Have you already
discovered the magnificent artwork of German author and illustrator Torben
Kuhlmann?
If not, read on and you'll be pleasantly surprised by his talent!
And even if you have, there still are interesting interviews ahead 😉
This is one of my all-time favourite illustrators!
His realistic drawing style is just amazing and having read his latest book Einstein the time has now come to dive into his artwork together 😄
It all started 10 years ago in
Germany, where in June 2012 Torben Kuhlmann graduated at the Hamburg University
of Applied Science.
He studied
'Illustration and communications design' there and chose 'book illustration' as
his main subject. As his final work he
had to create a book. Thus he wrote and
illustrated his first children's book 'Lindbergh - The Tale of a Flying Mouse',
which quickly became a bestseller.
Other mouse
adventures followed: Armstrong (2016), Edison (2018) and Einstein (2021). All these books are
both illustrated ánd written by Torben Kuhlmann.
He also made the drawings for other books like Moletown (where there's no text
at all) and The clown said no (written by the founder of NordSüd Verlag as you
can read in my review here) and according to his website he also makes
illustrations for several other projects.
As mentioned above, there are now four books where mice play the main role:
- Armstrong (my personal favourite)
- Edison (although I really loved the pictures, I'm more of a Tesla-fan and thus rather dislike all glorification of Edison who exploited people)
- Einstein
The beautiful
pictures are what attracts me most in these books.
But it's really nice to see that Torben also has a very creative imagination
that always links his own stories to those of famous people in the STEM-world.
It adds a nice touch which makes these books also very suitable for educational
purposes. Did you know that for each of them there's a teacher's guide
available? This is the one for Einstein.
On the website of
publisher NorthSouth Books, there's an overview of all the Mouse Adventures
(and of Moletown and The clown said no).
By clicking on 'read more' you can access further information on each
book.
If you'd like to get a sneak peek and discover some of the wonderful drawings,
just click 'reading preview' under the cover.
For those who wish to use these books for educational purposes, there are
'teacher's resources' available under each cover as well.
To give you a taste,
here are the special book trailers made for each of these titles:
Curious
to know more about Torben Kuhlmann and his way of working?
Then you're welcome to watch an interesting 'behind the scenes' of Einstein
(2 min).
Followed by two interviews: a short and a long one (7 min and 44 min),
depending on your time and interest 😉
As Ron Wild said: "Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child."
In fact, that's what
Torben Kuhlmann seems to do in every one of his books.
And that's why both children and adults alike will marvel at his artwork and
stories.
Still want more? Make sure to take a look around his website https://www.torben-kuhlmann.com/!
Well, Tau, once again you managed to introduce someone I never heard of before. What else is new, right? I enjoyed the teasers, beautifully done, with minimal animation and well chosen music scores. But I was particularly impressed with the "behind the scenes" story. It is fascinating to see how such an illustration comes about. Assuredly, it is a time consuming procedure, but the result is stunning, his drawings having that sort of dreamy-like glow to them, whil being very lifelike at the same time. Also, the combination of older elements like the old book store with more modern props like the parked cars outside from the sixties is eye-catching. The artist has a wandering and creative mind, it woud seem. I sure wish I could draw like that. I only listened to the short interview for now - made me chuckle, because the accent of the artist in English is exactly what you would expect from a German, almost cartoonesque.
ReplyDeleteReally, Bohse?
DeleteGlad that I was able to surprise you once more!
Actually, I thought that by now everyone would know this amazing artist.
But in fact he's just like you, an extremely talented person who still has to conquer the world 😄
And I'll gladly help him to do so 😉
It certainly is very fascinating to look behind the scenes.
His drawings are amazing and it was new to me too to see how he made them from scratch.
I totally love that dreamy-like glow you talk about!
And it's exactly thát which totally attracts me in his illustrations.
While they're very lifelike, they have this artistic aura at the very same time 😉
A wandering and creative mind ... I totally agree with you on that.
And that's one of the things that really enthusiasm me more than anything else in life.
But you already knew that, don't you? 😉
Yes, it's funny to listen to him answering in English while it's not his mother tongue.
And on the other hand, it's just part of his boyish charm, don't you think? 😋
By the way, Tau, I see that my comment above immediately appears on your blog now, not like before and without you checking whether I'm not some kind of dangerous psycho. Is that new/intentional? Just giving you the heads up.
ReplyDeleteAs we discussed at Hebban: from now on you get the VIP treatment!
DeleteNo seriously, we just happened to be online at the same time and I immediately approved your reaction 😉
So I'd say: don't worry and have no fear!
I'll keep the dangerous psychos out of here 😋