How it all began:

In 1996, in the evening after my father had died, we, my mother,  two siblings and I, sat together to decide what to say in the obituary notice to be published in our regional newspaper. After we had agreed on the text, we had to decide on the little graphic to go with it. None of the standard crosses, palm leafs and other icons offered by the newspaper's image menu seemed good enough. After all, my father was an artist and, even more, an amazing and well-known draftsman. Hence, we decided to ask the newspaper for permission to use a different, unique graphic - to be provided by us.  It had to be simple, black and white and fit to be printed about 8 cm tall. Browsing through my father's portfolio we did not find anything suitable. So, we had to create one ourselves, and the task fell on me. Both my sister and I were active visual artists (my baby brother is a musician), but I was the guy for black and white stuff as I - at that time -  worked mainly as a cartoonist.

Of a couple of sketches I made we selected the one shown here and sent it to the newspaper. 

Apparently, other people liked this drawing because, over time, it began appearing in more and more obituaries - until my brother noticed and - without me knowing - asked the newspaper to stop re-use. He meant well. He wanted it to stay exclusive, in honor of my father.  But I am sure, my father would have wanted it widely used.

The photo on the right shows a hand-drawn copy I created based on a reproduction in a later obituary for another person. As you can see: nothing extravagant (that would not have been appropriate). I do not have the original anymore. It probably ended up in a wastebin in the newspaper's obituary department.

Anyway ...

This is how I found out that, in my homeland Germany, there was a need for a different kind of Christian graphics.  Graphics that are not stiff and that engage the viewers' imagination. Having published some such drawings on a website, I found this also to be true here in the U.S.A., where I live now. And feedback from all over the world showed me that it is equally true elsewhere.

So I began, in 2001, making a rapidly growing library of Christian graphics available, using a dedicated website. Later, I also published drawings on Instagram and, for a while, on Twitter. As I am lucky enough not to need income from them, I made offered them "for free" - provided certain conditions are observed (see Conditions of Use). 

Since, many of them have been used in and on Christian publications (books, magazines, newsletters - printed and electronic), on clothing, during mass, as church signs and logos, by Christian musicians on CD covers etc, and even as tattoos - all over the planet. Articles and even a thesis have been written about them. And - what I am most proud of - they inspired numerous other Christian artists to explore a more impulsive and emotional expression of their spirituality.  

By now, I have (or had over time) made available more than 7000 drawings. Not all of them can still be found on the web.  Many became un-published when, as it happend from time to time, a website or social media account of mine died and became rebuilt. The largest collection (close to 5000 images as of this writing) is currently found on Instagram, but these are often just quick cellphone pics and do not necessarily have best lighting or good resolution.   

This website is intended to provide good-quality/high-resolution images suitable for print media. It replaces a previous website with high-resolution images that, for some reason, became defunct - which again had replaced an earlier such website that had replaced an original website. 

The main outlet for new drawings, which I sometimes publish on a daily basis, continues to be my Instagram feed.