Sketchbook 2012

Just got the sketchbooks from the printing company, and it is looking good!

Sketchbook 2012
A5 (148mm x 210mm), 32 pages Full Color

 the sketchbooks will be sold at the Book Fair in Gothenburg (Sweden) september 27-30th.
If you are going, come visit me at Stand no: A04:29

Scandinavian folklore has always fascinated me, and living so close to nature I get my dose of inspiration every day. For this sketchbook I have focused on the little creature known as Tomte.

   

Sometimes they get to meet other scandinavian creatures up close...

The sketchbook will be available through my Etsy shop in october. I'm still setting it up, but expecting it to be live on october 1st.

Sketchbook and Book Fair

I am excited to say that I will be attending the Gothenburg Book Fair (Bokmässan i Göteborg) in September (27th-30th) this year. It is the first time I will be an exhibitor, so make sure to drop by! I will be doing some live drawings and my 2012 Sketchbook will make it's debut.

Here is a sneak peak from my 2012 Sketchbook.

A character study for a larger painting I am working on

Frog studies

Flying Amphibian

I will post more of the sketchbook as time goes. I plan to release the full sketchbook online in October.

Troll Studies

Last weekend I attended the Northern Light Workshop in Stockholm. There I learned a ton about how to develop my images further in two intense days of painting and listening to the combined wisdom and experience of Justin Gerard, Jesper Ejsing and Petar Meseldzija (not to mention all the talented students!).

One of the most important things I learned during the course was about how to plan your images from sketch to finish. Doing studies of the details before applying them to the final image. These sketches are a direct result of this.

Story of a Tomte

Continuing on the trail of Scandinavian folklore, I am doing a small series of images telling the story of a Tomte and his many struggles. Below are early images from the starting process.

 This was the second draft that I made, it explains the general idea of the image...

I then did a little more refined sketch that I will base the finals on...

And a quick value composition in Photoshop I will use as reference when painting the image in watercolor...

Phoenix Vehicle Sketches

The Phoenix Vehicle is a Special Unit's Vehicle in Utopia 54. These were the first sketches that came to play after a small series of shapes/silhouettes I did a few years back. In the beginning it was more resembling a dragonfly, but after shaping the front like a beak and the lights were shaped as eyes, I decided to name it after the fiery bird I love so much: The Phoenix.

   

Mirror, Mirror...

One of the most memorable scenes from the classic tale of Little Snow-White, is then the Wicked Queen is approaching her magic Mirror on the wall. As you might remember, not very long ago at all, I did a piece on Little Snow-White and the Seven Dwarves for the Grimm Tales Challenge over at the Art Order. I have continued on the story, and these are the most recent thumbs/sketches on the project.

 

 (Maybe it is silly to call these thumbs, because I rarely do any smaller sketches than A6 format, in this case A5 (8.3 x 5.8 in). The Wicked Stepmother Queen envy the beauty of Little Snow-White.

"Mirror, Mirror..." Had an idea to richly decorate the frame and let it reach from floor to ceiling, depicting creatures from the bottom of the sea to the skies above.

Cave Explorer

As a long term project I have been working on a Sci-Fi story which I have mentioned previously in this blog. I have decided to try it out as a web comic. Still in progress as I write this, I just wanted to post this draft from my sketchbook.

The prelude is almost done. It is my hope to have the first few pages published either here or on a separate page in a near future and I'll decide where to go from there. It is tempting to draw it digitally, but I'm still soft for traditional pen and ink. Maybe I'll add watercolors to it as well...

Trolls

Detail from another work in progress. In an old drawer I found parts of a script I wrote back in school, together with a bunch of sketches about the trolls emigrating from our world, never to return again. This drawing was inspired from that.

Little Snow-White

I started to feel guilty for not updating my blog the past weeks, so I decided to give you a look into what's going on. Over at The Art Order there is a Grimm Tales challenge that is coming to a close next sunday. I've been working on an image from "Little Snow-White". 

This is the scene where the dwarves find Little Snow-White sleeping in their house. The idea was to bring some slight sci-fi elements into it, but still staying true to the original story, so I decided to go steampunk. Though I don't think it is visible enough yet, I will finalize gear, costumes and back/foreground this coming week and finish it of with ink/watercolor. When it's done I'll post it here.

Apart from the Grimm challenge, I have been busy with a game and a children's book I've been commissioned to do artwork for. I got images ready for uploading in July, be sure to check it out.

Mystical Forest of the North

I have always loved Fairy Tales, and Northern Folklore. I grew up with tales illustrated by John Bauer, and his art have always fascinated me. I am currently working on a portfolio based on the environments around me; Swedish Pine Forests and all the lore that comes with it. 

I did these as I was practising watercolor techniques. It was hard to squeeze in any real detail as the paper size was no larger than 5"x7" (about 12.5x18 cm). Color enhancements was made in Photoshop.

Above: Gnomes have always played a big part in the fairy-tales I've been reading. Below: thumbs from my sketchbook of what's to come.

Desert Troops Concept work

As I continue to write on the story itself, I am still exploring the visual style of it. There is a lot of sand in this story, and thus I needed a battle-suit for the Desert Troops. I started out with Millie as she is one of the main characters of the story. Here is version 2 in progress.

  

 The drafts for this started in my sketchbook a few years back

The idea here was to give her a small cloak to make her stand out as an officer in command, however, I later rejected the idea as too many loose parts only tend to be in the way on the battle-field.

Éowyn and the Nazgûl (part 5)

Time is really going fast now. Last week before deadline. I decided that when I puzzle the final together in Photoshop I really want to maintain the feel of the original painting, but I also wanted to add some more texture to it, so I started to work on a separate piece in pencil, with the hope that when it all come together it will look great. I took a shot of the progress (sorry for the quality!).

Now I just got that dreaded sky left to draw (shivers)...

The Fighter Sketches

The Fighter, work in progress. Thought I'd show you some sketches this time, not just finished stuff. To me, looking in other artists sketchbooks can many times be more inspirational than to look at the finished work. Getting to know the work behind the work sort of speak.