Even as a four year old I was utterly fascinated with books. I couldn‘t read them, but the illustrations were the most exiting thing about them, I could watch them for hours on end. One of them was „The Sun Rose“ a collection of ukrainian fairytales. The images of dragons, princes and princesses and heroes captivated me. What I couldn‘t understand was that some of these pictures were coloured, and some black and white. So of course when my mother left me and the book alone one time, I got me some coloured pencils and painted the images in all the colors of the rainbow. The dragons got their scales red, yellow and blue, and the fine ladies dresses in pink, orange and green. You might imagine that my mum was NOT pleased to see my artistic endeavours, and I was confused as to why. You see, I was born 1984 in the German Democratic Republic, and that book was printed 1966 in the DDR. A book like that was rare to come by in the year of 1988, I learned that when I grew up. I don‘t draw in my books any longer, but my fascination with them hasn‘t ceased to that day. As a graphic designer and illustrator I discover new worlds, faraway places and mystical characters through my images, and I want to make people curious what stories they might tell. The „Sun Rose“ still has a place of honour on my bookshelf and reminds me of the time, when a small child was so inspired by some pictures in an old book, that it wanted to add something more to them by colouring them. And that sometimes no words are needed to tell a story.