Cheers to Till Hafenbrak for some truly captivating illustrations

Date
22 June 2012

Cheers to Till Hafenbrak. Detailed, very well worked, and full of fun, the Berlin-based illustrator refreshes the traditional visual languages and processes of graphic design and reminds us of their extraordinary illustrative power.

Often using restricted palettes of only two or three colours, he conjures up creatures, cityscapes, and social situations that are nevertheless arrestingly appealing. Here and there, we see nods to older reproductive processes than the digital ones we currently take for granted. The details of Landscape with Fishermen, for example, bear resemblance to early twentieth-century woodcut pictograms, while many of his images either mimic, or are produced using, screenprinting processes. The overall result is that of carefully worked and juxtaposed shapes that vividly evoke landscapes, wildlife, aaaaand… Batman!

Hafenbrak is one of the three founder-members of Biografiktion , which was set up with two fellow classmates from the Universität der Künste Berlin (University of the Arts Berlin) when they graduated in 2009. Wunderbar!

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Till Hafenbrak: Human News. Cover illustration, Human News No. 2

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Till Hafenbrak: Forest Clearance 02. Edition Biografiktion

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Till Hafenbrak: Landscape with Fishermen

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Till Hafenbrak: Spaghettimonster

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Till Hafenbrak: People I’ve Never Met

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Till Hafenbrak: Medical Myths. Illustration for Indianapolis Monthly

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Till Hafenbrak: Moritz Epidor. Commission for Moritz Beer. Printed on coasters and as part of a special issue of Finerats Magazine, Barcelona

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Till Hafenbrak

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Till Hafenbrak: Javier’s Dream

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Till Hafenbrak: Annual Physical Exams. New York Times, 2012

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Till Hafenbrak: Time Travel

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