16+ years of age
genuinely interested in literature
open-minded and not offended by an exposed nipple or two.
An exception are our two youth projects (“Beauty and the Beast” and our Twilight parody), which were created with young performer groups (age 12-20) and contain no nudity.
From January 2008 till now, we have published dozens of preview images through an Internet photo community platform driven by over 50,000 active users. We have received hundreds of feedback comments, so that we have a pretty accurate view of our target readers now:
The large majority of persons interested in the original story react positively. Fans of “Dracula”, of Edgar A. Poe, of “Alice in Wonderland” etc. appreciate our images as a refreshing new interpretation. Our primary public is not looking for erotic picture books but for literature, with our art work as an attractive bonus. Readers already vaguely familiar with the well-known narratives may want to buy the orginal novel in our illustrated version now.
People from all social strata can connect to Poe’s gothic stories, to “Dracula” or to the witty tales of Boccacio’s Decameron. And hardly any person in the Western Hemisphere was never touched by Grimm’s Fairy Tales. A sense of humour and a willingness to be surprised by unusual imagery are more decisive than formal education.
What came as a surprise to ourselves, is that a majority of positive comments came from female community members of all age groups. Apart from the comments, we had a multitude of female models volunteering to participate in nude scenes, we had six female hair and make-up artists, three female costume designers, fourteen female graphic arts and photo design students choosing our studio to work as interns here. Although our pictures show a good amount of nude skin, women apparently can identify with the active and often dominant roles of our female protagonists.
The qualities most praised by online visitors are:
1) The originality and wittiness of our interpretation, shedding a fresh light on the well-known plots
2) Our love for detail, so that in every picture, there is a lot to discover
3) The convincing performance by our models
4) Our effort to work from partial shots and the impeccable execution of our PhotoShop work, so that all image elements are crisp and detailed.
And of course, our books are great gifts with an element
of surprise!