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Nadja Andersson

Hi there! I’m Nadja Andersson (she/her), a Swedish-speaking Finnish illustrator and visual artist based in Glasgow, Scotland. I am passionate about visual storytelling and traditional media, such as drawing, painting, and collage.

I work mainly by hand and aim to make use of the mistakes and imperfections that make a picture look handmade. This, however, does not mean that I never use digital tools: for every project, I consider it vital to understand my client’s vision and find the best suited media, colour palette and visual tone for our project.

I have a Master's degree in Communication Design and a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art. Besides illustrating, I write articles for a Finnish children’s newspaper, draw comics, write my own stories, paint and experiment with a variety of art media. In addition to my mother tongue Swedish, I speak English and Finnish fluently. I also speak basic Norwegian, French and modern Greek, and am learning Brazilian Portuguese.

I work mainly by hand and have a great understanding of how to successfully combine different materials to compose a picture. My strengths are storytelling and coming up with new ideas, and in many projects I have been allowed to work freely around an assigned theme. I am a fast learner and enjoy doing research for projects.

Fibul rf, HBL Junior/KSF Media, Niilo Mäki Foundation, En Liten Bok, Jenny Stenberg Sirén/ Nordica Helsingensia, Schildts&Söderströms, The Arctic University of Norway, Christina Andersson, Senja Larsen.

"It is a pleasure to recommend Nadja Andersson as an illustrator. Nadja is able to create visually fascinating and unique images. There is always witty humour in her work that makes the viewer smile. Nadja's responsibility, precision, wealth of ideas and humour make her an ideal illustrator."

– Senja Larsen, Project Manager, Senja Opettaa Sinulle Ruotsia

"Nadja Andersson developed unique comics for children and young people with a focus on difficult feelings and questions. In ‘Ugly Duck’, Nadja Andersson managed to deal with difficult questions and emotions in a visually appealing, touching, easy to absorb way that increased the reader’s understanding of people in vulnerable situations. Nadja fearlessly tackled difficult issues we asked her to focus on, such as bullying, loneliness, racism and puberty, and did so in a way that often stirred emotions in readers. ‘Ugly Duck’ was among the content in our newspaper that led to the most response from readers. Nadja always delivered on time, and was in every way an appreciated, flexible and pleasant partner."

- Maria Saaristo, former editor-in-chief, HBL Junior