Hi! My name is Tegan Coutts. I am an illustrator and graphic designer living Nuremberg, Germany. I love drawing and painting and tinkering around and I am the designated repairwoman of the house.
I have always been an observer. Little did I know that my observations would also be a great source of material to add to my journals and sketchbooks. My most important criteria is that my sketches/images/doodles/story ideas make me laugh, make me smile, and elicit an emotional response.
I enjoy drawing images for children and take a lot of inspiration from my childhood and my children's experiences. I also enjoy drawing animals getting themselves into silly situations, but also just being what they are. For example: A cat might be a pirate cat, but a cat is still a cat and prone to being sleepy at some point. I don't think it's important to be able to draw "true to life". I think it is important to understand WHAT one is drawing and understanding WHO is the audience. Some of my most interesting images come from a sketch that took a few minutes to draw on paper. I believe that if you catch an essence of what is to be portrayed, then an image remains engaging and lively.
I graduated in 2019 with a BA in Graphic Design from Diploma Hochschule of Applied Sciences Bad Sooden-Allendorf and spending a lot of time at Akademie Faber-Castell in Stein bei Nürnberg. I'm not ruling out this being the last time I attend university, but I can say this wasn't the first time either. I also have a BA in Social Sciences from Kent State University and a M.Sc in Medical Anthropology from the University College of London. If my path makes you curious, you aren't the only one! And if you want to hear more I will sit down with you over a cup of coffee and tell you the tale.