ST. KÖNIGSHAUSEN • Graphic Design • Illustration • Comic

  Book Cover for "Geradeaus ist gerade aus". Do you remember the 90s - the last analog decade? The author tells in this 324 pager the journey of Robert a twenty-something . How will he finde his way in a time of break-ups, when everything seemed possible and the future is only slowly taking shape? You can grab your edition at amazon and find a way.

    A look into my sketchbook. Basic concept for the Book Cover "Geradeaus ist gerade aus". It´s the story of a young man in the 90s - the last analog decade. The author tells the journey of Robert a twenty-something . How will he finde his way in this time of break-ups, when everything seemed possible and the future is only slowly taking shape?

  Sketching and letting the idea take shape.     Proper outlines on the Watercolour Paper. Soak a dark tea with little water. Create the paintings background with different layerings of tea wash. Add some details with the tea to shape the white foxspirits. And use Watercolours for the tea cups.                            The final pair of "The Tea Foxspirits" with poem and signet seal.

A pair of 2 Watercolours on Water colour paper 20 cm x 40 cm.  The brown shades are made of tea. I wrote a poem on both of the pictures. It´s  inspired by drinking chinese tea (gonfu cha). More about chinese tea culture on Wikipedia.   The poem on the first picture says: "Stiller Nebel, duftender Tau... ( Silent Haze, Fragrant Dew...)                                     And the poem continues on the second picture:   ... der Fuchs unsichtbar lacht" (The Foxspirit Laughts Silently).   The calligraphy is inspired by chinese characters, the letters written from top to bottom.    

I´m the Nemo Fox Pictogram of St. Königshausen – developed from the Fox-Profil-Picture (below). The first step to make a Pictogram with high recognition is to simplify the shape and to find out what details are not essential for the design. I made a few quick thumbnail sketches of the Nemo Fox to find the right balance between a stylized design on the one hand and not to lose the characters important characteristics on the other hand.       The next step is the digital compostion of the Fox. The definition of the design, to define the coloring and to make sure the pictogram is working in small sizes too.    Voilà! The finished pictogram in context with typography, ready to be used as Facebook-Header for St. Königshausen :) https://www.facebook.com/st.koenigshausen/

The Dreaming Fox − Acrylpainting on Canvas, 15 cm x 15 cm.            

Everything started with a spontaneous idea that I had to scribble into my sketchbook at once. A few days later I started to work on the picture. I made a sketch of the Dreaming Fox in the intended final size. After that it took time to find the right colours. First I thought of a dark night sky but later I´ve decided to paint a sunset.    The Dreaming Fox is ready to fly!

  I had a rough idea of the picture already in my mind and started directly the scribble in the intended size.                 For the coloring I worked with complementary colors. After that I applied strong black outlines to give the picture a Comic-Style.                 The finished picture. Nemo Fox is ready to take a sip of delicious tea and planning of new creative stuff.

Maneki-neko Waterpainting on Water Colour Paper 20 cm x 40 cm.  I used different layers of tea to create the background and watercolour for the other colours. Maneki-neko (the beckoning cat) is the notorious japanese lucky charm. Maneki-nekos come in all kinds of colours. But the traditional colour combination of white, gold and black is regarded to be the best for ultimate Maneki-neko Good-Luck-Power. You can find more about Maneki-neko on Wikipedia.   I painted the Maneki-neko Picture two times with different "Good Wishes" in Kanji on it.