Manuela Klauser is a digital artist in Vienna who works as sheisinblack.art on Instagram. She makes gothic characters with AI and animates them herself, in a style she calls Soft Goth Surrealism. Her work has been shown in London, Basel, Milan and Vienna, and she makes music videos for bands.
She started with still images. In late 2022 her posts on her TikTok were Midjourney pictures cut together to music. Now the same kinds of characters move, dance and look back at the camera.
From stills to moving characters
The Safety Dance, posted in March 2025, is a black-cloaked creature in a red hood dancing between two cats. Its caption names the two tools behind it: Midjourney for the images and Hailuo AI for the animation. Most of her animated pieces from that period credit the same pair.
Other captions name more tools. Runway and Luma show up in 2024, Adobe Firefly on Celestial Night Trip, and CapCut for editing.
Manuela Klauser — “The Safety Dance” (2025), on Instagram (@sheisinblack.art)
What the work looks like
Her characters have huge round eyes, pale faces and black clothes. They ride trams, stand in misty forests, sell sweets at night markets and live in crooked black houses under a full moon. The colours are mostly black, with teal, red and hot pink.
Her profile at AVGD Gallery describes the style as eerie atmospheres mixed with small poetic and humorous details. THE Stylemate's profile of her says she generates many images, then edits and chooses the few that match what she had in mind.
Manuela Klauser — “Dancing with Myself” (2025), on Instagram (@sheisinblack.art)
Where it has been shown
AVGD lists shows at AI Week Milano, Kunstmeile Basel, PARALLEL Vienna and the British Art Fair at the Saatchi Gallery in London. It also lists an award from the Vertical Movie Festival Rome for her video work.
Music videos for bands
She also makes stage visuals, music videos, release artwork and Spotify Canvas loops for musicians, according to AVGD. One of those videos was for the band Die Kammer and their song "I've Lost My Shadow."
In her post about it she wrote: "I had the chance to create a visual piece to accompany and enhance this soulful track."
Manuela Klauser — visuals for Die Kammer’s “I’ve Lost My Shadow” (2025), on Instagram (@sheisinblack.art)
Teaching it
She also teaches. With Bettina Binder she runs voller ideen, an Austrian studio for AI workshops and creative consulting. THE Stylemate notes that her talks and workshops cover prompting and image generation, and how artists can use these tools on purpose.
Her newest pieces go up on her Instagram account and her TikTok account.