About
About me
Publications
Curriculum vitae
Work experience
About me
Hey, who is this guy?
Hi everyone! My name is Joël Keßler and I really love to draw!
Since I graduated from Fachhochschule Mainz (University of applied sciences) in 2008,
I have been working as a freelance illustrator and designer.
Topics and Main focus
Doing illustration, I primarily concentrate on designing characters and animals. Furthermore my work includes the topics fiction, non-fiction, childrens book, concept art and advertising illustration.
Style and content
You can see, I have quite a big variety of illustration-techniques. These range from classical analogue techniques (like acrylics, ink and watercolours) to (sometimes fully) digital techniques. The visualization of the picture always refers to its subject and the related conditions.
Mood is an important piece of my work, and I try to deliver it the best way possible. Even I am able to illustrate with lots of details, I prefer it quick, dirty and rough.
Beyond my desk …
As an illustrator, you spend a lot of your work-time sitting, so I arrange my spare-time with lots of sports and movement. A big part of this I spend drumming for my band ZOMBIETOWN. Music is an important part of my life, since it gives me distraction and balance from work. But I also get a part of my inspiration for work out of music.
My taste in music depends on my mood and ranges from extreme-metal to classical music but it may also contain things like movie scores and art pop. But in every case it stays beyond mainstream music. In my opinion music should have a statement, should introduce worlds to me and tell a story. After all, illustration is about telling stories …
Publications
You can find my illustrations published in the following books
- »Grauslichschöne Gruselgeschichten für dunkle Abende«, published by rororo
- »Der Weltensammler (Kalender)«, published by Edition Büchergilde
- »Sanktionen in der Schule«, published by VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften
Curriculum vitae (excerpt)
- born on September 15th, 1981 in Frankfurt am Main
- 1998 — 2001: attendance and diploma at Oswald-v.-Nell-Breuning-Schule (secondary school) in Ober Roden
- 2001 — 2002: civilian service at VSG Dietzenbach 1964 e.V. (association for disabled sports)
- 2003 — 2008: Academic studies and diploma at Fachhochschule Mainz (University of applied sciences), faculty design with main focus on illustration and advertisement
- 2008 — present: work as freelance illustrator and designer
Work experience
- Oktober of 2002 — January of 2003: work placement at ALIAS-Werbung (commercial agency) in Offenbach a.M., fields of activity in layout/design, image editing
- September of 2005 — March of 2006: work placement at Ogilvy & Mather Werbeagentur GmbH Frankfurt a.M.fields of activity in layout/design, image editing, also creating concepts for advertisement campaigns
- 2006 — present: freelance work for Ogilvy & Mather Werbeagentur GmbH Frankfurt a.M., Biedermann und Brandstift Creative Services GmbH, UGW AG
- 2001 — present: honorary work as youth trip counselor for Sportjugend Hessen
- 2001 — 2005: honorary work as sports-trainer for children- and senior citizens for VSG Dietzenbach 1964 e.V. (association for disabled sports)