Born in 1977 in Heidelberg, Germany, I grew up with an enthusiasm about capturing what I was fascinated about by drawing my own little creatures and other things I would see on TV. My father, a mechanical engineer at this time and a good drawer, often sat down with me after movies like E.T., giving me my own How To-lessons in drawing.

After graduation from Heinrich Sigmund Gymnasium Schriesheim, Germany, with an Abitur (equivalent to the U.S.-high school diploma), I decided to provide a civil service at the Martinsschule, school for Special Needs Children in Ladenburg, Germany for one year. In October 2000, I moved to Hamburg, Germany, where I studied illustration at the Bildkunst Akademie Hamburg, Professional School of Illustration, and graduated in May 2004. The final project (thesis) was to illustrate and layout a book called Das Tor Zum Schwarzen Auge based on a German fantasy role game named Das Schwarze Auge by Fantasy Productions, the leading fantasy role game publisher in the country.

It was also in Hamburg where I met my future wife Kate, who was one of a group of young Americans working as teaching assistants in German schools.

Intending to move to the United States as soon as possible, I decided to bridge this period of time by doing an internship in the the advertising business. The agency that I started working for, Sonnenberg & Teynor, located in Mannheim, Germany, provided me with a profound base of design knowledge and important insights into the advertising world.

In July 2004, I finally made it through lots of paperwork, so I could legally follow Kate to America. On August, 27th she and I got married and we are currently located in Hallowell, Maine.

After working for a young, ambitious graphic-design agency called ACES Design in Farmingdale, Maine in 2004 and 2005, where I gained further skills and qualifications in the design business, I decided to work as freelance illustrator. Each of my artworks is done digitally, designed from scratch to finish with Corel Painter, Photoshop and a Wacom graphic-tablet.

Although art as well as commercial art such as illustrations will without any question continue to play an important role in my personal life, please note that I do not work as professional illustrator at the moment due to new committments I made and priorities I set for my life.

Thank you for your interest in my website.

Best,

Thorsten Grambow
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