Meet Katja Spitzer | Illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Katja Spitzer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katja, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
At the beginning of my career 12 years ago, I worked a lot for magazines and newspapers. The deadlines were very tight and I often worked nightshifts and at the weekends. I was full of self doubts. I mostly received wonderful feedback from the art director but I still wondered: Will I be good enough to make a good illustration for this topic? Will the Art director like my work? And also I could´nt say no to a job. So I took on too many commissions simultaneously. Over the years I gained self confidence about my work and I learned a very important skill: saying no to a job. Today I´m rarely stressed out from work. I mostly illustrate books for children. I try to avoid jobs which seem to be stressful. I do a lot of things which bring me joy: I swim every day, I do long walks in the forest with my partner, I love to cook and I enjoy to talk to beloved friends.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When I started as an illustrator I worked with an agent who got me a lot of book commissions. I visited book fairs and met a lot of editors. This paid off and after more than 10 years in this business, I still get interesting jobs and I´m able to do my own projects. The most comments I receive about my work are about the colours of my illustrations. I like to have my books printed with bright spot colours. I spent a lot of time in the old printing workshops at university: lithography, etching and silkscreen. For silkscreen you have to limit your colour palette because using more than 3 or 4 colours is too expensive. I guess this is how my style was developed. I rarely use more than 3 colours.
People also describe my work as whimsical, quirky and funny. I like to have fun with my projects and love to work on the characters in the books a lot.
I have worked on more than 30 books until now. I enjoy working on different projects: I have worked on a non fiction book about our skin, a picture books series for very young children or an adventurous children`s book about crazy taxi rides in the last years!
Last year my first non fiction picture book “Haare. Geschichten über Frisuren” was published at Prestel. I enjoyed to write the texts myself and I´m working on the next book where I also wrote the text right now.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is super easy! I live in Berlin, there are so many possibilities to have the best time ever! I share a studio with 3 other illustrators in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg. We can start from there and I will give my guest a studio tour and introduce her to my colleagues. After that we will have a matcha tea in cafe “Bom”, 5 minutes away from my studio.
Also nearby: Sugarfari: a shop which offers candy from all over the world.
I really love booksstores. One of my favourite bookstore in Berlin is called “mundo azul”. Mundo Azul offers picture books from all over the world.
It´s time for lunch! Let´s have a slow cooked lentil soup and a cheese cake with passionfruit in my favourite Cafe “Sgaminegg”.
Summer in Berlin is the best! I will invite my guest to the area I live, a little bit far away from the center. We take the S3 tram to Friedrichshagen and do a Stand Up Paddling Tour on Müggelsee. I own three Boards so I always have one to share. We can have beer, a picknick, enjoy the view and swim with local beavers. This seems to be a perfect day.

Website: www.katja-spitzer.de

Instagram: @katjaspitzer