The fascination for the post-apocalypse has been with humanity for a long time. An extremely imaginative subject that leaves room for speculation as to which doomsday scenario might occur. Is it a zombie apocalypse, a devastating nuclear war or a natural disaster of apocalyptic proportions?
The post-apocalypse begins after every scenario in which the world has experienced the worst. The world as we know it is in ruins, without global order there is chaos. Survivors develop survival strategies and forge a new future. But what if no human soul survived? How did this happen?
About two years ago I decided to paint my first dragon. I was very interested in the fascinating theme of the Middle Ages. However, the depiction of dragons in old cities and ruins is already very widespread, which is why I wanted to make something new. I imagined a dragon, not in a past era, but in our modern world during a post-apocalypse. Although the post-apocalypse is also a popular subject, I would like to raise the question: Why should a fantasy creature like a dragon not appear in today‘s and tomorrow‘s reality? Are post-apocalypse and fantastic creatures like dragons, elves, orcs and mages compatible?
In the course of these reflections, I have set about making this idea a reality, and I am in the process of writing my own fantasy story. So far, I don‘t know much about this world. The story takes place in our world, but in the distant future. It is a modern world as we know it, love it and hate it in the 21st century. But it lies lifeless, neglected and in ruins. In these places, powerful beings, referred to by humans as dragons, unfold their power. How well I find my idea tomorrow (;)) will determine how intensively I work on the world and the story. Here are the first results for now.
This was my first work that inspired me to create a post-apocalyptic world as a series of illustrations. Obviously, we humans regard the post-apocalypse as something terrible. Nevertheless, it was my intention to also present the aesthetic side of this scenario.
In the present time old and modern architecture can be seen side by side; ancient alongside new. In a similar way, I wanted to create a metaphor for the prehistoric dragon of one of our (post)modern world.
The project started with my sketch from 2022, from which I developed my illustration two years later.
The idea of my series of illustrations was to present different places. Because of my love for Scandinavia, I decided to illustrate a northern place in one of my paintings.
I made different character designs and choose later specific variant.
The process began with the development of different black and white compositions, from which I finally chose one. I then tried this variant with different color combinations.
The idea for an illustration of a ship came to me all of a sudden. Old ships carry a romantic character and tell their own stories. By including the ship, I tried to give a deeper insight into this post-apocalyptic world.
I designed several variants of the ship, with every detail telling something about the person who lived there during the apocalypse.
I made at the beginning sketches in black and white, from which I developed further colored sketches.
