Katja Spitzer was born in a small town in Sachsen-Anhalt. She studied a lot: First she studied art history and historical studies. After graduating she went on to study illustration at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig under the guidance of Volker Pfüller and Thomas Matthaeus Müller. One semester was completed at the HGK Lucerne, Switzerland. Finally, in 2009 she finished her studies and is now working as a freelance illustrator for magazines and publishers. Her book, Quodlibet, was published under Nobrow Press.
What inspires and informs your work?
Places like libraries, museums and bookstores inspire me again and again. I like the artwork of Henri Rousseau and Outsider Art. I also like the illustrations of Maira Kalman, Atak, Volker Pfüller, Hans Ticha and many others. Animals especially okapis, all breeds of dogs, dinosaurs and birds always fascinate me.
I live next to a foggy lake which is surrounded by huge pines. Every morning I go to my studio in Prenzlauerberg by train, which takes 1 hour. Sometimes I get good ideas along the way. Sometimes I just people watch.
Two fragments of information which I am constantly aware of are:
Many absolutely brilliant ideas appear in my dreams, often I forget to sketch them and then they fade away. The internet is both a curse and a saviour.
Tell us about your process?
Before I start drawing I do plenty of research and make lots of notes and drafts in my sketchbook. I start with very rough sketches using a soft pencil, then decide if the draft is good enough, I scan and do the colouring with my wacom tablet.
