Here “Big Apple” is taken literally.

An oversized, friendly-looking apple cartoon character with a hint of a diamond pattern and long legs strides across a cityscape that is immediately recognizable: there are the contours of the Messeturm, the building next to it must be the Commerzbank Tower, and the Eiserne Steg is also missing Not.

The much-cited Frankfurt mixture of local color and cosmopolitanism, which is concisely depicted in the image, adorns the back of a black T-shirt hanging on a bookshelf in Jan Buchczik's shared studio in Bockenheim.

The t-shirt with the lettering "one of four" on the front is part of a recent edition.

The young Frankfurt fashion label “naggisch” asked Jan Buchczik and his fellow illustrators Benedikt Luft, Jan Paul Müller and Tatjana Prenzel how they see their city.

Four illustrated T-shirts were produced in an edition of 50 pieces each.

It took Buchczik a long time to find an appealing and interesting idea: "I found it difficult," he recalls that winter evening.

After all, there are already so many established images of the city.

"At some point I remembered a picture of Max Beckmann that I knew from school," says Buchczik.

Shortly thereafter, he shows an image of Beckmann's painting "Eisgang" from 1923 on his smartphone, which can be seen in the Städel.

Prominent clients

In this unmistakable language, the friendly and down-to-earth graduate of the Offenbach University of Design creates illustrations for well-known national and international customers.

"It feels like it's needed," says Buchczik.

In addition to Apple and Cambridge University, his clients include the “Spiegel” and the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the “New York Times” and the magazine “The New Yorker”.

The illustrations, executed in trendy pastel colors, are created on the computer.

And so Buchczik's narrow studio table accommodates only a few other utensils in addition to a computer and a digital drawing board.

The time difference associated with commissions from the United States initially posed a challenge for Jan Buchczik – and sometimes led to long evening shifts in the studio.

According to Buchczik, he will also receive several emails from American customers that evening.

But now the illustrator, who was born in 1988, and father of one daughter, is trying to get regular working hours and to reconcile his job with his family.

His customers now know that he won't reply until the next day.

"It's like a daytime share house"

Jan Buchczik, who manages without interns or employees, occasionally turns down inquiries from potential clients: Most of the time, the budget doesn't come together, but he has also turned down several large orders for reasons of content.

Buchczik does not divide his working day into timed phases of administrative and creative activities.

There is no fixed routine: "Every day is different." Buchczik emphasizes that he can switch between everything very well.

The only thing he finds more difficult is the switch between free projects and commissioned work: “It’s a different way of thinking.” And even when there are no commissions to be completed, Buchczik goes to the studio every day, which he shares with other designers and creative people: “It’s like a daytime shared flat.”

As soon as an order arrives, Buchczik's creative process does not begin immediately with drawing and sketching, but rather with jotting down keywords for objects and shapes that could fit the respective topic: "I then no longer have a blank sheet of paper." Only in the next step add simple drawings.

According to Buchczik, the process sometimes takes a week – but sometimes only a day when there is time pressure.

However, it took Buchczik longer for the T-shirt project mentioned at the beginning.

Just as it illustrates the Frankfurt-typical mixture of Äbbelwoi romance and cosmopolitan scenery, it could also stand for Jan Buchczik's life model.

"I think it's nice to be in the village of Frankfurt and to work internationally," says Buchczik, who grew up in Bockenheim.

With a more local job, however, he might not have stayed in Frankfurt.

Many creative people from his environment have migrated to Berlin, only a few remain in Frankfurt: "It's more family-friendly, but not as busy." In Berlin, Buchczik sees more competition among creative people.

And he knows: "I wouldn't have more orders if I were somewhere else."

But what does an illustrator, whose client list already includes many well-known names, wish for in the coming years?

Buchczik thinks about it for a moment and then replies: "More free projects." "In general, I wish I could continue to make a living from illustration," he adds.

Buchczik has a concrete plan for 2023 – a pasta cookbook with his own recipes, illustrations and photographs.

He would also like to take over the graphic design: Jan Buchczik therefore describes his passion for cooking, which is to be put into book form, with a wink as an “all-round ego project”.