Imagine a world before Covid. In that time (back in 2018), I was asked by Katharina, if I could draw an owl for her thesis on becoming a grief counselor. She had written a story intended to help children cope with their grief following the suicide of a parent. There existed no story like this for children. So Katharina wanted to make one, to have one, for her work with children she told me. We have known each other since back from school. We had both experienced a suicide among our friends. We didn’t live in the same city, I was in munich. Katharina was in Hildesheim. My first thought was this is impossible to illustrate. But after I had read this story, it was clear to me that I wanted to illustrate it. This story had to be told.
Now, imagine a world without digital meetings – yes, they existed, but not like they do today. We used to call each other, with this thing called phone (not a mobile one). Then we would discuss the characters, the storyboard and the colours and overall atmosphere we wanted to achieve. Now this wasn’t just about “drawing an owl”. Very soon I had the idea of turning this story into a book. So now this was about making a book. A picture book.
Once we had established the overall atmosphere and the characters, I created the storyboard. At the time, I had a small sketchbook. It was the perfect size for a storyboard. The image above shows page three: it is a sketch of what would become a page in the book. When the storyboard-pages were set (again, after Katharina and me talked about them on the phone), I drew all pages with a black pencil (an example is shown in the title-image of this page). Then I colored it using a digital graphics tablet. I also painted a few brushstrokes with watercolors, which I then scanned. They were meant to give the digital images a more lively texture. I still use them in my digital work today.
Today it’s 2026, eight years later, and the demand for this story is not ending. We recently had a new edition printed.
What a delight it has been working together on this book.
To purchase a book, please send an email to: katharina.hohmann@gmx.net
We’re happy to help you.
