We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Anna Süßbauer. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Anna below.

Anna, appreciate you joining us today. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

When we talk about the starting point of a creative career we often mean the point when we started to earn money from it. But sometimes I wonder if the starting point dates far back. I know that I thought about having a creative job when I was a kid and later a teenager. And even though most of the jobs that I had in my career weren’t creative jobs at first glance I always found a creative angle in fulfilling them. I often think about what would have happened if I had studied art or illustration instead of working as the self-taught artist that I am today. But I don’t think that my creative career should have started earlier. It startet very early without me being aware of it. And then it grew inside of me and eventually appeared later in my life in the shape of what my job is today.

Anna, 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?

My name is Anna Süßbauer and I’m a children’s book illustrator based in Cologne, Germany.

Grewing up I always loved drawing and reading since I was a little child. Coming from a creative family I have been surrounded by art books, picture books, comics and my father’s typewriter on which I used to type my own stories to illustrate them.

My first career was in web design and sales controlling, later I got into human resources controlling for a large retail company. I studied computer science in media alongside my job. Years later after having my daughter Emilia and getting back to work in part-time, I decided to become a freelance illustrator in the picture books industry – always driven by my passion for graphic design and the love for clear structures, bright colors and wild textures.

Being a self-taught artist makes me proud but it also can make me feel insecure in some moments. All things considered I think that I learned a lot from my different non-creative jobs regarding structuring the work day, working efficiently, talking to clients etc.

My work is inspired by a whimsical sense of humor – I have a thing for silly jokes – and by my love for all kind of animals, including my two dogs Patsy and Brixie of course.
I love to make myself happy with my own work. If I can crack up about a cucumber on roller skates with a tiny hat and six legs… I hope my followers and potential clients might, too!

How did you build your audience on social media?

My story of how I built my audience on social media is kind of simple: I just kept making art and showing it. For me it’s the best way to build a portfolio and showing it to a large audience. Also it challenges me to work on personal projects which loosens up my busy client work schedule.
When I started out working as an illustrator in 2017 it surely was another time on Instagram, everything was still a bit more transparent and it was easier to grow and the circle of fellow illustrators using the platform was a bit more accessible. But I still have this simple credo: make art and show it. And it still works for me!

In addition to that getting in touch with other artists, taking part in challenges, joining groups of local or topically similar colleagues can help a lot and often fuels your inspiration and motivation.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

On rare occasions, at exhibitions for example, I see people looking at my illustrations and the best part for me is seeing them enjoying the characters, laughing at them, wondering about them. I love it when illustrations are different than what you usually see, when characters are diverse, whimsical, a bit weird, when they can surprise the viewer. If I can do that, if you look at my illustrations and are happy about them being different, I’m satisfied.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.apfelhase.de
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apfelhase
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/apfelhase