Anna Wilson Illustrator and designer from Central Victoria, Australia

I have always loved drawing. I drew when I was young and discovered life drawing when I was in my last year of high school. Until I was about 35, I studied and worked in a whole lot of other things completely unrelated to drawing, but throughout this whole time, wherever I lived, I usually found a life drawing session to go to regularly and draw the model. I just loved the time spent sitting and seeing and drawing with other people who liked doing this too. In my mid 30s a few life crises left me questioning what I was doing with my life and I realised I really just wanted to draw. So I started trying to just draw something every day. And eventually became an illustrator.

It depends a bit what projects I have on. When I am immersed deeply in a project and need to get it done, I like to get up around 6am, make tea and work at it for a couple of hours before stopping for breakfast. For me, something about getting my head into whatever is most important to me at the moment before I look at emails or do anything else is really important. I then try to work until 4ish. But I'm flexible with this. If I'm not being productive I try to stop and go outside. And I love to run, so in the winter I often break my day at about 2 or 3 to fit in a run before dark and then come back and work again into the early evening.

I think I get inspired most by feelings and atmosphere. I love to spend time walking and running and drinking coffee in the streets of whatever place I am in and then I often get a glimpse of a mood or a scene that evokes a mood and this is when I feel most inspired. Often I see something that seems to visually describe how I am feeling and they are the moments when I feel like I really must make a drawing.

Favourite is hard to say. But I do love the work of Carson Ellis. She is a stand out. I love her colours and also really feel like she is always herself in her work. I'm not sure how she sees it, but it feels from a distance like her work is never too compromised by project goals as she always finds a way to bring her really strong vision to things. She also describes herself as not being a natural storyteller, yet she has found a way to tell wonderful stories. This is inspiring for me as I would like to tell my own stories but feel like that too. I think I just need to find my particular way in.

I hate silence and almost always listen to something. When I'm working with words or doing conceptual work, I always listen to music. I'm not sure I can conceive of things in silence. When I'm drawing or executing something already thought about I often listen to podcasts. I don't think I could manage an audio book as my brain tunes in and out too much as I get into the flow to keep up with a narrative. Sometimes I just play a podcast again if I feel like I missed half of it because I got lost in my work for a while, and tune into different bits the second time around.

My favourite part of being an illustrator is the time I make to go and draw on the streets. To just sit outside and draw what I see still brings me so much inspiration and joy.

So I think this is my favourite place to work — a great piece of stone or grass or a seat out in the world somewhere.

I just love the cold. I love when the world freezes and transforms into ice and snow and I'd love to illustrate a book about this, although it might be up to me to write it.

I love the problem solving element of illustration. The limits imposed by a brief are (usually) very freeing for me as they help me start without feeling like it is all too big. When the team on a big project like a picturebook clicks, it is also so wonderful to work with other people. To feel like I have the support and energy of others who all want to make a really great product, is really inspiring. I learn a lot from these collaborations and also enjoy the company and team element of things.

I think we all see the world really differently. We all find different points of interest, notice different things, are inspired by different things. Working out how to get this unique vision into images is such a delightful challenge and the illustrators I most admire always seem to work out how to have their unique selves shine through all their work.

I wouldn't say I get "illustrator's block", but I do sometimes feel down about the work I am making. Or, if something doesn't go as well as I want it to I can definitely feel quite bad about it. The main things that help when I start to feel like this are weirdly conflictual — sometimes I need some time off, but actually more often, I need some more time making things for me. Usually if I worry a project isn't working well, the best thing I can do is go and draw outside, or make an illustration for myself rather than anybody else. Whenever I get making again I usually realise how much I love the process. I think the outcome is only a tiny part of being an illustrator. The process and the actual joy of the drawing is the best part and remembering that is reviving.