I see her stuff all over Pinterest, she is one of my favorite children’s artists. Her work is dreamy and whimsical but also a little mysterious and magical. Meet Sweden based illustrator and designer Maja Lindberg. She says her work is inspired by fairy tales, dreams and childhood memories so I wanted to hear how she came up with these amazing drawings.
Fishing for Stars : Sometimes you feel lonely, even when you are surrounded by friends and family. But tomorrow is a new day…
Night Meeting : Face your worst nightmare, and hopefully you’ll learn that it wasn’t that bad.
Up In The Air
The Balloon : In many of my illustrations the children are up in the sky and flying. The best dreams that I’ve ever had is when you realize that you are able to fly. It’s so easy and you wonder why you never done it before. I still remember one special dream that I had when I was a kid, I just moved my legs and started to raise up in the sky and I flew over the landscape, looking down on the hills, fields and the ocean.
Field of Dreams : This illustration makes me think of one of the most beautiful places in the world. My family has a summer place in the southeast of Sweden, and it’s surrounded by moorland, forest and the ocean. A lot of the atmosphere in my illustrations are inspired from this place.
The Frog Prince
Thumbelina : These two illustrations are inspired from fairytales by HC Andersen. I love fairy tales, I always have and I believe I always will. Stories can make us understand each other and the world that we live in.
Calm Water : The ice is melting on our planet, everything is calm now, but if we don’t go together and do anything about it, we don’t really know what will happen, do we?
The Delivery : Last january I started to write a little children’s book from this picture. It’s the same boy as in the illustration ”On the sea”. Normally I draw pictures inspired by old fairytales, but here I’ve twisted it, and decided to get inspired by my own illustrations instead. Unfortunately I’m not a writer, so I don’t know if I will ever finish it.
The Babysitter : Who hasn’t been surrounded by kids and felt like this?
The Babysitter : Who hasn’t been surrounded by kids and felt like this?
Maja, tell us about yourself : I live in the south of Sweden together with my husband and two children. I started my career as a ceramic artist, but after a couple of years I decided to change tracks and began to work as a web assistant. But in 2005 we moved to Beijing, since my husband got offered a job there. We enjoyed China a lot but after three years, we missed family, friends and the fresh air, so we moved back. I didn’t know what to do and it was hard for me to find a job, since I hadn’t been employed for several years. So I started to draw and after a while I decided to try selling my work at Etsy. Now it’s almost four years since I started my business and it looks like I’ve finally founded what I’d like to do for the rest of my life.
These aren’t just drawings right, you use the computer as well? : I always begin with paper and pencil. When satisfied with the drawing, I scan it and continue the work in Photoshop, where colours, shades, background and texture are set.
: Don’t you just love them? Which one is your favorite? -Stephanie :
All drawings and designs by Maja Lindberg
