Here is another little story I recently finished for a little group effort we’re putting together for the upcoming Comic Salon in Erlangen, Germany. The story will be available in a little booklet in the size of 15 cm by 15 cm (6″ x 6″). I will be at the Comic Salon as well for the first three days and if you’d like your copy signed just hit me up. Of course you can order it directly here as well as soon as it is available.

I hope the story is understandable even for non-German readers but just in case, here is a translation for the second page. Panel 1: “Your roast is delicious, Marie.” Panel 2: “Thanks marc, your wine is delicious as well.” Panel 3: “And Nina, what did you bring along?” Panel 6: “Me.”

Before I forget about posting this again. I am proud to be among the select few in this years volume of the “Triebwerk” the anthology of the illustration class of the school of art and design in Kassel. My contribution is the comic story I’ve been posting about earlier. And as further motivation here is the comic in its entire form (in German, of course). So, if you enjoy my story and want to support an upcoming group of new comic and illustration artists, please do not hesitate to shop for this and other great goods at rotopolpress. Now, if you happen to be in Germany, you might as well want to come to Kassel directly and check out the exhibition of original artwork at rotopol.

It’s been a while since I’ve shown you anything regarding the comic I am currently working on. As hinted in the comments and elsewhere I’ve spent some considerable time on reworking the story. At the moment I am focusing on the inking and hopefully I can progress to the coloring stage soon. Here is a peek into page 3 of the current state of the story. Inked but not colored and the dialogue is not present either, yet.

As if there were not already enough things to do I have also purchased a Nintendo DS. A major time sinkhole. Next to all the available games there is also an whole slew of “homebrew” applications crying for your attention. Actually one of these was the sole reason why I got the thing in the first place. “Colors!” is the name and it’s basically a very stripped down version of painter and it has everything one could ask for. Since the touchscreen of the DS has built-in pressure sensitivity one is able to paint with brushes of varying size and opacity. Very good for pinning down an idea quickly without having to search for the colored pencils and also quite handy for digital on-the-spot miniature plein-air painting (like taking a snapshot with your point-and-click camera).

Enough talking, here is my first try-out sketch.

Then, the day before yesterday, I realized I had this comic strip in my drawer and all I needed to do to finish it was the lettering…

And last but not least some random stuff from my sketchbook…

I am currently working on a four page short story comic. It is a true story and revolves losly around the subject of climate and the melting of ice. So far I am done with the storyboard and I am going to start with the finalization in the next days. I forgot to translate it in this version but I will do so for the next update. Until then you’ll have to make do with my little synopsis below.

The story starts with me and a friend sitting in a café during summertime. It is very hot and I express that I can not understand why my friend would drink a hot chocolate during a time like this. I continue with describing how the ice in my glass melts so fast that I can almost watch the process. While saying this I am reminded of a winter about 20 years ago that was so cold that the Baltic Sea almost completely. My parents, my brother and me made a trip out to the sea and were astonished to see big chunks of ice sticking out. Almost like the famous painting by Caspar David Friedrich. Of course my brother and me get very excited about all the ice and we come back to our parents with big pieces of ice that we want to take home as a souvenir. All efforts of our parents trying to tell us that ice won’t hold out for long are in vain and so we go back home. The story ends with me being surprised of seeing the ice turn into water…

If you have any questions or criticism to contribute I would love to hear it.