Hi everyone and happy holidays! :)
I’m an artist living in Berlin and had this idea to create a small series of Berlin prints, but not the usual skyline stuff. I’m trying to capture quiet, everyday moments that really feel like the city.
The image I attached is my first print, and I’m planning to offer it in different formats, up to A3. I’d love to hear your thoughts:
- Does it feel like Berlin to you?/ Do you think a series like this could work?
- Any tips on the best way for a small local artist to share something like this - both online (beyond Etsy) and in physical shops around Berlin?
Would be happy to receive your feedback! ✨
Thanks a lot in advance! ☺️
I mean as long as you have Berliner sights in the background it will obviously look like Berlin. But if you ask for my opinion, Berlin feeling would be more transmitted via Berlin specific things like drawing a späti with people sitting outside and having a beer or people eating kebab. I mean of course eating kebab isn’t exclusive to Berlin, but Berlin is the capital of kebab. People standing in long queue for a wohnungsbesichtigung or people waiting in line for a techno club and so on. That’s what feels like Berlin to me
Thanks a lot for your input and further ideas! I actually do have a Späti-themed card on the list 😁
A queue for the Wohnungsbesichtigung would definitely be very Berlin but also quite depressing 😅🙈
But Berlin is sometimes depressing. You wanna show only the good sides or the Berlin feeling? I mean, it’s your art and your work. I just gave you my opinion. In the end it’s up to you what you want to print and what not. Also I’m sure there would be plenty of people who thinks that it’s funny
I agree. A purely aspirational approach to postcards isn’t exactly aligned with the flavour and deep culture of Berlin. Berlin is super special and appealing (to me at least) for its lack of glossing and sanitizing all aspects of “real life”. It’s many, many things and I’d hazard to say that creating images that speak to its decay, resilience + rebuilding, messiness, sophistication, and diversity will set your images apart in a glut of images out there.
Initially, I indeed was planning to show only nice sides of Berlin, but you guys are making a very good point - it's won't then be a true Berlin, would it? I'll experiment with the motifs and the ways i could represent it!
Excited to see what you create. 😁
I think they're meant to be inspiring, not to make you hate the city.
capital
"Beyond obvious" sounds like "extremely obvious". I don't know if that's the intended meaning. However, drawing the Fernsehturm on a Berlin-themed print really is very obvious. Also: not enough backpacks.
Ahah, good point with the backpacks :D
I also totally see your argument with an extremely obvious Fernsehturm - i was wondering if that would be pointed out. "Beyond obvious" is the intended name for the whole series, where i would like to show more of Berlin than just a skyline or major sites - what we are used to seeing a lot, but won't eliminate it completely. I think it probably would make more sense once further designs are created/ or in a set.
Please check the name with a native speaker of English. I think your current name means the exact opposite of what you want it to mean.
It's a funny one. Beyond obvious to me as a native English speaker certainly sounds like they are saying "extremely obvious". Like it's so obvious it's BEYOND obvious. While adding the makes it more in line with their intended meaning. "Beyond the obvious".
Okay, I didn't realise that initially - thanks for pointing it out! I wonder now if I should even keep the line or reduce it just to "Berlin" and leave to the viewer to decide the res.
i think there is also something to be said for picking a different name for the series. to me, "beyond obvious" (or "not at all obvious" or any variant) is not itself inherently inspiring. it feels a little bit like an absence of an idea -- regardless of whether "beyond" is doing the work you want it to. i don't mean to insult, just telling you my gut reaction. nice drawing, btw.
i appreciate you sharing - thanks!
I´m an illustrator myself and was living in Berlin for 7 years. The illustration is beautiful and it 100% looks like Berlin to me :)
hey, thanks a lot - really glad to hear it from the fellow illustrator! :)
As a Berlin person, I like it! Berlin has many faces and nuances, this is one of them. Do more! Make a series.
Many thanks for your kind words and encouragement!! Will definitely try making a series 🧑🎨
Looks good. I would put that on my fridge with a magnet.
Is that the new "I'd buy that for a dollar"?
if the motifs pick up, it actually could be a nice idea to look into further things like merch!
Love it! Really cool Design and artstyle!
Thanks a lot! 🥰
I like the illustration. When it comes to buying things like this, I'm much more of an in person buyer while traveling than ordering an image like this online. Might be just me, but this is what I wished I would find instead of ugly postcards. As a Berliner, I probably would not feel the need to buy right away.
That's a good point. I think i need to look into the suitable local shops or book stores who could be interested to have it.
You can also sell them at Sunday markets, especially Mauerpark
Looks cute! Personally, I'd change the text to 'beyond the obvious' as it sounds more natural in English
Ah, many thanks for the tip! :)
I love the details of the two people, but I'd give more details to the Fernsehturm as well. Keep up the nice work!
Thanks a lot for the advice! I think i'm still trying to find a good balance between line art minimalistic style and sufficient level of detail :)
Looks cool. Maybe reducing the font size on beyond obvious to match the length between the B and the N from Berlin. A thinner font could help.
Have it in different colors could open more options for consumers. Like a full white with all in black except the orange hat or something :)
Cool stuff!
Nice, thanks a lot for the ideas!
I think the tv tower is not really something that captures the city. To me something that captures the city is something that is not necessarily visible from every window. Also I’m not sure the pastel colors fit the city either. I think the style is cute and I would explore other concepts. This one for example, what does it say? That this couple loves each other and love Alexanderplatz?
Many thanks for your feedback - definitely a good food for thought and experimenting!
I like it, it's a sweet small moment. Personally, if you're planning on making more I'd like to see less well known sights that are familiar or typical nonetheless, such as the Stalinallee buildings, bridge and tower at Insel der Jugend, the "Affenfelsen" (the big building that bridges the road at Kottbusser Tor), evening sun over Modersohnbrücke, the small booths along the water at Treptower Park...
Thanks a lot for the hints! It's actually also a good excuse to all go revisit all those places to make good references.
I would get that to my friends as a card. Or any other with proper landmark variants.
The "beyond obvious" line feels a bit superfluous. The Berlin part can stay, or if you decide to sell these, it could also be just embossed.
Really glad to hear you like it 🫶
Embossed could actually look really good - thanks a lot for the idea! I need to look into how it's actually done.
Great art!
If you are queer and produce more queer art you can try keller kreuzberg to sell it in a physical store
hey, thanks a lot! I’m not queer myself, but I’m a queer ally 🙂
Try a stand on Mauer Park then, for sure you will sell.
I'd definitely need to create more motifs then i have now to fill the stand, but perhaps one day! ☺️
I LOVE IT! No proper feedback other than very excited to follow you: please share your IG channel if you have one 🥰
And also: I can recommend doing flea markets. Mauerpark would be great to reach tourists (apparently wintertime is the best period to get in and secure a regular spot to also have a stall secured in summer time), NK Flohmarkt is one of my favorite.
Aww, thanks so much - it is so nice for me to hear! 🥰
I have insta (@tanyu.art) but admittedly I am not a biggest social media friend and don't post nearly as much as i should - some of more recent posts are from the year ago 🙈
And many thanks for the advice! I don't really have enough art (or at least art that works together) for the whole stand yet, but I'll work on it :)
Seeking advertising more like it
Feels like something is missing, maybe add an S-Bahn train to the right?
I have seen some of those towers also in other cities, right now it kinda feels like some generic random picture.
thanks for your feedback! I'm trying to achieve a combo of different clues to show that it is Berlin, but there is surely room for improvement.
No problem!
Tbf, it looks good, just maybe a detail more that shows that it is really Berlin.
Keep up the good work!
Beyond obvious does some up the image well but only because it feels so obviously „Berlin“ There is so much more to Berlin than the sites, but the sites is what tourists will buy…if you’re going for making sales then I’m sure this will sell to tourists well but it doesn’t touch on anything that makes Berlin, Berlin (for me).
hey, many thanks for your feedback! I'd love to make it interesting to locals as well, so definitely need to work on it further - that was just the first take.
Ahahahahahh it’s the slogan that killed it for me! Of all the thousands of themes you picked exactly the most obvious on top of the list! Did you just arrive from airport to Alexanderplatz, saw the TV tower and already the output was so creative? Great, just great. Beyond that, the illustration is bad. You have no style, i think you are using some app like Illustrator Tracing or whatever its called, then draw above your ipad or something. Yeah, maybe too incisive/realistic/pessimist here, but that’s my take. Cheers, enjoy your 101 stay tourist
There are many different ways how you could have expressed your feedback - and for whatever reason you chose to be just bitter. Sending you some kindness and hope you have a good day 🫶
There’s a lot of small details that make me think this is AI generated. Not trying to offend you, but now I’m curious if I’ve become too critical of work that is AI looking.
I haven't used any AI at all. I have however created it on a tablet digitally to achieve cleanliness of lines.
Out of curiosity, what details made you think it is AI?
It’s a technique that AI does well so it’s often used. Which made me look at it with that in mind.
All of the following are basically things you see in AI art that a human tends not to do because they don’t look good:
Poor framing of the subjects and tower within the color frame within the frame (too much space on the left).
Barely perceivable color differences in the fillings in certain body and coat sections, done at random.
The strange angles in straight or curved lines in the tv tower.
The two lines of the tower tip, they’re not converging in the same point. It’s obvious (and looks so bad) that it’s hard to see why a human would leave it like that, especially on a digital drawing.
And finally the lines out of the color block frame within the frame (the chessboard and the tv tower top).
Why's one figure carrying a chessboard?
why not 😁
Hahaha. Quite right.
I'm just curious if it has any significance
Do you live in Berlin? :D
Because of West-Berlin‘s history of being an enclave inside of the DDR, it has attracted artists, Freigeister and queers for a long time. It‘s a place where many generations of people went to get away from conventions and hate. And even earlier before WWII and the NS era, it already had an avid queer scene, with clubs like the legendary El Dorado and also the Institut für Sexualwissenschaften run by Magnus Hirschfeld, a Jewish doctor who was one of the first to perform vaginoplasties and support trans people in the Western world.
Of course the breathing room in the city is becoming smaller and smaller but to me this history still defines Berlin and makes it unique. You can obviously express yourself well through drawing so I would use that talent to depict the interesting and diverse people of Berlin, past and present and the places they occupied/still occupy. Punks, queers, ravers, squatters, artists, migrants.
I like the way you use your lines, but I wouldn’t buy this because it feels very touristy and on the nose. I would buy a print, if it gave me more of a distinct story and context. If it would inspire me and make me feel more connected to the city I live in and the people that make it a special place.
You're bringing up very good points - thank you. I think i tried to make a motif appealing to both locals and tourists, which probably won't work, so if I'd like to create something more meaningful - i should go deeper.
Queer Berlin art. How ordinary. Great skills though
Clearly Berlin... The way to portrait gay love is stunning and highly representation of Berlin