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

Here’s a recent mixed-media artwork showing a very young female writer from Victorian ages. I really like the overall mood for this one.

Here’s another whimscial cover artwork I created for The Writer magazine. It illustrates a feature by Richard Goodman where a writer celebrates his readers. It’s a playful piece, and I was going for a multi-faceted image with a great many individual scenes showing people reading a book, and the happy author of that book in their midst.

I wanted this to be funny and full of gleaming sunlight, and so I decided to go for a city-by-the-beach setting with people everywhere, reading a little red book; and the proud writer is red-colored, too. In trying not to distract the attention too much, I used only a few warm colors.

Here’s a fun little artwork about famous writers, showing silhouettes of people uttering captions  that contain names like Italo Calvino, Marguerite Duras, E.M. Forster, Paul Auster, Günter Grass, Silvia Plath, J.K. Rowling, Virginia Woolf, and others.

These are some more of the postcards and greeting cards that I am now selling from my web site :-)

MOTIF: FLOWER Power

• Folded A6 Postcard (4 pages)
• Mixed-Media Collage-Style Series:
  A beautiful flower tree in full blossom, growing from a pot residing on a table, with a watering can in the background.
• Card size is 105 x 148mm (4.1 x 5.8 in.)
• Heavy paper (280 g/m2)
• Front side is coated with a stylish matte varnish.
• Back side is uncoated and can be used for personal notes.
• Comes with a heavy envelope.

♥

MOTIF: The Simple JOYCE of Life

• Regular Coated A6 Postcard (2 Pages)
• Plain Fun Series:
  This is one my all-time favorite motifs, showing a little cartoon guy watering a word flower growing from a book. Note that the black comes as a highly saturated pitch black here, which looks really cool.
• Card size is 105 x 148mm (4.1 x 5.8 in.)
• Heavy paper (280 g/m2)
• Front side is coated with a stylish matte varnish.
• Back side is uncoated and can be used for personal notes.

Here’s an image visualizing different approaches to writing a novel: Some authors have a lot to say, while others don’t – but are fortunate enough to compensate through their larger-than-life egos.

This small collection of cartoon-style b/w illustrations is on the topic of learning and knowing – and knowing that one knows nothing.

For the German second edition of Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment, Goldmann Verlag/Random House was looking for a wholly new design.

Can you learn to be happy? Yes, according to the teacher of Harvard University’s most popular course grounded in “positive psychology.” In his book, Tal Ben-Shahar combines scientific studies, scholarly research, self-help advice, and spiritual enlightenment.

I have come up with a completely revised jacket design featuring an illustration of mine—a crawling ladybug, a symbol traditionally associated with luck and happiness. The typographically challenging design incorporates a giant rendition of the capital letter G (for “Glücklicher”, Happier).

This tiny promo brochure has just gotten printed. It shows a selection of full-size whimsical-style images that I created for a book on politics for children a while ago. Entitled Tim asks Tom, the book sets out to explain terminology from politics and society to juveniles in easy-to-understand language.

Tom Buhrow, a bestselling author and a popular TV anchorman for Tagesthemen, Germany’s most watched daily news show, explains about 60 weird words and phrases that you typically hear on the news, ranging from “anti doping” to “renewable energy” and “board of inquiry.”

BILD, Germany’s largest daily paper, praised the book as “made for kids.” In a statement, Tom pointed out my “tremendous work ethic, paired with a huge amount of experience” (blush).

I have added a few sample spreads below; the complete booklet, which is really, really small (A7!), can be downloaded here as a PDF file.

Well,  whaddaya know? The Little Bestiary of Wonders, a book on quirky animal behavior by Dirk Steffens that I illustrated, was once again featured on German television.

After Pro Sieben’s coverage two weeks ago, the book was shown on ZDF television – on Markus Lanz, a popular late-night show, and on the daily breakfast show, Volle Kanne. Here are some screenshots to prove it :-)

And while we’re at it, here are a few more excerpts from the book – taken from the chapter on the creepy angler fish.

Anglerfisch. Populärname: Tiefsee -Anglerfisch. Wissenschaftlicher Name: Edriolychnus schmidti. Lebensraum: Tiefsee, 200 bis 4000 Meter tief. Größe: Weibchen 20 Zentimeter, Männchen 2 Zentimeter. Kuriosum: Männchen ist Parasit des Weibchens.

Oh, wie romantisch! Es gibt sie anscheinend wirklich, die ewige  Liebe im Tierreich! Seit die Art vor Äonen in der Schwärze der Tiefsee entstand, hat sich kein einziges Anglerfischpärchen je getrennt. Kein einziges! Denn für diese obskur anzuschauenden Wesen gilt wirklich und buchstäblich das alte Versprechen: bis dass der Tod sie scheidet!

Die ungewöhnliche Treue der ungleichen Partner – er ist zwei Zentimeter klein, sie ungefähr zehnmal so groß – ist den Härten eines Lebens in der Tiefsee geschuldet. Im absolut lichtlosen Unterwasser – Universum weit jenseits der 200-Meter-Marke ist es nämlich verdammt schwierig, überhaupt irgendeinen Artgenossen zu finden. Da helfen auch die kleinen Laternen kaum, die den Weibchen an einer Rute aus dem Leib wachsen und die sie als Köder vor ihrem mit spitzen Zähnen bewehrten Maul aufleuchten lassen können.

Kommt es trotz der widrigen Umstände zu einer der seltenen intersexuellen Begegnungen, machen die Anglerfische keine halben Sachen. Sie verplempern ihre Zeit nicht mit dem üblichen Guck-mal-meine-bunten-Federn / Ist-das-nicht-ein-prächtiges-Gehörn / Ich-kann-am-lautesten-brüllen / Mein-Porsche-ist-tiefergelegt-Getue anderer paarungswilliger Männchen. O nein! Er beißt sich einfach an ihr fest und lässt nie wieder los. Relativ schnell verwachsen die beiden dann miteinander: Seine Kiefer bilden sich zurück, er schlüpft buchstäblich zu ihr unter die Haut, und schließlich vereinen sich sogar die Blutgefäße der Ehefische. Nur die Kiemen bleiben ihm. Ansonsten lebt er von nun an als Parasit in ihr – und kann den Körper der Wirtin nie mehr verlassen.

Der Preis für den weiblichen All-inclusive-Service: Wenn sie stirbt, ist auch sein Leben zu Ende. Bis zu diesem Tag bestimmt sie über sein Schicksal – und sein Sexleben: Die Befruchtung der Eier erfolgt nämlich außerhalb des Körpers, und zwar nur dann, wenn sie es will. Mit Hilfe von Hormonen, die über den gemeinsamen Blutkreislauf in seinen Körper strömen, steuert sie die gleichzeitige Abgabe von Eiern und Spermien.

Read an excerpt from the book in the original layout as a PDF file.

>MORE ANIMALS

The paperback edition of a book on religion is now out from cbj, the juvenile literature publishing house within Random House, Germany. Entitled, “Was glaubst denn du?” (”So what do you believe in?”), the book addresses key issues of the five world religions, christianity, judaism, islam, buddhism, and hinduism.

The author, Andrea Fischer, is a former secretary of health under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. As with the hardcover edition, apart from the cover, I have also created 76 black and white interior illustrations in whimsical style.

Fischer’s book has already been published in another paperback edition for Goldmann Verlag (also Random House) a few months ago.

Here are some samples from my b/w interior illustrations:

I have created new illustrations for a bestselling book by Gabal publishers on the so-called “Concentrated Systems Strategy.”

Now in its 13th edition, the book has been completely revised and expanded. The authors, noted experts on management strategies, unravel the basics of a successful business strategy for corporations and managers.