Silver Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design · 2022
Gung Ho Illustration
- A' Design Award 2022 Silver Winner in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design
- Awarded April 15, 2022
- CLIENT: Thomas von Kummant
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 45,983
- Verification code 656EC3ED96 · Verify this award
About Gung Ho Illustration
Gung Ho is a cover illustration created for the French deluxe edition of the comic series Gung Ho. The artwork avoids the drawn black outline used in most comics and applies a cut-out collage approach that keeps the image clear. Silhouettes are treated with colour to create an expressionistic impression that supports the tone of the story. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic southern Europe where survival depends on fortified settlements. The image captures a moment of danger, youthful courage and released teenage adrenaline. The digital artwork was made with a graphics tablet.
Working within the rich tradition of sequential art illustration that has flourished across continental creative communities, this remarkable work by Thomas von Kummant demonstrates the sophisticated visual storytelling capacities of contemporary illustration practice when elevated to the status of autonomous artistic statement. The composition captures what appears to be a pivotal narrative moment—two young protagonists executing a daring aerial escape aboard a motorcycle while surrounded by a multitude of reaching, pallid creatures whose spectral appearance suggests otherworldly menace transformed through the artist's hand into dynamic visual poetry. Von Kummant's technical command reveals itself through the masterful orchestration of spatial depth, wherein the foreground architecture of weathered stone and rusted metal infrastructure establishes a platform from which the central action launches, while atmospheric perspective guides the eye through successive spatial planes toward the luminous sky that dominates the upper two-thirds of the composition. The chromatic strategy employs a carefully calibrated complementary relationship, positioning warm earth tones against cool celestial expanses while the vermillion motorcycle serves as a chromatic fulcrum that concentrates visual attention precisely where narrative intensity peaks. The figure brandishing a curved blade overhead embodies classical heroic iconography translated into contemporary visual idiom, suggesting continuity with artistic traditions celebrating human courage, determination, and the triumph of spirit over adversity. The illustrator's handling of the creature forms reveals particular sensitivity, rendering their reaching gestures with an almost balletic quality that transforms potential threat into compositional rhythm. This work invites contemplation of the enduring human fascination with narratives of escape, survival, and youthful resilience, themes that have animated visual storytelling across cultures and centuries, finding fresh expression here through the distinctive visual language of twenty-first century illustration practice.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Comic-Cover for the Comic Series Gung Ho.
The design of the comic series is an exceptional style for the French comic market. Without the drawn line, a kind of cut-out collage still tries to preserve the graphic legibility. Silhouettes are treated with colour to create an expressionistic impression, which serves the tone of the story. The synergy of narrative and aesthetics serves only the dramaturgy and the development of the comic. This Cover image captures the moment of released teenage adrenaline. - Dimensions & Packaging
- Edition DELUXE 280mm x 375mm hardcover, 60 pages
- Tags
- Illustration, comic, digital, photoshop, story, book, series, narrative, storytelling, characters
- Production Technology
- Digital artwork for the cover of the french edition of Gung Ho - Court-circuit - Edition DELUXE 2.2, created with Photoshop and Wacom Tablet
- Design Challenge
- The script sets a certain tone with which the story is told. The challenge is to find a style that supports the tone of the story and gives the project uniqueness. When you see an image from the story, it has to be recognisable - that can only be an image from Gung Ho. The German comic market has not been able to develop due to the Second World War and is therefor very small - especially as far as in-house productions are concerned. To get our ambitious 420-page project financed, we had to enter the largest European comic market - the French market. With Edition Paquet we found a partner who supported us very well.
- Project Duration
- The project began in Munich in 2012. The first book was published in France in 2013. The project was completed in January 2021 in Munich with a publication in France in June 2021.
- Operation Flow
- The book was used in the Amiens region of France for classroom discussion and analysis. The aim is to adapt the book into film - animation or life action - or game media.
- Research
- Sequential art is older than millennia as we can see on cave paintings. It is later found in antiquity and can be found in the High Middle Ages on the Bayeux Tapestry. With the printing of books, sequential art became known to a wider readership. In the late 19th century, picture sheets were published, just like short comic strips. Picture and word told a short story.
In France and Belgium at the beginning of the 20th century, a new form of comic strip developed - the comic book - in which longer stories were printed in continuation. The comic series was born. This is also where drawing styles developed, such as Ligne claire, whose best-known representative is Herge with his Tintin. What most comics had in common was that legibility was created by a line drawn with black ink. - Inspiration
- The inspiration came from our kids and the question - What if nature stroke back created a new aggressive species? The fictive story is telling happenings in a post apocalyptic south europe, where survival is only possible in fortified cities and settlements. Following the rules is a matter of life and death. Every child knows that. Until he becomes a teenager…
The theme of Gung Ho is on one hand about the destructive side of youth, but also on the other hand its power for renewal. - Patents
- GUNG HO © von Kummant / von Eckartsberg / Edition Paquet
Colors of Gung Ho Illustration
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G0E2 ShopDesign Interview about Gung Ho Illustration
The illustration is a triangular composition and is intended to reflect the term GUNG HO - GUNG HO in the sense of youthful recklessness and high spirits. The inspiration comes from my own holiday memories of holidays in southern Europe.
I wanted to depict the imminent danger, but also the youthful cockiness and the outburst of pure adrenaline.
Since the image is digitally created, I will probably offer it one day as an original NFT.
It took me 3-4 days from the sketch to the finished illustration.
At the end of the second book, the two teenagers escape from the protective settlement on their motorbike and are attacked by the dangerous rippers, a new species of animal, a freak of nature.
This scene is symbolic for the second book of our comic series GUNG HO.
I had the motif in mind from the beginning.
This scene is symbolic for the second book of our comic series GUNG HO.
I had the motif in mind from the beginning.
The Cover Illustration was made especially for the French GUNG HO DELUXE issue 2.2 and used in several countries for the special issue.
I had already painted the motif as the essence of the story for the presentation to the publisher. But at that time it looked quite different, the characters and the dangerous rippers were not yet designed and the location was not yet clear. Three years later, the cover illustration was finally created in this form.
During the development of our story I have always worked very closely with Benjamin von Eckartsberg and we have always influenced each other constructively.
The story is aimed at readers from 14+
Most post-apocalyptic stories take place in desolate areas and are shown in desaturated colors. However, we show this crisis situation from the point of view of teenagers, who, with their hormone-driven emotions, look at the world with completely different eyes. The world of GUNG HO has something of a summer camp in southern Europe.
GUNG HO is an Americanism derived from Chinese and means motivated, committed and working together in harmony. Over time, however, the term acquired various meanings, e.g. it was used as a battle cry by the Marines in the Pacific during World War 2. In our history, GUNG HO is a slang term for hotheaded and overzealous, regardless.
The image was created with the help of SketchUp in Photoshop.
The unique ones are arguably the rippers, an aggressive freak of evolution that has displaced humanity from the top of the food chain.
The main task in composing a picture with so much detail is to guide the eye of the viewer.
I was invited by the A'Design award and my wife really wanted to go to the gala evening at Lake Como.