Looking for something?

Tap outside or press close

InspirationIllustration

Klaus Kremmerz creates fully illustrated version of Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye

German illustrator Klaus Kremmerz is behind a fully illustrated version of Raymond Chandler's 1953 novel The Long Goodbye.

Written By:
A man in a green suit stands on a sandy beach beside a brick tower, gazing out at sailboats on blue water with rolling green hills beyond

Created for Chinese Publisher Yilin Press, the project marks a notable evolution in Kremmerz's distinct style. It draws on 1950's "hard-boiled crime" and Californian artist Ken Price, known for his abstract ceramic sculptures resembling blobs, geodes, and surreal take on crockery.

Kremmerz was contacted by Yilin Press around a year ago after the publisher had seen his felt-tip pen work on John Cheever's short story, The Swimmer, for the Portuguese publisher, Stolen Books.

"My experience in illustrating short stories or books is limited to these two books, so it was something new for me, and it was a nice challenge," Kremmerz says.

Illustration of people in 1950s attire gathered on a terrace beside a swimming pool, with a tall cypress tree, palm trees and mountains under a pink sunset sky

No longer working with a marker pen, for The Long Goodbye, Kremmerz used various brushes and watercolour paint for some areas of the images. He began the project by selecting 13 scenes that could summarise the plot - no mean feat for a novel of this length.

The biggest challenge for the illustrator was considering how to make the cuts of light and shadow without creating an atmosphere that was too dark. He created the California scenery from memory thanks to his existing familiarity with the area.

"I was given almost a year of time, so I did this project piecemeal, carving out space for sketches and finales between projects," Kremmerz explains. "However, I used a lot of the time I was given to imagine the cut of the work, the colours, the atmosphere and the characterisation of the characters.

"Initially, I thought I'd make a more modern version and less hard-boiled or noir, but in the end, the charm of memories of certain films with Humphrey Bogart or more recently with Robert Mitchum in the part of the detective Marlow prevailed."

A figure in a dark suit stands in a doorway with an arched frame, backlit by a window with a sunset view, while another figure holds a gun in the foreground of a dark hallway with a potted plant

He was also inspired - or uninspired - by watching Robert Altman's film adaptation of The Long Goodbye right after reading the novel, "which disappointed me immensely," he says. "It's completely different from the novel, especially the ending.

"I imagine Chandler himself would have been very disappointed. On the other hand, I didn't want to rewatch the movie with Bogart or Mitchum so as not to be too affected."

Klaus Kremmerz illustration for The Long Goodbye showing a man in a red shirt visiting a patient in a hospital bed, with another figure visible in the background, rendered in watercolour with bold black outlines
A man in a hat and coat stands in a narrow alleyway shining a torch on another figure, with a car parked nearby and tall buildings casting shadows around them
A man in profile watches through a window as a figure stands in a doorway across a street, illustrated in muted greens and blues with watercolour and ink
Klaus Kremmerz's illustration of a crime scene with a body on a couch and two men in suits and hats standing in a doorway, rendered in watercolour with muted tones
Vintage burgundy car parked in a California landscape with palm trees, fluffy clouds and a red sun, two figures standing nearby on a hillside
Three figures in a 1950s office interior, with one seated at a desk, another standing behind it, and a third by a filing cabinet, under a wall clock
Three men in hats and suits physically restrain a woman in a living room with pink walls, bookshelves and a fireplace, an illustration from Klaus Kremmerz's version of Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye
A vintage car parked on a desert road beneath a distinctive silhouetted tree, with the Hollywood sign visible on a distant hillside under a dusky pink sky
A stylised illustration of a brown and pink house with a chimney set among green hills and trees, with a figure on the front steps beneath a blue-grey sky
Share