Art Bio, Klaus Scherwinski:

[DeJaVu]

Many fans asking me how I got to be a game-illustrator are surprised when they hear I started out as an aspiring comic artist. My illustration career started out with Kopeck, a 3-issue action comic mini-series published by Karicartoon, a small independent publisher in Hanover (Germany) in 1999. A full color action comic is quite a lot of work but I am very thankful for that amazing opportunity. I gained a lot of drawing experience that literally paved my way to where I am now.
In 2000 I attended the annual Spiel 2000 Game Fair in Essen (Germany) or rather the area reserved for comics. I had finished my mini-series and my skills had improved vastly but still I was certain that I had a long way to go to get paid work. Regarding comic books this still remains true, getting into role-playing games (RPG) was easier. A friend led me over to the RPG part of the Spiel fair and I showed my portfolio to companies like Fanpro and Fantasy Flight Games. The FFG editor liked most of my pieces and gave me his business card. Two months later I received my first commissioned work enquiry from the United States. I was thrilled! Enormously motivated I started working on this first job and everything went well, but still I was weary whether I would find more work in the future...
About the same time I got into contact with Germany's dark fantasy magazine Mephisto. My style suited the Shadowrun articles perfectly so I became the standard illustrator for that section in Mephisto. This proved to be good training because I was approached to co-illustrate a new book for the original Shadowrun system by the German SR-producers in the summer of 2001. I saw this as my break-through into professional illustration. I knew if I could do this I was on the right track also in terms of improving my artistic skills. This inevitably led me into contact with the American producers with whom I have done several books so far. (My first Shadowrun cover, "Shadows of Europe," is now available.)
Because of my contacts with the Shadowrun side of the American FanPro, I was approached to do a cover for Classic BattleTech (Classic BattleTech Record Sheets: 3067), which led to several additional covers. My most recent work for Classic BattleTech is a series of full-page interior illustrations in Handbook: House Steiner, and I've been commissioned for two new Classic BattleTech covers, to be published in the near future.
In early 2003 I decided to go pro, halting my studies of English, Spanish and Economics at Bielefeld University after occasional illustration jobs turned more and more into steady and repeated commissions. September brought my first international comic publication with a six-pager in Heavy Metal magazine and from issue #23 of Mephisto I started serving as the Magazine's art-director; a great challenge and opportunity to develop new skills and contacts.
In late 2003 I moved to Bielefeld and besides my regular art-jobs I got the chance to provide weapons- and equipment design for the Degenesis RPG released in May 2004 in Germany. It will certainly make an impact on the market as its design and illustration standards surpass most of the other existing RPG systems. Degenesis surely is the project I am most proud of so far. I have amazing freedom and the chance to produce something new, collaborating with some of the most talented people in the business to participate in the birth of a completely new game-line. You can download the entire 380-page rulebook for free (!) on www.degenesis.de if you want to see what I mean.
Also in late 2003, due to my work on Classic BattleTech, I was contacted to work on BattleCorps; a new an exciting direction for my work.
Turning your hobby into a profession, you don't need that much leisure time anymore, and working in the illustration industry makes sure you don't get it anyway. Social contact is reduced very much to my lovely girlfriend, my redhead-computer-expert room mate (male), and some very good friends. Looking for a way to keep my body in shape I practice Aikido at a dojo nearby. This is great when you want to do sports but need to keep your body intact (i.e.avoid hand injuries), plus it's effective and looks amazing if executed right. Vacation is whenever I attend San Diego Comic Con or Gencon in the USA or the Spiel Fair in Essen to sign books, sell art and meet friends.
In the future I hope to develop my creative abilities, do more color work, which will be in the form of covers and trading cards, and one day I might be able to publish my very own comic series (again). That would be fun.
If you're at all interested in my other work, check out my web site at www.klausscherwinski.de.