We were lucky to catch up with Annie Furr recently and have shared our conversation below.

Annie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I am most definitely still in the process of learning to do what I do. I’ve been drawing my whole life, but my drawing was purely observational and with one single graphite pencil. In my little world, I was always the ‘best’ artist, and that’s just how I liked it, very comfortable and ALWAYS the best. But when you step out of your own little world a bit, you quickly realize that you are in fact not the best. Then you have a decision to make. Either you quit, or you get very comfortable being less than the best and learning how to get better. If I had been honest with myself when I was younger, I always knew that I wanted to make children’s books, but I knew that if I admitted that, then I was going to have to actually put in the work to figure out how to do that and even (yikes!) risk failure. I have to say that I am really grateful for all that observational drawing. I think it was a necessary step to help me be able to draw in a narrative way. I have a kind of intuitive eye for what certain facial expressions or body poses should look like when I’m drawing a character, and that really serves me well when I can’t pull up a reference photo for a zebra sitting cross-legged on a couch or a pig huffing and puffing up a hill. So to answer the question, I think I was and still am my own biggest obstacle to learning more. I am still working on more play and experimentation with my art and less perfection.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Since drawing is just something kind of innate inside of me, I always knew I would do something with that. I graduated college with a degree in Digital Animation, but it felt like the technology portion got in the way of what I really wanted to do, which was just draw. I left college feeling defeated and vowed never to animate again. I got married, had babies, and invested in my family. In 2020 I was feeling super dissatisfied with a creative itch that I wasn’t scratching, so I decided to start a paper goods business to help me have an outlet for my art. As I went along, I began to really see a pattern in the kinds of things that I drew that made my heart sing, things like anthropomorphic acorns, fish getting toothbrush baths, and a family of flowers posing for a portrait. It dawned on me that what I really want to do with my art is tell a story. I decided then and there that I would go all in for my dream of illustrating for children because let’s be honest, I’m just a big kid myself. I’m still making products like greeting cards and stickers for my business, Made to Create. It’s a fun way for me to share what I love with others and bring a little joy into the world with my art. I would love to see snail mail come back in full force. Behind the scenes, I am working on children’s book manuscripts and curating my portfolio for more book jobs in the future, and I am always, always pushing myself to get better. I have noticed a trend towards darker, heavier things in children’s publishing, and I would say that I will never fit into that box. I believe with all my heart that kids have a right to a carefree childhood, that they should be able to believe for a little while that the world is silly and joyful and fun, even if they only experience that joy in art and books. That’s not to deny reality, but to say that adults should do the heavy lifting of life as much as possible. My hope is that that kind of joy is evident in my work and that I can share it with others.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I think I’m in a pivot place right now. I’ve been on the hunt for a literary agent since last January, and you learn a lot of things when you jump into something new. I decided to pause my search in the summer and focus on developing my own stories as an author/illustrator. As I get farther into the process and I realize how much work I’m looking at, I think maybe that project will wait just a bit longer. I’m not giving up on my own books, but in this season of mothering, I need to be able to focus on my family first. So I am going back to square one and staying the course with illustrating for others for now.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My faith in Christ is really what drives my creativity. It is the motivation for all that I do because when you have something good, you really want to share it with others. It’s what keeps me going when I’m discouraged and want to give up. It’s where that idea that there’s joy and hope to be had comes from. It may not be in your present circumstances, but it’s available to you. That’s my life’s message.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.anniefurr.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annie.furr/

Image Credits

Kristin Amaro, afH Capture & Design