Tropia

Q: How did you get started?

I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pencil in my hand. As a child, I went everywhere with markers and notebooks in my backpack—and that hasn't changed today! I loved filling in mandalas and trying different colour combinations.

I studied graphic design and photography, but am self-taught in illustration. Then, at a very young age, I started working in advertising agencies as a junior art director and designer. After many years of commercial agency work, I had enough money saved to have the creative explosion that I was longing for, and I started creating my own artwork on a freelance basis. 

Q: One thing you have in common with Tajmi is a love of travel and exploring different destinations. How do your travels influence your work?

I was born in Germany and I live in the Canary Islands. To me, the Canary Islands represent the visual idyllic image I have in my mind of paradise: Remote islands, surrounded by the ocean and full of palm trees—the tree of the soul that inspires me the most, because it resists all storms while still remaining beautiful. 

I’ve travelled a lot since childhood, and since then I’ve been working and living in places like El Delta del Ebro in Catalonia, Barcelona, Berlin, Bali and California. My destinations inspire me and my trips are usually long. I like to stay in one place long enough to experience it and its culture. Most of the time, I relate the place to an artistic or creative project. 

Q: What’s your creative process like?

I love blank notebooks, which is where I collect my sketches. That’s where I usually start. First, I have an idea that I divide into several elements, that I then draw in my sketchbook without colour. 

Once I have a clean sketch, I give it the colour digitally; I like that mixture of manual stroke and digital colour where I can try and make changes without fear of making a mistake. For me, the study of colour is very important, which is why I prefer to have the digital freedom to do various tests on the black and white sketch. 

Q: We’ve noticed that you also like to work en plein air or to set up your studio in unusual locations, like ancient wells?

Yes. I am very inspired by fashion and feminine spirituality, but nature and historical or rural locations also inspire me so much. I like to sit and work in places that inspire me. They are usually very special places—mostly in Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, both in the Canary Islands— where I can see a clear inspiration and start to flow with it. For decor, I try using only elements from the same environment to set up a kind of ephemeral art studio.

Q: Why is the female form so central to your work? 

I believe that we live in times where many ancient religions of the past that helped human beings to understand themselves and one another, have been lost. The feminine form was the central point of almost all the spiritualities of the past, before Christianity or monotheism took control. 

The female being carries within itself a lot of mystery, magical energy powers and strength, which today are often labelled as bad witchcraft or are simply despised. The mother is the creator of the universe and of the human being, she brings life to the world. 

I want to recover this wisdom in our current times and give life again to all these goddesses who have fallen into oblivion in a modern way. I am also inspired by nature, fashion, nostalgia aesthetic in general, astrology, botany, wildlife and esotericism. 

Q: When people buy one of your prints from Tajmi, what do you hope that they’ll gain from them?

I want to transmit passion and feelings with my illustrations; to feel the strength and energy that is in them and to help you when you see them, independently of the moment of life you are in presently. 

I want to represent the beauty and magic of the world that is our nature, and give life to the goddesses that are embodied in all women today. We are all goddesses and warriors in some way.