Having lots of jobs on his schedule freelance illustrator Andreas Preis, still try to do some personal stuff in between. He had the idea of creating an animal themed poker card set. This has been going on for almost a year now and it’s still not finished. But he have been planning on creating a calendar for years now, so he decided to use 12 of those finished drawings to finally get it done.

I like animals and I wanted to try some different coloring techniques. So for me this was also a little experiment, trying new materials etc. I’ve been drawing animals for years now and I wanted to get this a bit further, including more details, geometry, colors and so on.
-Andreas Preis

I was inspired by nature I guess. Geometric, ornamental, detailed, vivid. Inspiration can come from everywhere. As far as other artists are concerned, those are some people I personally like and follow for varying reasons: Jacob Bannon, Sara Blake, Aaron Horkey, Russ Mills, Stefan Sagmeister, Si Scott, Sit, Ken Taylor, Joshua M. Smith...
-Andreas Preis

Just be yourself and be productive. There might be something like »talent«, but everybody I ever met who excelled at anything, was working his ass off for it. So should you! Don't change for what you think the market wants, just do what you really want to do. If you think this job will make you rich, you better think again. And most importantly: Be professional, be nice and don't behave like an arrogant »artist«.
-Andreas Preis

About Andreas Preis

Andreas Preis is a designer, illustrator & artist, currently living and working Berlin. Being born deep in the Bavarian Forest in the south of Germany in 1984, he soon discovered his weakness for drawing and colors. After planning to become a »painter without a boss« since he was about 5 years old, he decided to study communications design in Nuremberg. He graduated from Georg-Simon-Ohm University with a diploma in 2009. His skill set includes illustration, drawing and live paintings as well as the different areas of traditional communications design like typography, logo design, icon design, storyboarding etc. See more of his works on Behance or his website.