I mainly draw on an iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil using the drawing app Procreate. Before 2018, I worked with a Wacom Intuos Pro and Adobe Photoshop. For traditional sketching, I prefer graphite pencils, and for watercolors I have been using a small watercolor travel kit for many years.

I use a small selection of brushes, all of which are included in Procreate’s default brush library. You can find them directly in the basic Procreate brush set—no custom brushes needed.

My favorites are:

Sketching: Mechanical Pencil, HB Pencil
Basic: Niko Rull, Hard Round Brush
Texture: Stucco, Gesinski Ink, Shale Brush, Aurora, Dry Brush
Light Effects: Airbrush, Light Pencil

Because detail is an essential part of my art style, my work usually takes a long time. One artwork can take anywhere from 40 up to 150 hours to complete.

The concept sketch takes a maximum of 5 hours, and I usually plan 2–5 hours for the linework. Rendering the main elements requires the most time. Complex environments typically take about 40–80 hours on average.

As a child, I drew most of my inspiration from nature and loved creating very detailed scenes of animals in their natural environments using colored pencils.

At the age of 13, I proudly bought my first drawing tablet and began teaching myself digital painting in Photoshop through tutorials on YouTube and DeviantArt.

In the artworks I created during my teenage years, a strong influence from anime and manga is clearly visible. If you are interested, you can find a detailed overview of my artistic development here.

Inventing new worlds and imagining what fictional places might look like is what I love most about creating art. At that point, I set my goal to become a concept artist for movies and video games.

However, in 2012 it seemed that working in this field required attending an expensive private school for cinematic art and concept design. I couldn’t afford that, and due to several negative experiences with art teachers in school, I knew I would never attend art school.

That is why I decided to study comparative literature at the University of Erfurt to learn more about storytelling. Unfortunately, the program did not meet my expectations.

Still, despite the many setbacks I experienced in my early twenties, success came unexpectedly in the form of a colorful, geeky weekend in December 2016.

I didn’t know what to expect when I applied for a table in the Artist Alley at my first German Comic Con. On the very first day, I sold out, and the people I met there gave me a boost of confidence that lasted for months.

While I was still studying at university, I applied to more and more conventions, improved my booth setup, and built a website with an online shop.

I never had much confidence in myself, but when I was able to make a stable living from my art by the age of 25, I began calling myself a “professional artist” for the first time. I am deeply grateful for a job I didn’t even know existed ♥

Broadly speaking, nature and the work of other artists inspire me the most.

I am a huge fan of the artists behind Studio Ghibli. What I admire most about their work is the attention to detail, the simplicity, and the exceptionally high level of craftsmanship.

In general, I am inspired by any artwork, photograph, or movie scene that conveys a strong or unusual mood, features an interesting composition, or demonstrates a particularly well-executed technique.

Among the old masters, my greatest inspirations are Caspar David Friedrich, Vincent van Gogh, and Gustav Klimt.

Pop culture is another major source of inspiration for me.

I especially love the world-building and character arcs in Avatar: The Last Airbender. I also admire the adventurous spirit and charming creatures of the Pokémon universe, the dark tone of Death Note, and for many years I was deeply drawn to the tragic character destinies portrayed in The Walking Dead.

Creating my own worlds and storylines is highly inspiring to me as well. There is something special about getting lost in another universe. Whenever I need to fill a plot hole or develop a new character concept, I put on the right music—and ideas tend to flow naturally.