Cotton Candy Latte.
Lae Schäfer is one of the most promising young artists coming from the Artez comics course in Zwolle. Lae prefers to be referred to in the gender-neutral "singular they". They rank among their many influences Carl Barks, Enki Bilal, Kim Duchateau, Daniel Clowes, Brecht Evens, Tom Gauld, Kerascoët, Hanco Kolk, Lamelos, Manu Larcenet, Martin Lodewijk, Jean-Claude Mézières, Moebius, Alex Norris, Jacques Tardi, Bastien Vives and Wasco, as well as film directors like Chan-wook Park and Quentin Tarantino. They also have a fascination for demons and devils, and vintage music from the 1940s through the 1960s. Lae prefers drawing from reality, and especially focuses on human relations and absurd situations. They have been experimenting with several techniques, as is showcased in the 2016 self-published comic book 'Child's Play', which featured pages in the styles of Joann Sfar, Lamelos, Matthias Picard, Winsor McCay and Hanco Kolk.
Lae draws in the style of Winsor McCay's Little Nemo (from Child's Play)
Born in 1994 in Amsterdam, Lae Schäfer first studied animation at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam for one year, but couldn't find the patience for animation. They then enrolled at the comics training of the Artez School of the Arts in Zwolle, where their teachers are Hanco Kolk and Sam Peeters. Lae posted an autobiographical comic strip called 'Lae's Life' on Tapastic.com, which explored several drawing techniques and featured openhearted comic strips about the awkward situations in their life. Lae self-published more adult-oriented print zines like 'Wolkje, De Schattigste Voyeur', 'Peter Pan Is Stom', 'Drinking Glasses', 'Cotton Candy Latte', 'Geheimpjes' and 'Fruit', some of which have also appeared online on the Flemish comics portals Stroke and Pulp de Luxe.
Fruit
Lae's official comics debut was in the alternative comics magazine Zone 5300 (#108). They also make the back cover illustration in the university magazine Ad Valvas since September 2016. Further work include illustrations for the online feminist magazine LOVER, and a contribution to Oeverloos (2015), Maia Matches' free comics paper for the Amsterdam quarter Noord. Lae was nominated for the Belgian comics prize Plastieken Plunk in 2016 with the story 'Drinking Glasses'.
Lae's Life
At daytime they mostly concentrate on drawing. In the evenings they performs as a live cartoonist with their VJ friend Glitterende Eenhoorn at the Paradiso pop temple in Amsterdam, or as a dancer in sexy mini-dresses based on 1960s comics heroines, designed by Martin Draax. Lae has also posed for illustrations of Kristof Spaey's 'Fake Vintage Book Covers' project, and painted a couple of large murals with Lenart Slabe during the Release Fest at HAL 25 in Alkmaar in June 2017. In April 2017, they participated in Wasco's art project at the WGKunst Gallery in Amsterdam. With nine other artists they worked side by side, both collectively and solo, on the creation of monsters and other gruesome and weird creatures. The result was several paintings, murals, collage artworks, illustrations and comic strips, which were on exhibit at the gallery afterwards. An overview magazine was published as well. The other participating artists were Ge Wasco, Anne Stalinski, Jeroen Funke, Merel Barends, Tommy A, Peter de Wit, René Windig, Dace Sietina and Eliane Gerrits.
In 2016, Lae made a beautiful overview drawing of the current location of comics shop Lambiek on the Koningsstraat 27 in Amsterdam.
Lae's overview of comic shop Lambiek shop at Koningsstraat 27 in Amsterdam. Overviews of the previous locations of the store have been made by Peter Pontiac (Kerkstraat 79) and Joost Halbertsma (Kerkstraat 13)
www.laeschafer.com
Lae's Life on tapastic.com
Lae's comics on stroke-strips.be