Sweta Krause is a freelance illustrator and designer from Germany based in Sweden.
How long have you been illustrating and what made you start?
I've been illustrating for as long as I can remember. As a child I used to draw on everything! Even on the slatted frames under my bed. I had some trouble at school once because I drew on a wall in the classroom. I don't really remember what made me start as a child, but I mostly loved to draw funny animals. When I was a teenager I stopped drawing for a while. It made me sad but I just couldn't draw. Then one day I saw Sailor Moon for the first time and this Anime inspired me so much that I started to draw again and even considered making illustration my career. During my illustration/communication design studies I then started to illustrate professionally.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I get my inspiration mostly by observing my environment. It could be the forest, a city, or an interesting interior design in a cafe. Or the shapes of clouds and colour combinations from nature. I am inspired by other artists as well.
Where is your favourite place to illustrate?
My favourite place to illustrate is at home, or somewhere where I feel safe and relaxed, like at my parent's home. I just can't concentrate if I feel someone looking over my shoulder while I draw. Or when somebody is talking to me while I draw, but at the same time I always need some background noise during my work. It could be a podcast, a documentary, an audiobook or even a playlist of some youtube artists.
What are your illustrating/colouring material essentials?
I love to illustrate and colour both traditionally and digitally. For traditional techniques I like to use fineliner pens, watercolour and acrylic colours. I love to experiment with different kinds of paper and surfaces like wood or stone. For digital art I illustrate on my iPad. When I work professionally I prefer to work with digital media because it is much easier to do multiple iterations.
What’s the piece of work that you’re most proud of or enjoyed doing the most?
It's difficult to answer. There is one project that I am proud of but it was not so enjoyable to illustrate. After I graduated from studying communication design I did a project that came from my heart. I did several drawings that are really detailed and took me a while to finish. Like “Factory Farming”, “A Funny Donkey Ride” or “At War with Nature”. I am proud of the techniques I used in these drawings and also my patience to finish them. The message of these drawings was about animal cruelty and pollution of the environment. I did a lot of research into this topic to come up with my ideas, and the more I read and drew about this the more pain I felt with each drawing. I even stopped drawing again for a little while because I didn't know which kind of artist I wanted to be. This project made me think about my responsibility as an artist. Should I be informative and show the “hard truth” or should I draw everything I like even if it is meaningless? But in the end I decided that no drawing is pointless. As long as my art makes people happy (or sad) it always has a point.
My main tip is to relax and don't be afraid to experiment with different colour palettes. If you feel stuck with colours, I would recommend looking around to see if you can find a colour combination that you like in your surroundings. But you can also use some colour palette generators online. And the last tip is: you can do anything you like! You can colour a dog with a blue pencil and the grass with orange. Or you can only use one or two colours in a drawing. Just experiment and see what happens!
