Drawing and Illustration workshop with Cristóbal and Johanna Schmal from 27. – 30.08.2026 in Erlau (Odenwald)
The course
It is not the place itself that matters most, but who we become within it.
New places can inspire us — they awaken our curiosity, our sense of discovery, and our desire to experiment. They stir within us a call toward freedom and sensuous experience. The discovery of a new place is, in many ways, also an exploration of the self.
Who are we when we step away from our daily routines? How do we encounter ourselves in an unfamiliar environment? What lies beyond what we can see or understand — and how might we come into contact with it? What role does community play in this shared process?
The impulse to explore arises from a deep wish to immerse ourselves — both outwardly and inwardly — in new territories, to investigate them, and, through this engagement, to come closer to ourselves. Drawing, painting, and storytelling will be our means of connection with this new landscape. Together, we will search for both the tangible and the intangible: traces, forms, dreams, sensations, and atmospheres that offer us new ways of perceiving space — and ourselves within it.
The teachers
Johanna and Cristóbal Schmal is a German-Chilean duo working across illustration, fine art and graphic design. Cristóbal graduated from the University of Valparaiso and between 2001 and 2008 worked as a graphic designer in Barcelona before developing his career as an illustrator and artist when moving to Berlin. His work has widely been published in international newspapers, magazines and books and amongst his clients are The New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Greenpeace, Lufthansa, Taschen a.o. Johanna graduated in architecture and expanded this discipline in 2015 with a specialization in children‘s book illustration at EINA Barcelona. She works across media in drawing, painting, illustration and textile art. Their work has been exhibited in galleries and artspaces in Germany, Portugal and Spain. Some of the topics inherent in their work such as playfulness, materiality, craftsmanship, experimental and holistic processes, place, nature, re-connection and transformation as well as a their personal passion for intercultural exchange, they pass on through their teachings. After a decade in Berlin they live at the countryside south of Frankfurt a.M with their 2 children.
You can see more of their work here:
Cristóbal: www.artnomono.com / @nomonki
Johanna: www.studioschmal.com/work / @studioschmal
Price
Course fee: 470€
Accommodation, full board catering + yoga: 520€
(limited single bedrooms + 15€ per night)
Total 990€ (Student 840€)
Registration and booking via email at hello@johannaschmal.com
You can find more information and details HERE!
