Jim Stoten illustrates the cover of SZ magazine’s music issue

Illustrator Jim Stoten does lots of things well. From his joyful interpretations of colourful portraiture on his visual album, to his Marmite ads and comics, we’ve been fans for a while.

So, imagine our thrill to find out that he has illustrated the cover for the music issue of Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany’s largest daily newspapers. We spotted the announcement earlier today and it cut through the gloomy London morning, with its pastel colour palette and joyfully surreal depiction of the joy of a musical moment. We’re captivated by the smiling acoustic guitar playing the keyboard and some percussive aid from a tiny little figure with legs that go all the way up to his face.

We grabbed Jim first thing this morning to ask about the cover. Speaking to It’s Nice That, he says, “The brief was superbly simple…music," he explains.

“The inspiration was just trying to show an unfiltered appreciation for the music I love. The story I wanted to tell was about my connection with music – both making and listening to it. It took about three days with some small amendments and changes. I think I’m going to try and do a print based on it for Christmas, if there’s time”.

Jim does what he does best and captures all the imagination of a single musical moment in all its strange and silly fun. The little flags say it all for us – emblazoned with a single exclamatory “Yeah!” totally summing up for the feeling of a really great song, when all you can say is well, yeah. While we hope for a Christmas treat, CZ is out on newsstands now.