Bandontwerp voor: N.S. Ljeskow, De onsterfelijke, 1965 before 1965

Karel Thole made this cover design for ‘The Immortal’ in 1965. I love seeing how an artist's mind works through a problem, like how to capture a whole book in one image. The lines in this drawing are so decisive, right? They chop up the space, almost like a collage made of light and shadow. And the 'M's scattered around – are they measurements, maybe? Or just the artist marking his territory, like "Mine!" It makes you think about all the behind-the-scenes stuff that goes into making art, the practical stuff we usually don't see. There’s a real push and pull between the solid grays and open white spaces. The cross-hatching in the face is intense, but then you get these blank areas that just let your eye breathe. You can almost feel him figuring it out as he goes. It reminds me a bit of Picasso’s cubist portraits. Both artists weren't afraid to break things down to build them back up in a new way. Art isn't about answers, right? It's about asking good questions and letting the process lead you somewhere unexpected.