Tanja Stephani
Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Cheerful, humorous, a little cheeky, warm, with lot of soul, touching.
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My pin board, my sofa, my books and my double bass.
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Yes I feel very at home with my coloured pencils from all kind of producers.
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Paula Monderson, Bansky, Picasso.
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
The Picasso time, everything was fresh, new and unusual and the way was open to create crazy stuff. Nowadays nearly everything is done and it is hard to create something new.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
My work space is an old stable outside my house, I can easily go outside to work and smell the fresh air. I really love my studio, we also play music here, drink coffee together, it is a meeting point for my friends and family.
Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.
Cheerful, humorous, a little cheeky, warm, with lot of soul, touching.
What items are an essential part of your creative space?
My pin board, my sofa, my books and my double bass.
Do you have a favourite artistic medium?
Yes I feel very at home with my coloured pencils from all kind of producers.
Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Paula Monderson, Bansky, Picasso.
Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?
The Picasso time, everything was fresh, new and unusual and the way was open to create crazy stuff. Nowadays nearly everything is done and it is hard to create something new.
Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?
My books and my LPs with children stories such as Peter and the Wolf inspired me, I also wanted to create small worlds. I loved the Tatjana Hauptmann's work.
Can you share a photo of your creative work space or part of the area where you work most often? Talk us through it.
My work space is an old stable outside my house, I can easily go outside to work and smell the fresh air. I really love my studio, we also play music here, drink coffee together, it is a meeting point for my friends and family.
What is your favourite part of the illustration process?
When the raws are done, than the nice process starts for me, it is cosy to sit over my work with nice podcasts, and colouring the world I created.
What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?
Be yourself, be kind to yourself, practice your skills and believe in your dream, but it has really to be what you want to do with your heart and soul. It is sometimes a lonely world as an illustrator.
Be yourself, be kind to yourself, practice your skills and believe in your dream, but it has really to be what you want to do with your heart and soul. It is sometimes a lonely world as an illustrator.
Tanja is an illustrator, artist, and a folk music double bass player. She lives and works in an old farmhouse together with her family, dogs and a fabulous grandmother, on a mountain in Switzerland. After art school, she trained as a graphic designer. Computers were less prevalent in the early eighties and that is how students learned to do everything by hand which is very helpful in case of an internet crash....When Tanja is not working on her illustrations, you can find her in her huge garden, in the forest, on the ground playing with her dogs or sitting together with family and friends, and on stage with her lovely bluegrass folk band.
Please visit Tanja's website for more information or follow Tanja on instagram and pinterest .
Please visit Tanja's website for more information or follow Tanja on instagram and pinterest .
