Freya Hartas

My name is Freya and I'm a freelance children's book illustrator who lives in the South West. I love to conjure up strange characters, animals and multiple eyed monsters and create fantastical worlds and places for them to inhabit and get lost in.

I completed my studies at Falmouth University amongst the Cornish beaches and tropical gardens, receiving a first class Hons in BA illustration.

I have two pet cats and two pet rats.

Have you always been creative and artistic?

Yeah pretty much, I come from a long line of arty people and their influence has rubbed off on me quite a bit. My grandpa and my dad are both illustrators, when I was little I used to sit and watch them draw then just draw pages and pages of mice . Mice having dinner, mice performing a play, mice adoption centers, I literally only ever drew mice for some reason. I had a couple of pet hamsters who I loved dearly, and now have two pet rats... I think I'm just a very rodenty kind of person, haha.

How would you describe the style of your work?

That's always quite a tough one to answer. My style is quite line based and definitely very character driven, infact the whole thing kind of revolves around the characters, they discern how a picture evolves more than me sometimes. My work is pretty funny and light hearted, not very serious or too deep, just a bit of fun to excite the eye. I like strange creatures and weird planets from outer space.

What’s in your pencil case and what’s your favorite tool?

My pencil case mostly consists of black fine liner pens. The fine liner is definitely my weapon of choice but I have a few other bits and bobs in there like a couple of bottles of coloured ink, my favourite rotary pencil and some felt tips. I have a box of old, very muddy looking watercolours that I take everywhere and a block of milliput which is this cool clay stuff that you can make tiny detailed things with, its great.

Who is your favorite superhero?

umm... I'm not too sure really, I have to admit that I haven't read a whole lot of super hero comics. I loved watching all the old Batman's with Adam West, there's a great bit in the 60's film where Batman's running around trying to get rid of a bomb but can't because groups of happy nuns and cute ducklings get in the way.

If you could have one super power what would it be?

Something really cool and gross like being able to change into a huge hideous insect that breathes fire and shoots lasers.

Where do you look for inspiration?

I usually just sit in front of a blank piece of paper and see what my mind comes up with. I'm really inspired by stories, especially fairy tales, I love all the studio Ghibli films and old puppet shows, I watched The Dark Crystal for the first time recently and was totally gobsmacked and impressed by it. I love watching nature documentaries and kids cartoons when I'm working, both have so much inspiration for funny new characters. I've been reading lots of kids adventure books too that are packed full of brilliant ideas. I store all this stuff up in my head and hope that it will come out as something exciting and new in my next drawing.

Who are your favorite artists or comic book authors?

Ronald Searle, Merveyn Peake, Edward Gorey, Tove Jansson, Carter Goodrich, Posy Simmons, Jan Svankmire, John Glashan, William Blake and many many more