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

Sarah, 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 first learned to illustrate digitally out of necessity. I had done illustrations with pen and ink and pains for many years, but my partner wanted to quit his job and travel for a few months. I wanted to travel too, but I did not want to quit my job. So, I searched for a way to complete commissions on the road.

I bought an iPad and a subscription to the online learning platform, Skillshare. A few online courses later, I gave myself a daily assignment: illustrate one letter of the alphabet every day with a backcountry snowboarding theme. By the time I had finished the letters my skills had grown so much that I began at A again. I re-illustarted each letter in order to make a poster that I liked. That was in 2019. In the following four years, I’ve transitioned working mostly digitally and illustrated three books.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Sarah K. Glaser. I’m an outdoors educational illustrator based out of Alaska. I focus mostly on illustrating adventure sport skills, for example, how to paddle whitewater and how to mountain bike. Luckily, this fits well with my hobbies. I love spending time in the mountains, especially if I can be snowboarding, climbing, and paddling whitewater. I love making illustrations engaging, teaching others about safety, and I enjoy infusing the learning process with some humor.

When I injured my knee snowboarding in January of 2020, I didn’t know that the combination of an injury and Covid would push me further into my passion. When the author of a book on packrafting asked for some cover illustrations, I instead sent him samples of interior illustrations. The collaboration was successful in winning the National Outdoor Book Award and Banff Mountain Film and Book Festival guidebook of the year.

I’ve been drawing all my life, and am largely self-taught. I don’t have a degree, but I have pursued many online courses, taken many tutorials, and sought mentors throughout my life.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I love the idea of making the outdoors spaces, where many of us have found healing and rejuvenation, more welcoming and accessible. High-adrenaline sports can be a masculine space where safety is disregarded, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

I’m committed to expanding outdoors culture into a place where education is paramount, where resources are accessible, and where everyone has equal access.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being creative is being able to change the culture of the spaces that I thrive in.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.glacierlines.com
• Instagram: @glacier_lines
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahelleglaser
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-k-glaser-254ba585

Image Credits
Illustrations by Sarah K. Glaser