Teefury

Words from the curator:

Heiko is a German illustrator with a very distinct and awesome style. I love it. With his trademark CMYK palette + whimsical characters and gadgetry, we see the pimpness that death rides. Be very, very afraid! 

Artist location: Heidelberg, Germany.

Tell us about this design.

The idea for this design has been simmering in my mind for quite some time now. It's a combination of two of my favourite things to draw: Heavy machinery and the grim reaper. I wanted it to be as heavy and terrifying as possible. It's turbo-charged death, just imagine that! 

How would you describe your art style?

It's a very accessible black and white line drawing based universe with dark undertones and candy colourd accents.

Are there recurring elements you like incorporating into your work?

I used to draw anthropomorphic pandas all of the time, because they're the quintessential black and white animal (And also, they're easy and fun to draw). I also did tons of comic skulls to weigh down the whimsicalness of my work a bit. Today I have three lines of work that I enjoy alternating between. The first is a whimsical universe with little critters, strange landscapes and high-tech machinery. Second there is a more dark line with references to areas like greek mythology. Third is a very minimal, colour-based, fun world which I mostly utilise for tee shirt designs. In case you were wondering, this design is part of the first approach.   

What's the most fun client project you've done?

It's a clear tie between two past projects. I once did snow board designs for three years in a row for Salomon sports. It's basically a big long canvas, so there was plenty of space to work with. The art director let me run wild on the designs, which was beautiful.

(Check them out here and here)

The other one would be illustrations for a line of flavoured vodka sold in flasks. I had great fun working constructively with the art director for that project and the finished packaging design won a ton of industry awards afterwards.

(Check it out here)

The best projects are ones where both artist and client/curator/art director learn from each other. A product without a soul can't be a good one.

Favorite websites?

drawn.ca

bigthink.com/blogs/strange-maps

bibliodyssey.blogspot.com

lillypiri.blogspot.com