Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Victoria Haallman Hamre. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Victoria Haallman , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I am definitely at my happiest working creatively! I’ve always dreamt of becoming a comic book artist or an illustrator, and as a child I couldn’t think of anything cooler than making books similar to the ones I used to read. Now I am lucky enough that I get to be both a comic book artist and a children’s book illustrator, and I have loved every minute of it!
Being a freelancer obviously has its challenges, as it is often unpredictable and financially precarious, and I do sometimes envy my friends who have a stable income, colleagues to chat with, as well as other perks that normal jobs offer. This was especially prominent when my friends were starting out in their careers, as their experience was so different from mine.
But when I reflected upon it, I realized that there are also a lot of perks to being a freelancer. I personally love all the freedom that comes with being freelance, I love getting to wake up whenever I want to, go for walks in the middle of the day, work in the evenings rather than the mornings, and the ability to freely choose what projects I want to take on. It is a very quiet, flexible and creatively fulfilling way of life that suits me perfectly, and I love how different all the projects I have gotten to work on so far have been. I also obviously adore what I do, getting to draw silly dinosaurs and frogs all day while listening to audio books and chatting with friends on the phone? Perfection!

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.

I am a Norwegian illustrator who loves creating colorful and fun illustrations featuring children, animals and fantastical characters (who are, oddly enough, often based on food – like ramen turtles, or coconut-banana inventors.) I started illustrating children’s books in 2021, and have since completed over 20 books and worked with some of Norway’s biggest publishers, such as Cappelen Damm, Gyldendal and Vigmostad & Bjørke. I am currently working on my second (!) graphic novel, as well as a variety of children’s books in my home office alongside my supervisor, Olga the cat, and my very supportive partner.
I have always wanted to be an illustrator, but for a long time I only got small jobs here or there and barely made any money. Still, I continued making art and posting it online, and after high school I attended an art school where I met a guest teacher called Geir Moen. He is a very talented comic book artist/author, and a few years after I graduated he recommended me to Are Edvardsen, the owner of a comic book publishing house called Überpress. He let me do a couple of short stories for his anthology series, before asking me if I wanted to do a proper graphic novel, which I was obviously very excited about! I worked on the graphic novel for over two years, and although it wasn’t a huge commercial success, it did lead to me being discovered by bigger publishers who hired me to illustrate children’s books.
After that I feel like things evolved rather quickly, as I went from having illustration as a fun, but not very lucrative, side hustle, to working full-time on multiple book projects from various publishers within the span of six months- which was a crazy, exciting and unexpected development! It was especially wild since I was also finishing up my master’s degree in art history and curating at the time, so those six months were essentially just one long, never-ending workday.
Since then, I have gotten to work on both standalone book projects and longer series for a variety of age groups, and I love books where creativity is at the center of the story. I have also been fortunate enough to work on projects that revolve around topics I care deeply about, such as climate change, sustainability, and the empowerment of girls and women. As an illustrator I always try to adapt my style to the project, pushing myself creatively to make each universe and character unique, and I think this ability to adapt and translate the authors vision into something tangible has served me well. I also pride myself on being easy and fun to work with, as I always stick to my deadlines, communicate clearly with my clients, and respect other people’s time, which I think is such a vital part of running a business!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to stop being a perfectionist and learn to just go for it and accept that nothing I ever do is going to be perfect. I always wanted to make comics, but as I kid, teenager and young adult I rarely drew any because I felt like I wasn’t ‘good enough’ yet – I told myself that I needed to practice more, that I had to learn how to do backgrounds, characters, animals, flowers, etc, before I could even try to make a comic. Which, looking back, was such a strange way to go about it, because although I did need to improve and refine my skills, I was never going to get better at making comics if I never made any, seeing as that is a skill in and of itself that goes beyond just drawing characters or backgrounds.
So, when I got the opportunity to make comics that would actually get published, I had to woman up and decide to do it even though I still felt like I wasn’t good enough – and when I got offered to do a graphic novel I again had to just go for it, even though I had never written or illustrated such a long story before. And were the end results amazing? No, but it taught me a lot and kick-started my career, and with each comic, children’s book or artwork I make I get better.

I think this lesson of letting go of perfectionism and embracing the journey, with all its bad art, cringe writing and failed attempts, is something that will always be relevant and ongoing in my life. Just this year I decided to get back into sketching in physical sketchbooks, which I hadn’t done in over a decade, and I really had to push myself to accept that some sketches were going to be really bad and that I couldn’t just delete them. I think working on actual paper after years of only working digitally has really brought back the idea of loving all the imperfections and enjoying the process for its own sake – which has led to a lot of artistic growth and joy.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I think the most rewarding aspect of being an illustrator is knowing that there are kids out there who read the books I have worked on before bed, or at school or in kindergarten. When I was a kid, I read books and comics all the time, and as a very introverted and sensitive child they were incredibly important to me. Although I might not have been brave enough to do certain things in my real life, books still allowed me to travel all over the world, befriend strange creatures, and go on crazy adventures. They inspired me to be more creative, coming up with my own stories and characters, and pushed me to get better at drawing as I wanted to be able to show everyone all the fun tales I had invented in my head. I hope that some of the books I have worked on, and will work in the future, can inspire kids today to draw or write, or that they can be a safe space when that is needed. In my opinion there is no greater privilege than getting to create something that will (hopefully) bring joy, creativity and comfort to children in a similar way to the books I read growing up.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.victoriahamre.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/victoria.h.hamre/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VictoriaHamreArt
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-haallman-hamre-213b708b/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@victoriahamre
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@victoria.hamre