Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Friederike Ablang. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Rike, one of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about my art and business here.
Self-confidence is an important aspect of being a creative service provider. It not only helps with acquisition and negotiating fees, it also protects you from taking corrections and criticism personally. Drawing a lot helps you to develop and refine your own skills. This strengthens your self-confidence. It’s also good to exchange ideas with colleagues, to talk about your work and how you feel; to hear how others are doing, but also to get feedback so that you can put your own perceptions into perspective.
Please tell our readers about what you do, what you feel is most exciting or special about it, as well as anything else you’d like folks to know about your brand/art/etc. If relevant, please also tell our readers about anything new (events, product/service launches, expansion, etc.)
I am an illustrator and draw for school, children’s and youth book publishers, meaning I create and deliver the images for the books. My work is emotional and versatile. In school books it is very important to work close to the script, it must be easy to recognize what is being done. The people portrayed must be very different and reflect a good cross-section of society so that as many children as possible can recognize themselves in the pictures.
In children’s books it can be wild and cheerful, often colorful and magical, it can be cute and cheeky and I try to match that, I can work more freely, decide to leave this or that out or emphasize it. Teenage books need a certain coolness without being too harsh, teenagers are still very much between worlds and want to be treated like adults, even though there is still a lot of child in them. The drawings have to be accordingly. I’ve just received feedback from a publisher that I’ve managed this quite well, which makes me very happy.
At the moment, I have started to set up a project with two colleagues that is about nothing but peace. Peace everywhere and for everyone. All three of us can’t stand the many wars and crises on our planet and we are collecting contributions from our illustration colleagues and writers to combine them in a book, which will hopefully sell an incredible number of copies to raise money to be donated to an organisation that helps civilians in war zones. It has not yet been decided which publisher we will work with. A hope-giving project in these difficult times.
A beautiful children’s book by Oskar Kroon will be published very soon, which is enormously emotional, written in simple, short, yet beautiful sentences. My heart was overflowing while reading and illustrating it.
I continuously work on school books projects; we just won the golden BELMA for “Team Nase” a brand new math production for Cornelsen during the last book fair in Frankfurt am Main and it made me very proud to hear, that the illustrations (by my friend and colleague Antje Hagemann and me) played a big part in the jury’s decision.
I am also working on something very special to my heart with the amazing Anna Süßbauer, which I’ll tell you all about in the next interview.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
You should be really good at what your business is about, in my case drawing, and devote time and energy to it. But of course, every business also has other aspects that are necessary to make it work and keep it going: You should always deliver on time, publishers have print deadlines and expect you to meet set times. The way you communicate should not be underestimated. It is much better to work with people who are polite or even friendly in their emails, who express themselves precisely and clearly, which is something to bear in mind when corresponding with business partners. Networking is very helpful. It can happen that colleagues can’t accept an assignment and pass it on to you or suggest you to the publisher. It is also a wonderful thing to have colleagues as an individual freelancer, but you can only find them if you look for them, and that only happens through your own activities: at jour fixes, at trade fairs, in associations and organizations. That’s not always easy. I’m an introvert myself – fairly common in my profession, I think – and it takes a lot of strength and courage to go out and meet people if I don’t know them. But it’s definitely worth it.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Drawing – of course. Do what you do as well as you possibly can.
Composure – when things get hectic or overwhelming, there’s no point in panicking, you have to stay calm and make a plan to get out of that tight spot.
Joy. When things are going well, you will spend many hours a day doing your work; if you enjoy it, it’s half as hard and very fulfilling.
I have a fourth, sorry:
Self-preservation. Mind your life-work-balance. Take care of your body and soul, work out, take breaks, go on vacation, so you don’t burn out and can do what you love happily and in good health for many years.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friederikeablang/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ablangillustration
- Other: Etsy – https://www.etsy.com/shop/friederikeablang; Tiktok – https://www.tiktok.com/@rikeablang
Image Credits
All by me
