ARTIST PORTFOLIO DJAMILA KNOPF
Djamila Knopf’s website has a page of FAQs. One of the questions the German illustrator gets frequently asked is this: can you give me career advice?
“If you’re an artist wanting to become a professional,” she writes in response, “I can give you the following three pieces of advice: 1) Work on your craft 2) Don’t try to force yourself into a style that isn’t natural to you and 3) Share your work on social media.”
Good advice. It’s solid, precise and applicable to pretty much any line of work – artistic or otherwise. But these three seemingly simple points come from years of trial and error. It’s hard-won advice.
Not that long ago, it looked like Djamila was going to quit working on her own craft. Then, when she did commit to art, she tried to force herself into a style that wasn’t natural. Her work became a big success on social media, but only after practising it in secret because
