Illustrator / Analog Craft Artist

We're buildin a letter experience that pulls the reader out of her everyday life and into someone else's world. Each letter arrives from "Elena," a woman writing from Santorini. Intimate, sensory, personal. Our readers don't get "a subscription." They get twenty minutes where someone is there just for them. We're looking for an illustrator and analog craft artist to make Elena feel real. What you'd create This isn't decoration, it's the evidence that Elena exists. Three layers: - Letter craft: the handwritten feel, wax seals, a fine caldera line in the corner, a printed wine-glass ring, an oil smudge, the traces of a lived moment. - Story artifacts: found objects that feed the mystery. A Polaroid of an empty alley at dusk, a hand-torn fava recipe note with a coffee stain. Things that belong in the story, not just on it. - Companion layer ("Elena's world"): a real recipe card, a real place, visual cues that extend the world beyond the page. The aesthetic Warm, analog, imperfect, nostalgic. Every mark should tell a story. Think traces of a real evening, not a polished asset. Our one iron rule Nothing generic. Nothing recognizably AI-generated. Our entire promise is "real, not AI mush". A real photograph, hand-torn paper, actual wax. An AI Polaroid would be self-sabotage. If your instinct is to reach for a generator, we're not the right fit. You're probably a fit if you - work in physical/analog media (ink, watercolor, paper, photography, hand-lettering, mixed media) or digital work that is genuinely indistinguishable from handmade - have a feel for nostalgic, emotionally warm, "lived-in" imagery - can deliver consistent character/world details across recurring pieces - enjoy a craft-led, detail-obsessed brief The engagement Project-based to start (the first letters), with strong potential for an ongoing collaboration as the product scales to a fortnightly cadence. To apply, send us your portfolio plus one or two pieces you feel capture an intimate, analog, lived-in mood. A short note on why this project resonates is welcome but optional.