10 vragen aan…Sara Kajba (Moonchild)

1. Who is Sara Kajba, what do you do?
Sara is a 26 years old who still daydreaming to be an illustrator but currently working as an art teacher at school in the town next to her hometown.

2. What/who inspires you?
There are a lot of things that keep me inspired. I try to see inspiration in things that surrounds me, like landscapes, patterns or people – these things help me to get inspiration for compositions, color palettes or even outfits for my characters. I also get inspired by movies, TV shows, music that I listen to while drawing etc. I also keep folders on Pinterest where I daily search for inspiration – from fashion, interior design, graphic design to illustration. I often get inspired by talking to my friends. I’ve been blessed with friends who have the same way of creative thinking and love for illustration, storytelling or any other creative outlets. So sometimes I get inspired by simply exchanging ideas or creating backstories for animals or objects when we hang out. I think it’s important to have more than one source of inspiration.

3. What kind of clients/ companies do you work for?
Unfortunately since I’ve started working as an art teacher I don’t have much time to be creative personally. So I mainly work on simple commissions when I have some spare time.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I work as a art teacher so I usually start working early and finish with my work day around one or three o’clock – it depends on the day. After work I spent many hours preparing for the next day. I try to find some time for drawing but usually I leave art stuff for the weekends when I am drawing, taking time for being outside and being as much creative as I can. Hopefully I will be able to focus more on art in the near future. Having an online store would be a nice thing to add to my list.

5. On what level do you take trends in illustration into account?
To be honest I don’t follow any trends when it comes to illustration. I’m not even aware if there are any trends at the moment (other than the Instagram challenge ‘draw this in your style’ – is this even considered a trend?). Now I began to think if that’s a good thing or a bad thing…

My opinion is that it’s not good to rely too much on trends. They fade away quickly and that puts you into a stressful loop of chasing trends which can be very damaging to your creative process, especially if your are hopping on trends just for likes and recognition. I think it’s more sustainable to listen to your gut and do what you want. I rather work on my self-expression and on my growth as an artist than focusing on trends. But don’t get me wrong, if you know what’s trending and sprinkle that on top of your unique work that can be a win/win situation.

6. Are there any struggles you experience as an artist? If yes, would you like to share?
Every artist has their own struggles and what I love about art community is that we are so willing to get vulnerable and talk about them openly. I have good and bad days, on a good day I am 100% satisfied with my work and the directions that it’s going but on a bad day I am very conscious about how bad I am with scenery and how similar my characters look like. I often get stuck at doing same stuff over and over. But there are also stuff that I keep thinking about and get worried about, like ‘should I get more into a freelance work’, ‘is my work even good enough to compete with other artists’ etc. But I try not to worry too much.

7. What is it like to have 80.000 + followers on Instagram?
To be honest I don’t feel any different as I was feeling when I had 1k. I mean, it sure feels different when it comes to numbers and people that see your work but other than that, there is not much difference.

When I started my illustration journey and opened my account I thought that if I ever hit this magical milestone my life will be different and all the sudden I will be an illustrator etc., silly me…But what I realised is that you can be an illustrator if you have 80 followers or 80k. It’s your skill and dedication that counts and not some random numbers on some random app.

I try not to get too distracted by numbers because it can do you more harm than good. I still work the same way I did when I started my account, I still have the same work ethic and values as I did back then. I still have a feeling I am just another person who loves drawing and share their random doodles on the internet.

8. What do you regard as your first big break?
To be honest I’m not sure if I had one yet. But what I do take as a huge achievement is that I’ve illustrated a book few years ago. It’s a bit cringe to look at it now since I’ve grown so much as an artist but It’s still a very surreal thing that I am very proud of. Also to be recognised and interviewed by one of my favorite magazines – Character design quarterly.

9. What would be your dream project/assignment?
I would love to move my art outside Instagram, for example books, child magazines or even creating products that would have my work on it. I would like to work on some bigger project or even collaborating with other creative individuals like poets or writers. One of my biggest dreams is to illustrate one of my favorite kids magazine that I’ve been reading as a child. I have a long list of dreamprojects but until then I will work on my skills as much as I can, there is plenty of room to improve.

10. What would be your favorite way to spend a day off?
I like to spend my days off just chilling, listerning to music and baking or cooking. But if I have a lot of energy and I like to do some exploring – take a trip to the other side of the country and spend my day in nature. To be honest everything that involves spending my time in nature sounds like a perfect way to spend my day.

Thanks so much for joining this interview!

Bekijk meer Moonchildillustrations hier:
https://www.instagram.com/moonchildillustrations/