It’s been three full days since I’ve returned from Krug 13 in Austria, where I attended a rather special workshop with Elina Ellis, and omg do I want to go back 😀
Why? Because it was THAT good yes.
Imagine countryside, old houses at the edge of a village, fields, meadows, forests, old castle ruins, a crystal-clear pond, and hosts with the biggest hearts ever who also cooked as if Michelin had personally moved into their kitchen. Just being there for food would do. But nope, I was there for a workshop focusing on illustrating children’s stories or better, making, crafting, drawing – picture books.
It was a week of being deeply immersed in our own projects, fun exercises, lectures and lots of deep conversations. Even the end-of-the-day critiques felt like the cherry-on-top because everyone’s work was looked at with care.
Meeting like-minded and like-hearted women from all over the world was kind of magical too, especially because we all just clicked. We went from total strangers to something very different. I can’t claim real true friends yet, because only time will tell, but definitely friends that are passionate about the same things which means, we can continue to support each other for years now.
Elina has this amazing super-power of holding space for her students, knowing exactly what to say and being like a little kid each time a new idea strikes. It was such a pleasure being around and seeing her draw and explaining things away.
Being an illustrator, or even author-illustrator, is a lonely job. A pretty hard one too, as we just discovered. But it can be so much better when you have a tribe that supports you, and I cannot think of a better one than the one I just got.
I’m not ready to talk about the story I worked on just yet, but I will say this: I came home eager to make it real. Like really, really real. Drawn, written, and published. Preferably sooner rather than later.
Wish me luck!
With much love,
Nina