@smakelig

Instagram: @smakelig Facebook: www.facebook.com/smakelig Behance: www.behance.net/smakelig Website: www.smakelig-illustrations.com

1. What's your story? Where are you from?

I’m born in (formerly) Karl-Marx-City in Germany but haven’t lived there in ages. I moved a lot and called all kinds of places my home. I love to travel, and having to move a lot is probably one of the biggest reasons. After getting to know a lot of countries in Asia, I settled in Berlin recently and am hoping to stay here for a while.

2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

I’m very much into bright colors – especially when neon is in the mix. But I also like to experiment, so aesthetically my pictures aren’t so much based on a concept of colors or shapes. More important is telling a little story or creating characters – and sometimes making them a bit trippy.

3. What is your favourite medium and why?

I used to work digitally a lot, but started to feel really restricted by it. For awhile, I began to use different techniques and like to mix them up. Watercolor is one of my favorite mediums to experiment with because it can create great depth in pictures and instead of planning the whole process ahead, you have to go with the flow of what the colors are doing. I also started to work with screen-printing a lot. First just because it matched my style, which was very graphic. But I’m starting to use it more experimental to create textures and play with different layers – also mixing up different mediums.

4. What is your artistic process like?

I think a lot and get inspired by many things. A good story, a philosophical concept, textures, nature, people and art itself. I carry a sketchbook with me everywhere and make notes and tiny sketches for new projects. But a lot of times I write stories about the images before I actually start sketching.

5. Who and/or what inspires your work?

On one hand, it’s more abstract things like textures and what you can see in them. Nature. Philosophy. Another part of mine is really interested in fairy tales. I like to create characters and alternate worlds. Good books, comics and movies inspire me heavily – the more complex the better. A little spirituality doesn’t hurt either.

6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

Art is everywhere! For a long time, I had difficulties viewing myself as an artist. I created art more for a hobby. Since I decided to try and make a living from art, I discovered, that it fills me up completely. For sure, sometimes you’re not kissed by the muse, but for the most part of my day, I feel surrounded by art. I look at the aesthetics of my environment and they inspire me. I think about what people say and do and have metaphorical images popping up in my mind. I like to create artsy surroundings. My apartment is more like a playground for adults than just a space for sleeping and eating.

7. Where did you study?

In Würzburg, Germany. But not art. I studied Philosophy, Education and Chinese.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years? Working in an agency?

I was thinking about starting a little agency with some friends. But we’ll see about that. I’m still kind of in the beginning of everything. I would love to work in two different fields – illustrations for magazines, that are meaningful and underline current societal issues. The other one would be creating my own comics. But I have a few hobbies and interests I also really enjoy. I like to mix things up so I don’t get stuck. Also, everything is kind of related to my life. Like learning about nature and natural medicine inspires my artwork.

9. What about in ten?

Same thing. Hopefully still mixing up stuff. Maybe in a community doing the same thing. But I have to say, I get bored easily.

10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?

Well, for the art that has to do with Philosophy I would like to give people an input to think. Since I dropped working in Education, I miss the part of myself, that is helping people and trying to make a change in the world – somehow. So I want to put myself more into the position of illustrating for newspapers and magazines. On the other hand, I am really amazed by the fantastic stories many artists create. Especially artists like Jesse Moynihan and Michael DeForge. I’m super inspired by their work. There is so much input on different levels – humour, aesthetics, philosophy and worlds one can flee into. I would like to awaken the same feelings in someone else’s mind. That’s something I still have to achieve. At some point.

11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?

Pasta and Cheese. Nothing more to say.

12. Favourite book?

Hard to say – just read the Western Lands by Burroughs and was pretty amazed by it.

13. Favourite genre of music?

Psychedelic Rock, Psytrance and trippy dark Techno.

14. What are your hobbies?

Hula Hoop and collecting herbs.

15. If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

A mermaid (aka Marine Biologist) or a witch (aka Therapist/Herb collector).