THE LAST CITY GUARD
VECTOR ART ILLUSTRATION
Client: Društvo HIŠA! / Rajzefiber in cooperation with UP FTS sTOUdio Turistica. HIŠA! / Rajzefiber is an organization that functions predominantly in the field of cultural tourism. They do important work in promoting and sustaining the historical and cultural heritage of Maribor and Slovenia, as well as the local artists/creators of the region. They do that through many projects and already established festivals, approaching the theme through alternative, personal and professional lens, steering away from the fast and shallow methods of commercial mass tourism.
Task: Creating an illustration, mainly for a square format postcard, based on a true story from Maribor's history. A woman named Antonia Weiss used to live in a flat on top of the Maribor cathedral steeple until 1933. Her job was to constantly walk around the tower and watch out for possible fire emergencies in the city. She was the last person to serve this unusual duty and was mostly forgotten until Rajzefiber decided to retell the story through the Lost & Found project along with 4 other stories from the Maribor's past. The illustrations from the said project are also available as NFTs.
the first iteration
This is the first finished version of the artwork. Some elements are intentionally skewed and disproportional to tell the true story with elements of fantasy or a dream to bring out the essence of it. The clock is bigger that in reality and opens up like a door to the apartment, the stairs are on the outside of the steeple and unprotected to give that feeling of vertigo and the bravery of living in a high tower. The woman in also hugely disproportional to the building and the small fence is barely protecting her at all.
the SECOND iteration
This is the clean vector drawing of the second and the final version. Some elements have been slightly tuned down - the stairs are removed and the woman is smaller and more "proper" for the historic period of 1933.
The finalised artwork with some photographic elements and textures added in Photoshop.
the printed postcard
The NFT
The artwork is also available as an NFT. Upon purchasing, the buyer also receives a physical postcard to the chosen address and gets the access to the complete audio of the story in 3 different languages.
It is available at:
