Merry Christmas 2015!

I made a cold and snowy postcard this year. I wanted to share it with you and wish you a Merry Christmas. This has been a busy year and it just keep getting better. Next year I'm going to add 3D illustrations to my portfolio and I'm looking forward to share it with you. 

Winter is Coming 2015

24x22cm, Watercolor, Acrylic

A Busy Year

This year has been busy. Every time I thought about updating the blog something else came up. Well, now I am happy to be posting again.

Map of Micklabo

70x50 cm, Acrylics

This year I've been working on a game version of the educational book "Monstertrubbel" (monster trouble) by Askunge. It was a direct followup on my previous work from 2012. Now that the game has been released on the digital platform Digimundus (currently only in swedish), I can finally show you some of the content!

The map was a really important part of the project. Not only was it supposed to bring the imaginary world of Micklabo alive, but it was also to be used for setting the ambience, style and color scheme of the rest of the backgrounds, narrative stills and details of the game. 

All backgrounds were painted 70x50 cm, Acrylics

It was great fun to revisit some of my old work and put a fresher look on it. In the next post I'll show you some of the monsters living in the world of Micklabo. 

If you can't wait till next post, you can order the awesome catalogue "Swedish Illustrators & Graphic Designers 2016" from Illustratörcentrum (Sweden's largest agency for visual communication) and open page 72-73 where you will find me and some of the characters I've been working on ;-)

Happy New Year!

As a last entry for this year, I want to wish you all a happy new year. Here at home we've had a white christmas and I'm certain a few snowballs were thrown. I've learned a lot this year, and hopefully it will show in future works. It is my intent to show you more sketches and work in progress in 2015.

Snowfight

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Guache, Digital 

Autumn Falls

November already. It is days like these I rather sit at home. When I made this illustration I remembered what it was to walk to school on a grey and rainy day. If the wind comes in it can be really difficult to hold that umbrella... And when at home I would be watching the water run down the windows and dream of sunnier days, or long for the snow to begin to fall, because I enjoy that too!

Autumn Falls

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Digital 

Pumpkin Patch

A bit late with posting this month, nevertheless today it is getting done! This illustration technically differs from the others in several ways. First, the background is minimalistic, which is not really something I typically do. I really enjoy details, but here I wanted a much more clear silhouette of what was going on. Also, I painted much of the different colors and and textures on separate papers and later put it together in photoshop, so it was a bit of an experiment because I really didn't want it to look digitally painted. In the end it was much like my initial sketches and ideas and I was happy with the result.

Pumpkin Patch

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Digital 

A Feast of Mushrooms

It's September already. The time of a rainy autumn is here and the nature around is giving us a season of... mice and mushrooms... which is just what I've picked as a subject for this month's illustration.

A Feast of Mushrooms

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Gouache, Digital 

  

High Above The Rowan

August. With only four months left of the year, I painted this Mountain Ash tree, (Sorbus Aucuparia, or "Rönn" in swedish), as a typical sign of the summer getting closer to its end.

Askunge is writing about the calendar on their blog (in swedish) this month.

High Above the Rowan

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Gouache, Digital

Old Tower

Got a little late on this months post. I'm working on a bunch of projects at the moment and keep forgetting how fast time fly when you're having fun. Here is the illustration for the calendar month of july, hope you enjoy!

Old Tower

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Gouache, Digital

 

 

 

Nearly Forgotten

June is one of my favorite months of the year. It's the start of the summer and many of my best childhood memories belong to this season of the year. Exploring deep forests, finding lakes to swim in or try ones luck at fishing. Climbing trees and rocks, running and playing in mossy forests...

At this time of year the forests in Sweden have a special kind of light I've always been fond of. Warm, golden and mystic. John Bauer is one of my all time favorite illustrators to capture the essence of this almost magical feeling, and much of my work is inspired from it. This was one of the first drafted illustrations I made last year. I had wanted to work on an illustration like this for a long time when I made it.

Nearly Forgotten

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Gouache, Digital

As in all the paintings I've shown and will show you this year, they follow a mathematical theme of numbers connected with the months portrayed. The ideas were worked up together with Mirvi Unge Thorsén, and all 12 illustrations I will show this year has been published in the form of a calendar for learning the months by the swedish publishing company Askunge. I am excited to see them being used in schools and I hope many children will benefit from it and have a great time finding the details in them that make each month so specific!

   

Timemaker

So it's may already, and here is illustration 5/12. The Timemaker. I had such fun making this piece, learning a lot about creating values, depth and overlapping as it was progressing. Out of the 12, this was among the first to be finished, but it was also the one taking the longest time to paint.

Timemaker

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Gouache, Digital

The Meeting

The spring has started and those clever chickens are plotting something again... 

The (four o'clock) Meeting

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Gouache, Digital

Third Dawn

We have entered the third month of this year and it's time for another painting! I have always enjoyed foxes and the folklore around them. At times they can depict intelligence, cleverness, guardianship, faithfulness, love and friendship. 

Third Dawn

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Gouache, Digital

Have A Happy One!

A painting for today. Have a happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Have A Happy One

21x30 cm, Watercolor, Gouache, Digital

Joy

Happy new month to all of you. Here is the second illustration for the year. In Sweden we usually have a cold season in february that opens up for skiing and other winter activities. How joyful it can be when you find warmth in the cold...

Joy

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Acryl Gouache, Digital

Happy beginnings

As the project of 2013 was finished I decided to release all finished pieces one by one throughout 2014.  I hope you will enjoy them. As I wish you happy beginnings of the new year, here is the first illustration!

A clear winter's January

15x40 cm, Watercolor, Acryl Gouache, Digital

Project 2013

I've been working hard these last couple of months on a project soon to be announced, so I wanted to show you a teaser before I am ready to post the finished pieces.

Man or a Mouse?

Another addition to the character portraits lineup.

Mouse

30x40 cm, Watercolor, Acryl Gouache, Digital

Rat Rider

I'm getting back to what I love the most. Folklore and little people. I made this for a self promotional spread in Illustratörcentrum's 2014 catalogue (yet to be printed) and will also be printed as postcards later this year. The only regret is the poor quality of the scan. In my experience a photo reproduction is a better choice than that of a scan of watercolor/gouache and I try to do that as often as I can.

This depicts a wight on a rat and I'm using it as a study for a bigger painting still in progress. Looking forward to show it to you.

Rat Rider

Watercolor, Acryl Gouache

The Sheriff

Adding another face to the collection of character portraits. 

As the last month's post was all about learning how to paint flowers, this one is all about the face. 

Let it (freely) tell you the story of "The Sheriff".

The Sheriff

30x40 cm, Watercolor and Acryla Gouache, Digital

Details

On the trail

I didn't post last month, so hoping this makes up for it.
Continuing on the trail of people portraits, at it's last moments on the drawing table, here is one I'm rather happy with:

Newly Courted

30x40 cm, Watercolor and Acryla Gouache

Details