The illustrator “Being allowed behind the scenes really was an exciting experience!”

Berlin-based Luxembourgish illustrator Viktoria Mladenovski had been to gigs at Rotondes quite a few times and already knew the venue well. But when she received an email from our team asking whether she’d be interested in working on a Wimmelbuch with us, it almost felt too good to be true. Little did she know that this was the start of a 17-month-long project. Here’s Viki telling us more about how Rotondes’ Wimmelbuch came to life and how it will live on.

Viki, we’ve seen the first copies of the book and, of course, we love it! But tell us, why did you agree to take on this project?

I really liked to the idea of spending time at Rotondes, meeting and talking to people, and getting a sense of what the space is all about. It just sounded like something I don’t usually get to do. Normally I work from my desk, emailing people or just speaking to them via Zoom. This felt much more personal in the sense that I could explore the place in person. At first, it was a bit overwhelming to walk around alone and meet so many new people, so I made a list of questions for everyone: about their jobs, funny or memorable things that had happened at Rotondes, and how they wanted to be represented in the book. Being allowed behind the scenes really was an exciting experience!

What was the most challenging part of the project?

I had never worked on a book before, so this definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. Most of the process was new to me, and I felt like there were so many things that could go wrong, so I tried to plan every stage carefully. Even the drawing part itself brought its lot of questions because I’d never worked on an image as crowded as a Wimmel-picture before, and I had to draw a lot of objects I’d never attempted before. 

Given the length of the project, I went through a whole range of emotions, from joy and excitement to a sense of crisis and overwhelm. That’s pretty normal for a long-term project, I think – I mean, you have so much time to overthink! In the end, it reinforced my trust in my own abilities and proved that I can take on something as new and as big as a book.

In what ways would you say you’ve made the book truly your own, even though it’s all about Rotondes?

For one thing, I think my style is very recognisable. I like to use joyful, happy colours, and add quirky characters in my illustrations. You’ll find plenty of animals and insects, often with funny ears, even if they’re not always anatomically correct. I also pay special attention to fashion and clothes, and how characters are represented. I try to not assign specific genders to them, I just create them and let them be themselves. From there, it’s up to people to interpret the stories in whatever way they like.

This reminds me, the first page was shown to school children, and their feedback was that it looked like a place where you could be whoever you wanted to be.

I was so touched to hear that! I actually teared up a little because that’s how I draw, and it’s exactly what I was aiming for: a happy, inclusive place where everyone respects each other and can be themselves.

The Wimmelbuch format is usually aimed at children, but we wanted this one to appeal to adults too. How did you go about that? 

It can be quite tricky to cater to such a broad audience. The more specific you are, the more you can really focus on what your target audience would enjoy. Here, I tried to make it appealing to everyone by creating characters of all ages – teenagers, adults, babies, and children.

I also tried to incorporate jokes that could work for both children and adults. Larisa [Faber, Ed.] really helped me with that, she encouraged me to look for what children like and what they find funny. My insects, cats, and dogs are for them, really. 

Personally, I find so much joy in Wimmelbücher. You seek out different characters to see what they’re up to page after page, and there’s so much humour in them. That’s the formula that I took inspiration from.

For the launch you’ll bring back the universe of Rotondes’ Wimmelbuch in a live drawing concert, and you’re also creating an animation with a few characters for the loop.

There’s so much planned for the launch of the book! It feels like the project is still living on – it’s not just a finished product. It’s very exciting to revisit it rather than just finishing it and moving on to the next thing. I now have time to truly process that it’s mine, to take it all in, and to actually celebrate it. 

The concert dessiné (live-drawing concert) is more about the dream world that I’ve created in the clouds above Rotondes, whereas the loop animation will focus on what’s happening on the ground, on the various stages. I’m bringing back a couple of characters from the book, but it’s so hard to choose which ones.

Diving deeper into animation was one of my goals for 2024. Even though I’m still learning, I love the process of creating moving images, it feels like magic! The loop is a great playground for me, and I’ve been told I could do whatever I want with it – which is what I love about Rotondes: there’s so much trust. As an illustrator, trust is one of most important components of a successful collaboration. And that is exactly what Rotondes gave me throughout the Wimmelbuch project. It felt like I could truly bloom, and I’m sure the same will be true for the loop – it will be a smooth process for me to continue discovering who I am as an illustrator.

Viktoria has spent so much time at Rotondes that she’s definitely ​“one of us” now. Does that mean she’s in the Wimmelbuch too? Maybe! Grab a copy to find out!