Aljoscha Blau

Aljoschau Blau is an illustrator, author and lecturer in drawing and illustration. After the Wall came down, he left his hometown of Saint Petersburg to study art and illustration in Hamburg and now lives in Berlin. Children's and picture books are his specialty. He has either illustrated or written more than 60 works and strives to do justice to each book with an individual illustration style. For the most part, he remains true to his favorite medium, gouache painting.

What appeals to him about the genre of the picture book is the illustrator's special responsibility to translate content that previously only existed in abstract language into the visual. He sees his projects as intellectual adventures with room for surprises, the grotesque and humour. He often lets the details do the talking and invites the viewer to look around in peace. His books in cooperation with German and international publishers, including Peter Hammer, Aufbau, NordSüd and Bajazzo, have received numerous international awards such as the German Youth Literature Prize and the renowned BolognaRagazzi Award. In "Multitalent Gouache" he recorded his experiences and techniques for illustration with gouache in book form.