A short history of me

  • 2003: Dipped a toe into computer science II at the university. Dropped out real quick. Switched to communications design – a much better fit. 
  • 2003: Started freelancing as an illustrator. That never really stopped.
  • 2009: Graduated Dipl. Kommunikationsdesigner from HBK Saar. I illustrated Joanna Newsom’s song “Monkey & Bear” as propaganda posters.
  • 2011 – 2021: I explored leadership roles on the visual side of the games industry: concept artist, art director, team lead, creative advisor, talent scout, design director.
  • 2010s – 2020s: Taught design and concept art in various schools. I like sharing stuff and had the opportunity to do so there.
  • 2025 april – august: Selling strawberries, ’cause before starting university was the best time to try something completely different.
  • 2025: Let’s try the magic reset button in real life: started a dual study program in career guidance (Beratung für Bildung, Beschäftigung und Beruf – HdbA Schwerin, Agentur für Arbeit Berlin Süd
  • 2025 december: I quit the dual study program.
  • 2026: I guess it’s back to freelance

Currently

I’m always going through books, albums, and other things – here’s what stuck lately:

  • Comic: Ken Niimura – Umami

    I first saw Ken Niimura’s artwork via the comic “I Kill Giants“. It’s a nice comic both for the story and the art, and there’s a movie adaptation as well.

    A few days ago I randomly thought of Ken Niimura’s art, and I got curious about what he had been up to. An hour or so later, seeing a lot of great art, I was dozens of pages deep into reading his comic “Umami“. “I Kill Giants” was good, but his art in “Umami” is fantastic.

    “Umami” is a fast-paced, cartoony, energetic, over-the-top, fun, wholehearted adventure tale that was published as a webcomic in 2019. If you like cooking, if you like adventure tales, if you have a soft spot for charmingly obnoxious underdogs with too much sugary energy – then give this comic a try. The artwork is glorious, the story is fun. Cook, make friends, save the kingdom.

    You can buy all 8 issues as a bundled pdf via panel syndicate, they did not set a price so you can name your own. Whatever is in your budget, buy the comic.

    I Kill Giants – german edition published by Splitter Verlag
    I Kill Giants – English edition published by Image Comics

    Umami – pdf, cbr, cbz, digital edition via panel syndicate

  • 20240301-2

  • 20240301

  • 20240229-2

    One of the games in my current rotation is Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor(Link to Steam-page). An action rogue-lite autoshooter that is mindless fun for when you want something to occupy yourself.

  • 20240229

    Tomorrow, March 1st, is World Compliment Day. One of those holidays I can wholeheartedly embrace because there’s no commercial incentive behind this one – just making everyone’s day a little bit better emotionally.

  • 20240228-2

  • 20240228

    I scheduled today to look into less wasteful/better blog-themes for this blog. WordPress Twenty Sixteen is after all already a few years old and I assume things have developed since then.

    So here are some warmup sketches I did a while back.

  • 20240227

    ,

    I’m thinking about buying myself a print of some Ivan Bilibin art, so his art was on my mind at the time when I started sketching.
    As usual lately, I’m exploring the scope between figurative and abstract art.

  • 20240226

    ,

    This is fun

  • 20240223

    ,

    I finished listening to the “The Murder of Crows”-Trilogy this morning and needed to at least quickly create something based on that story.

    It is a dystopian superhero coming-of-age tragedy that even though telling you upfront how it will end, kept me engaged throughout. It was rarely pleasant and I can’t say it left me with a positive feeling, but it was a good read/listen.