Illustrations for “Brandopfer” and “Maskenhandlungen” by Malte S. Sembten, 2012
Maskenhandlungen
Brandopfer
Dritte und vierte Illustration für die Kurzgeschichtensammlung Maskenhandlungen von Malte S. Sembten, die Anfang 2013 erscheinen soll. Nummer 1 und 2 hier und hier.
Fantastic Artzine, 2012
Homage to the German horror/fantastic fandom and the fanzines of the 80s and 90s, initiated by Lutz Buchholz, designed by Michael Marrak.
Introduction by Carsten Scheibe, afterword by Horst von Allwörden. Illustrations by Stefan Atzenhofer, Manfred Lafrentz, Klaus G. Schimanski, Fabian Fröhlich, Christian Seipp, Maikel Das, Tomas Knip, Malte S. Sembten, Jürgen Höreth, Thomas Hofmann, Katja Braasch, Michael Marrak, Rainer F. Engel, Lars Vollbrecht and Lutz Buchholz. Cover illustration: Raven of Light (Lutz Buchholz).
68 pages, DIN A5, colour cover, 10 EURO + postage, orders: ravenoflight@web.de
Edgar Allan Poe – Ultima Thule (Illustration for “Das Spukschloss” (The Haunted Palace) by Malte S. Sembten), 2012
Fassung 4
“March 22.- The darkness had materially increased, relieved only by the glare of the water thrown back from the white curtain before us. Many gigantic and pallidly white birds flew continuously now from beyond the veil, and their scream was the eternal Tekeli-li! as they retreated from our vision. Hereupon Nu-Nu stirred in the bottom of the boat; but upon touching him, we found his spirit departed. And now we rushed into the embraces of the cataract, where a chasm threw itself open to receive us. But there arose in our pathway a shrouded human figure, very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men. And the hue of the skin of the figure was of the perfect whiteness of the snow.”
Edgar Allan Poe, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket (1838)
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“Im Gegensatz zu den modernen Zeugen war Poe aus seinem Todeserlebnis nicht angstfrei und sinnerfüllt hervorgegangen. Dazu genügte ein Blick auf seine fotographischen Konterfeis der letzten Jahre, bis hin zu jener Daguerreotypie Edwin H. Manchesters vom 9. November 1848, die Sarah Helen Whitman das ›Ultima Thule‹-Portrait‹ taufte — ›als sei er eben noch dem äußersten Weltenrand des Schreckens entrissen worden‹, wie sie es beschrieb – und mit vier Zeilen seines Gedichtes ›Dreamland‹ aus dem Jahre 1844 versah:
I have reached these lands but newly
From an ultimate dim Thule —
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime
Out of SPACE — out of TIME.”
Malte S. Sembten, “Das Spukschloss” (The Haunted Palace)
Detail
Die drawing is an illustration for a short story collection by Malte S. Sembten to be published in 2013. My starting pont was the “Ultima Thule” Portrait of Poe, his novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and of course Malte’s short stories that includes references to both.
The image is a black ink drawing, drawn in negative, scanned and inverted with Photoshop, to get the white lines on black background. Because you don’t really get the picture while you are drawing, I scanned it several times to look at the interim results – fortunately, because only because of that the third version was preserved, which is maybe better than the finished one, though it is not quite what I intended, less light and “antarctic”.
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- Fassung 1 (invertiert)
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- Fassung 2 (invertiert)
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- Fassung 3 (invertiert)
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- Fassung 4 (fertige Zeichnung, nicht invertiert)
Illustration for the Short Story “Das Sandmädchen” (The Sandgirl) by Malte S. Sembten
Detail
The drawing is the first finished illustration for a story collection by Malte S. Sembten, to be published in 2013. There will be round about a dozen illustrations, one for each story.
I have worked with Malte now and then during the last 20 years, but this is the first time I have the pleasure to illustrate his stories.
Illustration for the Horror Pulp Series Vampira, Traumzeit-Dämonen (Dreamtime Demons), 2011
Wondjina
“Sydney, Nielsen Park.
Ein Lied war verstummt.
Auch hier auf dem felsigen Plateau, in den eingemeißelten, uralten Symbolen, in denen sich das Dunkel der Nacht spiegelte.
Überall rundum lag Schnee, der am Abend gefallen war. Eine fingerdicke Schicht.
Finger…Jaaa…!
Ein Finger nach dem anderen kroch aus dem harten Stein, formte und blähte die Asche, die hier vor Wochen niedergeregnet war, bis eine schwarze, verbrannte Hand und ein schwarzer, verbrannter Arm sichtbar wurden und eine geballte Faust – ganz Drohung – sich zum Himmel ballte.
Der plötzliche Temperatursturz ließ die sonst auch nachts üblichen Parkbesucher fernbleiben.
SCHADE…!
Das nahe Rauschen des Meeres bildete die einzige Geräuschkulisse.
Eine zweite Hand, ein zweiter Arm wurden sichtbar. Dann Kopf und Schulter. Wie verbrannt oder zerschmolzen auch sie. Kohleschwarz. Hart und doch geschmeidig. STARK.”
Adrian Doyle (Manfred Weinland), Vampira vol. 13, Traumzeit-Dämonen, © Bastei
Der pulp novel will be published on october 18 – with my cover illustration, but unfortunately without this drawing because it was forgotten by the typesetter. The drawing was published two months later in no. 17.
Illustrations for Kinder des Judas (Children of Judas) by Markus Heitz, 2011
The human body is a wonderful construction, my daughter
The Umbra in the library
With these two drawings I entered a contest announced by neobooks (Droemer Knaur); they appeared on the publisher’s website. I didn’t win, but at least I was inspired to draw two pictures I really like.
