Friederike Ablang puts the magic into illustration. Her drawings are enchanting, delightful and beautifully presented using a distinct, yet charming style. Despite not originally planning to go into illustration, she draws with zest, capturing intimate emotions in her characters, whether that’s on land, in the sea or on the moon! In this article, she discusses her work, and how she came to be where she is today…

1. How did you start out?

I have always enjoyed drawing and making things from paper, clay, glue and such. When I was a kid I spent hours making little books with magazine cuttings and drawings. I loved looking at the caricatures and cartoons in satirical magazines and one of my favourite things to do was to draw my dream island with chalk on boardwalks. 

But I never wanted to draw professionally. My mother is an illustrator, whereas I wanted to save the world working for Greenpeace. But then after school, when I had messed up my biology exam, I went to the UK to be an au pair and a friend of mine there persuaded me to apply for a foundation course in art. Luckily, I had always done figure drawing classes during school despite my different plans, so I had a full portfolio and got in. From there things took their turn.

2. Which illustrations do you like to draw the most?

I like to draw emotions and I like to play with light and shadow. I enjoy drawing for the job, but, obviously, it feels good to draw what I want to and what I feel like.

3. You are part of a team of illustrators called ‘Unterseecafé’. What work do you do there?

I am an illustrator there with five other members. We had an exhibition together, created a book for a publishing house here in Germany, developed another of our own, that we are now trying to find a publisher for. We create content for our Instagram account. There is a challenge coming up there that we are creating and hosting.

I participate by drawing my own illustrations according to our plans and ideas.

4. If you are not illustrating, what are you doing?

Ha! When I don’t illustrate for work, I illustrate for myself. 

Also, I am a mother of two awesome kids and spend time with them, with my husband. I hike and drink loads of coffee with colleagues and friends, and I love going to museums and exhibitions, reading and writing and walking through my city.

5. How competitive is the illustrating industry?

Quite. I have so far only met colleagues who are very kind, sweet and very supportive of each other, but the fact that there are so so many of us makes it competitive. 

6. What advice would you give to other illustrators?

Don’t let anybody undervalue you! Drawing for money is hard work, it can be physically and mentally exhausting and illustrations are essential for many books and products. Being an illustrator is not a hobby or a walk in the park. It takes a lot of learning and practice and should always be paid well.

Also the advice that I got when I was young was: practice! All the time! Learning to draw is not a matter of one class and a few days. It takes years and many many hours a day of drawing to become decent. 

7. What are your future plans?

My biggest issue at the moment is to handle the jobs I have. I still have to learn to maintain a good balance between work and free time and I have yet to learn to say no to work when it gets too much.

My dream – and this is a classic one amongst illustrators, I think – is to write my own books and illustrate them. I have no idea if that is possible or if I’m even good enough. But that would be lovely.

This interview was not paid. All pictures come from Friederike Ablang’s Instagram: @friederikeablang