Illustrator Nadine Redlich on her most-loved books

Illustrator and cartoonist Nadine Redlich is known for her ability to distil witty one-liners and punchlines through sophisticated four-panelled comics and single character studies. Tapping into universal feelings such as embarrassment, worry and confusion, Nadine has published several books including Ambient Comics, Ambient Comics II, and Paniktotem last autumn.

Nadine’s brilliance has been commissioned by various publications including ZEIT Campus, The New York Times and Frieze magazine, and most recently by It’s Nice That where she poked fun at hovering art directors as part of our partnership with Adobe Stock.

With cleverness and humour oozing from her work, we were eager to find out which books Nadine has kept hold of over the years. From Sesame Street’s Big Bird’s grand day out to psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s dream book, it’s a wonderfully diverse mix.

Sesame Street: Big Bird’s Farm

Bibo! (Big Bird’s name in Germany) I don’t remember where this book came from, as you can guess from its used looks, it has always been there. The Muppets and Sesame Street had a big influence on me. Look at the lack of expression and the flat arc of suspense! It still cracks me up.

C.G. Jung: The Red Book 

The Red Book is a manuscript crafted by psychoanalyst Carl Jung between 1915 and about 1930. I don’t think it was initially meant to be read by the public, his family waited 50 years after his death to release it.

In this large-sized and heavy book he kept his dreams and active imaginations in weirdly ceremonial german language and wrote it down in ornate, medieval calligraphy. I’m impressed by the colourful illustrations and his obsession that went into this book. 

Hans Bellmer: Studio 69

This is an artist catalog by Hans Bellmer, he was a German artist and I guess pretty creepy. I saw this book as a sad teenage girl at an antiquarian and was struck by its weirdness. Through him I also discovered the drawings of his girlfriend Unica Zürn, which I love. 

Johannes Ittens: Kunst der Farbe

I got this book with Itten’s colour theory at the beginning of my studies and hated it, because I remember I had to paint 12,756 coloured squares in my first year of school, but maybe my memory is distorted. Now I am happy that it is in my bookshelf, it looks pretty and I feel more professional owning it. (Sorry for the thumb).

Robert Crumb: ZAP Comix

This is not one of my favourite comics, but a few years ago my friends and I went to a Crumb concert (he plays the banjo) and I took some of his comics with me to get them signed eventually. But after the concert I was too shy to ask him, so my friend Max asked him to sign it for me, but I guess he got nervous too, because I now have some old Crumb comics signed with “For Max – R. Crumb”. I guess what I’m trying to say is, if you are a solvent Crumb fan and your name is Max, drop me a line!