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Today, I bring you a giveaway from SouleMama Sponsor, Lineanongrata. In Julia's words:
"Lineanongrata sells beautiful prints, postcards, pinback buttons and other objects decorated with illustrations by Julia Freund. If you would like to learn how to draw and illustrate yourself, Julia also teaches an eCourse for illustration."
You can follow along with Julia on her blog, and find out more about her ecourse here.
SouleMama: Tell us about your background. What path led you to the work you do today?
Julia: When I was a child I was an avid reader and sometimes, when inspiration struck, I painted or drew. My family has always considered me 'the artist', although I suspect it was more because I was such an airhead and less because I could draw a reasonably good sketch every once in a while.
After Highschool I knew I wanted to go to College but had absolutely no idea what to study. So I tried German, Philosophy and even Biology for a while. A very difficult endeavor for someone who counts to ten with her fingers and can't do any kind of complicated math (like additions and subtractions) if her life depended on it.
In the end and to a very loud sigh of relief from my parents I ended up studying graphic design and illustration in Aix-en-Provence and Paris. Since my graduation from design school I've been working as a freelance illustrator for magazines and newspapers and whenever my time allows I produce motives for prints and postcards.
At the beginning of this year I was also offered a teaching position at a design school here in Berlin. It's a job I love immensely and that has helped me a lot in preparing for the illustration eCourse I teach via the Internet.
SouleMama: What artists/teachers have inspired your work and life?
Julia: The people who inspire me most at the moment are my students. Those I teach here in Berlin and those I teach all over the world via the eCourse. My students here in Berlin are young college kids and becoming a teacher has been a great lesson. When to push and when to leave them alone. How to clothe technique into words they can understand and apply… there are so many things I learned and so many of them help me with the eCourse. My Internet students are mostly older then my college kids. Many of them were told 'only the stupid kids do art. The smart ones do science', or 'you can't draw. So don't even try', when they were younger. So they never dared to try again. But you wouldn't believe the progress they make in just six weeks! It's amazing. It just takes some tricks and kind words. When I teach them I never criticize. I always pick out the positive things and talk about how just a couple of changes might make an illustration that much better. All the groups I've taught were very kind and encouraging with each other and it's enlightening to see how everybody learns from the others. How even the more advanced ones can still learn a thing or two from the total beginners.
Really, teaching is the most inspiring thing I've seen or done in a good long while.
SouleMama: What's the product or offering in your shop that you're most excited about right now? Tell us about it.
Julia: The 2012 calendar is finally finished and I'm very happy about how it turned out. This year will be all about animals and their ambitions, secrets and jokes.
For today's giveaway, Lineanongrata is generously offering the following to THREE winners:
~ a 2012 calendar!
(WIth the calendar, the winners will receive a selection of postcards, pinback buttons, and other lovely little objects.)
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Thank you to Lineanongrata!
To enter today's giveaway, please leave a comment (one entry per person, please) in today's post. I'll close comments by 8am EST on Monday, and announce the winner(s), chosen via Random Number Generator, shortly after.
The winners are...
This would add beauty into anyone's home!
Posted by: Joy
i love julia's illustrations. such beautiful details!
Posted by: tinyhappy
So beautiful and whimsical.
Posted by: Cindy Baugh
