Meet Anna Overmoyer | Traditional fantasy illustrator & sculptor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anna Overmoyer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anna, what do you attribute your success to?
I believe that what makes my art successful and distinctive is my style. A common misconception about artistic style, is that it’s something that you choose and learn and not something that is already in every single person the second they start observing. Discovering your own style is just letting yourself unabashedly be who your are and love what you love. If you see something that gives you a little thrill, that’s now a tiny part of your style. My style is a culmination of every artist, plant, book, movie that I’ve ever fawned over. None of them belong to me, but my passion for them is what guides my decisions and my art, and fuels my need to build different skills. The hard part is silencing the inner teenager that says “You are so embarrassing!!” because it’s the vulnerable things that people can relate to.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
To be a professional artist is a huge honor, and I am very lucky to be able to do what I love everyday. There are, of course, daily challenges that sometimes make it very hard to make it to the next win.

Sometimes it seems the the only thing keeping me going is spite. For example, with the rise of “A.I. art” generators poisoning creativity, mass production using up natural resources, and general consumerism polluting everything… it is easy to drown in the great cosmic dread of it all. When this happens the thing that returns me to joy is finding a way to resist. When it seems like everyone is saying “work smarter not harder. Embrace technology.” I furiously work even harder than before; finding new ways to use recycled and environmentally-friendly materials. The vast majority of my work is a celebration of nature and magic. I cannot bow to the pressure to make things more efficiently manufactured because that wouldn’t be authentic to my subject matter or myself. Instead of pumping out as much work as possible I add more steps, like cleaning up old frames instead of buying new, or whittling hands out of wood instead of making a plastic mold.

I will certainly never be rich making these things my priorities, but I get to feel really good about the work I’m putting out there. Showing up to an event or showcase with work that I’ve poured my whole self into, makes every sale or connection all the more valuable to me. Meeting people who get excited about my version of fantasy and environmentalism gives me so much hope. In a small way it feels like I’m winning.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
From the get-go, I’ve been surrounded by people who have fostered my creative journey. Art teachers from birth (my mom and dad), high school (Amy Wylot)/ university (Professors Bill Finewood, Bill Heischman, Eileen Bushnell)/ internship (Michael Possert, Ben Adams) are who gave me the confidence and knowledge to survive in this industry where it seems impossible to be taken seriously.
Of course the journey doesn’t start and end with traditional education, but the safe bubble that teachers create is where we learn to express ourselves. The fear of ridicule, or of not being able to pay rent if the art isn’t good or fast enough is invaluable to healthy development. None of these mentors could have known whether or not I’d make art my career, but they treated me as if I had that option… or at least that it was worth doing anyway. So by the time I was vulnerable to comments like “you aren’t a real artist” or “art isn’t a job” I had the confidence to keep going anyway.

Website: https://www.annaspaperspirits.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annaspaperspirits/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annaspaperspirits

Image Credits
Tomas Flint Photography (personal photo)