Our Chosen Instrument - #9 - Lars Henkel

Lars Henkel was born in Rome (1973) and grew up in Bonn, Germany. He studied illustration at the University of Applied Arts in Aachen and at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. 

Is it just me or can you see an eye too?

His work has appeared in books, CD covers, magazines and websites. He has received honours from the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration and 3x3. He has worked for Universal Records, Ride Snowboards, GEO Magazine, Büchergilde Gutenberg, Die Gestalten Verlag and other international clients. He lives and works in Berlin. 

His work can be found in www.larshenkel.com, https://www.behance.net/larshenkel, http://issuu.com/larshenkel. I also direct you to two interviews with Lars that show off his amazing artwork; the first with Mark Murphy and the second with Melissa Kojima. A portfolio of Lars' work can be found here and only for the price of 9 Euros. And a digital portfolio can be downloaded here. Both worth the time and money as a worthwhile investment. 

One of my inspirations - Heinrich Kley

Peter Elliott, one of the founding creatives of this collective, writes about one of his inspirations within the creative world:

Heinrich Kley

This German was born in, what is now the second largest city in the state of Baden-Württemberg in south west Germany, Karlsruhe on the 15th of April 863; he attended the city's Akademie where he studied "practical arts". He finished his studies in Munich where he first made a name for himself with his works on city scares, landscapes, historical paintings, portraiture and still life. It was in 1892 that Heinrich started to make his name as an industrial artist as the example from 1911 below shows:

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But what I admire about this German's work is what he did with a pencil, pen and ink. His sketches of anthropomorphic animals and his satirical views on the progress of nations that he submitted to the magazines Jugend and Simplicissimus. The former contributed to the start of the German art nouveau movement, Jugendstil. Here are a couple of examples of Heinrich Kley's outstanding pieces:

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It was with these pictures and many others that a Hollywood Studio boss found inspiration and thus the animated film, Fantasia, found two sequences - The Dance of the Hours and The Night on Bare (Bald) Mountain. An exhibition that was shown in both Paris, France and Montreal, Canada - a book of the 2007 exhibition is available at Amazon. Dover Publications has also published several books of his work. 

Heinrich Kley's death was has been recorded as the early 1940's, 1945 in Munich and the 8th of February 1952. Have a wander around his work