I don’t feel like writing much of the usual gibberish today, so I will only post what I’ve been working on like mad over the weekend. Another commissioned ad for the previously mentioned “Triebwerk Nr. 2″. I started sketching at 2 am and was done with inking around 10 am. Coloring it took another day. The ad is for one of the main sponsors Prolog, and thus needed something extra cool. Dunno if that worked out… You be the judge.

Oh, I also thought I’d not feel like posting another wee link, but you know what? I already saved one before I even knew what I was going to write next. So, if you feel like it, visit We Feel Fine which most of you probably know already since its such a beautiful thing that makes you feel all wobbly and bloggily inside. (Guess why I used the word “feel” ever so often in this post?)

The whole illustration class is hard at work to get our newest installment of the annual “Triebwerk” out. Currently we’re illustrating the ads which should be about the last thing that needs to be done before the book can be sent to the printer. Since I’m the one who is in charge of all the advertising it’s always exciting to see what my fellow students have come up with as their work drops in (little by little). As an example I’ll show you the two illustrations I’ve done. One is for a shop that sells scale modells of tanks, cars and similar stuff, the other is for a tattoo studio or rather on of the artists that works there.

And then, have you seen this cutie by Lunartik (Matt Jones)? Awww, I want that. The looks is spot on. Wow.

One of the things I’ve been recently working on is a translation of a tale by the brothers Grimm. The tale is one of the better known stories but not as famous as “Cinderella” or “Little Red Riding Hood”. I’m trying to find my own way through this and since I’m not going to twist the story itself too much (there are better ones for doing that) it will be done by changing the looks drastically. The sketches shown here are a step into the right direction but I’m still not entirely there. I think I will remove hands and feet and replace these with stranger things such as tentacles.

By the way, you need something for your ass but you’re bored with the constant white and pink? Try the new Renova Toilet Tissue.

Some strange spooky characters have been haunting my head lately. I kind of enjoy drawings these things and I think I’m going to channel this into the current project in my illustration class as I plan to make a new version of a Grimm’s tale called “Jorinde and Joringel”.

Additionally I’m also working on a very short animated clip featuring three animal characters. A self-centered rhino, a depressed bunny and a zebra. I’m enjoying the character design part a bit too much starting that before the storyboard (and a strange doodle). I’m quite happy with the way these turned out. Again, something I did while working at the call-center…

Whoa. Lots of things have been going on here in the last few weeks. We’re trying to come up with a way to raise enough money to get our annual “Triebwerk” book printed. I volunteered to be the one who kicks everyone else’s ass to ask for ads and sponsoring. So far we’ve got around 2000 Euros but still need a lot more. Of course we had a big party to support all this as well. Still, it seems not all too likely that we’re able to raise enough. We need about 5000 Euro so if you know anyone who would be willing to donate money or have a good-looking ad, contact me immediately via the comments.

Here is the official fundraiser poster done by the ingenious Michael Meier:

Speaking of whom, reminds me of one of the things I’ve been working on these days. Michael is currently working on his finals and he asked me to contribute to his theoretical part by making a video-tutorial. Specifically a tutorial on Illustrator magic. It turned out to be quite a huge job because I wanted to experiment with some new techniques that I hadn’t used ever before. Transparency masking was one of these. Anyways, here is a small version of the big picture (I will posts this and some other stuff in my yet-to-annouce download-section). Maybe even the tutorial if I get around translating and cutting it down to a manageable size…

Last but not least here are some quickies I’ve produced in a few hours. The “Rotos” were made for a little sticker-exchange-trade I’m participating in. Everybody within the group produces some work which gets send to one person that collects and distributes all of the stuff. Even though I tried not to work too much on these it turned out to be quite an effort to produce nearly 20 unique postcard sized illustrations. Since I don’t want to spoil all the fun I will only show off the three I like best. The keen eye will have spotted the similarities between the postcard for my friend Johannes.

Lastly, here is a link to an interesting ‘machinima’ short-film using Counter-Strike™ as medium. Deviation pictures a soldier questioning the motifs of him an his squad and their never ending circle of violence…