Mexicola

Starting out as an environmental engineer Martin Heynen did a degree change graduating in Illustration a the Lucerne University of Applied Science and Arts in 2017. Since then he has been working as a freelance illustrator in Zürich, Switzerland.    

Nando von Arb was born 1992 in Zurich, Switzerland. He is a trained graphic designer since 2012. In 2018 he graduated in Illustration Fiction at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In 2019 his first graphic novel "3 Väter" (Three Dads) was published by Edition Moderne in Zurich, which was awarded the Zeugin-Design Prize, among others. Since the end of 2019 he has been working as a freelance illustrator and author of comics in Ghent, Belgium, where he simultaneously obtains his Master in Fine Arts at the LUCA School of Arts 

There was no conceptual talk about the design nor a plan how to approach this together. At first we sent each other rough ideas, drawings and rather finished pieces we thought to be interesting. Then, a rather finished but abstract retro-futuristic spaceship was picked as a starting point. The deep cosmos was added, and this cosmos then turned into shape and figure. We sent the same file back and forth, destroying and developing each other’s work. Since we do live in different cities at the moment, we chatted about what we do like and dislike and left the other person to react to the problem. At the beginning the roles were clearly defined. One had an abstract approach, ripping things apart and the other tried to keep things together transforming it into a more figurative direction. These roles then started to change and become fluid.

The Idea was developed during the process. We picked up the theme of electricity, magnetism, plasmas and lasers from the starting image and used this as the visual language. The form and figure was in a constant change and so it was very much out of our control most of the time. It was like unpacking a christmas present every time we opened the image file we got from each other. 

The visual language and motive would’ve been completely different if we did this on our own. If you like surprises do collaborations!