My Favourite Photoshop Pencil Brush

One of the brushes I use most for concepts and sketches is the Pencil Brush made by Koifishsushi on Deviantart. You can find and download the little awesome sucker HERE.

Above is the sketch and final painting I did for Schmidt for "Fühlzwerge". And even right now I use it for new sketches almost on a daily base. I like the smooth but traditional feeling of the brush a lot and the sketch tends to look more alive.
The only other -but real- pencil that gives me the same feeling is the Blackwing but being a leftie I tend to smudge it horribly and that's one of the reasons I use it only when I really think it's worth the hassle.
Nevertheless if you are into traditional sketches you might want to check out the Blackwing anyway. I have all three versions and can highly recommend these. If anybody is interested in sample pics let me know. :)
AND if you buy these anyway because they really *are* that awesome: Get yourself a long point pencil sharper as well. You will regret not having one at hand if you need one.

KAJAK merch @ Plötzlich am Meer

 

Jakob and Kaja prepare for the "Plötzlich am Meer" festival and we finally picked up the shirts and totes from the print company.
You can check out all different shirt and tote options on their facebook page:
Kajak-Music

and have a look at the awesome Phat Cat video:
YOUTUBE

Shirts and totes will be available at the festival. If you're not attending but want some goodies anyway poke them on facebook.

Something personal...

Since I already posted it on my Deviantart page... here we go. The occasion is nothing too "new" -at least not for us since we started to plan in December already. After nearly 7 years living happily "in sin" we'll tie the knot.

The card was printed by Laser-Line on 280 gr Mythos. If you ever consider getting something printed properly without much space for error make sure to check those things beforehand:
- have you chosen the right company for YOUR product
- do they offer a good support if you have any questions
- is the price reasonable
- what file format is required
- do they offer any job-options for the PDF-writer
- have you converted your image into the correct CMYK profile the company uses
- have you double checked the things above
- have a triple check on spelling and grammar... trust me, you'll regret it if you oversee something
- did you do a testprint and checked if everything fits
- what kind of paper do they offer and did you check the samples (I have a Black Box from Laser Line which came in REALLY handy)

I could add some more things and the final list is pretty long. Since a lot of stuff is happening at the moment I won't be able to post a lot in the next months but at least one of the reasons is a happy one. 

Sorrow

Usually I like to get asked if anyobdy wants to use my stuff for... anything... but since the music is so freaking wonderful...

Sorrow- 1988

Fühlzwerge -board game

"Fühlzwerge" will be released in September. It's a tactile game where you have to feel for the shapes of the different items.

The actual card illustrations were done by another illustrator- but are pretty cute nevertheless ;) It was fun to draw the characters... and a tooth gap.

The game costs around 15 Euro and can be purchased in stores, on Amazon and the online Schmidt Spiele shop.

Too hot!

 

It's so unbelievable hot right now in Berlin...Living in an old 19something building is normally wonderful but in summer you might experience the downside of awful temperatures. It's barely cooler than outside in the sun and we don't live at the highest floor (which normally means you get grilled thoroughly).

I wish I was at my parents being able to jump into one of the nearby lakes. Which is what we gonna do next week after checking their gardens and digging up the first potatoes this year. Yummy! After finding potatoes imported from Egypt in the supermarket -which is mind-boggling for me to be honest- I am again grateful for the "will dig for food" option we have.

 

 Personal weapon: having a lot of (warm) tea and ice at hand. I'm a big fan of Ben&Jerry's but the heavy ingredients are mostly sick day and "whoopee I swam 2 hours, ready for a yummy treat"-food. In summer I usually swap together frozen fruits, yoghurt or buttermilk, vanilla, if needed natural sweetener (I prefer NuNaturals stevia or... old school sugar) and seeds. Cheap, you know what's inside and it takes only some minutes.

 Even the cats are quite affected by the heat. Hantje just gets very calm and for her it's rare to not crave constant attention with a lot of mewing. She ends up napping at the weirdest places... be it in/on our towels or under the sofa.
Tretel just flops down everywhere while walking... sometimes we have to shove him aside with the foot because he ends up ... everywhere and most likely near a door.

 The (mostly) only good thing about summer: All the fruits O_O! Enjoy the huge summer selection of seasonal fruits while it lasts. We have the last local strawberries and blueberry season started which I was looking forward a lot. I admit I'm a foodie by heart.

I hope it gets cooler over the next couple of weeks. I can't skate over 27 degrees because 16 km skating in burning heat is simply insane :/ Even the marathon skaters I usually see on my route have been absent and that's kinda creepy. Being inside the appartment all the time is quite unnerving.

Let's pray for weather where you won't end up sticking permanently to your desk, paper or tablet.

Happy Cupcakes!

One of my motives made it into the Könitz Porzellan catalogue. You can get the big mug HERE and probably in stores selling Könitz. I think the big description is a bit weird but if it sells... oh well. >_<