novum 04.16 »illustration«
For the first time in its 92 years of existence novum magazine has realised a cover, which was coloured by hand. Artist Felix Scheinberger illustrated 13,000 issues with brush and ink and thereby produced thousands of unique copies. It took 4 days of straight painting, lots of helping hands and care, but now novum readers can look forward not only to a great design magazine but also to a real piece of art.
This unusual project could only be realised with the help of many partners. First of all we printed two versions of the cover in offset: 6,500 women’s heads and 6,500 men’s heads. Then we ferried 13.000 sheets to Munster in northern Germany, where Felix Scheinberger works as a professor. The college at Munster allowed us to use its premises, which was lucky, because we needed a lot of space. Students helped us to lay out the sheets and collect them after the paintings were dried. Most of the work however was down to Felix Scheinberger, he spent four days of straight painting, applying individual touches to each one of the 13,000 covers. After drying all the sheets were brought back to Bavaria for binding and only a few days later novum readers could enjoy a true piece of art.
We like to experiment with our covers, we use etchings, special colours and hot foil, but so far we never dared anything as crazy as a hand painted cover. Along the line we quite often thought this was pure madness, but the end justifies the means. Thank you to all our supporters and all the people who helped to make this project happen.
Copies of the issue can be bougth at: www.tiny,cc/novum2016
And there is a making-of:
https://youtu.be/cQP_JoI406A
Artist: Felix Scheinberger, www.felixscheinberger.de
Paper: Aquarellkarton Da Capo, Schoellershammer Fine Art by Reflex in 300 sqm, www.reflex-paper.com
Colours: Horadam Aquarellfarben by Schmincke in the nuances 214, 216, 229, 349, 352, 480, 485, 488, 509, 524,536, 654, 655, 663, www.schmincke.de
Offset printing: f&w Mediencenter, www.fw-medien.de
Photos: Dominic Brighton, www.dominicbrighton.com
