The debut album of my band Mother Bear is called “Zamonian Occultism”. Like many of the songs on the album, the title refers to the Zamonien novels written by Walter Moers (“13 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear”, “Ensel and Krete”, “Rumo” and so on), which is why we had the illustrator Sarah Gräfingholt draw us a cover picture featuring a character from the books.

Otherwise, the design is based on 70s horror films and thus the design typical of the stoner/doom metal scene - raw and with Art Nouveau touches. I drew a logo with three pipes (for us three musicians), which Sarah Gräfingholt incorporated into the cover, as well as a lettering of the band name, which is used on posters and the cassette side, among other things.

In the course of the release, stickers, posters and shirts were also created as merchandise.

Illustration: Sarah Gräfingholt
Portrait: Sebastian Beierle

"Lost Children" brings together 12 home recordings by US-American folk musician Allysen Callery. As Allysen is actually more rooted in punk and goth rock than in folk and the recordings are all very raw and direct (sometimes with the jingling of dishes in the background), the entire artwork was designed by hand and not on the computer. With printed photos of Allysen's children, a typewriter, scissors and glue, the artwork was created in the style of 80s punk posters and fanzines. In addition to the CD and sleeve, a sticker was created, the motif of which was also used as a T-shirt print.