Sarah Richter is a German artist who grew up in a small village spending most of her time drawing, always influenced by magical and mythological beings accompanied by the dark beauty and melancholy of the night. In 2017 she turned her passion into her profession and started to be a full-time illustrator. She illustrates many book covers for fantasy stories and creates commissioned illustrations for various projects. She has always been fascinated by the beauty of the night, dark creatures, castles & the evanescence of being.
How long have you been illustrating and what made you start?
Art has always been a big part of my life. I've been drawing since I could hold a pen and after school I decided to study graphic design. For some years, I worked as a designer and I was also a part time freelance illustrator. In 2017, I decided that it was time to become a full-time freelance illustrator because my husband got a job in Italy and this was the easiest way to accompany him. My parents always supported my wish to work as an artist and my husband helps and motivates me a lot.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I get inspiration from a lot of things. Sometimes from a song or a movie or even in my dreams. Artists like Victoria Frances or Luis Royo and Brom inspire me a lot and also places I’ve been. Most of all, my inspiration comes from the infinite world of fantasy and its myths and legends.
Where is your favourite place to illustrate?
I love to sit on the couch with a hot cup of tea and music, look out of the window and draw sketches of future artworks.
What are your illustrating/colouring material essentials?
I start my illustrations with a very hard pencil, an eraser pencil and paper. If I’m happy with my sketch and I’ve found the right proportions, I use a black crayon to highlight the lines. For the colouring, I nowadays use my draw pad and photoshop, but some years ago I worked a lot with airbrush, watercolour and crayons.
What’s the piece of work that you’re most proud of or enjoyed doing the most?
That’s hard to say. Every piece has it’s own challenges and beauty. I enjoy the different moods that they put me in when I paint them. I would say my Colouring Heaven issue ‘Creatures of the night’, which contains most of my artworks from the last years, is my baby. I’m very proud of this collection because it shows so many years of creative work and development.
People sometimes say to me that that I’m very talented but I don’t believe in natural talent or a special gift that I was born with. I believe in motivation, passion and lots of practice. Every artist starts out small and they practice and study for years. I think everyone can achieve mastery with enough enthusiasm and training. The most important thing is that you enjoy what you do!
