Tobias Göbel — Pen & Ink Illustrator, Music & Fashion

Based in Cologne, Tobias Göbel is an artist who creates unique illustrated worlds filled with interesting people, places, architecture and products. Drawing is an obsession for Tobias, and through it he’s created his own visual language.

With clients in music, fashion and popular culture, Tobias is heavily influenced by post-punk bands like Joy Division, Bauhaus, Wire and Killing Joke and he also plays bass guitar and writes songs. This sonic critique of culture shows through in his drawings, which seek out imperfections, stretch ideas and highlight the incongruous. Tobias has a background in graphic design and art preservation.

Approach

First, Tobias draws the main elements of his images with Fineliners, coloured pencils, watercolours, chalks, felt-tips and more. Then he scans them in, and arranges the composition and fine-tunes the colour on his computer. For a cleaner, sharper look, he works in Illustrator, but if he wants something a little looser he’ll use Photoshop.

Key Software

Illustrator, photoshop

Style

Tobias’ natural drawing style feels very immediate and brings plenty of contemporary zing to his illustrations. He combines symbols and concepts with a human and emotional edge, using patterns and textures to give the images added decorative charm. His black and white line work is usually complemented with a restrained selection of pastel shades.

Client list

Tobias has received commissions from T-Mobile, Mercedes Benz, Mazda, Tchibo, Miele, Vaillant, Forum Gelb Magazin, American Express, W&V, Lucky Strike, Philosophie Magazin and Die Stern Gesund Leben.