Author: derekroczen

Klett und Balmer, Die Sprachstarken 9/ Romulus der Große

comic, Dürrenmatt, illustration, Romulus der Große, School Book Illustration Das Morgenessen

This was a comic strip for Klett and Balmer “die Sprachstarken”. It illustrates a famous quip by Friedrich Dürrenmatt in which he defended his usage of Swiss words, after German critics had accused him of using dialect. Basically the Germans think Swiss is a German dialect and the Swiss think it is a separate language. I don´t want to comment on this. Romulus says Morgenessen instead of Frühstück (breakfast), and yells at his servant when he tries to correct him. I guess the play Romulus der Große is much more popular in Switzerland….

By the way I wish the Germans would spend so much diligence and love on their schoolbooks. They really do an amazing job at Klett and Balmer.

romulus_bw_derekroczen

N

illustration, portrait

Like always, I can´t actually show what I am working on right now. I just finished the design for new episodes for a pilot of Planet Wissen and Image films for the Kuveyt Türk bank and like always in July a Christmas card. I am working on a new children´s book about Pirates, which seem to become a habit.

So these drawings are what I fill my spare time with. At least a part of it… The left one is quite recent, the right one from last year.

Die Kuh muss vom Eis

illustration

kuhaufeis

I like stuff that makes sense in one Language and turns surreal in another. This was a quote by Jean Claude Junckers, shortly before the agreement with Greece was reached. I don´t want to comment on that, but it leaves a sour aftertaste for everyone involved and I feel sorry for the Greeks.

Die Kuh vom Eis bringen (get the cow off the ice)means to handle a delicate situation.

Affordable Art Fair Sketches

Animation

I finished a clip for the Affordable Art Fair in Hamburg last week. I have to refrain from showing the clip, because it is not released yet. The theme was roughly Beatles related, so I wasted some time thinking of something that would have resembled I met the Walrus (the Canadian film that won an Oscar for best animated short)and would probably have caused lots of copyright problems. The final clip doesn´t look anything like these drawings (and doesn´t infringe any copyrights), so before they disappear I thought I ´d show them on my blog….

I am a big Beatles fan, which probably caused my imagination to run a little too wild.

Holiday in Cologne

sketch

This looks like the sketches I do when I am on holiday. Unfortunately I am not. but the people I drew were. This was made near the Schokoladenmuseum (chocolate museum, for those who haven´t guessed) which is one of the most touristy areas of Cologne. It has big advantages for sketching, you won´t meet people you know and everyone is moving in a different space time continuum (a very slow one, which is good for watching people) . But a nightmare if you´re in a hurry trying to cross that area by bike.

Nippes

Uncategorized

This is a house in Köln Nippes (probably Merheimerstr). I always enjoy sketching when abroad and don´t do that very often. So I thought I´ll just choose something around the corner. One of the worst things about looking for a place to draw is the lack of something to sit on. I made a lot of comparatively boring drawings because I had to compromise. Drawing something around the corner has the big advantage that you can bring a chair with you…

I should do this more often….

koelnhaus