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Kathrin Federer
@kathrinfederer.ch
Digital Artist based in Switzerland
Introducing Kathrin Federer
A flourishing imagination and an entrepreneurial spirit brought Kathrin on a path to discovering several art forms and trying different professional pursuits to, eventually, forge her own creative career. Having studied Visual Communication, Multimedia Design, and Marketing, in combination with her passion for visual creation, she found all the tools needed to succeed.
Her rich imagination, which can be provoked by anything in her surrounding, is what drives her creations. A photo (of a landscape) can be a starting point but is not necessarily the foundation of Kathrin’s work. “Many of my objects used are 3D renders, Photoshop brushes, self-drawn assets (I have an iPad and a Graphic Tablet), and vectors (Adobe Illustrator).” In question 6 of the interview, she shares her favorite resources and tools to create her final artworks.
When it comes to building a business and a sustainable living as an artist, she mentions: “First, create a base that allows you to live well. If you don’t make it as an artist, you can always go back to this base. Also, the smaller your expectations are, the less likely you are to be disappointed. If you are excellent at what you do, people (and offers) will come to you without asking for it.”
Currently, Kathrin does freelance jobs in Graphic Design, gives photoshop classes, is involved in Art licensing, sells NFTs, Art prints, and presets, and offers coaching sessions. “Never did I have any expectations. What fulfills me is to visualize my images in my head. The fact that my work is now so well appreciated and that suddenly so many people are interested in me and my art is just a gift for me.”
In the interview, Kathrin shares a list of artworks that she is proud of as well as the reasons behind them. We also learn what she is looking for when creating an image, such as lines, order, minimalism, and color combinations. She likes to give unusual or unloved things a stage. Several of these images are available as NFTs (head to Q8 of the interviews to read a few tips on starting with NFT!).
Kathrin’s creativity and approach to image creation are very inspiring and perhaps new to many of the community. Learn with Kathrin by reading the full interview!
Interview
Welcome Kathrin! “Fantasy tends to upset those without one” This is a quote written on your website. What role has your fantasy and imagination played in your passion for Art and the road you started walking when you “had to” make a career choice?
Already in my childhood, I was very creative and had a flourishing imagination. At that time, however, that showed itself more in handicrafts. Later in my 20s, I wanted to start my own company. I was inventive and tried out various things. I was especially thrilled by all the marketing. On the one hand the psychology behind it, but also the visual communication. As I got older, I realized that I was more concerned with starting up than with the company and what it was doing itself (entrepreneurial spirit). My life has always been about “working something out, inventing, creating, building”. In my mid-20s, I began to explore abstract painting. Could even exhibit at an art exhibition in Zurich. But somehow I realized that it did not fulfill me. That’s when I understood that the visual expression, bringing my ideas to life, was what I was addicted to. This realization was groundbreaking. So it was only later, at 35, that I started studying visual communications and multimedia design. I remember very well when I opened Photoshop for the first time in a class and thought, I’ll never understand this. But after just a few hours, I knew that this was exactly what I was missing and what I was looking for. Suddenly I got the opportunity to bring my ideas and fantasies to life and share them with the world around me.
"I quit my well-paid executive job in an international company and embarked on a new path. I have never regretted it. Today, this company is even one of my clients."
On your website is also written: ”Most of my creations do not involve any classic photos. I work with 3D objects and vectors or other self-created digital assets.” Before any other questions, can you explain what your approach is to visual creation and how you work?
My workflow mostly plays out like this:
I see an object that touches me in some way. Be it a sheep in a meadow, a great house, a general idea of a composition, or a color palette. From this, an image arises in my imagination, which I then try to reproduce with various assets.
An example: I was driving on a country road and saw two sheep grazing in a meadow. With that, I already had an idea in mind. That’s how “Unimpressed Sheep” and “Absentminded Sheep” came into being. I find sheep particularly interesting because they are often unnoticed and not described as particularly beautiful.
Meadows and fields are often seen in my compositions. They are very inspiring to me. Like a stage. When photos are involved in my works, it’s often a meadow. I take the photo once, without any claim to perfection. For my composition, I change it so (eg. color, appearance) that it fits my idea in my mind. The original is no longer recognizable.
Many of my objects used are 3D renders, Photoshop brushes, self-drawn assets (I have an iPad and a Graphic Tablet), and vectors (Adobe Illustrator). For example, I draw whiskers myself (here is an example).
Can you tell us something about the journey you’ve made to reach the point where you are now as a professional artist? What have been some major challenges and what have been some highlights that boosted growing your brand?
After I graduated in Visual Communication, Multimedia Design, and Marketing as I mentioned before, I worked as a trainer for design students. It was a great time, but extremely exhausting. Since design and art is my passion, I was very invested, the students loved me, but I was completely exhausted. After a few years, I quit that job.
At that point, I was at the very beginning of my own creative “career.” However, my education helped me to market myself. Since I also learned Graphic Design, I was now able to create my own brand, design my website, stationery, etc.
Already in the first year of my creative career, I received Art Licensing offers and in the meantime every week a couple of offers. I also do freelance jobs in graphic design and give Photoshop classes. I need variety in my day, it keeps my imagination running.
"Since my passion is creation, I am almost every free minute busy with it – I am actually constantly in training and learning. I always try to solve problems myself first. I see it as a challenge."
Never did I have any expectations. What fulfills me is to visualize my images in my head. The fact that my work is now so well appreciated and that suddenly so many people are interested in me and my art is just a gift for me. At the same time, I also realize that the more successful I become, the less time I actually have for creation.
What do you want to express with your art?
Interestingly, many of my artworks have a melancholic touch. This is not intentional and does not correspond to my consciousness. Personally, I am far from being melancholic. I guess it has something to do with the subconscious or with the search for peace. Because that is also reflected in my minimalist works. I love order and lines. Aesthetics and clean work are important to me, and certain color combinations attract me magically. On the other hand, I have a large portion of humor, I also like satire, for example. That sometimes flows into my work, though some of them are unpublished because they don’t fit into my portfolio at all.
I like to create something that is unusual. What touches you, makes you think, or makes you smile. Often my compositions remind viewers of circumstances, at least that’s what I’m told. I also like to give unusual and unloved things a stage. Yes, I like abstracts very much. I also have some abstract creations, but just also unpublished.
Could you show visual creations that you are specifically proud of and/or that represent you as an artist? What made you choose each of these?
Playing Hide and Seek (Colors and light makes this second a moment perfect)
Unimpressed Sheep (A stage for my lovely sheep, extraordinarily)
Nestled in a Blossom (Colors, placing of objects, symmetry, and my love for the moon)
White Birds (The tones, object placing, and light – a kind of magic)
Lady with the red Umbrella (White, Black, Red, unusual object placement)
Hotel Moody (Symmetry, the order I love)
Winter Creek (Leading lines!)
Rainbow Cloud (Lines and clouds attract me constantly)
Cheeky Small-clawed Otter (I love the color palette)
Lonesome (A minimalistic composition that works with so little)
Standing still / The Chalet / The Cottage / Mini Island / Three Trees (My love of minimalism)
What are your favorite resources and tools to use that allows you to create a final artwork?
I mostly use Photoshop. Some Vectors I use, I create in Illustrator. I use Plug-ins like: The Pro Panel, Pixelsquid, remove.bg, Nick Collection, Luminar AI, Luminar Neo. I often use Camera Raw. In special cases, I do some additional editing in Lightroom (mostly only for a Social Media Post). I often use all kinds of Photoshop brushes and gradients. It is very easy to create my own brushes.
What have you learned is important for the business aspect of being an artist and trying to make it a sustainable career/way of living?
The foundation to being successful as an artist is passion. In addition, there is hard work, flexibility and perseverance. If you are passionate about your work, you will never work a day in your life. First, create a base that allows you to live well. If you don’t make it as an artist, you can always go back to this base. The smaller your expectations are, the less likely you are to be disappointed. If you are excellent at what you do, people (and offers) will come to you without asking for it.
You are very into NFT and have quite some artworks available. Could you mention 4 tips that are essential when starting with NFT?
Join the Twitter NFT community. Have no expectations. Start slowly. Think long-term. Stay grounded after you make sales. Don’t neglect the other/previous businesses. Watch out for the fake project offers and scamming (it’s the biggest disadvantage of NFTs!)
Quality prints are also important to you. What do you give extra attention to so the print has the highest quality possible?
It’s important to me that my customers are impressed by the prints they order. I want to be sure that my work looks as I would like them to when they are printed.
For this, I have inquired extensively in advance. I looked at product samples, sought advice, and ordered test prints.
You have presets and courses. Can you explain how photographers could use your presets? Also, can you reveal a few things that you teach in your courses to our readers?
The presets play a very minor role for me. I wanted to offer something free on my website, so I decided on a preset and a free .psd file. But this .psd file is also related to one of my YouTube tutorials.
I offer 2 different types of coaching.
1) A Photoshop basic course of 12 lessons: I teach the main tools, applications, filters, and corrections in Photoshop. Exact details can be requested from me.
2) A 2 or 3-hour lesson: either at the disposal of the customer, what they would like to learn or specific workflows or I show in 2 hours a typical workflow for one of my artworks.
The sessions (via Zoom or Google Meet) are recorded on request and are available to the client afterward.
I would also love to do more tutorials for my YouTube Channel, but I simply don’t have the time.
Where do you see yourself 5-10 years from now? What are some goals you are looking forward to achieving in the next few years?
At the moment, I have short- to medium-term goals and very few long-term ones.
In the medium term I will publish a book and, if everything goes as I would like, sell my NFTs directly on my website (so not on a platform as I do now). I also have various plans in the area of my own continuing education. How quickly they can be implemented, is not yet known.
In the long run, I would like to have an agent or support to take some of the administrative work off my hands, so I can focus more on creation. Additionally, a representation by an art gallery. At the moment, I often have to turn down many offers due to time constraints. That is very sad. With some extra help for admin, I could accept offers for exhibitions and also visit them. In terms of training, I also hope to be able to do more again one day. It is always very fulfilling to teach other people something.
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