Advocate Art would like you to meet freelance illustrator Polona Lovsin. Her vivid and imaginative imagery transports the viewer to different lands, a perfect fit for children’s fiction. Read on to learn more about Polona, or see more of her work in her portfolio on the Advocate website.

I was born on the 10th June 1973 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. As a child I spent most of the time in small village on a farm with my grandmother and grandfather. I played with cats, chickens and other farm animals. When I went to school I become more of a city girl. I spend most of my time at my desk drawing. I became a mother in 1999 and now have 2 wonderful daughters.
When I was a child, my father frequently travelled around Europe, so I always asked him to bring me some color pencils or a pencil case. Later he started to bring me paints and I have wanted to be an artist since. I studied at Academy of fine arts in Ljubljana to become a painter. But my first daughter was born soon after finishing studies – so I tried illustration. My drive lies in the need to draw and paint something beautiful. And I’ve been doing it since forever. My main influence is my first daughter – I started to draw for her and then for some children magazines. The first most important thing in my work process is natural light – my working desk is in a living room in front of a huge window, with a view over the roofs and a forest in distance. I don’t like working during the night. If I have to – I’ll do some roughs or character studies. Secondly are emotions – the essence of my animal or children characters. They all have to be soft like you would like to hug them. The third are thinking about decorative elements – this allows me to achieve well considered colour combinations. When I work with books, I always remember that it is a flow of events and expressions, the method I employ to convey this is dynamic movie-like framing and varied spread composition. Every book is new challenge for me. Every new character brings new joy. Since I have done so many with bears – I’ve acquired nick name: Mother Bear. When people ask about my career, I tell them that I will never grow up,… I’m just a little girl doing what makes me happy and fulfills my curiosity. I exhibit all around the world, from Bologna and Bratislava in Europe to Japan, Iran, Argentina, and others. I’m a member of very interesting group of illustrators Blue Book group, that exhibits worldwide. I was also a part of the jury last year.