Today is World Book and Copyright Day. Since I didn’t have the time to draw a new picture, I went through my portfolios to see which of my older works might be suitable, and that’s where I stumbled upon my superheroine…

Copyright protects creative work and enables creators to make a living from their unique creations, to make others laugh, learn, or think, and to continue learning with every project, gradually becoming superheroes in their fields!

On the other hand, it’s more important than ever to protect our work from generative AI and – like superheroes! – to fight for copyright laws that are stronger, not weaker, and that also protect us from AI companies using all of our data to train their models without our consent or compensation, and replacing us with our own work.

My picture. My right. Thank you for the wonderful campaign, @illustratorenorganisation. Together, we are strong!

For Further Reading

Over the past two and a half years, I’ve written several articles on generative AI, which I update every few months. They list all the arguments, facts, and possible courses of action known to me (including those I’m referring to here!) and usually also provide direct links to articles with more details. The most relevant ones are:

★ Statement on Reading Aloud Day and the #BuchBrauchtMensch campaign – “Join in against generative AI!” ➔
★ Statement “No to AI-generated images” with my answers to the most frequently discussed questions (Part I) ➔
★ “What can we do against AI-generated images?” with a list of recommendations for creators (Part II) ➔

I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the fantastic Beauty-Matic drawing sessions that Erik von Gorr hosts via Zoom! In each session, 5–8 amazing models each present one-hour stories based on their own interpretation of a given theme.

On April 18th, our theme was The Addams Family, and because everyone was so enthusiastic about this incredibly brilliant, slightly bizarre and absolutely unique session (the recording is available and highly recommended!), Erik didn’t only start fabulous two-hour sessions with individual models, where they can elaborate on their characters and stories, but also invited us to contribute to a colouring book! For this first Beauty-Matic Coloring Book, I’ve drawn two poses of the gorgeous Argentinian actress Lara Angeles, who played Lara Addams, with a session staged in a library equipped with staircase and piano, and a story about her very special relationship with Cousin It.

Feel free to download and colour these pages! Please remember to tag me @irisluckhaus/@irisluckhaus.plus, the model Lara Angeles @laraangeles.modeloviva, and our host Erik von Gorr @erikvonerikvongorr when you post them.

You can find the sketches from the sessions themselves on my secondary Instagram profile @irisluckhaus.plus, which is dedicated to life drawing, sketching, experimentation, and the joy of imperfection.

Great Thanks to Lara, Erik and the Beautymatics! <3

The theme for the Exquisite Corpse Collective in February is “Witnessed,” chosen by Thomas, and once again, the models have all taken such fantastic photos of themselves that I didn’t even know where to start! I’ve digitally drawn and painted several of them, including Amélie and Emily, whom you can see above.

This digital drawing is based on a photo of the beautiful Mariangela, whose expressive pose really caught my eye. After adding a sand-colored paper background to highlight her white wig, I chose a color scheme similar to that of Trois Crayons: white, red, and brown-violet, to create depth, detail and texture without painting every shadow.

Here, I worked from a photo of Amélie and Emily, who are absolutely stunning on their own, but even more amazing together! I love this intimate little scene and the whole setting, so I tried to capture it as accurately as possible, even though I sometimes had to guess what exactly was happening in the deeper shadows.

The inspiration for this drawing was also a photo of the two of them, with Amélie standing to Emily’s left, her stunning phoenix tattoo clearly visible. I wanted to depict her as that phoenix, but it didn’t quite work out, and then the phoenix turned into a beam of light – which made suddenly all elements fall into place. That fits the phoenix, doesn’t it?

Here, I worked from a photo of the wonderful Mara posing in a doorframe. I really like the contrast between the dark wood of the doors and the light in the room, and the fact that you only see a glimpse of Mara walking by. I had a lot of fun working out the different textures and the lighting!

This digital drawing is based on a photo of the incredible Ursula. My main goal was to capture the way she looks at the camera through the mirror. I did have some trouble with camera distortion and couldn’t completely eliminate it, but I still really like the scene, especially Ursula’s look and her mischievous smile.

Here, I’ve been drawing from a photo of the fabulous Anée hiding behind her plants. It looked so beautiful there, but it was challenging to draw, especially since I couldn’t see every half-hidden shape perfectly, and Procreate only has a limited number of layers! This time, in addition to Trois Crayons, I added green and yellow for  plants. It was surprisingly fun to draw patterns on leaves, but portraits of people are definitely more exciting than those of plants!

I’m still so happy to be part of the Exquisite Corpse Collective, and it’s so fascinating how these themes – drawing from a limited number of references and the pressure to finish and post at least one drawing before the end of the month – help me discover, combine, and develop new techniques that feel just right for the subject matter. I love it!

You can find more illustrations from this series on my secondary Instagram profile @irisluckhaus.plus, which is dedicated to life drawing, sketching, experimentation, and the joy of imperfection

Great big Thanks to the Exquisite Corpse Collective! <3

Right in time for the phenological inception of spring (at least the sun these days feels like that!), we uploaded some fresh seasonal wallpapers and electronic greeting cards for you and your loved ones over at Lily Lux’ website!

On November 29th, I participated in an online drawing session with Judith Yaws, where the stunning Ludmila Medina Artola posed with a Klimt-inspired theme, which she had announced beforehand in a very appealing way.

After a rainy, cold and grey November day, Ludmila’s stage decorated with an abundance of golden fabrics, her gorgeous poses (which often seemed familiar from paintings), her serene presence and classical music were a true delight, and instantly made me feel better… this was definitely one of my favorite sessions of the past year!

I’m particularly pleased that Judith allows screenshots for a small tip (official screenshots usually don’t capture my favorite moment of a pose!), and after the drawing session, I just wanted to quickly try out something with them in Procreate – and all of a sudden, it was 4 a.m. and I had an almost finished digital drawing…

To avoid problems with Instagram’s censorbots, I considered to cover up potentially problematic parts. After some trial and error, I not only found a way to do this, but also discovered a theme and a story for the pose: Pandora!

Big thanks to Ludmila Medina Artola and Judith Yaws! <3

February is a time of anticipation! After realising over the past few weeks how much longer it’s been light again, hearing and seeing wild geese on their way home and spotting the first snowdrops, we can hardly wait for spring to finally arrive, and for the trees to start bearing leaves again… Unfortunately, it still takes some time, but now is the best time to identify tree buds and observe them slowly change and unfold into leaves on some favourite trees!

I developed and designed my identification chart for European Tree Buds and Shoots 4 years ago in collaboration with the Niedersächsische Landesforsten for their “Waldstück” magazine, and it has since been available as a poster, art print or print on various smart products via Posterlounge (Amazon / eBay), Redbubble and Søciety6.

With this practical sheet, you can easily determine the buds and shoots of common trees such as apple, birch, beech, ash, buckeye, oak, alder, ash, beech, hazel, cherry, linden, poplar, plane, elm and willow in late fall and winter.

This print goes perfectly well with my – meanwhile quite extensive – series of Natural Science Identification Charts with various infographics from flora and fauna, which are also available from the Posterlounge (Amazon / eBay). ➔

In addition, most of my guides are also available as postcards, greeting cards or small-format art prints, as well as printed products such as shirts, mugs, cushions, carpets, mats, towels, blankets, curtains, notebooks, tablets, wrapping paper, stickers, magnets, sleeves, cases, skins, bags and much more, at Redbubble [EU/US] and Søciety6 [US]! ➔

Direct links to the respective product pages of this particular chart: Posterlounge Baumknospen (DE) ➔, Redbubble Baumknospen (DE) ➔, Redbubble Tree Shoots (EN) ➔, Søciety6 Tree Shoots (EN) ➔.

The Exquisite Corpse Collective‘s January theme is “Pearls,” and the models took such fantastic photos of themselves that I didn’t even know where to begin! I digitally drew several of them and – because of the pearl effect, which didn’t work well with drawing alone – also painted some this time, including beautiful Jad, who can be seen here.

The other nine illustrations can be seen on my still rather new, second Instagram profile, which is dedicated to figure drawing, sketching, experimenting and the joy of imperfection, at @irisluckhaus.plus!

Big thanks to Jad – and the Exquisite Corpse Collective! <3

We’d like to wish you and your loved ones merry and heartwarming holidays (and a merry Christmas, or whatever you are celebrating!), and all the best for a truly happy, healthy and wonderful new year Twothousandtwentyfive!

Lily Lux is celebrating again at her favorite spot in the woods this year. The trees are already festively decorated – and now she’s sitting on her bench, crafting a few more garlands with giant paper snowflakes!

The forest animals, namely deer, fox, raccoon, badger, marten, weasel, squirrel, dormouse, mouse, marmot, mole, salamander, frog, falcon, jay, magpie, pigeon, green woodpecker, blackbird, nightingale, robin, great tit, crested tit, goldfinch, bullfinch, kingfisher, goldcrest, chaffinch, sparrow, wren, bumblebee, red-tailed bumblebee, tree bumblebee, meadow bumblebee, dragonfly and least weasel, are watching – and already stealing food balls and rings, apples and cones that Lily brought as gifts on her sled and in her picnic basket. There are also beautifully wrapped gifts, chocolate santas and pastries for human friends, as well as four-leaf clovers for a happy new year.

The backdrop is a few years old – and every year not only does the little scene change, but animals that have played a role in my year are added. This time it’s one of the grey herons, because we were able to observe them so often this year at surprisingly close range; the first white wagtail I’ve ever seen (and they’re not that rare!); one of our crows; and Toni the carrier pigeon, who landed exhausted in our garden on the first warm Saturday and, after a few days of nursing them back to health, became quite affectionate, then flew on – and hopefully arrived home safely.

As every year, I’m using my Holiday and New Year’s illustration for greetings to clients, friends and family, online for my social media accounts, as printed cards in various formats and also as small tags for my own gifts.

If you want, you can look at previous holiday cards in the portfolio, or a collection of all motifs from the last 10+ years in the blog. Many of them are now also available as posters and products at Posterlounge, RedBubble and Inprnt!

It’s this time of year again: During Black Week, all our shops are having their biggest sale of the year: Posterlounge [DE], RedBubble [EU/US] and – new! – Inprnt [US] are offering up to 60% off on all our posters and products!

In addition to my prints, posters, and cards at Posterlounge [DE] and Inprnt [US], RedBubble [EU/US] also offers an astonishingly wide range of stylish products such as curtains, cushions, blankets, rugs, bedding, mugs, trays, boards, wrapping paper, notebooks, stickers, puzzles, magnets, cases, bags, shirts, aprons, and so much more.

Posterlounge [DE] produces in Leipzig and ships worldwide from there, while Inprnt [US] is based in Florida, so you might want to choose the company that’s closest to your location. RedBubble [EU/US] manufactures in various countries (partly in Germany or at least Europe), and on the product pages, you can see where each product is made.

Happy shopping!

Just in time for the first snow, winter starts on Lily Lux’ website – with seasonal crafting sheets, wallpapers and greeting cards! Furthermore, if you speak (or learn) German, you might enjoy our #Winterglück on Facebook!

Furthermore, the simple DIY Advents calender, which we made with Lily Lux a few years agoand and prepared for you as a craft template with very detailed instructions, is available for Download again this year!

The simple, two-dimensional DIY advent calendar we made for Lily Lux a couple of years ago (including a detailed instruction how to use it with your own images) is available as a PDF for download! Above, you can see what the calendar looks like when it’s filled, and below we’re showing some other suggestions. We hope you enjoy crafting!

Kleine, handgezeichnete Illustrationen oder Fotos mit ganz besonderen, persönlichen Motiven

Erinnerungsschnipselchen; selbstverständlich als Kopien, um keine Originale zu zerschneiden

Muster, die an Momente und Orte erinnern – wo war das nochmal… ?

Ruckzuck-Kalender mit 24 liebevollen kleinen Gutscheinen.

Wir wünschen viel Vergnügen! – Und wenn Sie unsere Kalender nutzen, würden wir gern sehen, was Sie draus machen… posten Sie uns doch mal Links oder Fotos, hier oder auf Facebook!

In July, I joined the Exquisite Corpse Collective. Each month, they announce a theme, and the participating models take a photo of themselves, based on that theme. The artists then use this photo as a reference for their drawings. I think the idea is fantastic—and it’s so exciting to see what everyone else creates from the very same photos!

The theme chosen by Explorist for October was “Solar,” and I had so much fun with the models’ gorgeous photos that I ended up working on ten illustrations – digitally, using mainly Procreate, then Photoshop for the finishing touches.

The illustration on top shows the wonderful Emily Metalskin in close conversation with the moon, the one underneath the gorgeous Kelly posing in the bright sunlight falling through a window. The other eight illustrations can be seen on my second Instagram profile, which is dedicated to life drawing, sketching, experimenting, and overall the joy of imperfection: @irisluckhaus.plus – and there, the images have little soundtracks as well!

Great thanks to the amazing models! <3

Together with tracker Stefanie Argow of Hidden Tracks, with whom I’ve been working on accurate animal tracks illustrations for years, I’ve created a worksheet on animal footprint identification featuring fox, cat, badger, marten, hare, raccoon, squirrel, hedgehog, deer, and wild boar for the Wangen Forest Academy / Kompass Bodensee.

Many thanks to Michael Hofmann for the wonderful collaboration – and of course, to Stefanie Argow! :)

With a tiny little delay, we’ve added autumnal wallpapers, electronic greeting cards and printable pages for your Notizbuch over at Lily Lux. Furthermore, we’ll likely soon be posting #Herbstglück (fall happiness) on Facebook and Twitter again – if you can read a little German, you’re more than welcome to come by and brighten up your fall!

Just in time for the Frankfurt Book Fair, we have some news from the Buch Braucht Mensch (Book Needs Human) campaign, which we launched last year on Reading Day! As @buchbrauchtmensch, we now have an Instagram profile where we share your contributions on the topic (thanks for the initiative, dear Eliane Fischer!). We’ve also had lovely little buttons printed with the logos by Alexander Nanitchkov (on a Buch-braucht-Mensch-purple background!) and Marina Halak, which, thanks to Meike Teichmann, can be picked up at the IO e.V. booth for a small donation.

The (German) text with background information, arguments, and suggestions for action on generative AI, which I wrote in collaboration with book blogger Eliane Fischer, is also available as a PDF for printing, folding, and sharing!

In July, I joined the Exquisite Corpse Collective on Instagram. Each month, a theme is announced, for which the participating models take a photo of themselves, which the artists use as a reference for drawing, and showing in the gallery. I think this is such a great idea – and it’s so exciting to see what everyone else does with the same photos!

The theme Ursula chose for September was “Cabaret” – and I had so much fun with the colorful showgirls (above: Anée Borgo and Mara) and the wonderful photos that I created a total of eight illustrations – once more digitally, using Procreate and Photoshop, to make the bold colors pop! On Instagram, I also addded music to each piece.

The thing I – very surprisingy – enjoy most about the Collective is working on photos where I can’t see every detail, constructing what’s missing – and then just letting whatever happens happen. For example, Lucie JBlue‘s (left) white shirtcollar looked so strange against her white skin, and Ursula Williams (right) is a composite of two photos.

I especially like it when stories emerge from the pictures, or when you automatically invent your own – like Memi Lia (left) might be backstage with stage fright, or Frankie (right and very top) just welcomed the huge bouquet of roses that a fan might have sent her – but how on earth does the glove get in her hair, and why does she look so sad?

Whenever I see this pose by Jennifer Fabos (left), I immediately think of the soundtrack to the Cabaret movie. And without the vices and tattoos of Lizeth Arteaga Aguirre (right), the series would definitely be missing something!

I absolutely can’t decide which of the eight illustrations is my favorite. The beloved, who knows more about theater than I do, calls it an “ensemble performance,” which I think is quite fitting – and actually really beautiful!

Many thanks to all eight fantastic models! <3

Second Instagram profile for sketches: @irisluckhaus.plus

After my professional Instagram profile was shadowbanned for very modest figure sketches, and because I like to show them but don’t want to overwhelm, I created a second profile: @irisluckhaus.plus, dedicated to life drawing, sketching, experimenting, and embracing the imperfect. There are a lot more messy sketches and drawings to see!

At this time of year, you can wonderfully play Memory with leaves and trees – and after we had forgotten some of them in the meantime, we are happy (since summer, and now especially!) that I finished this incredibly elaborate identification chart the year before last! Because we are so happy about it, I thought it deserved a repost.

Last summer, we’ve been out and about in forests, fields, parks and gardens a lot, and enjoyed identifying trees! We noticed that the distinction between tree and shrub is impractical for identifying leaves on the go, and therefore, I decided to extend my 25 Tree Leaves identification chart to 36 Tree and Shrub Leaves, to cover the most common large, woody plants! The infographics is now available at Posterlounge (Amazon / eBay), Redbubble and Søciety6.

Identification Chart for Leaves of Trees and Shrubs

With the help of this practical identification chart, field guide, display board, infographic or learning poster, the leaves or leaf shapes of native trees and shrubs such as apple (botanically Malus domestica), sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), birch (sand birch, weeping birch; Betula pendula), blackberry (Rubus sect. Rubus), beech (copper beech; Fagus sylvatica), sweet chestnut (chestnut; Castanea sativa), mountain ash (rowan; Sorbus aucuparia), alder (black alder; Alnus glutinosa), ash (Fraxinus excelsior), aspen (Populus tremula), field maple (Acer campestre), buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula), lilac (Syringa vulgaris), rosehip (Dog rose; Rosa canina), hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), (blood-red) dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), hazel (hazelnut; Corylus avellana), (black) elderberry (Sambucus nigra), cherry (sweet cherry, bird cherry; Prunus avium), cherry laurel (laurel cherry; Prunus laurocerasus), lime (small-leaved lime, large-leaved lime; Tilia platyphyllos), poplar (black poplar; Populus nigra), plane tree (Platanus × hispanica), robinia (false acacia; Robinia pseudoacacia), horse chestnut (Chestnut; Aesculus hippocastanum), Rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum), Red Oak (Quercus rubra), Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), Holly (Ilex aquifolium), Norway Maple (Maple; Acer platanoides), English oak (Quercus robur), sessile oak (Quercus petraea), elm (Ulmus campestris), walnut (Juglans regia), willow (Salix alba) and hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) in the forest, woods or woodlands, field, park or garden very easily identified, learned and remembered.

About my way of working

What I’m illustrating here is actually the identification charts I always wanted to have myself! I’m super excited about trees and shrubs, but at the same time, I’m so bad at remembering names and characteristics, so I need cheat sheets. And if I draw them myself – and look at them often afterwards –, I sometimes actually notice what’s what… :)

It’s surprisingly time-consuming to not just copy a pretty photo, but instead to first understand and then draw some sort of generalized cross-section, i.e. the blueprint of the species, so to speak, from countless pictures that all depict the personal characteristics of the respective unique object, but that is exactly what helps so much with identification, and that is why I – in general – very much prefer to identify flora and fauna with simple drawings than with photos.

After I had seen black-and-white silhouettes of leaves a long time ago (unfortunately, I don’t remember where?) and found them to be significantly more different (and also more suitable for autumn!) than illustrations of green, special leaf personalities, which somehow look all the same at first sight (often, they’re not even shown from the same top perspective!), I have decided to create my own identification charts in a similarly simplified and black-and-white way, so that all characteristics can be recognized at first sight, without the need for a complicated identification key.

Through various commissions, those charts became a series – first with leaf shapes, animal tracks and bird flight in Lily Lux Notizbuch, then with tree shapes, tree fruits, tree shoots, forest animals and water animals for “Waldstück” by Niedersächsische Landesforsten as well as the cooperation with Hidden Tracks for detailed animal tracks.

Besides the posters and products mentioned in this post, my identification charts can be licensed by request.

If you think that I’ve made errors in my details, feel free to kindly let me know, and please link evidence. Thank you!

Translation into four Languages

In addition to the German version, I have not only translated this field guide into English (as usual) and sorted it accordingly, but also into French and Dutch! I actually enjoyed the process, and if they sell well, I might add others :)

I can read and understand French and Dutch halfway and also speak a little, but unfortunately not (yet) write well. I usually do my research in German, English and Latin, but sometimes also in French and Dutch, because I like to see how different the search results are! So it seemed only logical to offer an infographic in these languages as well.

Dict.cc, Deepl.com (thanks to Anette for the recommendation!) and Wikipedia helped me with the translation of the tree species, and native speakers at Posterlounge then corrected it again (special thanks to Marie!). The French and Dutch translations of this text I did with Deepl and edited very little. I hereby apologise for any possible misspellings!

Posters and Products

This print goes with my series of Natural Science Identification Charts with flora and fauna, in German and English, which are also available from the Posterlounge (also via Amazon und eBay!) in plenty of sizes, from € 6,95 for 13×18. My Leaves of Trees and Shrubs are available there in German, English, French and Dutch now! ➔

In addition, this field guide is also available as postcard or art print, as well as printed products such as shirts, mugs, cushions, mats, towels, blankets, curtains, notebooks, tablets, wrapping paper, stickers, magnets, sleeves, cases, skins, bags and much more, at Redbubble [in German, English, French, Dutch] and Søciety6 [in Englisch]! ➔

Notes on Literature and Apps

Since I first started creating my identification charts, I have acquired a fairly extensive forest library, which I mainly use to coordinate characteristics. However, often items are misleadingly illustrated (e.g. chestnut leaf with only 4 fingers) or described (e.g. elm without the typical asymmetry of the leaf base) – and therefore it can be quite informative to always consult more than one book when in doubt! I most often look into the following books:

★ Gottfried Amann: “Bäume und Sträucher des Waldes: Taschenbildbuch”, Meisungen Neumann 1972
★ Margot Spohn, Marianne Golte-Bechtle, Roland Spohn: “Was blüht denn da?”, Kosmos 2015 (Thanks, Mattheo!).

Amann and Spohn include shrubs as well as trees, while the other books are mostly limited to trees:

★ Elizabeth Martin, Norma Birgin, Terry Callcut: “Bäume erkennen und bestimmen”, Naumann und Göbel 1998
★ Alan Mitchell: “A Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe”, Harper Collins 1974
★ Tony Russell: “Nature Guide: Trees: The World in Your Hands”, Doring Kindersley DK Nature Guide 2012
★ Steve Marsh: “Die 50 schönsten Bäume der Welt: Ein (…) Kunstwerk”, Dorling Kindersley 2019 (Thanks, Bruni!)
★ Otto Schmeil: “Pflanzenkunde: Biologisches Unterrichtswerk”, Manuscriptum 2009 after Quelle & Mayer 1973

Besides trees and shrubs in forests, woods, woodlands, fields, parks, gardens and arboretums (we have a great arboretum in Burgholz in Wuppertal and also an amazing tree collection on the Unigelände at Grifflenberg!), I also find Wikipedia and Baumkunde extremely helpful, especially for details sometimes missing in my books (e.g. size).

Apps like PlantNet or Flora Incognita are also great for verifying whether you have identified the trees and shrubs correctly! If you are out and about with others, it can be fun to look up (and bet!) who has guessed correctly :)

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Matthias Klesse, Angelika Luckhaus and Reinhard Luckhaus for bringing all these exciting leaves, twigs and pictures from their excursions, as well as for looking, learning and guessing along with me! <3

I hope you’ll enjoy identifying!

Today is my last day in the studio before our little summer break – and in early September, I’ll continue fresh and rested with some amazing new projects and identification charts, which I’m already very much looking forward to!

For the meteorologial inception of summer, we uploaded some fresh wallpapers and electronic greeting cards at Lily Lux, and we might even start posting #Sommerglück to Facebook and Twitter. We wish you a wonderful summer!

After publishing my Songbirds last year, I now lovingly revised all birds to make them even more distinctive! The new version is now available as a poster in German and English from Posterlounge (Amazon / eBay) and printed on cards, mugs, bags, shirts, pillows, blankets, cases, stickers and other products from Redbubble and Søciety6.

Identifying Garden Birds or Songbirds

With this identification chart, infographic or learning poster, you can identify, learn and determine 56 Native European Songbirds or Garden Birds such as Blackbird / Merle, Blackcap / Blackjack, Blackstart, Blue Tit / Nun, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff, City / Street Dove, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Crested Tit, Cuckoo, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Firecrest, Garden Warbler, Goldcrest, Golden Oriole, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grosbeak / Hawfinch, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Kingfisher, Lesser Whitethroat, Linnet / Flax Finch, Long-Tailed Tit, Magpie, Marsh Tit, Marsh Warbler, Nightingale, Nuthatch, Pied Flycatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redstart, Reed Bunting, Robin, Serin Finch, Skylark, Song Thrush / Mavis, Spotted Flycatcher, Starling, Swallow, Swift / Martlet, Tree Creeper, Tree Sparrow / Field Sparrow, Wood Pigeon, Wren, Willow Warbler and Yellowhammer / Yellow Bunting, from the families of Sparrows, Tits, Woodpeckers, Finches, Jays, Buntings, Warblers, Thrushes, Treecreepers, Larks, Flycatchers, Redstarts and Pigeons.

For species with little or no dimorphism, I show a single bird, while for species with more pronounced dimorphism, I show the usually more intensely colored male in front and behind the more neutrally colored female.

How I work on identification Charts

What I’m illustrating here is actually the identification charts I always wanted to have myself! I’m super excited about birds, but at the same time, I’m really bad at remembering names and characteristics, so I tend to need cheat sheets. And if I draw them myself – and look at them often enough afterwards –, I sometimes actually notice what’s what… :)

It’s surprisingly time-consuming to not just copy a pretty photo, but instead to first understand and then draw some sort of generalized cross-section, i.e. the blueprint of the species, so to speak, from countless pictures that all depict the personal characteristics of the respective unique object, but that is exactly what helps so much with identification, and that is why I – in general – very much prefer to identify flora and fauna with simple drawings than with photos.

Through various commissions, my charts turned into a series – first with leaf shapes, animal tracks and bird flight in Lily Lux Notizbuch, then with tree shapes, tree fruits, tree shoots, forest animals and water animals for “Waldstück” by Niedersächsische Landesforsten as well as the cooperation with Hidden Tracks for detailed animal tracks.

If you think that I’ve made errors in my details, feel free to kindly let me know, and please link evidence. Thank you!

 Identification Charts for Posters and Products

This print goes perfectly well with my – meanwhile quite extensive – series of Natural Science Identification Charts with various infographics from flora and fauna, which are also available from the Posterlounge (Amazon / eBay). ➔

In addition, most of my guides are also available as postcards, greeting cards or small-format art prints, as well as printed products such as shirts, mugs, cushions, carpets, mats, towels, blankets, curtains, notebooks, tablets, wrapping paper, stickers, magnets, sleeves, cases, skins, bags and much more, at Redbubble [EU/US] and Søciety6 [US]! ➔

Direct links to the respective product pages of this particular chart: Posterlounge Singvögel (DE) ➔, Posterlounge Songbirds (EN) ➔, Redbubble Singvögel (DE) ➔, Redbubble Songbirds (EN) ➔, Søciety6 Songbirds (EN) ➔.

How I started Drawing for Birding

It all started with the songbirds in the Wunderbare Welt der Lily Lux, in the background of her room in the spring page: “In spring, Lily sometimes sets an alarm, to not miss the bird concert in the very morning.” … In the Lily Lux Notizbuch, these exact birds have their very own identification page, and I’ve been watching them ever since :)

At our bird feeders and bird baths in Wuppertal, we see blackbirds every day (they like to discreetly point out to us when there is no more food or water left, and they often accompany us when we work in the garden!), great tits, robins, sparrows and chaffinches, often also pigeons, magpies and crows, more rarely goldfinches, greenfinches, blue tits, bullfinches, nuthatches, long-tailed tits or jays, and in the old orchard there are sometimes even wagtails, thrushes and treecreepers. In addition to swallows and swifts, the laughing green woodpecker, chiffchaff and oriole are often audible but rarely clearly visible, and I even saw a kingfisher at the neighboring dam recently!

Literature and Apps

Since I started making identification charts, I acquired a fairly extensive nature library, which I mainly use to coordinate characteristics, but in which objects are often misleadingly depicted or described, so it can It can be quite informative, if in doubt, to always consult more than one book… Those are the books I consult most often:

★ Peter Holden / Trevor Boyer: “Wir entdecken und bestimmen Vögel”, Ravensburger Taschenbücher 1978
★ Rob Hume: “Birds of Britain and Europe – The definitive photographic Field Guide”, RSPB / DK 2002
★ Richard Lewington / Ian Lewington: “Guide to Garden Wildlife”, Bloomsbury Wildlife Guides 2019
★ Marianne Taylor / Stephan Message: “RSPB ID Spotlight Garden Birds Fold-out Chart”, Bloomsbury 2020
★ Felix / Tomann / Hisek: “Der große Naturführer – Unsere Tier- und Pflanzenwelt in Farbe”, Kosmos 1984

Furthermore, I’m quite excited about apps that automatically identify birdsongs, like Birdnet (free) and Zwitschomat (both available for iOs and Android). And I think I’ll have to make a scrapbook for seen and heard songbirds :)

Thanksgiving

Great thanks to Matthias Klesse, Angelika and Reinhard Luckhaus for their support, enthusiasm and testing! <3

After recently realizing that the energy when drawing via Zoom isn’t all that different from real life, I’ve enrolled at Draw Brighton, which offers both figure and portrait drawing classes, plus extensive archives of both (and more)!

At first, I thought I was seeing things: Part of the very first pose of my very first portrait session on June 16th was, of all things, a bee – as a piece of jewelry that Maizy held against her cheek! And because I’ve always loved hiding bumble- and other bees in my pictures (or, as in my first digitally painted portraits, fireflies and a wasp!), I couldn’t resist painting a more elaborate portrait – and bringing that bee, which looked like a black carpenter bee, to life.

Aside from the gorgeous bee, which made me want to devote a little more time to this subject, I also found the lovely Maizy and her timeless styling incredibly beautiful. Her pose and especially her gaze remind me of classic angelic depictions, while her styling and the red curtain made me think more of vampire films or Lynch’s Red Room – and somewhere in between, Romy Schneider. In the – tremendously helpful! – interview before the actual portrait session, Maizy talked about her drama school and wouldn’t say how long ago that was, which sounds quite different from the perspective of the vampire/Lynch theme… Her scarf and earrings, shaped like silver suns, fit that theme as well!

Also this time, I stayed relatively close to the photo reference and painted in Procreate, using a mix of oil paints, chalk textures and colored pencils. This is my seventh realistically painted portrait. I once again worked on it mostly from the couch at night, learned a whole lot – and according to Procreate, it took me almost 12 hours.

Big thanks to Draw Brighton, Jake Spicer – and especially to Maizy! <3

Last weekend, I participated in Helen Roeten’s 12.5-hour online life drawing marathon on Zoom with 25 models from all over the world! Our models posed via Zoom in their own spaces, in front of their devices; many designed themselves and their stage according to their inspiration, and some even brought appropriate music.

It all started with the portrait of Emily Metalskin, which I posted on Instagram. When I found her therem I tagged her – and saw that Emily was participating in a 12.5-hour online life drawing marathon with 25 models on May 31st, which sounded completely crazy – and so exciting! I had no idea that Zoom life drawing even existed.

A few minutes later, I learnt that my (very nice) plans for that day were canceled, and before getting sad about that, I spontaneously signed up with Helen Roeten, to join that marathon. My personal challenge was to draw every single pose on paper: 0% digital perfectionism and 100% analog bliss. Embrace the imperfect!

There were a total of 78 poses, each lasting 1-25 minutes, and some of them can be seen in the picture above! Links to models and organizer can be found on my Instagram profile (just scroll down!). And yes, I actually managed to draw every single one of these 78 poses – and surprisingly, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

Great thanks to Helen and all the wonderful models!

“Some called it wicked, but she called it love, sweet love. Unfortunately, her loves were rather short-lived though.”

I’m very happy that I managed to get on board with #Mermay again this year! Today’s prompt – Wicked! – fit so well with my Mermay and her story told in details, which started with the prompt “Sailor” the year before last…

I drew and textured my little mermaid huntress and her shipwreck in Procreate, then edited it in Photoshop – mainly because Photoshop has more layers, you can mask entire folders and edit colors for multiple layers at once. I’m still working on the process and experimenting a lot, but starting to be quite happy with the results :)

I’m a little late with my “AI Protest Starter Pack” because I’ve had so much else to do in the meantime, but this illustration has been on my mind for weeks, and to get it out of my system, I finally spent some late evenings on it!

AI generated starter packs only exist because all our copyrighted and private data was trained, without consent or compensation, leading to AI companies trying to replace professional creators with their own work (!), wasting unfathomable amounts of natural resources, reproducing bias we thought long overcome, inviting all sorts of fraud and congesting the internet so that searching facts becomes impossible. I wonder if everyone who generates and posts AI starter packs (or AI ghiblified images) is aware that they support and normalize such unethical practices, and that uploading private photos and information to AI companies will lead to that data being trained as well?

The starter pack format is by no means new; for decades, there have been popular hashtags featuring self-portraits of human artists, including various types of dolls, and action figure creators posted their work online. Without all this being trained, AI starter packs wouldn’t be possible! And even when all limbs and objects are in the right place and inside the blister (…), those AI generated images still look terribly impersonal, uncanny, loveless and just boring.

That’s why it’s so interesting to see illustrators (and some awesome people who tried drawing themselves!) posting their own, AI-free starter packs, and reclaiming this stolen trend with self portraits that are thought through down to the smallest detail and as unique as their creators! These AI-free starter packs not only showcase the skill, style and world of their creators, but also their love for details – and their wonderful, deeply human sense of humor.

When at first, I didn’t have time to draw anything new, I remembered that I’d actually illustrated and published an action heroine starter pack of some sort before, who may or may not resemble me a bit: The Lily Lux Magnets! But since this actual No AI Protest Starter Pack kept itching me to draw it, here’s my own take on the topic:

AI Protest Starter Pack – Creators and Allies unite, stand up and fight!

★ All major AI generators are trained on stolen content. That’s unethical and unfair.
★ They’re built to deskill and replace human creators. With their own work.
★ AI users support theft, data laundering and broligarchy. Don’t feed the bullies!
★ It’s not “just” artists. They steal your data as well, and will replace your job too.
★ We need consent, compensation and transparency. It’s called Opt-In.
★ AI enables fraud and destroys the web with false facts. Stop the slop!
★ If it’s in the training data, AI reproduces bias, stereotypes and prejudice.
★ Care about the climate? Stop AI wasting the resources of our planet.
★ It is not “time to adapt or die”. It is time to fight – or adapt and die.
★ So let’s unite, petition, protect, inform, explain and call out! Together, we are strong.
★ Thank you for fighting unethical generative AI! Or at least not supporting it.

Artists fight against generative AI, which – unlike technical or scientific AI – is trained on copyrighted and private
data without consent or compensation, and used commercially, in unfair competition with our own work.

Facts, Arguments, Options and Links

Over the past two and a half years, I’ve written several articles on generative AI, which I update every few months. They list all the arguments, facts, and possible courses of action known to me (including those I’m referring to here!) and usually also provide direct links to articles with more details. The most relevant ones are:

★ Statement on Reading Aloud Day and the #BuchBrauchtMensch campaign – “Join in against generative AI!” ➔
★ Statement “No to AI-generated images” with my answers to the most frequently discussed questions (Part I) ➔
★ “What can we do against AI-generated images?” with a list of recommendations for creators (Part II) ➔

Thank you so much for fighting unethical generative AI!

Also, heartfelt thanks to my esteemed colleagues for corrections and encouragement, and especially to Matthias Klesse for some very detailed feedback – and the appropriate protest songs (“Solidaritätslied” and “Pueblos Unidos,” and later, somehow, “Savage Daughter” was added) for my May Day drawing session!

#NoAIstarterpack #starterpackNoAI #protestpack #aiprotestpack #noaiprotestpack #BuchBrauchtMensch #StopAI #NoAI #LAUTgegenKI #ZusammenGegenKI #NöKI #MachMitGegenKI #NameTheIllustrator #illustrationlove #SupportHumanArtists #AIIsTheft #ArtistsAgainstAI #NoAIArt #CreateDontScrape #BooksNeedArtists

February is #Figuary again this year, and the Croquis Café is releasing a new video to draw along to every single day of this month! Sometimes I pause the video though, when the 1-5 minute per pose is too little for the great models and their poses… and sometimes a bit longer, for example on day 19 for the wonderful Emily!

I usually draw the first round on paper and at the given speed, and the second (and sometimes third) round with Procreate on the iPad Pro – and sometimes, I draw much longer per pose. Those were likely 30 to 60 minutes.

This time, I worked with very different favorite brushes: Pencils and Paper Overlay from Sadie Lew, Sketch and Shading Brushes from JingSketch, and I’m not 100% sure about the backgrounds, but I think that I used the Watercolor Brushes from MaxPacks. The specific renderings of my series always happen in between and I like that depending on the model and the day, very different colors, styles and sceneries somehow feel “right”!

I’m absolutely smitten with the enchanting Emily and her expressive poses! She often holds her hands open as if she’s conjuring something, which is why I absolutely couldn’t resist adding a magical light to her side, which led to the dark, stage-like background and some more light and shadow than I usually use in my life drawings.

This time I not only drew the poses shown in the video, in which Emily is wearing the stockings you see here, but also some of the preview images from the opening credits, in which she is not wearing any stockings :)

My first version was a bit more three-dimensional, but social media mistook it as a photo…

But because I still wanted to show my drawings online, I subsequently reduced them back to lines (see above) – and was happy that, thanks to a whole lot of layers, this is possible without having to start all over again!

I still think the three-dimensional versions are quite interesting, so I’ve decided to show them both here!

Big Thanks to the Croquis Café – and especially to Emily! <3

After I had already drawn Emily with great enthusiasm in February at Figuary, during which the Croquis Café publishes a fresh new video every day with models and poses to draw along, I have now discovered some truly wonderful, timeless portrait photos of her there – and have painted one of them digitally in the last few weeks!

I was captivated by Emily’s unique face, her expressions and her style, the way she seems a bit not from this time, as well as the awareness with which she moves and poses her hands. Since we started seeing these overly smooth, prettified, uncanny yet boring AI-generated images everywhere, I find models who are authentic, interesting, and beautiful in their own way, who make you wonder who they are or what their voice sounds like, even more appealing.

I worked in Procreate again, using brushes from JingSketch, MaxPacks, Sadie Lew, and Haeyoon. I experimented along the way, first having Emily hold a ball of light, then a pigeon, and adding branches in the background, but ultimately the pose itself was so strong that everything else was too much. I spent several late evenings working on this portrait, maybe 6-12 hours in total, and once again (this is my sixth realistic portrait), I learned so much along the way!

Great Thanks to the Croquis Café – an especially to Emily! <3

I despise seeing those AI starter packs everyone has been posting lately, the way they all look alike, uncanny and boring in their prettified sameness, and knowing that they only exist because our copyrighted work was trained without consent or compensation, that AI companies replace us with our very own work, that AI models waste resources, reproduce prejudice, invite fraud, and how many people now happily feed them their data to train on.

On the other hand, it’s been such a delight to see illustrators posting their very own starter packs, taking over the trend with illustrations that are thought through all the way and as unique as their creators, showing not only their skills, their styles, their world and their love for details, but also their wonderful, very human sense of humour!

Unfortunately, I don‘t have the time to draw anything new right now, but while thinking about how to participate, I realised that I actually illustrated – and even published! – a two-dimensional yet very playful Action Hero(ine) Starter Pack a couple of years ago, which may or may not resemble me quite a bit: The Lily Lux Fridge Magnets!

Unfortunately, they are sold out now, but still living on our fridge and a whole lot of others, and well loved by many.

After all these years, I’ve once more invented and some brand-new, absolutely unique patterns and sewn clothes! I’ve made a wedding outfit for a bride who is as passionate about hunting as she is about fashion.

What does a Huntress wear for her Wedding?

Early last year, my client, a very passionate huntress, was looking for an outfit to wear for her wedding. After some (understandable!) despair over the country-style fashion she found, she stumbled upon my Jagdfieber (Hunt Fever) collection, including the “Märzhase” (March Hare) – and asked if I could make her an outfit just like that, in size 42/46:

I then explained to her (as usual…) that I don’t really make clothes anymore, but she was so enthusiastic about it that I just didn’t have the heart to simply say no, and considered whether I could make it possible… and then, I suddenly had an order, without knowing exactly how to do it. Having previously worked exclusively for sizes 34/36, the biggest challenge was not only working for a different size, but also for completely different proportions. I learned so much!

I found it most exciting that while my classic grain twists (which become visible in striped, checked and tartan garments) only work in princess sizes, my clients’ queen format allows for other, yet equally exciting twists… From then on, I created completely new, fully individual custom patterns, and it was incredibly exciting!

Outfit “March Bride” and Styling

My client’s other requirements were that (a) she needed to be able to move easily, especially in the top, so she could f.e. play her hunting horn, (b) that her fancy mink stole, a family heirloom, should somehow be included, and (c) that the individual garments for her wedding could later be easily combined with, for example, a jeans and/or a top.

After some trial and error with muslin models, the final outfit consists of a bra attachment, a checkered, twist-grain blouse with back zipper and an unusual wearing style, a high, narrow skirt, a wide corset belt with a tie, and a jacket made of knitted loden in an adapted historical pattern with a peplum in the back and loops for the doubled buttons.

I didn’t make all the accessories myself, but designed, styled and/or recommended them – and I’m glad we agreed so wellon them! The fabulous hunting hat was made by the Bollmann Hat Studio in Remscheid based on my original March Hare hat (see above). We chose the socks and shoes, in order together to complete the outfit perfectly.

The Individual Garments

One of my (many) reasons for not making clothes anymore was the fear of only repeating myself furtheron and getting terribly bored in the process, yet here, I definitely wasn’t bored at all – thanks not only to my customer’s absolutely infectious joy and enthusiasm, but also to the tinkering with the patterns themselves:

The March blouse is a combination of basic paper patterning and draping on a custom-padded bust, and the grain twists all the way around in the bodice. When you close the blouse at the collar, pleats form towards the bust point, which lie exactly straight in the grain – and that’s really only possible in my client’s proportions, and her queen size!

The blouse has a seam zipper in the back, yet it can still be worn open, either as a pirate with a turned-up collar or as a sailor with a wide-open collar (see above), because a straight neckline is hidden underneath the collar. It turned out really difficlult to find a bra with the right angle to support the blouse, so we decided to add a bra attachment (see above) to a ready-made cone bra, to hold everything perfectly in place and in shape.

During the first fitting with a riding skirt that still looked relatively similar to the original “March Hare,” we created this corset belt (waspie) with a tie band, which suited my customer extremely well, but didn’t work quite as good with the riding skirt – and so it’s now completing the very narrow, very high, and very figure-hugging March skirt!

The March jacket, made of knitted loden and wool braid on the edages, is very loosely based on a mix of a heavily adapted historical riding jacket pattern with a flared tailcoat peplum and the painting “Maria Deveria” by Eugene Deveria (1856). The magnificent buttons are double-stitched and fastened with loops made from silk cord.

Many thanks and all the best!

Big thanks to my client for agreeing to letting me feature her here, and also for her insistence, trust, enthusiasm—and for making this special project so much more fun than expected! I wish you both all the happiness in the world.

Big thanks also to Matthias Klesse and Angelika Luckhaus, for lots of very good advice and some more helpful enthusiasm, to Paul Knopf for his effort in finding and sending the buttons, and to Matina Stüven for her kind help!

I’m publishing the photos of the wedding itself with kind permission from Marny Photography (thank you!), and I personally took and edited all the other pictures of fittings and of the bust in my studio.

February is #Figuary again this year, and Croquis Café is releasing a new video to draw along with every day! Sometimes I pause the video though, when 1-5 minutes is too little for the amazing models and their poses… and sometimes I pause them a bit longer, for example on day 10 and 23 for the stunning Emma Grace!

I usually draw the first round on paper and at the given speed, and the second (and sometimes third) round with Procreate on the iPad Pro – and sometimes, I draw much longer per pose. Those were likely 30 to 60 minutes.

This time I worked with a wild selection of my favorite brushes again: Wonderfully realistic pencils as well as by Sadie Lew, the extremely versatile sketch and shading Brushes by JingSketch, and a paper overlay by True Grit. The specific renderings of my series always happen in between and I really like that depending on the model and the day, very different colors, lines, overall styles and sceneries somehow feel “right”!

I am so inspired by Emma Grace, her expressive poses and the grace of a professional dancer, right down to her fingertips and toes – and that she seems to know exactly what the viewer sees. Plus, her hairdo is so fun to draw!

In addition, Emma Grace reminds me of a princess from a mid-century animation with her inner glow, her discipline and especially the way she moves through the poses as if on tiptoe. I created the color scheme, the soft lines and the simple backgrounds according to that impression!

The video of Day 23 was a special treat because there were twice as many poses as usual, starting with 15, 30 and 45 seconds, followed by the usual 1, 2 and 5 minutes. I loved that! Therefore, and because I liked so many poses so very much, this series is a bit longer than the others!

Big Thanks to the Croquis Café – and especially to Emma Grace! <3

Right in time for the phenological inception of spring (at least the sun these days feels like that!), we uploaded some fresh seasonal wallpapers and electronic greeting cards for you and your loved ones over at Lily Lux’ website!