I spent a little more than one week now travelling around with the Fabmobil again. The Fabmobil is a bus equipped with laser cutters, 3D printers, and all kinds of other tools to make basically anything, that travels around the east Saxony to bring this technology to the kids. It is a project by The Constitute.
I have been with the Fabmobil last year as well. The drawings I made back then were shortlisted in this year’s World Illustration Awards. You can see the project here.
The general idea of the Fabmobil is to bring technology but also culture and not least political awareness back to rural areas. Specifically the areas where we come from. Sebastian and Christian (the initiators of the project) and the many workshop instructors and other crew that are travelling around the countryside or simply keep the bus rolling, of course do the main work of making this happen.
I am from this region too - but like many I have left. I identify with the cause of the Fabmobil and this project is an attempt to contribute something – a little bit of ‘fairy dust’ to sprinkle on top. It was nice to also talk to some of the kids, and show what I am doing and what is possible with a few tools, new and old, combined.
This time around I decided to simplify my setup a bit. I made the initial drawings completely with pencil and then only colored them on the iPad rather loosely. This allowed me to be faster, while capturing more details, than drawing completely digital. It was also more flexible, because I could work in the sunlight and without an eye on the battery status.
The first few days we spent in Görlitz. Then we had a stint in Weissenberg at a school and finally we were at Chaos Computer Club Camp in Mildenberg, Brandenburg.
As a project this is very different from my usual editorial work. Being in one place and making something on the spot is a nice challenge. The pace is very different, and of course I can decide what I want to do and when.
As a drawing experience this has been quite interesting to me. I am still learning how to capture a scene efficiently. How to keep it interesting, by making collages, by assuming imagined viewing angles or by focussing on details or single characters.
Altogether I made around 15 drawings. Which you can see here.
There will be a short documentary about me drawing on location at the Fabmobil coming in the near future.