ABOUT: Skeptakulaer

Let's start off with a beer. What beer would you say is your favorite?
 I come from the beautiful north of Germany and there we have the Braunschweig beer: Wolters. This is my favorite as a local patriot! But really delicious as an international beer is of course Budweiser from Prague, from Czechoslovakia. I also liked to be on vacation there.

Your one of my favorite lettering artist. Not just the lettering, some of your lettering are infront of a mad backgrounds. Where did your journey in art began?
Hey, thanks first of all, I'm glad you like it. I remember I painted a lot in my childhood. Characters and buildings in a comical way. And in school I got into graffiti, also cheered on by various schoolmates. First text, then styles, just classic. First I copied and then developed my own style more and more by myself. My TAG is very important to me, it's sophisticated, that's what I identify with it. Just as I stand in a chaotic world, my TAG is also set against wild backgrounds.

Where did the name Skep came from?
The meaning of the name comes from skeptical, skepticism. The way I feel located in this world: critical, doubtful, suspicious. But because that's too long, I needed something shorter. And that's how SKEP was born. These are my absolute favorite letters and everyone knows what is meant in this short formula. That's the great thing.

You also have a character, that reminds me of that tripod of War of the Worlds. What’s the story behind that character?
Yes, that's my eye-footed parasite! I'm deep into science fiction, but I didn't know the film and the story at all. This being was just floating around in my head. I soaked up art, manga, anime in my youth. I had inspirations and I wanted to create something great, with recognition value. You want to stand out from others and God, there are already enough clowns.

How did you end up in the graffiti scene as well as the stickerscene?
When my consciousness developed as a teenager at school, there was the absolute high culture of graffiti in the nineties. Also in Braunschweig through the rap music that was produced here, through the underground scene. Everyone at my school, all my buddies, were fully involved in this scene. And that hits my lifeblood as an artist and also my anti-establishment attitude.

Spraying graffiti on walls is of course cool nighttime actions. But it's also quite expensive and oh man, that's punished well. I had to switch and with stickers I could distribute and spread myself around the world more cheaply and at the same time artistically even more elaborately. When I saw for the first time how someone took stickers from the famous post office of Germany, painted them, which is quite cheeky and then also artfully. And much more precisely prepared things at home and then glued something like that to walls, not only made spontaneous graffiti, but stuck on to sophisticated art in a duplicated form. There was another opportunity for me to spread myself, with my artistic skills.

As one of my inspiration on art. What inspired you to become an artist, and how did you develop your artistic skills?
Since I love anime and manga so much and there is more to them than in photos or films and since I am a visual person through and through, visual spinning is my visual art, my form of expression. Yes, even more than rap or movies and videos. What I have tried. God, I've been experimenting with Juicy Fruit for a long time and with my own lyrics.

 I developed my skills fully as an autodidact. Sure, I chilled together with buddies and we battled to see who scribbles better. But all my life I was ultimately on my own and always drawing … what I have to do every day, the way I eat and breathe. That's exactly my therapy for this shitty life, with all the problems I have. Problems not only through the world, but also through the beautifully messed up social life around me.

If you would have to describe your artistic style, what would you say?
The angular shapes of my texts are actually more important to me than the style and the colors. That's even more important than the characters. Because if I want to express something, then through the way my TAG is written. My TAG may be the same in terms of content, but the style is always very different. And the TAG expresses what it's all about. In different colors, in different shapes. My mood flows almost therapeutically into the style of the shape of my letters.

Can you share some of your favorite or most significant artistic projects or pieces you've created?
My most important project is actually drawing with a ballpoint pen! You're throwing something out of it and it has to stay the way it is. And you can no longer change or erase anything. Yes, it flows and what arises is good and stays that way, over and out. Of course, it's also nice that one of my paintings has come to the museum in Hannover. But I also think it's cool to continue to deal with modern techniques. Right now I have to say: To have stickers printed in large quantities and to watch how they are distributed all over the world or how I stick the stickers somewhere on my travels, not to be in a museum, but to be spread out in the world, that's cool, that's big!

What brands and tools do you use for your artwork and what do you recommend?
Ballpoint pens, POSCA markers, COPIC Touch markers. Colored pencils. Graffiti cans, etc.

What do you like the most about what you do ?
When I’m working, I can be completely focused. It really calms me down. And I always end up creating something new and different. I build crazy worlds and let unsettling emotions spill onto the paper.

Are there any artist you look up to now or in your earlier stage as an artist?
There are a lot of influences. To name a few: in terms of fantasy, I loved devouring Luis Royo’s books. In terms of graffiti styles Kakao77, Phos, Skim, etc. Currently, in the sticker community, I really celebrate his characters. Radek’s as well. And Skyrt’s especially his more hentai-style stuff. Wocka’s output, too, to name a few of the characters I really like.

Everyone has their way of working. How do you approach the creative process, from conceptualization to completion?
I don’t worry too much anymore about how something has to look; I don’t conceptualize much before I start working. Not like I used to. It only held me back. In the end, it always turns out differently anyway. I no longer plan from concept to completion, I just let it flow in one go.

Life can sometimes take over the things you love. How do you stay motivated and overcome creative blocks or challenges in your work?
I basically always try to draw something, whether I’m on the go, at work, or anywhere else. It’s also very inspiring and motivating to create something new through conversations, brainstorming, and other impulses. It doesn’t always have to become a perfect picture. Just sketching something is exciting enough. Kind of like: better started imperfectly than hesitated perfectly.

(I pretty much draw all the time — when I’m out, at work, wherever. Talking to people, brainstorming, or bouncing off ideas is super inspiring and motivating. It doesn’t always need to be a perfect finished piece. Even just sketching something simple is exciting. Kind of like: better to start imperfectly than to wait for perfection.)

Not every art, is for everyone. How do you handle critiques or feedback on your work, both positive and negative?
In the end, I paint for myself. If someone else likes it, that’s cool — makes me happy. But even positive feedback is sometimes weird for me, because I always think there are better works of mine out there. But that’s just taste. Negative comments are rare, I humbly admit, but when they happen, I can totally handle them. They actually push me to keep going - maybe unchanged, maybe improved.

The most thing I like to see in an artist is progress. What are your long-term artistic goals, and where do you see your art career heading in the future?
I’ve become a passionate collector. I’m currently trying to trade a lot of stickers so I can archive them. Beyond that, I try to submit my work to sticker festivals as often as possible. A big highlight would be to make it into the Label 228 book. Other than that, there’s an exhibition coming up and my own sticker zine.

Some artists feel they have a deeper meaning regarding their artwork. Does your art have a deeper meaning to you?
I’ve honestly never thought much about that. But yeah, I definitely want to put my name out there, spread my work, and leave a mark — to show that I was here!

Do you have anything else you would like to share with the world?
First of all, a big thank you for the chance to do this interview.

Then I want to send best greetings to my crews: ECS, RME, FBG, NFG … happy to be part of it.

Thanks to everyone who supports my art—through exhibitions, following, liking, and so on. Feel free to reach out for trades.

Cheers, SKEP