”Living on the edge” was only something that Illustrator, Andrea Femerstrand made for fun but she thinks it would be cool to make something out of it someday though. Perhaps a short movie, and maybe 2D-animated. Well, I guess we just have to watch out for that!

I was lucky ;) The design itself just fell naturally within my personal art style. It tends to lean towards Disney sometimes, since I love expressive characters. My inspiration for this project was very spontaneous. It started out with a line drawing of a tiger reaching for something. I just didn’t know what. A bird? Butterflies? Nah, that was too generic. A friend suggested that maybe I could draw a hot air balloon? Perhaps with a small character in it? I tried it out but found it way too busy. I still liked the balloon idea so I tried with a regular balloon instead, and then I had this idea to give the balloon the face. Then my imagination took care of the rest!
-Andrea Femerstrand

My style… I would say that I don’t have a style :p But many people disagree and say that they can spot a typical ”Andrea-painting”. I’m not entirely sure about the style itself but my goal is definitely to create story driven and expressiva characters. I want to create something that actually makes the viewer care, which is a very important aspect for myself when I look at others art. I want to react somehow, even though it’s unpleasant. At least I felt something. And that’s something I want to achieve as well with my own work. Whoa, I’m inspired by so much. It can be other artists(they’re way too many to mention!), stories, my life experience, music! It’s hard to pinpoint :)
-Andrea Femerstrand

Keep drawing and don’t forget to have fun. Learn to fall in love with the process. Not only with a painting but also within your own path. I’ve learnt that it’s not so much about ”arriving” because you’ll never do. You’ll never stop improving if you keep going and always analyze your work. It’s the fun part. It’s a bit cheesy but as long as you’re passionate. Others will see and gravitate towards you, and landing that dream job(or achieving other dreams) may happen automatically with time. If you always strive to learn new things, improve your craft and keep having fun. If that’s what you truly want.
-Andrea Femerstrand

Also, don’t get too caught up with technique. It’s one of the biggest mistake you can do. It’s all about you, your stories and ideas. The technical part is secondary. The art community has boomed with all this awesome art, more and more people get technically skilled. But where are the stories? Where are the feelings? Is the artist trying to show or tell something, or is it just a pretty picture? Does it make you care? Have that in mind, and you’ll go very, very far with your art.
-Andrea Femerstrand

About Andrea Femerstrand

Andrea Femerstrand is a concept artist and illustrator, currently working full-time as a game artist(shejust recently landed a position at King in Stockholm). She also freelance sometimes during the evenings and weekends. She has been working on board games, children’s books, movie pitches, game pitches, advertisement stuff, and more. Andrea is pretty much self-taught when it comes to art, and she's been drawing and painting ever since she was a toddler. Drawing has always been her favorite hobby, which with time, managed to turn into a lifestyle. However, she did study 3D graphics for 2 years before entering the industry. So she also have some experience in 3D, animation, and more, but she still prefers 2D and digital art. See mreo of her work on Behance or her website.