Adam Mansbach
Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:57 am on May 6th
The illustration was for an interview with the writer Adam Mansbach. I asked the AD if I could do a portrait, but they already had plans for running a small photo at the end of the article. So a more conceptual solution would be the way. The article was the first in a series about jewish literature in America.
It was printed on the cover of the book section of kristeligt dagblad. i would have liked a little more room around the drawing, but you can’t always get what you want.
Looking for the next bestseller
Posted by Peter Hermann at 4:07 am on April 15th
A black and white illustration for Kristeligt Dagblads book review section. This for an article about publishing houses looking for the next bestseller. Very fun to do.
The illustration was cropped a little in print, but it still works the way I intended. Maybe even better.
Relationships
Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:58 am on April 8th
the final illustration.
I recently did some illustrations for the danish arena magazine. The art director was super cool to work with and gave me total freedom (low pay). The illustrations were lots of fun to do. This was for an article about relationships. And the author compared the success of a relationship to the flight of a bumblebee. The bumblebee should not be able to fly due to its weight, but hey it flies anyway. I wanted to draw a couple, just plain graphic drawing, and then a little bumblebee. I didn't do any sketches for this, just a bunch of brush drawings, trying to think out and feel the shape inside, before going for it on paper. I really like the girl (the hand belongs to the man). I also did a portrait for the same issue, you can see it here.
The girl. Drawn with brush on bond paper, cut out with scissors and pasted together with the man in photoshop... that's a comment on relationships all by it self.
Close-up on the girl. Colors added in photoshop.
As printed. I was told the layout would be a clean black and white, no photos or nothing.... surprise! well, it can't take away from the fun I had.
On stolen wheels
Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:56 am on April 7th
The illustration as it was delivered.
Another spread for the Danish magazine Samvirke. This time for an article about bicycle theft. A cyclist is stopped by the police for a random check and it turns out his bicycle is reported stolen. This puzzled the cyclist since he bought the bicycle at a store... But the owner at the store bought it used from a somewhat seedy character (the racoon), and he turns out to be the bicycle thief who started the whole ordeal. Originally this was a one page illustration, but a misunderstanding between me and the art director, left no room for text... so they had to rearrange other parts of the magazine to make room for the article to grow into a spread. Unfortunately they still had to crop a bit of the illustration to make room for the text.
This is how it was printed.
I inked all the characters on separate sheets, making for more free brush wielding but also for a somewhat disconnected picture. The AD wanted spring-like colors, and in retrospect I think a photoshop adjustment of the brushstrokes to a warm red might have worked better... but hey, too late now.
A closeup. The turtle is the cop.
I tried to repeat a past success, (bad move) and did the bicycle, the bolt cutter, lock and so on, in illustrator, making for some awkward interaction between a rhino and a... I call it a bicycle gone wrong. I'll take comfort in learning more from a failure than a success.
Lightning
Posted by Peter Hermann at 9:58 am on March 27th
This could have been on the section cover of the danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad a couple of weeks ago. But it's was rejected for being too powerful and direct. The articles main focus was a 14 year old boy who was hit by lightning and killed during a soccer practice. What thought ran through his co-players and coach at the time, how did they deal with the crisis in the following days. counselling and so on. I wanted to show a, yes powerful, image of a sudden act reminded all bystanders of their mortality, and to my the moment when the lightning hit showed this most clearly. I swallowed my pride after a short talk with the art director, and came up with a much more counsel oriented solution. they accepted. Still I would have loved to see this printed on the nice grainy newsprint.
J.D. asked about the illustration I did instead of the lightning one above. This is the illustration they printed. Because I did not see the potential problems in the first solution, I had very little time to execute this one before this one before the paper went to print.
Verbal terror
Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:09 am on March 19th
I did the illustration for the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, for an article about spousal abuse (not physical, but verbal). According to the article, a lot of women in Denmark (and most likely in every country of the world) are being terrorised by their spouses ongoing down putting remarks, rude comments, treats and cruel mind games, making them live a life in fear.
Doodles
Posted by Peter Hermann at 7:37 am on March 17th
my doodling is beginning to take over. last week i casually started what was suppose to a straight forward shopping note. i write the items in the order they are placed in the grocery. i jotted down kitchen towels near the bottom of the note... and then it happened. i could not control the ball-point pen and out of nowhere came this weird little racetrack scene. i have not been to a racetrack in about 15 year, last and only time was in Louisville, Kentucky. so where this came from i just don't know. should i seek help, or just use larger sheets of paper?
And this was not a lone incident. a few days ago, just when I thought it was safe to jot down the sequence of some new illustrations I wanted to put on my web site. constructive work to help getting more jobs... But the list went from readable to pure "road rage" when this off course duck racer entered the paper.
I'm considering quitting my job as an illustrator, but right now it seems like the only thing keeping me from doodling.
A fun one to do
Posted by Peter Hermann at 10:58 am on March 12th
The way the spread looked as it left my email.
I did this spread for the Danish magazine Samvirke back in mid january, and finally it saw print on the first of march. I'm very happy with the way it turned, with the exception of a little too tight cropping. I had free hands to incorporate the headline (in red) and the under title, is that the right name? (in the white singing balloon emerging from the crow). The assignment was half a spread, but I had so much fun I started to spread out the joy... and the two birds at the bottom right ended up being my favourites.
The spread as it was printed, and cropped a bit too tight for comfort.
Merry Christmas
Posted by Peter Hermann at 6:25 am on December 13th
I would like to wish you and your loved ones a merry christmas and a wonderful new year :)
A little over a year ago I got an email from Edel welcoming me to Drawger (at that time I had yet to get my invite), but a few days later the email from Zimm arrived... making me a little intolerable for some days. Picture the kid Eddie Murphy is portraying in Raw, singing "we got McDonalds!" over and over again. just substitute McDonalds with Drawger, and you know how I acted for the first days. I would like to thank you all for the amazing illustrations, family photos, sketches, opinions and behind-the-scenes you have all shared so generously. Your comments and emails have meant the world to me, and have given me the sometimes much needed extra fuel to grow as an artist and as a person. Thanks.
The doodle dandy
Posted by Peter Hermann at 8:40 am on November 20th
Lately I have been far to busy working for my usual amount of doodles to pour out of my sleeve. But I thought it was about time to collect a few of the lines I did manage to squeeze out while working for the man. All the doodles are in done with a black ball-point pen from BIC, my favourite tool for a long time now. Hope you'll enjoy them, I sure did.
