ATAK German Illustrator

ATAK aka Georg Barber

He was born in Frankfurt but has lived and worked as an artist/comci artist/illustrator in Berlin for many years!

He is an Illustrator who's work I have been collecting since being in Berlin is ATAK. I recently have bought one of his prints which I am delighted with!



Today I bought a comic of his called 'Alice'. This is comic based on 'Alice in Wonderland' but with a different plot and a subversive edge. He is also included in the 'Die Tollen Hefte Series', with ADA - von Gertrude Stein
Die Tollen Hefte Nr.25 made in Septemaber 2005.

Alice



Die Tollen Hefte images





His images are all hand drawn with handwritten text also. He draws inspiration from many areas but prodominently from 1800 to 1900s. His images can be quite dark and wicked but there is a strong sense of humour and irony. They also have a strong sense of nostalgia.

I find his work really inspiring as I love his clever compositions, his reference points, his quirky characters and odd narratives. Also the way he makes them with lots of pattern, spots, naive line, colour and over lapping colour.

Research Project

I saw an amazing 'live animation' called "Horse Head"by the company Faulty Optic last year at Unity Theatre in Liverpool. The story is very surreal, it was about a circus acrobat who broke her leg in an acrobatic performance and then felt depressed about her lost life. Eventually she becomes the second half of a play horse.

The puppets, effects, the way they moved and the different ways of using scenery was really interesting. They had an actor on stage in character making all the sound effects with very low tech equipment.

I intend to contact them and see if I could look at how they made this and what they are doing currently. Furthermore, to see if I could make something for one of their productions...At least learn how. They do not have a website so I will have to go through untiy theatre.




(now contacted and found website...waiting for a reply from them)

For a time I have been making a set of circus characters so I would like to build upon this.

I would like to base this project on puppets used for theatre. I would like to look at the production of the puppets, how they are used throughout the production. I would like to look at back in time at the first production of puppets in theatre through to today.

lino cutting and other printing

Since being in Berlin, I can't stop cutting lino (and my hands with it). I cut 2 months of a calendar (January and September) on 40cmx40cm pieces of lino with 7 other illustrators here. We printed it this fantastic print house called Bethanian. Artisits can go and print for the day or do 6 months apprenticing, there are lots of options. Anyway we printed 120 of these calendars, to have a look go to www.hammeraue.de. There was lot of exciting work going on here. All sorts of printing from off set to etching. So it is great to see that traditional printing processes are still around, as thet are slowly dying out.
There are not just print workshops at Bethanian but sculpture and video etc etc. A big art house really in Kreuzberg. It used to be a hospital many years ago.

Lino cutting seems to be having a bit of a come back. I have come across quite a few people here who use this in their work, ie Henning Wagenbreth they uses this very traditional medium but the yet it still looks contemporary. Look on his website to see more. www.wagenbreth.de.
Linocutter to admire is most definitely Edward Bawden. Amazing skill, I never really realised untill I had cut my own. www.woodleapress.co.uk/ images/ebd4.gif one of his most spectacular cuts.
More on this later!

Jospeh von Eichendorff, Semester One Project

Main project for semester one was to illustrate six poems of Joseph von Eichendorff, a famous German romantic poet. Originally the idea was that the class would put all the illlustrations together to make a magazine, with other articles included, eg a portrait of Joseph von Eichendorff, poems that we have written etc.

Firstly we were told that the magazine would be printed in black and white with one colour.

in the making....

Seeing master's paintings without the crowds!

If visiting Berlin it is worth going to the Gemäldegalerie for Old Master Paintings without the crowds. I couldn't believe it, I could stand in front of one of the most famous images of Brueghel http://www.groupe-kuru.org/imagesautres/brueghel.jpg in absolute peace, on a Saturday!

It is situated at the Kulturforum Potsdamer Platz.

Two of the major sections are formed by Italian painting from the 13th to 16th century and Netherlandish painting of the 15th and 16th century.

http://www.smb.spk-berlin.de/smb/sammlungen/details.php?objectId=5

Scraper board!

This is one technique that seems to be popular amongst many German illustrators and artists. I remember doing this in Primary school and since then haven't thought of using this but the effect seems quite effective. Please see...


This is by Henning Wagenbreth. I think he has then taken the artwork and set to coloured backgrounds done on the computer.



To make scraper board you need,

Scraperboard is a sandwich of stiff backboard, hard white china clay and a surface of indian ink. You can buy it ready made but this is not so easy these days so you can make it instead quite easily. You need

- backboard or mount board
-powder chalk
-bone glue
-white pigment
-indian ink

Mix glue, chalk and pigment and paint onto board in several thin layers, letting it dry in between recoating. Then apply several layers of indian ink, letting it dry in between again. Then just scratch and scrape to create!

Sam Smith The Great Toy Maker!

In the summer I made a set of 3D fair ground/circus animals and people. Such as a tight rope walker, a trapeze artist and tiger. Someone who was so inspiring to me at this time ( and always ) is Sam Smith. He was born in 1908 in Southampton and was a son of a steam ship captain and this is clear in his work.
He is turned his hand to sculpture, toy-making, painting and was originally a draftsman.

His toys and other sculptures are beautiful! He created great characters, from devil like creatures, automata, many ships and all sorts...all carved from wood.

His tiger is better than mine for sure!



See it for yourself, please refer to .... www.sam-smith.org