting go of a really nice layout or character that you have fallen in love with because no one else likes it. That’s pretty tricky.

What or who are you inspired by? 

I buy picture books very often, my shelves would say too often. I love Quentin Blake and would absolutely have a fan girl moment if I was ever in the same room. I adore Isabelle Arsenault, Kenard Pak, Chris Chatterton, Fred Blunt, Chris Riddell, Leigh Hodgkinson and did you see the new book from Richard Jones, The Snow Lion? Oh my! I cried in the bookshop.

What do you like to do in your spare time when you’re not illustrating? 

If I’m not at my desk or in a bookshop I like to visit cake shops with my family or friends. I feel like I’m working on a study of all the almond croissants in the area. Although I’ll have to start all over again with mince pies soon, shucks! I like art galleries, the theatre, singing show tunes on long car rides and embarrassing my children by going over the top at least three times a day.

How did you get into illustration? 

When asked as a child about possible future professions I always said I wanted to be a draw-er or a crisp taster. At age 9 I was convinced Hollywood would come knocking for me to draw on the next Disney movie and by age 12, after waiting by the phone for three years, I decided theatre was a safer bet. I trained as a theatre set and costume designer at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and spent 15 years making theatre, props, masks, puppets, anything and everything. I was pretty late in the game when I realized I loved theatre so much because I was storytelling and I should be spending my time doing that instead of sewing feathers on to ugly duckling costumes. I started drawing again with the idea to entertain my family and really got into it. I exhibited some of my work and got a lot of great feedback. I moved more into children’s illustration and met SCBWI people at a short course on book illustration. After that I knew I was home. At such a young age I knew what I wanted to be, I should have listened to her. I could have been a crisp taster by now.

What are your three top tips for aspiring illustrators? 

Put in the hard work and get better at drawing hands.

Be on the look out to learn more, short course, lectures, and new people.

Stick to deadlines and be business-like about business.

What’s your ultimate dream?

1.To get better at drawing hands.

2. To be asked to be on Strictly Come Dancing ,but have to turn it down because I have too much work on.