In April 2020 I applied for an Artist Grant that was part of the Relief for Corona affected artists in Germany. The Grant was exclusive to resident artists of Rhineland Palatinate and I was fortunate enough to receive it. 

Thanks at this point to Stiftung Rheinland Pfalz für Kultur!
On this website you find all artists and their projects that receive these grants: 
https://kulturschaufenster-rlp.de

Luna and Nova now also have their own website, check out www.lunanova.art!

Back to the article:)
My idea was to build something new and original but still have the options to play with my previously explored concept of tributes to artists and pop culture.

"Girl with horns" Portrait of Luna

So I searched for an idea that allowed me to combine all that I did until now, like monsters in landscapes, rusty machines, portraits of girls and sometimes androids and the occasional nod to anime or games... with still the most creative flexibility possible, to create everything I want, in the future.

It actually took a day to come up with Luna & Nova.

The conceptual phase took a bit longer, to find out what the story is about. But the main idea was to create a character: Luna, I like to draw girls with horns, so she has horns and is cute.

To be able to paint all the machines or vehicles when needed, I wanted something versatile. To say I was inspired by the animated series Wakfu, is an understatement when I came up with Schrödinger:

The Scythe is inhabited by 2 demons so strong, they can still turn into anything that has molecules. In the hands of Luna, they become a dangerous weapon. However, when unstable it can happen that Schrödinger transforms into an umbrella, the name is a of course a nod to the physicist who is known for the experiment with a cat, better known as "Schroedingers cat".

Then there is Nova; a flying cat which has scaling abilities. Now everything makes sense right? Even the AT-AT painting could be a Luna & Nova piece, because Schrödinger can turn into that machine and Nova scales it up.

And that is where the story should go, I can come up with whatever image idea I have in mind. As long as it fits the abilities of these three guys, it is a go. 

Artworks Gallery (so far)

Below are some of the works that include Luna & Nova. their appearance has become recognizable, but it is still fun to find out where they are, once you are aware of these small character-specific things that allow for the magic to happen.

The above piece is called Feeding time at the Highlands and is of course a nod to the recent installment of Ikoria from Magic the Gathering, just with a more gritty Behemoth ;)
Luna and Nova fit in there as they are feeding the lot of dragons, the hut has attracted them through the smell of fresh sweets. I wanted to go over the top with his piece and see how well anime and fantasy go well together. It was an experiment to be honest.This piece was the first one actually finished. I tried to get a more sketchy / rough painterly look for this one that I may use later on for some other pieces as well.
And then there was Möbius. Actually I found the piece and initially was inspired and thought this would be a good fit to introduce Luna and Nova. But then, back at the conception-department I realized that Schrödingers original shape is a scythe and not one single person (except me) knows them yet, so this painting may make sense in 25 years from now, but not yet ;)