We recently connected with Zeynep Bihter Yildiz and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Zeynep Bihter thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Let’s go back to my childhood. Drawing on walls when I was little, doodling on desks in high school and being able to say “yes, this is my thing” in college. Drawing was always something I had in me. But after graduating, I listened to others say “you should do this, there’s money in this, focus on this field” etc. and I got fed up with it. I didn’t really do what they said either. I was looking for my own path. Then I decided to let my “childish” side shine: I focused on children’s literature! It was a field that always interested me and this time I realized that I wanted to be someone in that field. So I wrote and drew my first book.

Zeynep Bihter, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a kidlit artist and author. I draw, I write and also I draw for publishing houses on a project basis, too. In short, I draw.
I think the biggest factor in my interest in this field is the desire to tell something with visuals. Before I became a kidlit illustrator, I was interested in cartoons/animations or comics. The common point of these fields is to visualize a story. That’s what I do. When telling a story, I try to offer the reader something as different as possible. Perspectives, styles, characters that I haven’t tried before… Since my readership is children and those who remain children, visuals are as important as the story. If the reader is a child like me, visuals are even more important than the story. That’s why my job is to provide as much of a visual feast as possible. In my country, in Turkey, the comment I get the most is “this is a work to be seen abroad”. This makes me happy because I want to meet other readers around the world. I want to be a source of inspiration for someone from somewhere. Just like the authors and artists who influenced me when I was a kid :-)

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I would like to talk about the online education courses we see on the internet. At the beginning of this year, I couldn’t even draw a small thing in my sketchbook, I was afraid. One day, I took an artist’s online lessons on Domestika and my perspective on drawing changed. In fact, that artist inspired me later on and caused me to switch from digital to traditional art. After all these, I subscribed to the artist’s Patreon (artists’ Patreons are gem!) and gained a lot of techniques, new perspectives and motivation. What I mean is, follow the online lessons given by artists. It brings a lot of benefits! (btw I’m not sponsored by any brands of above)

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I love sharing with people. The work comes from me, but actually I don’t do it for me. It’s more like “Listen, I have something to show/tell you!” thing. When others see my drawings, when they read the story I wrote, I want to inspire them or makes them look at my drawings for hours. I don’t want this sharing to be limited to the land I live in. I want to share it with the whole world. I want to know what they think about my books and drawings. I think this is the part I like most about my job and that’s why I continue to create.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.zeynepbihteryildiz.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeynebihteryildiz/
• Other: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/zbihteryildiz
  Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/zbihteryildiz.bsky.social

Image Credits

-“almost fantasy”
-“dear diary”
-“don’t disturb”
-“fiona”
-“oh dear alice”
-“quick nap with jane”
-“reading & escaping”
-“reading & escaping #2”