In 5 weeks I will be moving out of the dorm in Ewersbach. Lots of stuff has accumulated over the last 5 years, and have been decluttering for several months. One big step: This week, I will have my old furniture/other big trash picked up. In German, we call this…
Some of you might know the guitarist/singer John Mayer. I'm kind of biased, but he is one of the best songwriters, guitarists and general intelligent artists of our time... and I was smiling over both ears when he published his new single yesterday: Last Train Home. It has a Toto/Eric…
It took a while, but I finally got the story sketches ready for "Ryan's Truck of Eggs!". You would think that 12 sketches don't take so long. But I've got a busy life. Who knows how the book develops, if I can illustrate it myself or let someone else do…
I did some more watercolor tests for my book "Ryan's Truck of Eggs". One page was just random drawings, the other was a test illustration for the book itself. I experimented a bit with brown paper and ink. I like the overall look but am not quite sure how to…
I still have a few sketches to do for my children's book "Ryan's Truck of Eggs". But I decided to still go ahead and do some color/style samples: Sketches on their own don't tell you what colors you would I use, or whether to use watercolor or collage or digital…
I've been working on my children's book sketches. Every few days I try to get one sketch done. But at lucky number 7, I hit a roadblock: the original layout felt boring, so I tried again. And again. And again. Finally, I had to let it sit before I could…
I am working on some sketches for my children's book "Ryan's Truck of Eggs". So far, half of the spreads are done. So far, the story follows Ryan from his boss to the town with ballerinas, over a mountainous construction site, past a fishing party, and into a tornado! He…
Way back last November, I had the idea to write a story based on the words "Operation Easter Island". Some brainstorms, a long break and more edits later, here is a somewhat stable draft of the story and some concept sketches (the numbers represent double-page spreads, like what you see…
I've written on several occasions before. Family parties, school dedications, friend's birthdays or just for my own enjoyment. But so far, I haven't been officially published beyond those kinds of settings. Well, that just changed: I got to sign my first contract with a small publisher in Germany (SCM Verlag)!…
This is it, guys: my last blog post of the 2010s. I thought I'd join the fun of recaps and share my top moments of 2019, my top 3 moments of the 2010s, and some goals for 2020. Recap 2019: Top 10 These are loosely in order of their occurrence.…
It's Christmas. I just had dinner with my family and got some writing cubes as a gift. Time for some rest until school starts up again. Before I got home, I had 5 days to finish writing a sermon, give a presentation, do prep research to write 2 exegetical papers,…
The classroom was divided into three parts: a classic "classroom" with the projector and student seats, a stage area with random props, and a craft area with colored paper and other art supplies: Yesterday was another round of my "creativity in the church" seminar - during which a participant called…
On Friday morning at 8.30, I got on a bus in Heidelberg, bound towards Zürich. I spent the weekend at a conference for children's book authors and illustrators, the SCBWI Europolitan. SCBWI is the "Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators" and offers connection and opportunities to grow in your…
A few posts ago, I mentioned that I was brainstorming for new story ideas. One of them was the word "pineapple juice". I just liked the sound of it and thought it would make a great title. So, a few weeks later, this is what came out of it: A…
"Somehow something is Missing!": I have been working on this children's book project for 3 months. And in the last 3 days, I was working almost all day on the last illustrations. The result: a book you can look at from start to finish. It's what you call a "dummy…