As long as I can remember,
nature and animals have been my greatest inspiration and passion.
I always liked being creative:
drawing, painting, creating tack for model horses and so on.

The first experience with air dry clay was transforming a simple toy horse into a model horse.
During a study as a spatial designer, I discovered clay again and from this time I realized I wanted more!
Shaping forms, capturing souls, bringing the ideas in my mind to life.

My path is built on curiosity, practice and self-taught craftmanship.

I am now focusing on pet portrait commissions, sculptures and next to that, various personal projects.
My dream is to work from my own atelier one day,
one where I can keep growing as an artist and bring even greater ideas to life.

- Stephanie Hilberink

From scratch into almost alive

What drives me in creating realistic animal sculptures is the joy of shaping what lives in my mind, into something you can hold. Something that almost breathes back at you and reflects the love for the natural world.
Seeing it develop from scratch into a piece that looks almost alive, is what interests me.

Sometimes an animal is a symbol for something special in somebody's life, and the sculpture will almost be like a living reminder of that symbol. 
For some people the sculptures create an eyecatching and unique feature for their home. 

Shape, anatomy and detail

Mostly, I start with an armature made out of wire, mesh, foam etc.
Then, I will cover this layer by layer with clay or other materials. I do not use molds and create everything by hand, from scratch.

I work dozens of hours on a sculpture, while losing myself in creating the right anatomy and the tiniest details to achieve realism.
Not only sculpting, but also hours of observing and understanding the animals.

Painting

This is the part where the sculpture really comes to life.

Mixing colors is interesting and important;
there is a lot more to see in one color than we first think. Black is never just black, same for white and all the other colors. Using the right colors is key to achieve lifelike results.

I paint everything by hand and sometimes use an airbrush.

Materials

I work with a mix of materials.
Various brands of air dry clay, polymer clay, acrylics, pigments etc.

I do not limit myself to one medium or technique because to me,
every material holds potential and I want to explore the limits of it.