'TopModel' comic (from Dutch edition of Top Model magazine #9, 2023).
Elena Rockinger is a Potsdam-based German illustrator and designer, known for her digital illustrations and comic art for licensed girls' magazines, most notably 'Filly' and 'TopModel'.
Early life and influences
Between 1997 and 2003, Rockinger studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich (Fachhochschule München), graduating in Graphic Design and Communication Design. Spiritual and positive in nature, her main goals are, according to her Instagram biography, capturing the beauty of a being, illustrating the soul and designing messages. Since her teenage years, she has a passion for "human beings and art, for exploring and comprehending the nature of reality, educating consciousness and expanding hearts", initially exploring these themes through writing stories, lyrics and poems, as well as creating complex comics. Her personal artwork includes meditative drawings in graphite or ink, as well as drawings dealing with mystic old stories, etherics and imagination.
Commercial work
Since her graduation, Rockinger has been working as a professional illustrator for hire, doing commissions like portraits, corporate design, tattoos and illustrations. Between 2009 and 2014, she was a freelance artist for Blue Ocean Entertainment, creating comics, covers and other illustration work for the German magazines and other print products related to the Filly franchise, a toy line for girls with horse or pony-like animals with big heads and eyes, round shapes and bright colors (and strongly reminiscent of the non-related 'My Little Pony' franchise). Between 2013 and 2023, Rockinger worked for another publisher, Depesche Vertrieb GmbH & Co, doing digital artwork for picture books and coloring books for Ylvi, Horses and Dreams and My Style Princess. Her main work for Depesche was doing the comic stories for the monthly TopModel magazine (2013-2019). Since 2022, Rockinger has been affiliated with the Comicon art studio in Barcelona as a designer of 3D pony figures.
'Filly' comic (2013).