The second in my little series of doodle books has just been published by Carl Hanser Verlag.

Following its predecessor, Lass stecken—Kritzeln statt Qualmen (Don’t Smoke, Doodle), this book is targeted at those among us who are currently at a stage of grief over a lost love.

Clever and funny, Lass los – Kritzeln statt Klammern (Don’t Grieve, Doodle) helps readers to overcome their sorrow by doodling away, and challenging them to work their magic on completing unfinished drawings, colorizing images, filling in missing pieces, etc.—anything really that distracts from mourning. >MORE

Why can large bonuses make CEOs less productive? How can confusing directions actually help us? Why is revenge so important to us? Why is there such a big difference between what we think will make us happy and what really makes us happy?

In Predictably Irrational, social scientist Dan Ariely revealed the multiple biases that lead us into making unwise decisions. Now, in The Upside of Irrationality, he exposes the surprising negative and positive effects irrationality can have on our lives. Focusing on our behaviors at work and in relationships, he offers new insights and eye-opening truths about what really motivates us on the job, how one unwise action can become a long-term habit, how we learn to love the ones we’re with, and more.

An illustration of mine was used for the cover of the German paperback edition (Wer denken will, muss fühlen – Die heimliche Macht der Unvernunft, Knaur Verlag). It shows a little guy carrying a sun balloon. >MORE

In On the Money: The Economy in Cartoons, fans can revel in over 350 of The New Yorker’s best cartoons on the theme of money, culled from the past 80+ years.

I designed the hand lettering for the German edition for selected cartoons that needed their headlines, captions, and bylines to be translated directly on the embedded images (The New Yorker: Die besten Wirtschaftscartoons 1925–2009).

While it felt a little awkward to be editing the works of fellow cartoonists, I attempted to replicate the various lettering styles used for the original versions, trying hard to make this look as generic and seamless as possible.

The collection is edited by The New Yorker’s cartoon editor, Robert Mankoff, and includes an introduction by Malcolm Gladwell, best-selling author of The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers. >MORE

Clockwise from top left: Wonderful cartoons from greats like Jon Agee, Sidney Harris, Richard Decker, Roz Chast, Lee Lorenz (and Roz Chast again). (Copyright of the original cartoons (c) The New Yorker and the respective artists.)

This a book out of the ordinary. On 80 pages, the author gives an unsparing and heartbreaking account of his illness of terminal cancer, his fading strength over time, and, eventually, his willingness to accept the fact that he will soon die.

Wolfgang Bergmann was a psychologist and family scientist who died in May of 2011 at the age of 67 after a year-long battle with bone cancer. In his lifetime, he headed the Institute for Child Psychology and Learning Therapy in Hanover, and he also authored nonfiction books with much success.

Shortly before his death, the author asked the publisher to find an artist who could come up with Japanese-style images to be used inside the book, or log rather.

This called for non-figurative drawings, brushed with Indian ink. This was the first time that I created abstract illustrations for a book, and also one of the rare occasions where I would actually work with real ink and paper, as opposed to the digital world that I usually work in these days.

Needless to say, I was a little reluctant, and also intimidated by the emotional topic that was offered to my by the publisher shortly after Wolfgang Bergmann passed away. I ended up creating a variety of thick brush stroke images that were scattered in the book where deemed suitable.

For the jacket cover of the small book published by Kösel (Random House), I chose a dark linen coating, and a small sheet of paper attached to the linen that contained the title. >MORE

Edited by members of the feature-page section of Süddeutsche Zeitung, this is a collection of humorous novels of all-time favorite pieces of literature that are dealing with humorous topics—from whimsical and satirical to morbid and bizarre to wry and wicked to just plain funny.

The collection of 20 books assembles many timeless classics written by authors that include Woody Allen, Fay Weldon, Heinrich Böll, Robert Gernhardt, Tom Robbins, T.C. Boyle, Roald Dahl, Peter Ustinov, and P.G. Wodehouse.

I have created the whimsical cover illustrations for all books in the collection. >MORE

TOP: These are all 20 books.
BOTTOM: The collection was advertised in this three-page special today.

My Business Diary (Campus Verlag) carries business people through their days by means of challenges that encourage to leave trodden paths and take on routes not taken before.

With a linen wrap, round edges and slightly cream-colored paper, the book looks decidely stunning. I have created the overall design and a great many illustrations in vector graphic style. >more

Entitled, Corporate Madhouse (Unternehmen Wahnsinn by Theresia Volk), my jacket cover for a new book by Kösel Verlag (Random House) shows a shark gone crazy.

I provided both the cover art and the jacket design for the book that discusses the frenzy in today’s enterprises where psychopaths are making the rules, and where calls for restructuring the company, motivational rhetoric and endless meetings abound. >more

This my latest book for Sanssouci (Hanser Verlag) suggests doodling as an instant remedy to quit smoking – by keeping you busy sketching away.

The book (Lass stecken – Kritzeln statt Qualmen, which loosely translates to “Just Quit – Don’t Smoke, Doodle”) applies doodling to smoking-related topics and invites the reader to use his skills on completing unfinished drawings, colorizing images, filling in missing pieces, etc. – just the sort of thing that a doodler does for a living.

Warning – may be hazardous to your smoking habits. >more

“Don’t start your story with a strong hook!” This advice from a fiction writer and editor called for a cover  illustration that I created for The Writer magazine

The author explains why a popular but worn-out line of advice won’t reel in your readers, despite what you’ve been told, while my artwork plays with the idea of a fisherman reeling in a book on the end of the line that is too big for him to handle.

The Greek edition of a bestselling book by Richard David Precht is using my cover illustration that I created for the German edition. The book is entitled Love-an unruly emotion, and elaborates on that very topic from a multitude of backgrounds in history, biology, neuroscience, and philosophy.

Written by author-journalist Richard David Precht, Germany’s number one bestselling nonfiction author (Who am I?—and if so, how many?, a book on philosophy which has sold over 1 mill. copies so far), my cover design employs a similar style which I created for Who am I?

Employing bold type, my whimsical illustration shows a tiny tightrope artist walking a rope which is connecting two oversized ladders set up amidst a vast landscape. The book has been an immediate bestseller following its release in Germany, selling 200,000 copies in a matter of weeks. >MORE

The German newspaper DIE ZEIT publishes a weekly full page dedicated to science topics. My design on the history of psychotherapy got published in Christoph Drösser’s book Wissen in Bildern (Illustrated Science) which assembles the best infographics published in DIE ZEIT within the past two years.

>MORE ON THE BOOK

>MORE ON THE INFO-GRAPHIC SCIENCE PAGE

For the German edition of The Invisible Gorilla (Piper Verlag), I created a fun little flip book animation that shows a walking gorilla. The animation is placed at the bottom of the pages.

If a gorilla walked out into the middle of a basketball pitch, you’d notice it. Wouldn’t you? The Invisible Gorilla is a fascinating look at the unbelievable, yet routine tricks that your brain plays on you.

Christopher F. Chabris and Daniel J. Simons won the 2004 Ig Nobel Prize in Psychology for Gorillas in Our Midst. Chabris is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Union College in New York.

With the 200th Munich Oktoberfest commencing tomorrow, meet the first-ever English-German Oktoberfest guide in miniature format. Following the grand prize in the 2008 Oktoberfest poster design competition, I have provided the artwork for this little booklet published by Piper Verlag. My whimsical two-color vignette-style illustrations are distributed throughout the book.

Lebuchenherzl                            Dirndl

I have also created an intricate flip book that is featured on the bottom of the book and runs for a little over 70 pages. The animation shows humanoid Oktoberfest symbols like a beer stein, a running heart, a girl in a dirndl, etc. all of whom are engaged in an Oktoberfest parade. >more

Here’s a fun illo of a talking book. I used the covers and interior spreads of some very old books that I have here for this collage.

> MORE COLLAGE ART

The latest event guide for the German Trade Union (DGB) in Munich is out. I created both the jacket design and the inside illustrations. The postcard-sized brochure lists the many seminars and workshops and lectures and events and whatnot that the DGB provides for Munich this coming fall.

The cover art is a collage of assembled portrait photos, around which I spilled acrylic color. My goal was to create a vintage look (hence the predominantly dated photos from the 1930’s through 1960’s) that looks fresh and modern at the same time (not to mention loads of relatives of mine who are spread out mostly on the back flap, including my grandfather, my great-grandfather, my grandmothers, bro, dad, and mom, and my little niece Pauline a.k.a. Paulinchen).

This is the design for the second half of the year which was preceded by a similar design in February. Note my lovely grandmother on the front flap (above the September label). I have been designing such booklets for the German Trade Union for many years now > more.

> MORE COLLAGE ART