When you first observe Lilly Prinz’s ethereal drawings feelings of tranquility and mesmerization will awash your senses. As you linger longer and discern the details within each corner the lines of a story will ultimately appear. Yet, who’s story is it? Is it yours or Lilly’s? From golden flowers illuminating the torso of a tiger to a woman resting against a flowering moon, Lilly intends to merge the surreal with the physical in her paintings. After moving to Berlin three years ago, Lilly embarked on a career as an illustrator. Inspired by the instinctive nature of Berlin and the natural details from her everyday strolls Lilly’s digital art aims to capture the magical essence of the world around us.
At twenty-four years old and now based in Portugal, Lilly aims to create a feeling of home for her audience when viewing her work. As Lilly notes, every illustration is a reflection of a story she is creating with the observers of her art designing their own. “My story and the story that comes from the person looking at [my art], I think, are [equally] true. To me that is art.” From learning about how her conscious and subconscious realities influence her artwork to describing the evolution of her artistic style, discover more about Lilly below.
Q: What are the themes you aim to address in your illustrations?
LILLY PRINZ: I want to create a place where you can see things more clearly for what they are. A few years ago I started to educate myself on spirituality and learned to become more conscious of my surroundings while appreciating the beauty in the little things in our world. I want to express the magic found within the essential and what I see through my eyes.
Q: What experiences influence your creative process?
LILLY PRINZ: Nature itself inspires me immensely. The main symbols in my paintings are representative of nature and the universe. Living in a city inspired me to create pieces of work that are a contrast to where I am. Now, that I live in Portugal I am continuously inspired by the new colors of life surrounding me and the constant presence of the ocean.
Q: What emotions do you want to make people feel when they look at your illustrations?
LILLY PRINZ: I want them to feel safe and to also find themselves in my illustrations. I mostly draw women and hope a lot of women feel inspired by this kind of imagery and can relate to the feeling that they are special beings. I want to represent the goddess inside women and make it relatable for every woman looking at it.
Q: How do you stay creative?
LILLY PRINZ: Through fresh air. I cannot stay inside for too long and crave conversation and being surrounded by nature.
Q: Did sharing your art come naturally to you, or were there any apprehensions?
LILLY PRINZ: It somehow came naturally to me. I used to already share creative projects of mine in the past so being able to share my art on Instagram allowed me to evolve and create an art portfolio.
Q: Where do you see the future of your artwork going?
LILLY PRINZ: I want to create more, especially more of my own projects. I want to focus on creating my own book of illustrations and dive deeper into animation and video graphics. I wish to have the time to do this, have a free space to create, and still do collaborations.
Q: How do you deal with self-doubt?
LILLY PRINZ: I am very conscious of what I am doing and my love for it. I believe in myself and that I can make a living with this. I really believe what I do is good enough and I have no doubt that it can work the way I desire. I don’t know why I am like this, because before I started my career I did not believe in my thoughts or that I could live with my dream job. Moving to Berlin allowed me to believe in myself and to start creating without any doubt.
Q: What advice would you give your younger self?
LILLY PRINZ: You can do anything you want. That would be my advice, and to worry less about things and do more.
Q: What advice would you give someone starting out?
LILLY PRINZ: Find your own style and listen to your inner self. Experiment as long as you need until you find your true style. What touches your soul? What inspires you? Start from scratch with [those answers] and believe you can do it because as long as you are authentic there’s always a chance that you can do it.
Explore more of Lilly’s work via her Instagram.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
