We recently connected with Eva Kirnbauer and have shared our conversation below.

Eva, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

If you ask an illustrator when they started drawing, they will usually answer with “as long as I can remember”. While that is technically also true for me and I loved scribbling on everything I could as a child, I specificially started focussing on improving and trying out different techniques and media when I was 11 years old and a friend of mine showed me how to draw in the style of Japanese manga, even if it we were both not good at it.

From then on I would practice and experiment with different styles whenever I could for the years to come (much to the annoyance of my teachers who did not approve of me doodling during class) and upload the better drawings to the artist platform Deviantart. Doing so gave me valuable feedback and inspiration as a beginner. At around 20 years old and after moving to the capital I felt like I finally somewhat found my own unique style and started to sell my artworks at comic conventions which I am doing to this day.

In order to get where I am now trying out different media was the best choice I could have made as I started with simple tools like colored pencils, then switching to alcoholic markers to now designing digitally on my tablet.

While I bought my fair share of books on drawing and watched too many art tutorial videos, at the end of the day the best way to improve was drawing whenever I could. The learning curve is surprisingly satisfying if you can get over the biggest obstacle – your own perseverance. At the end of the day you don’t really need fancy and expensive tools since everyone can create the most beautiful pictures with just a regular pencil and a piece of paper.

The only thing I would have done differently is believe more in my art sooner since I started of being all over the place, both style-wise and product-wise.

Eva, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started of as just a hobby artist who would draw cartoon characters inspired by Japanese manga and create my own stories around them.

But after several trips to Japan and South Korea I was so disappointed with the selection of cute items that were available in Central Europe in comparison to the adorable characters decorating all kinds of stationery in Asia that I took matters in my own hands, focussed on a cuter drawing style and started designing stickers, notebooks, tote bags, mugs and various other items under the name “one moon goods”.

By doing so I hope to create products that make everyones daily life more whimsical and colorful! I hope for people to feel the same kind of joy I do when writing on a note that has little ducks on it or drink from a silly glass with happy notes on it.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Since I am also employed as a graphic designer and have a steady income through this I am in the fortunate position to create because I want to and not because I have to. It also means that I have the freedom to create my business in the way I want it to and am not forced to rush, overcharge for my products or only design what sells well. I see this as a complete luxury since often times artists are financially pressured into creating with way too little time and have to constantly justify their prices.

Especially in times like these with people copy-pasting images from Google without thinking and AI seemingly taking over every branch it is especially important to acknowledge the work that goes into making an artwork, a song or an item. There are people behind them that will think about every detail of their creation because we all want to be able to be proud of what we do.

As a society we must remember how crucial a creative output is and how dull the world would look without art created by humans. We need to stop being shocked at how much art can cost because every creative spends years honing their skill, an expertise that should be compensated. It is time to see the value and worth in art, no matter which kind.

Computers can only follow inputs but they lack the heart. They will give you a result but it will not be able to create new ideas and have difficulties thinking out of the box. Think of AI like the chocolate chip cookies that you can buy in a store. And compare that to the still a bit warm, homemade cookies from grandma. There is a reason the latter taste better. They were made from years of practice and a lot of love (and maybe a bit more sugar than is advised ;)

And at the end of the day, the only ones profiting from not paying artists enough are big corporations that would have enough money to do so.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal was always to be able to afford my hobby through making money with it. While that still rings true I also strife to find fun new ways to create products that make people smile. Nothing compares to seeing the joy on a customers face when they spot a silly drawing at my booth when selling at conventions. My business led to meeting so many new and interesting creators that inspire me daily and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://onemoongoods.carrd.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onemoongoods