Dear followers and friends,
To be honest, when I created this blog three years ago I was not very sure how to handle it. I was not sure what to share, how often I would share etc. With all those social media platforms, facebook, instagram, deviantart – who would be even interested in reading a text here?
But I decided to use this space wisely, now: I want to write reviews every quarter of the year. This is for all those who are interested in having an overview of what is happening with my art. And it is for myself since I believe that regularly looking back and acknowledging what has happened will help me to move forward more strategically, more passionately.
Since my last blog post have been uploaded such a long time ago, this first review will be on the year 2017. The next one will be about the first quarter of 2018, the second post about the second quarter etc.
So, 2017 has been a very exciting and rewarding year. I have made huge changes privately and professionally and I have not regretted any of them so far.
Falling in love twice & handling two jobs
After getting married to the best partner I could have ever imagined, I moved to Dublin in May, a beautiful city full of lovely people. I love it – I even get along with the weather quite well.
Moving to Dublin made a slight change to my career. I was working for a leadership academy in Berlin since 2015 and I had just started a new exciting project: Managing a Summer School for international leaders. This, I did in a part time position, while handling private changes as well as my other part time job: Being an artist. I still managed to work on some commissions as well as organize a few workshops and exhibitions.
Home office & the craziest two weeks
I continued managing the Summer School when I moved to Dublin. Working fully from home was a new experience for me – and to be honest I fell in love with it. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked my team and I like social contact, but I realized having a room fully for my own & complete silence gives me the best boost ever. 100% focus. I was so much more efficient. In July, the Summer School finally took place – I went to Berlin, had the craziest two weeks of the year with my best friend’s hen party, her wedding, my husbands 30th birthday, my sister’s baby shower, the formal handover of my Berlin apartment and finally of course the Summer School, a huge intense 5 days event. It all went well, very well in fact. I returned to Dublin, exhausted and satisfied. I was happy about everything accomplished, grateful for the people I have met and things I have learned and I was excited about what was coming: Because I had decided to leave my office job and become a full-time artist!
Passion, projects and dreams
Two weeks after the Summer School I handed over all my responsibilities and I could not believe it: I am officially a full-time illustrator and comic artist! I will have time to create as much art as possible and not only “work off” emails with commission and exhibition requests but strategically plan my projects! Over the past few years I have gathered so many ideas, I could not wait to realize them!
So instead of falling into a dark hole of boredom, walking around the house in pyjamas all day and sleeping for hours (okay, the last I did… I had to catch up!), I jumped right into working on my next freelance projects. I had events in Würzburg, Hanau, Munich, Bremen, Berlin, Mainz, Vienna and Obermarchtal, a few interviews with magazines and newspapers and projects with various institutions.
Besides that I have joined “Inktober” for the first time in my life and I started an exciting project (mainly on instagram): I ask followers to send me funny, sad or touching stories and I turn them into short comics. In less than two months seven inspiring comic strips were born. Besides it being an excellent exercise for me (working traditionally and with watercolor) I mostly aim to co-create stories that strengthen our empathy and understanding and eventually bring us all closer to each other. I am deeply humbled and grateful by the amount of stories people have shared so far. You can find those comic strips in my portfolio here as well.
And last but not least, I have started working on two projects that I have always dreamed of! One of them you can already find here on my page – it just needs a legal approval. The other, I will keep a secret for a while. I have shared this hint on instagram just yesterday (see pic on the right side) and will reveal more step by step 🙂
I want to take this opportunity to thank my husband, my family, my friends and followers for always supporting me and believing in me. I would have never thought that I will be where I am now. And above all: Alhamdulillah, thank God for everything.
Can’t wait to share more news with you in three months. See you soon!
by 