We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Winona Kieslich a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Winona thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I became a digital artist through a lot of trial and error. It was a typical example of „trust the process“ and stick to it.
I’ve always been really artsy growing up and later in life while traveling I decided to buy an iPad and see what I can do digitally. From then on, it’s been an amazing journey.

Knowing what I know now, I probably could have trusted more in myself. Of course, when you start with something completely new – it’s hard. And it was, but you also need to trust in your abilities and dedication. Positive mindset is key.

I wouldn’t say skills are essential for my kind of art, but being artsy definitely helps. And of course, practice, practice and more practice. Focus on what your goal is, and spend all the time you have to work toward it.

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’m a digital illustrator in the Children‘s book business.
My drawing career started as a hobby, as you might have thought, and slowly turned into something more.

I started drawing on my iPad late 2022 on a whim, while I was traveling through Australia and needed a new hobby for late evenings on campgrounds. So I scribbled and sketched on my iPad until I felt confident enough to post on IG. To be honest, I just started posting even though I felt my art wasn’t good yet. I did it more for myself, than for others. I just wanted to create a space in the internet for my art and my process. That’s how @winonaki was born.

From then on, I’ve worked really hard on my style and my artistic abilities to turn my hobby into work. It’s a slow process, I must tell you. And it’s not easy at all. But it’s possible with dedication and lots of practice.

After spending months posting and drawing daily, I got my first book deal (yay!) – and from then on it was wild.

I’ve illustrated more than 10 book in 3 years and I couldn’t be happier about them.

Besides books, I’m interested in drawing portrait commissions and maybe opening a little shop, but I haven’t pursued that route yet. YET ;) I’m actively thinking about it though…

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is for the world to be more whimsical. To not drown in bad news and negative thoughts, to just be whimsy. I want to share my art to let people dive into an other world. A world full of fairies, mushrooms and flowers.

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

The artist community is one of the most resourceful places I know. You can ask most artists questions and they will help you, if they can. I know I would. And I wish I knew before, that learning from others is so much easier – than doing it all on your own. There are so many courses, videos and books created by artists for artists, which give you amazing insights.

Contact Info:

• Website: Https://winonaki.square.site
• Instagram: @winonaki

Image Credits

Winona Kieslich