Vita

Nadja Burri Schneeberger

& Fotorealismus

Career

My name is Nadja Burri-Schneeberger, I was born on 31st October 1966 in Ebikon LU. I lived, conditionally, in Paris, Düsseldorf and various other places of work in Switzerland during my childhood due to my father's occupation.

Early, for me, it was clear that I wanted a creative career. Unfortunately I couldn't qualify for the Vorkurs of the Luzern Art Academy, so I decided to complete an apprenticeship as typographer with the ultimate goal of working in design and illustration. From 1989 to 2005, I worked as both a typographer and layouter artist in Zurich. In subsequent years, I served as an artdirector and production manager at various publishing houses.

In 2005 the love brought me from Zug to Lupsingen and started to work in the business of my partner. During this time, I focused on creative work and began experimenting with artistic techniques, often drawing inspiration from the visual aspects of images beyond their literal meaning. This led me to concentrate more on drawing, which has always been my strongest area. I continue to use color pencils and color pens in all my work. For other projects, I sometimes draw without colors, relying on my artistic imagination.

Photorealism

Photorealism refers not just to capturing photos with colored pencils but also envisioning life in a creative way. When I work on an image, I don’t just copy the colors and forms from a photo; I create visual impact that doesn’t exist there.

I love searching my motifs on my own and capture them with my camera. Later I edit them on a computer. I am often searching for a suitable subject for days. Once I have found something that I want to draw I have a longer photosession to find the best light and angle. It can take quite some time until I am happy with my motif before I start drawing.

I then transfer the digital template with a fine pencil on the choosen paper. That is when the drawing with coloured pencils begins. Depending on the project I use different coloured pencils like for example oil or wax based. Depending on the case, I need erasers, ceramic knives or fineliners for light accents. In this way, the finished picture is usually created in about 25-40 hours, depending on the subject and details such as an animal fur.

I just love drawing. The moment when I notice while drawing how slowly the better-than-the-motif photo effect is created is simply priceless!