New York Times Op/Ed: The Forgotten Virtues of Tammany Hall

I had the great pleasure doing an Op/Ed for the New York Times last week, which ran the past Saturday. The article dealt with the landmark status for the Tammany Hall, the building that hosted the notorious and highly influential "political machine" that was synonymous with corruption in NY during the 1800s up until 1930s. But this article made the case that Tammany Hall actually helped some of the poor of New York City.

Op/Ed Art Director Matt Dorfman encouraged me to check out some of Thomas Nast's cartoons of that time, often ridiculing "Boss" Tweed and picturing him as a massive, over-sized figure, so I went from there. The first sketch shows the actual building and and a self-righteous Boss Tweed, as well as one of his underlings feeding the poor.

In the second version, I managed to make him more involved and boil the idea down better. And we got rid of the building altogether. All along, Matt and I went back and forth with layout screenshots, as this image plays with the page design in a subtle way, it's kind of open and not boxed in which is fun.

Here is the final result. Thanks again to Art Director Matt Dorfman for the great project and awesome collaboration!

Happy New Year!

Something just for fun– hope everybody is having a good start into the year!

100 ILLUSTRATORS by Taschen

I'm extremely honored to be part of this beautiful book by Taschen: 100 Illustrators sets out to showcase […] today’s most successful and important illustrators from around the globe […], and along many of my heroes, it features a few spreads about me.

This massive 2-volume book in a slipcase is decorated with all the self-portraits by the artists on the outside. Mine is on the back of the slipcase.

The Huffington Post already wrote some very nice things about the book and included it in their list of Best Art-Books of 2013. You can find more reviews and info on the Taschen website, where you can also order it directly.

Many thanks again to editors Julius Wiedemann and Steve Heller for including me and for creating such a fantastic showcase for illustration.

Which Way USA: Hawaii

My next book from the Which Way USA series for Highlights for Children is available now, this time it's Hawaii! This one was fun because the palette was a little different. Some of the pieces even made it into my recent show at the German Consulate General.


Here are some of the interiors:

You can order all the Which Way USA books from Highlights for Children through their website or through the magazine.

Thanks again to the lovely folks at Highlights and my art director Michele Weisman!

Happy Holidays 2013!

Enjoy the holidays! Have a great winter break, I'll see you in 2014!

Part of an illustration for the official holiday card of RWTH Aachen University

(Click to enlarge)

Journey Into Misery 5 begins tomorrow!

It begins tomorrow– The next chapter in THE BEHOLDER saga. On the blog, the full Journey Into Misery will be serialized for your viewing pleasure.

If you like what you see, why not order the book as a handsome hand-crafted pamphlet with block-printed cover, from BirdCageBottom Books!

Thanks for reading!

The Hills Are Alive!

…and They Have Eyes! And They Are coming For You!

Just a little bit of nonsense, inspired by last night's The Sound Of Music Live! on NBC. No harm meant, Kerry Underwood.

Illustration NOW! Calendar

Taschen has published a tear-off calendar based on their popular Illustration Now! publication, and here are the pieces that they picked from my images.

You can order the calendar on the Taschen Website. The perfect gift for you illustration-interested friends!




Previously, Taschen has produced another calendar project with the Illustration Now! Contributors, I wrote about it here.

Speaking of Taschen, I will also be part of their latest publication, 100 Illustrators, in which they compiled their favorite artists from all 4 of the Illustration Now! Volumes, which I'm very excited about, and I'll write about it once I get my copies.

Many thanks to Editors Julius Wiedemann and Nora Dohrmann!