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Stepping away from the news and business this evening, I poked around on YouTube for a nice Christmas video to share with you. For some reason I started wondering if Sitka, Alaska, where I’d spent 2-3 of my childhood years still celebrates Christmas. I remember a Christmas there that lit up the dark Alaskan winter. [...]

We first interviewed children’s illustrator Karien Naude of South Africa back in May 2009. Back then she was basically just starting, completely self-taught as an artist, working as a paralegal at a law firm in downtown Johannesburg.

Art by Karien Naude

She was among the first batch of students to sign up for the Make Your Splashes Make Your Marks online course on illustrating children’s books.  Somehow we were friends from the start —  because Karien is, well, that sort of a person.  Even my mother wants to adopt her.  (Unofficially she has, with Karien’s bemused consent — though I should say Karien has loving parents and family in South Africa.) She’s very much a citizen of the world, with a network of artist friends that extends to the Austin, Texas SCBWI illustrators’ community, to New York,  the UK and New Zealand to mention just a few places.

Karien's telling of a Sherlock Holmes tale

A lot has happened since 2009. She’s gone full time as a free-lancer, for one thing. Along the way she’s learned, taught herself, tons about the craft and business of illustration.  So it really is time for another visit.

She agreed two years ago to serve as a bit of a guinea pig for the ongoing experiment of my online course and so she’s actually been ready for us to check in with her.

She’s a huge Tolkien and Terry Pratchett fan.  She’s been on safaris. She loves to cook and loves music so much so that you’ll rarely catch her drawing or painting without her earphones on