Eike König’s students create a courageous calendar featuring a host of exciting illustrative talent

Courage is one of the foremost characteristics any graduate needs when they leave school or university. This is often true of the creative industry more than many other trades as students are expected to get out there, show off their work and network despite never really doing it before. This expectation of courage is the focus of a new calendar by students in Eike König’s class at HfG Offenbach and includes some familiar illustration faces, but also a host of very, very exciting new talent.

“The calendar deals with different expectations and aspects around the timeless theme,” the calendar team tell It’s Nice That. “Like being afraid of something or the opportunity to take the step forward, take a look behind and jump further. Fight for it!” Consequently, each illustration is full of personality, whether it be morphing a number into its own character on the cover, or details that show relatable courage but in a silly way, such as one character leaning out of its car window to lick a cactus. “Every month is kinda diverse and unique but somehow they have something in common.”

The theme of courage was decided aptly by the group of students to describe “our work experience as a young creative, to try things out, not to have fear about ourself others”. In turn, the whole process of creating the calendar took courage to make as well, considering there were 12 illustrators to organise and work together with.

Initiated by illustrator Kijong Kim (who features as January in the calendar) he enlisted mostly students from different creative fields such as graphic design and illustration to fill the months of the year. “We decided to make things by ourselves, which got us to experience self publishing, and at the same time what it takes to work, discuss and learn from each other,” he explains. “It took our courage to take the step through the whole production.”

Some styles you may recognise come from illustrator Jan Buchczik and graphic designer Timo Lenzen, but the standard and imaginative nature of Eike’s students have got us on our toes to see what they do next. To buy the calendar and encourage to take a leap each month in 2018 you can purchase it here.