Elias Linnekuhl Illustrator from Hamburg, Germany

Elias Linnekuhl is a freelance illustrator, living and working in Hamburg. He finished his Master at the HAW (Hochschule für angewandte WIissenschaften) in 2023. He has been working as an illustrator since 2019 and specializes on book illustration and comic books.

His Master project was about the extinction of oceanic species and the rehabilitation of reefs. For this he developped a fictional underwater comic book that picked up these subjects through metaphor in a fantastical context. Mythological subjects, as well as those close to nature, such as changing the hierarchy of scale between humans and nature, can often be found in his work.

Since 2023 he has also dedicated much time to work in animation and aims to further pursue this type of work. Right now, he is working on a comic book and a concept about mice and humans in a fantastical world.

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What brought you to the arts?

Ever since I could first hold a pencil I have been expressing myself through images. Starting with crayon sketches of animals, through the first Indian Ink drawings of dragons and mer people, I have tried all sorts of different artistic media since I was a child. Whether painting with oil and acrylics, drawing with pencil and watercolor, or armed with glue and wood, I was never bored. My family is very creative over all, so I basically had endless possibilities. Besides the impressions I got in the area where I grew up, I was also inspired by many fantasy books, which opened up a path for me to find pictorial expression for my own stories. Besides art I also love nature. Because of this I started down a path of science first before I started to study illustration.

How did you come to take part in Cornelia’s Artists in Residence Program?

I made it to Volterra on a roundabout way. Franzi, another illustrator in the Residency program took me with her in 2023 after she showed Cornelia my work. This was like a journey to a magical world for me, to meet Cornelia and to be able to work in this wonderful place. Originally there was a contest run by the HAW and Dressler publishing house. Unfortunately, I was not able to participate back then so I consider myself incredibly lucky to be able to take part now despite of those earlier circumstance.

How did you like your time at Fraggina? Did you find inspiration?

Since I moved from a tiny village to a large city to work and study, and I am always a little bit homesick for nature and wilderness, my heart almost exploded with happiness from all the impressions in Volterra. It had been a long time since I drew as much in my sketchbook as I did there. The coming together of so many different artists, all their stories and this magical world that you meet at Cornelia’s were especially inspiring to me. There is something to discover in even the smallest corner at Fraggina. For me the encounters with the native flora and fauna were also very memorable. I took home many impressions and felt uplifted in my work.

What did you take back with you?

Besides all of the impressions, memories, photos and souvenirs such as a porcupine quill and a few rocks, I met many great people who I keep in touch with.

I also brought back a lot of inspiration and an overflowing sketch book full of ideas for new projects, and I am very glad that some of the magic of this trip will flow into this new work.