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View All SourcesInterview With Illustrator Andreas Preis
Recently, I had the chance to talk with Andreas Preis, a German-based illustrator, and Psdtuts+ author, that has worked for a variety of clients, including Adidas, DC Comics, ESPN Classic, NIKE, and many more. During the interview, we talked about a variety of topics including why he prefers to use traditional drawing techniques, what his favorite tools are, how to earn some extra money on the side, using social media, and even what he thinks about people tattooing his work to their bodies. Let’s take a look!
QHi Andreas, thanks for taking the time to speak with us today. Can you tell us a bit about your background? Where are you from? How did you get your start as an Illustrator?
Hey Grant! No Problem, thanks for having me. My name is Andreas and I’m a Graphic Designer and Illustrator currently living and working in Berlin. Originally I was born in the south of Germany in the
countryside of Bavaria. Since I was little I always liked to draw, paint or just somehow "create" stuff.
So after school I decided to study communications design. During that time I worked a bit in advertising, but I never really got accustomed to it, so I became a freelancer, focusing mostly on my illustration right now.
QIn the tutorial that you recently did for Psdtuts+, you gave our readers some valuable insight into how you produce your art. The techniques that you use involve a mixture of traditional drawing and digital art. Why do you prefer working that way? How do you feel it improves the look of your artwork, as opposed to working in a 100% digital workflow?
For me personally, I just don’t like to stay in front of my computer the whole day. I like to really do stuff with my hands, I’m always kinda happy when there’s still some paint on my fingers a few days after I work on a project. On the other hand I don’t really like 100% digital work. I think that a lot of times people get too lost in the whole process and techniques, so they forget about creating ideas. There’s so much perfectly executed digital stuff outside, but most of the times you couldn’t recognize one "artist" from the other. I always get the impression, that it’s hard to integrate any kind of personality if everything is filtered through 1s and 0s.