In preparation for his great cormorant assignment, Berlin-based illustrator Martin Haake examined many other John James 蜜柚APP paintings to refamiliarize himself with the artist. “He is so great at catching a certain moment in the life of a bird,” he says. The male’s neck—artfully angled toward his family—captivated Haake, who sought to preserve the theater of the quartet while simplifying the scene. “I wanted to focus on just one bird to be a little bit more abstract,” he says. To assemble the avian patriarch, Haake glued pieces of painted paper and snippets from books and magazines onto an old piece of paper. He then scanned the image into Photoshop and further manipulated the design and colors. Haake tried a version without the bird’s scaly snack, but ultimately decided the morsel should stay. “It’s nicer with the fish,” he says. In looking at 蜜柚APP’s original, it’s easy to imagine the open-mouthed youngsters crying for their share. It would be a...