Fabian Fröhlich | Fantastische Illustrationen | Fantastic Illustrations

Posts tagged “Painting

Vampira Vol. 13, Traumzeit-Dämonen (Dreamtime Demons) – The Making of a Pulp Cover Illustration

Vampira, Traumzeit-Dämonen, Detail

Detail

Vampira, Traumzeit-Dämonen

Bd. 13

“In diesem Augenblick materialisierte vor ihr etwas, das die Unwirklichkeit verdichtete: Ein gewaltiger über dem roten Sand schwebender Quader, der aussah wie ein Klotz aus tonnenschwerer Dunkelheit! Die ganze Schwärze des Universums schien an diesem einen Punkt zusammengeballt zu sein, in einen Würfel gepresst, dessen Kanten und Konturen geschliffen scharf wirkten.

Lilith stockte der Atem Alle ihre Sinne konzentrierten sich auf diesen Block aus Finsternis, aus dessen Unterteil plötzlich gezackte Blitze in den Wüstenboden stießen und Sandfontänen aufwarfen. Lilith wurde von ein paar der “elektrisch” aufgeladenen Körnern getroffen. Sie prasselten gegen die Hülle des Symbionten, der die Form eines rückenfreien, vorn aber bis zum Hals geschlossenen Catsuits angenommen hatte. (…)

Die äscherne Aura hüllte Lilith erneut ein. Eng anliegend wie eine dritte Haut, wenn man den Symbionten als zweite einstufte. (…) Zentimeter trennten Lilith noch von dem schwebenden Koloss, in dem sich – sie sah es jetzt deutlich – schreckliche, schemenhafte Gestalten tummelten.(…) Und wieder machte sie einen Schritt, den sie gar nicht wollte. Berührte noch nicht selbst, aber mit der äschernen Aura das Domizil der entarteten Wondjinas! (…)

Vor Lilith schnellte etwas aus dem dunklen Vorhang. Etwas, das wie ein narbiger, furunkelübersähter, eiternder Arm aussah, aber keiner sein konnte. Es war nur der Abdruck eines Dings, das dort, woher es auf Lilith zustieß, keine Form besaß. (…) Immer mehr Arme und andere, menschlichen Extremitäten nachempfundene Extremitäten stießen aus em nachtschwarzen Quader.”

From: Adrian Doyle (Manfred Weinland), Traumzeit-Dämonen (Dreamtime Demons) und Apokalypse (Apocalypse), Vampira Bd. 13 und 14, © Bastei

 

Vampira Band 13, Traumzeit-Dämonen, Titelbild

Ursprüngliches Titelbild von 1995

Vampira Band 13, Traumzeit-Dämonen, Cover 1995

Ursprüngliches Cover von 1995

The original cover illustration for volume 13 of the horror pulp series Vampira from 1995 was based on a brief description by the editor: Australian outback, in the foreground the series’ protagonist, dressed in a black, back free catsuit, in the backgound a huge, black, hovering cube, sending flashes of lightning to the red desert below; in its inside shadowy demons.

What I had in my mind when I created the painting back then was a little bit of a mixture between Caspar David Friedrich, Edgar Ende and Kubricks 2001 (the black monoliths), a rather unspectacular, calm scene. The deep blackness of the cube was more important to me than the demons, and because of that I only hinted at them with a few brushstrokes.

I do like some things about the painting, but in general it did not turn out as I imagined, and the figure in the foreground has its weaknesses, too (a really big head, for example). The cube was digitally lightened for print, with the result that neither the monolith was black as it should have been, nor the demons became more recognisable (simply because i did not really paint them).

The new edition of the series in 2011 provided the opportunity to paint the same scene again with quite a different approach – less like a Caspar David Friedrich painting and more dramatic, the flashes of lightning more vivid, the cube much closer to the foreground and really black, but without making the demons disappear in this blackness.

The pencil drawings are DIN A4; the finished drawing was enlarged and transfered to painting cardboard (40 x 55 cm). For the first, rather sketchy colour layer I always use acrylyc, basically to try different colours and to define light and shadow.

 

After I had finished the acrylic layer, I did not like the demons’ claws anymore and changed them to more human looking hands, using my own hands as a reference.


On top of the acrylic paint came two complete layers of oil paint plus additional details. For the “ashlike aura”, as it is described in the novel, and the sparks of light I used toothbrushes. The last step was to paint the whites cores of the lightning flashes.


 

Vampira Band 13, Traumzeit-Dämonen, Detail

Detail

The pulp novel was published on october 18.


Cover Illustrations for a New Edition of the Pulp Series Vampira, 1994/1995/2011

 

On may 3, 2011, Bastei started the the relaunched edition of the bi-weekly horror pulp series Vampira. Volume 3 and 7 display reprints of two of my cover images from 1994 and 1995. A brand new cover illustration will follow in october. More about Vampira and more images in the article about the original series from the 90s.

Covers: © Bastei Lübbe


Red Alert, 2009

Red Alert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm. The painting is a hommage to Red Alert by Hito Steyerl, one of my favorite pieces shown at documenta 12 in 2008.

 


London Underground, 2007

Fabian Fröhlich, Oil painting, London Underground, Victoria

Victoria


Fabian Fröhlich, London Underground, Northern Line

Northern


Fabian Fröhlich, London Underground, Jublilee Line

Jubilee

Öl auf Leinwand, jeweils 60 x 50 cm. Die Gemälde basieren auf Fotos, die ich 2006 in London gemacht habe.

 

Oil on canvas, 60 x 50 cm each. The paintings are based on photos I took in 2006.

 


Untitled, 2000

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oil on canvas, 50 x 80 cm.

 


Cover Illustrations for the Pulp Series Maddrax, 2000

 

Maddrax, Götter und Barbaren

Götter und Barbaren

Maddrax is a German pulp series published biweekly by Bastei since 2000. The series is a genre mixture of science-fiction, horror and fantasy and evolves around the former United Air Force pilot Matthew Drax who has been transported some 500 years into a post-apocalyptic future.

In addition to the black-and-white title page, used till vol. 100, I contributed two cover illustrations, according to the editor’s descriptions.

The authors of these two novels are Jo Zybell (vol. 10) and Bernd Frenz (vol. 22).

More on Maddrax in the Maddrax Wiki or in a current Deutschlandfunk post.

Covers: © Bastei Lübbe

 

 

 


Illustrations for “The Alchemy of the Throat” and “The Dripping of Sundered Wineskins” by Brian Hodge, 1999

 

The book Von Heiligen und Mördern, a collection of two loosely connected novellettes by Brian Hodge, was edited by Frank Festa as part of his Edition Metzengerstein and published by Blitz. Initially they were published within  Poppy Z. Brite’s anthologies Love in Vain 1 (1994) und 2 (1995). The first novelette, “The Alchemy of the Throat” (Die Alchemie der Stimme), was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, the second,”The Dripping of Sundered Wineskins” (Von Heiligen und Mördern), for the World Fantasy Award.

I love both stories deeply, to work with them and to create these 13 drawings was pure joy.

The book cover was designed by Malte S. Sembten, based on two black-and-white, Celtic inspired initials that I painted with acrylic.

Cover: © Blitz


Illustrations for Edition Metzengerstein and Festa, 1996–98

Henry S. Whitehead was an American writer of horror and fantasy fiction and a friend of H.P. Lovecraft. His portrait (embellished with details from his stories “The Chadburne Episode”, “Scar Tissue” and “Bothon”) was a commission for the short fiction collection Der persische Ghoul. The book was edited by Marco Frenschkowsky, translated and designed by Malte S. Sembten. and published within Frank Festa’s Edition Metzengerstein in 1996.

The acrylic painting portraying H.P. Lovecraft was used as a interior illustration in Lovecrafts Dunke Idole, an anthology with Lovecrafts favorite authors, edited by Frank Festa in 2007.

The cover illustration for Die geheime Kammer by Eddie Angerhuber, also an acrylic painting, wasn’t used for the book. Regardless of whether you like the picture or not (I do like the privet hawk moth, but not the rest), I have to admit that it wouldn’t have matched the edition’s design.

A fourth commission for Edition Metzengerstein were the illustrations for Von Heiligen und Mördern by Brian Hodge.

Cover: © Festa