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.

Monsters and Space Adventures

I am happy to show you some of the stuff I've been working on. Last week I received a small package from Askunge containing the final printed copies of Monstertrubbel (Monster-trouble) and Matematik i ett Rymdäventyr (Mathematics in an Space Adventure). They are educational books in mathematics for younger children, and I got to work on the covers and inside illustrations.

"Monstertrubbel" is written by Victoria W Gustafsson och Anette S Panboon, who also wrote"Seven Gates" (De Sju Portarna) which I previously wrote about here. "Matematik i ett Rymdäventyr" is written by Mirvi Unge Thorsén

 Cover for Monstertrubbel

(Monster-trouble)

Pencil and Watercolor

Cover for the accompanying book, Lyckas Med Problemlösning A

(Succeeding With Problem-Solving A)

Pencil and Watercolor

Cover for Matematik i ett Rymdäventyr
(Mathematics in an Space Adventure)

Watercolor, Ink and Gouache.

Both projects were part of an incredible journey. If you want to know more, you can read parts of the books online over at Askunge's website (in Swedish), and they are also available for sale at their online store. Hope you enjoyed seeing the covers.

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.

In a hole in a tree stump...

...there lived a tomte. Since last year I have done a numerous amount of sketches and paintings on the theme of Nordic mythology. If time between commissions allow it, I am hoping to have the project done toward the fall of this year.

This is one of the pieces on the table right now.

And on the other side of the room, there is another one...

 

I have shown details from the picture above before. It is progressing slowly but surely.

I particularly enjoy the small company of Wights below the bridge. 

At the end of the month I am joining the Northern Light Workshop in Stockholm to further develop my techniques and imagery. The guest instructors will be Jesper Ejsing, Petar Meseldzija and Justin Gerard. Very exiting. I am going to post a few images and write more about the workshop when that time comes. Until then, there are more images to create.

Lionel the Lion

In july last year I wrote about my first children's book commission by Mind Vitamins about Leif the Lion. Now, as I am happy to see it have finally been published for iPad (in three languages!), I thought I'd show you some of the final artwork done for the book.

Lionel in the Park with ol' Grandma. 

Lionel together with his friend Bee.

The pictures in the book were drawn with watercolour pencils on 350gms cotton paper. It was a fun project to work on and I learned a lot about planning your images for interactivity. It also led to another commission (with a very different theme) I will be writing more about later this year.

If you are interested in the book, you can get it Here. 

Seven Gates

 It is always fun to receive a printed copy of the final product. Mirvi over at Askunge sent me a few reading copies of "De Sju Portarna" (eng. The Seven Gates") and gave me permission to show you an excerpt from it.

Above: At the table, a few reading copies

Above: Page 5 from "De Sju Portarna". Text by the very talented Victoria W Gustafsson and Annette S Panboon.

Progress. It is funny how things turn out sometimes. The illustrations were from the beginning planned as black and white and painted in ink, but changed to color in the end.

I had great fun during the entire project. Now off to the next one!