A picture is worth a thousand words

-Anonymous

I’m not exactly sure who said it first, but the old adage is certainly true. Without the talents of amazing artists, like Annika Brandow, our world would be a flat and colorless place.

Annika is a freelance artist from South Africa who is currently based in Berlin, Germany. She is the artist behind the StoneRow images and we feel her art brings a fun, whimsical style to the game. Chris and I found her work first through the Playing Arts website (https://playingarts.com/en ) and I recently had a chance to ask Annika some questions about her artistic process…

Why do you make art?

I’ve enjoyed observing and drawing things since I was very little – I can’t imagine doing anything else. 

Describe a real-life situation that inspired you?

I like to bring inspiration from day-to-day life into all my work, but one that stands out is: When I was stuck on a broken down, packed train in South Africa, with a set of young identical twins in the other carriage. When the train started moving again, we both shared a moment of surprise when a teenager came from nowhere, possibly the roof. Standing in the gap between our two carriages, he took a deep drag from his cigarette, threw it down and proceeded to jump off the moving train. I managed to get a snapshot and later made an illustration of the two brothers.

What other artist(s) do you follow or draw inspiration from?

There are so many! Matt Groening has been an inspiration to me since I was very young, but I also love work by Lisk Feng, Daniel Shaffer, Christian Robles and Kirsten Rothbart – to name only a couple. 

Is there a piece of your artwork you are most proud of, and why?

I can’t really think of one that sticks out, but I like the ones with loads of details in them.

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

I once had Warren G like one of my posts on Instagram, that was pretty cool!

Which StoneRow character is your favorite and why?

It’s tough to say, but perhaps the Architect of the Blood Moon guild . He seems friendly and his desk is (almost) as messy as mine. 

What are you currently working on, what things do you want to share with viewers?

Besides commissioned, corporate work, I’m always trying to express myself through comics, animations or even murals – I just want to share a visual type of “happiness” with viewers.

Where can we see your art?

Besides my website and Bēhance, I am very active on Instagram (@annikabrandow).

What superpower would you have and why?

Invisibility. I like the idea of going unnoticed – you could get away with so much!

Thank you so much to Annika Brandow for sitting down with us and answering a few questions. We’re happy to have worked with her and we look forward to doing even more projects together in the future.

I will be back on Friday with another #FindFloFriday but until then, please check out Annika’s social media outlets for more on her fabulous style…

https://www.annikabrandow.com/

https://www.instagram.com/annikabrandow/