The curious life of an illustrator in NYC

T-shirt news:

Awesome awesome things are happening in the world of shirts for me. Four different contest sites have agreed to print four different design in the upcoming weeks. I think I mentioned some of two posts ago, but one has become available today at "A Better Tomorrow" where I won the design contest.

At the end of this month, two more designs should be available - around the end of september, both teefury and shirt woot will print me.

(Little Red Fighting Hood at teefury around the end of september)


(Unexpected news at shirt woot around the end of september)
Life, school, etc.
I never really told you what the heck I am up to all the time. Let me give you a little summary of how my usual week looks like. First of all, school started; I have a class on Tuesday evening (Illustration speczialisation, we will have a couple of different teachers in this class), Art documentation (drawing outside, yay!) on Thursday mornings and Digital illustration on Saturday from 12-5pm.

(Foto above by my classmate Elena)
Besides that, I have to work on my thesis (still about monsters in illustrations) and my capstone project. It slowly looks like my capstone will be a mix of a graphic novel and an illustrated storybook. More about that once I know more.

(Above: One of my first "test" illustrations for my capstone)

Kontraproduktion
I am also now the proud member of KONTRAPRODUKTION, the new company founded by Max Werschitz and Nick Gruber. Please check out the websites, it’s really pretty – and I am featured as the lead illustrator. The job for the Austrian weekly newspaper G7 goes on and I have to say it’s one of the most interesting jobs I had in a while; very exciting, challenging and mind-stirring. It’s a challenge to get a different writing style every week and to have to create a visual interpretation. I admit, sometimes I am not satisfied with the result, but I try to learn from that.



(Above: three different illustrations for Austrian weekly newspaper G7)

NY can be overwhelming with possibilities. Last year, I didn’t really manage to take advantage of the opportunities it offers. This year, I try to see more exhibitions, more openings and try to speak to more people. I can only try to do my best. It’s not easy being a “people-person”. One of my new favorite blogs is “Escape from Illustration Island”, a blog that regularly writes articles on the topic.

As for my private life, I manage more and more to shape my life almost if I had a regular job I was going to every day. I try to work on my stress problems (yes, I admit it. I am a good candidate for burn-out) by just relaxing more about everything. I manage to go to the gym a couple of times a week and I manage to spend the weekend with nice people. The darn honking of cars doesn't freak me out as much anymore. And I truly love NY now that the summer is over.