Interview: Anna Dittmann
The illustrator tells Gary Evans about balancing the necessities of freelance with the otherworldly concerns of her art
The illustrator tells us about balancing the necessities of freelance with the otherworldly concerns of her art.
Anna Dittmann’s childhood home – a Victorian house in San Francisco – is best described as “having character.” The decor: carnivorous plants, an assortment of percussion instruments and 75 wallmounted deer skulls. The occupants: five children, lodgers from all over the world, and a chicken that was saved from the street.
Anna’s dad is a sign maker. He’s working away in his basement shop, where he also tinkers with “musical inventions.” He’s the one supplying her with sketchbooks, with tips to improve her drawing skills. But Anna’s first canvases were her bedroom walls.
There’s no reason Anna couldn’t have grown up to be an accountant. She could have decided on a career in data entry. But the old Victorian place does seem a fitting childhood home for a budding artist, for an illustrator who would grow up to specialise in the dreamy and the surreal, creating art that’s at once realistic and a little offkilter, seemingly ordinary figures set against extraordinary shimmering, swirling backgrounds of light, colour, pattern and texture.
“It was a very colourful childhood,” the American-german says, “and I was never lacking creative stimulation.”
MUNDANE NECESSITIES
A few years back, Anna swapped San Francisco for Edinburgh. She’s best known for her covers for books and comics (Harpercollins, Scholastic,
Personal work does take less of a priority these days, but commercial projects can be just as stimulating
DC Comics). She has exhibited her art in galleries around the world. Throw in the occasion commission for posters, album art, advertising and even tattoos, along with attending conventions and teaching workshop, and it’s clear she’s pretty busy.
Being self-employed means Anna starts the day with the freelancer’s “mundane necessities.” There are contacts to read, sign and send out, paperwork to file, pricing to calculate, taxes to tally up. Self-promotion is very important. That means posting
regularly online, replying to comments and messages, and being generally sociable on social media. It’s the same with art directors. It’s important to maintain relationships with regular clients. Anna recently upgraded to a sit-stand desk to help with posture, and she makes sure to take regular breaks to make a cup of tea, do yoga, and cook.
“If I can, I like to focus my attention on one project at a time. When there’s an opening in between work, I’ll set aside time for personal art. I use those periods to experiment more with subject matter and style. Personal work does take less of a priority these days, but commercial projects can be just as stimulating. They do require a different mindset, as there are often more adjustments involved and generally a longer turnaround. I enjoy the challenge and feeling of satisfaction when both the client and I are pleased with the final product. Communicating effectively is key, from interpreting the initial brief until the final touch-ups.”
There’s a phenomenon common among freelancers. Let’s call it the Freelancers Paradox: when you’re busy with work, you wish you weren’t; when you have no work, you panic.
“With freelance,” Anna says, “comes hectic periods of sitting at a computer for days, or slow periods where you have an unexpected holiday, but couldn’t plan for it. The unpredictability has been one of my bigger obstacles. During a busy period, I can forget to take a break. And when work is slower, I can become restless and anxious.
Because art is so intertwined with my day-to-day life, it can play a big role on my mood and self-esteem
“Because art is so intertwined with my day-to-day life – it’s my hobby and my means of income – it can play a big role on my mood and self-esteem. With all that said though, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m so grateful every day to be doing something that I’m passionate about.”
PEACEFUL OASIS
Aged 13, Anna got into digital art, and was instantly hooked. Before that, she used pencils, acrylics, charcoals… whatever she could get her hands on, whatever would look good up on her bedroom wall. But painting digitally freed her up to experiment without worrying about wasting materials. She taught herself, watched online tutorials, learned through trial and
error. She would come home from school and spend the rest of the night painting. Getting better became an obsession. So did sharing work online, receiving compliments from strangers, the thrill of it. But art was also a “peaceful oasis.”
ONCE UPON AN IMAGINEFX
Anna took a few traditional art classes in high school, and an art teacher told her to look into art colleges. She won a scholarship to go to Savannah College of Art and Design in Atlanta, Georgia, graduated in 2015 with a BFA in illustration, and remembers her time there fondly. She was surrounded by a ton of creative people, and got to spend all day drawing. She’d earned a little money doing graphite portraits for family and friends, but Anna’s first big project, still a freshman in college, was the 2012 cover for Imaginefx, issue 84.
“It was my favourite magazine and one of the few text resources I would purchase, so I was over the moon about the cover commission. I say this not to brown-nose – it’s genuinely true! My style has developed a lot since then, and I wish I could have tackled some things differently. But it gave me a rush of motivation, and a sense of accomplishment as a budding professional illustrator.”
Anna continued to work part-time through college on commercial projects, saving to spend time abroad. Growing up, Europe was her second home. Her mother’s German, so Anna’s also has German citizenship. But it was Scotland that she fell for (“completely in love”).
“It’s gorgeous, and I find it so inspiring. I’m very lucky to have a flexible job and the opportunities available to have made such a leap of faith.”
HISTORY AND MYTHOLOGY
Afternoons, early evenings – whenever she’s taken care of all the mundane freelance stuff, Anna paints. Her workspace – laptop, monitors, graphics tablet – is by the window in the living room of her flat.
She starts by sketching in black and white. She tweaks values. She tweaks composition. After spending a bit
Imaginefx was my favourite magazine, so I was over the moon about the cover commission
of time being “generally nitpicky,” she looks for references that will help her refine the sketch.
She’s inspired by history and mythology, by movement, textures, nature, by lyrics and melodies, or a person’s expression. Anna loves the way artists such as Alphonse Mucha and Gustav Klimt contrast patterns and figures. She loves Egon Schiele’s more experimental figurative work. Her own concepts often start as happy accidents. A loose line or wayward brushstrokes suddenly takes on a life of its own, and Anna goes with it.
Next, she throws in textures on a variety of Photoshop layer modes (“Soft Light, Divide… whatever feels best”). She also adds colour with layer modes, and likes using Curves to manipulate hues. She’s on to details now. Finally, she sharpens the image.
ENTER THE GECKO
As if to help her slip away from the real-world necessities of freelancing and into the otherworldly concerns of her art, Anna has brought a bit of the Victorian house in San Francisco to her flat in Edinburgh. There’s the evergrowing collection of houseplants. There’s the pet gecko she likes to let wander around. “If I could, I’d fill all my space with plants and animals, bringing a bit of nature and inspiration indoors.” But, crucially, there’s also the same “unique kind of joy and thrill” she felt coming home from school to spend all night working on her art.
“For me, great artwork inspires emotion, or makes me want to paint, or both. I can fall in love with artwork
I can fall in love with art in a style that deviates from my own, because of the emotion and connection it inspires
in a style or subject matter that deviates from my own, because of the emotion and connection it inspires. If it’s art that gives me the urge to pick up my pen, then I’ll normally pop it into my inspirations folder and refer back when I’m craving the impulse to paint.
“Even at a young age, I liked to escape into fictional words by consuming all the fantasy and sci-fi media I could get my hands on. Painting is like a departure from the real world to a fictional one. It gives me a platform to create environments and characters that only exist in my mind. I can be fairly introverted and softspoken, but I feel that I can be more expressive and emotional with art. I’m not very descriptive about my personal work, because I prefer to leave the interpretation to the viewer. But I like when art leaves me with a lingering curiosity. I’m drawn to softer pieces that feel suspended in time.”