Mecki

In 2002 Harald Siepermann was asked to take over the still on and off existing Mecki comics from the German TV and Radio magazine Hörzu. The hedgehog character Mecki was since 1946 the mascot of the magazine Hörzu and appeared on a weekly basis as a comic in the magazine. The character became a success and it generated various merchandise throughout the years. Harald Siepermann’s childhood memories about the comic strip: “In the mid and early-sixties, when I was still too young to read, we would visit my grandparents every other Sunday afternoon. It was like a one and a half hour walk to their home in Bochum, a miner’s housing estate. There we would have coffee and cake, watch Bonanza and the sports-show and sometimes my grandfather would read the Mecki comic strips to me, one pagers from the TV and Radio magazine Hörzu.”

From 2002 Siepermann worked for almost a year on Mecki and created 23 comic pages for Hörzu. When the chief editor of the magazine was fired also the comic was discontinued.

Here are some of Harald’s designs for the character Mecki.

Alfred J. Kwak comic book 31st anniversary

Today marks the 31st anniversary of the first comic book about the adventures of the duck Alfred J. Kwak. The first time Harald Siepermann officially drew Alfred J. Kwak was for the poster design of the German stage play in 1985 by Herman van Veen. At that time Alfred J. Kwak looked more like Donald Duck. In the next few years Harald Siepermann kept developing the character before he got his iconic look with his yellow fur and red scarf that appeared in the first comic book.

Harald Siepermann designed the comic book together with Hans Bacher, his friend and teacher from the Folkwang University. The story was based on the theater play by Dutch entertainer Herman van Veen, who invented the character Alfred J. Kwak. Siepermann designed the characters and drew them in numerous poses. Bacher placed Harald’s designs in a comic book layout, did the inking, and created the colors and backgrounds.

The launch party for the comic book was held on February 18, 1987, at the Artis zoo in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Portfolio early 1990’s

Harald Siepermann’s portfolio designs from the early 1990’s.

Portfolio 2000’s

Here are a series of Harald Siepermann’s square portfolio designs that he used later in his career. Through this blog we will discuss each of these subjects in more detail in various posts.

Harald Siepermann

Today it’s been 5 years ago that character designer Harald Siepermann passed away. He is still very much missed by friends, family, and former colleagues and students. During Harald Siepermann’s 30 years active career in the film industry he worked for big companies such as Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg’s Amblimation, DreamWorks and EA Games. His most famous creation is the design of the character Alfred J. Kwak. Through this website the Harald Siepermann Archive wants to share his beautiful artwork with the world and to give aspiring character designers and fans of animation an insight of Harald Siepermann’s work.

If you want to stay connect with the work of Harald Siepermann you can follow this blog and the following social media accounts:

Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/haraldsiepermann
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/HSiepermann