These are two postcards I did for the restaurant "Jelänger Jelieber" that is just around the corner from where I live. It is one of my favorite places in Berlin, because they have this rather unique combination of great cuisine and wine and a very comfortable and friendly atmosphere, so I was very happy when they asked me to draw a motif for their postcard. They have a restaurant in front and a playground cafe in the back, so we decided to make two different postcards because both places are rather different. Here is my sketch:
and for those who are interested the path view, of the final images:
Toby Neighbors is a genius. Not only did he have the wonderfull idea to create illostribute, a blog where contemporary illustrators interpret the works of great classic ilustrators, but he also managed to gather some really incredible artists to participate on the posts. Today the third post went online and it is an explosion of great art. This time the topic was pulp artist Norman Saunders. His large body of work contains pulp in every variety you can think of: western, noir, science fiction, horror, you name it. So this is something you can really have fun with, which reflects greatly in the post. But I do have to say this also made it very hard for me to pick something. A goofy pulp cover would have been fun, but whenever I went through his work this one image always really caught my eye: The feminist in me was thinking, Man, what a ****load of cliches, while the artist just thought "What a powerfull, dark image, great composition, cool poses, and flaming colors! And how can someone not love that snakeguys design?" So I made a rough copy, that doesnt do the original any justice, but I'm posting it anyway since I want to share my proccess: I played around with the shapes and also decided to amp up the sexual undertones (I mean, she is in this submissive sexy sacrifice position and about to be penetrated by a giant snake, she might as well look like she's enjoying it) and finally came up with an interpretation I liked: And vectorized it. At first I tried to work with gradients but for some reason I dont like the look of them lately, so I got rid of them. While working on this I always had a song in mind, which to me represents the sexyness and darkness I wanted to acchieve here, so its best you listen to it, while you look at the picture ;)
Sorry for not posting so often these days, I am totally swamped with work! Every now and then I get to squeeze in drawing something for the little Wermaid which i really enjoy, so I thought I share the newest pages with you!
... and a sketch of the Lorelai and a Prince based on Fabio:
Woohoo, I finally did it! I found a style that is relatively quick to do and that looks okay enough to me. The big question was the inking. I have almost zero experience when it comes to inking, but that doesnt really reflect on what I expect my outcome to look like - which is perfect, of course. Let me tell you, this is a great way to get frustrated with your work very quickly. I tried a few tools: fineliner, brush pens, pen and ink, brush ink, but in the end I luckily found something that works okay enough and still leaves a lot of room for improvement through experience (hopefully): the pentel Brush Pen.
I really wanted to draw one of those femme fatale style pieces from Jean Paul Gaultiers Fall Couture show, but ultimately the trenchcoat bride with her violin was so fascinating, I couldnt resist. Isn't she divine?
Lately I spent most of my freetime working on my comic project "the little Wermaid" written by the amazing Regina haselhorst. I bought a big sketchbook which I am filling with layouts, character desing, research stuff and sketches for the project. I thought I'd show a few. What's most fun for me here, is that this is really different from my usual work. Normally I try to be all serious and elegant and polished, but here I get to draw funny and weird and dirty.
A character from the story, Loreley, she tries to get a ship full of princes to crash into a rocky cliff by alluring them with her beautiful voice.
Sketches fo said rocky cliffs, the two on the right are drawn from photos.
Luckily the mermaids are there to protect the princes!
It's not an epic finale if it doesn't have a giant ugly monster in it!
and here's some ideas for different princes since I'll have to draw so many of them.
clothes, copied from a book on historic clothing, obviously.
man, this place has been way to silent the last weeks. I'm working on the wermaid comic project right now, which is why I havent been posting that much. But more on that later, in the meantime some Sketches from the latest Dior couture show, which I LOVED!!!
I was recently invited to participate in an exciting new project: Toby Neighbor's blog illostribute. The idea behind this blog is as simple as it is genius:
An illustrator or artist from the past is selected. Contemporary, working illustrators are invited to choose an image of said master and create their own interpretation or copy.
I was happy to hear that the first illustrator that was chosen was J.C. Leyendecker. I am a great Leyendecker fan, he was a master at both elegance and humor. I could look at his painting for hours and study his amazing technique: the way he combines a classic painterly approach and very graphic solid color shapes give his works both the appeal of a well rendered painting and the definite impact of a graphic poster. For more information and of course all the lovely tributes got to the illustribute post! I took the arrow collar adds as a starting point for my tribute. Here are some sketches:
A drawing I made for my friend the lovely Miss Lalavox! On her Blog and Website you can find many beautiful illustrations of her chracter Mildred Mahler and her friends. I love how those girls all have very different looks and personalities and of course, also the amazing costumes Laura designs for them. Be sure to check out her sketches, Laura is also an amazing Storyboard Artist and it really shows in her vivid, effortlessly elegant sketch lines! To give you an idea this is one of my favorite works by her:
Talking about sketches here's mine - dont ask me how I missed those major tangents at her tassel ornaments:
I thought I show some more work from "The little Wermaid" the comic I am currently working on written by the amazing Regina Haselhorst of "GirlComic" fame. This ship will be one of the main Locations in the comic:
the final version of the ship:
previous sketches:
I already posted these on Facebook, but I think I have deleted the album there, because, well it's FB and they are not known as being selfless when it comes to copyright. These are old versions of the pages, I am going to redo. I am not that happy with the vector look and want to try an analogue approach - but more on that later when I can show something of the new style!
and for those who are interested the path view, of the final images:
