Another quick character sketch

Did this one just an hour ago. I am setting up the cast and giving the various characters a background and some believability, when this guy who’s been floating around, just slipped in and found his place. So I just felt I had to give it a quick go to see what he could look like.

A quick marker/ink pen sketch of a character that just found its place in the cast

Done on ordinary sketch paper, with Artline pen and Sharpie marker.

Character Design & Brush testing

I am still developing the cast for my new scifi plot.
And I am at the moment working on one or maybe two, three guys/gals living in the mountains and the woods.
Like most of the cast, they’re neither good nor bad, but somewhere in between.
The idea, and their role in the plot, just came to me a couple of days ago.
I did these two first ones more or less in between other stuff, or while talking on the phone.
The paper is rather descent, half rough sketch paper, and I first pencilled a little, then went over with a 0.2 Artline ink pen and the black spots I think was done with a thick Sharpie.

forest-guy done with ink pen and marker.

 

forest-guys marker and pen

Yesterday I was doing a few errands down in Los LLanos, and I decided to try to find a good brush for inking.
The ones I brought from Norway, are all warn out, and I’ve had a hell of a time finding something even close to a good inking brush. Let alone soble or something in that ballpark. I knew I’d have to settle for synthetic.
I got lucky in Papelia Vera. I found one close to decent, and two half way there. That was all they had, and it even set me back 9,80 Euros!.
The result…

forest-guys done with ink and brush. Then lightly touched up by an Artline 0.2 mm

But I will keep searching, or I will have to shop on-line.
I am slowly getting to a point where I give up finding a store that can supply me here out in the south Atlantic.

Now that was it for now, but I’ll be back soon. Stay tuned….. :)

 

 

Watercolour painting of clouds in the mountains

I did a little watercolour painting again today, and as my motive I chose to try to do some clouds I saw the other day. Or in other words, it is a exercise in depth.

Clouds in the mountains

It was done on watercolour paper, and with watercolour with ink marker and pen added.

Watercolours added to the page test

I printed the inked version I scanned on a proper watercolour paper, and dabbed some colours on.
Then I scanned that back in, and layered the inked version over in multiply mode.
This is the result.

coloured page test

All hand drawn and painted, but on respectively there for prepared paper, thanks to digital technique.

Graphic Novel one step closer

I did my first page sketch yesterday, to see if I can come up with a look and a voice for my new idea.
First I did a whole lot of preliminary sketches to figure out how I wanted the side to look.
This here is a quick look in to my sketch process. I do not usualy do as many sketches pr page as this, but at this stage I am still searching.
Now here’s the sketches. They’re done on some real bad paper I got the other day, so bear with me.

The script page, and the first layout

 

First layout of the splash picture or overview picture.

 

Another pencil layout sketch of the page.

First marker inked attempt at a composition.

Final page sketches, with a few perspective changes

And here comes the result of my hard work.
The final page sketch was still just done in A4 format (I usually work on A3 format for a whole page), and it is not Bristolboard, but something I can work with on a sketch and design level.
The page was inked with a 0.2 mm ink pen and brush & ink.
 

The final layout sketch, done on an A4 paper of better quality.

Right! now I will keep on drawing, so please check me out now and then. See you all, and thanks for looking in on me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Character design rehash

I have made a few changes to my protagonist “the Govnor”. I decided to remove his elvis beard.
And I also thought I see how it works making him a little slimmer and about 15 years younger.
Something like this…(the torso anyway).

The protagonist

The first one here is a B&W , and the one underneath is the same ink sketch, but with a little watercolour:
Like I’ve tolt earlier, I am still in doubt whether colour or not. Hence the two different versions….

Protagonist

Ok that was it, stay online and we’ll meet again….

Crime, Ink & Watercolours

So here we are, I’ve been at it again. I am still working the character design for my last tale.
And I feel I am getting somewhere.
The drawing gets easier and I am getting closer to what I am looking for.
I have one problem though, and that is I haven’t decided if I wanna us colours or go full tilt B&W.
It’s of course tempting to use colours, since the story takes place in a colourful place as La Palma with its stunning south sea sunsets and its breathtaking environment.
But the thing is, this is a tool for storytelling and not so much a question of nice or not. And this IS a crime noire story, AND a dystopian futuristic tale as well.
As such it lends itself towards a very limited palette, or even full on B&W.

But enough about that, I’ll do some tests on this, cos I realize as I am writing, that this is a very important question I have not addressed sincere enough. I’LL be back at you.

Here is some of my last doodles….

Bad guy with shades

The main crook

And a watercolour painting I did yesterday. I keep on honing my painting skills….I will get there eventually.

Viking-attack

Now that was it for this time, take care ya’ll, and stay online….
 

Watercolours to go

I have for the last six month been heavy in to teaching myself watercolour techniques to an extend where I can ad colour to my illustrations/comic pages.

A view from the garden

 

This is a view from the garden of the house I am residing in at the time in El Paso.
In the back one can see Los Llanos..
This is a motive I’ve already painted, drawn and photographed various times over and over.
Here’s another variation on the motive.

Garden view

The first one is done on Bristol board, the second on on regular cheap watercolour paper.
They’re both done with a combination of watercolours and ink & brush/markers/ink pens.

The next one is a fantasy scribble I did on cheap sketch paper.
Just called it the Hag….:)
Apart from the paper, it’s done the same way as the two others.

Hag

The reason I mix the two techniques (ink & watercolours), is of course to use it for my graphic novels.
I was always inspired by people like Giraud, Hermann Huppen and similar stuff.
Lt. Blueberry was one of my biggest heroes back in the 70’s.
I grew up on the Norwegian west coast during the 60’s and 70’s, with no access to any cultural outputs. My mom saved my sanity by getting me weekly quality comics. Thanks mom…. :)

 

Bad guys in production

So I am still working towards creating a science fiction story taking place here on La Palma, Canary islands in a not too distant future.
A future with more or less an anarchistic world, where everyone has to look out for himself.
In this future there is of course crime and then also bad guys. Crime noir really calls for a darker sort of bad guys.
This is my first attempts at getting an impression of the main bad guys of the tale. Here we go.

First the sketches…

Bad-guys-first-sketches

 

Then here is the main crook…

Pedro the main crook

 

And an attempt at a nice group picture of Pedro and his crew..

Bad-guys group photo

 

I’ve also started working on the script, and for now I think the story is nicely taking shape.
Now that’s it folks, wish you all a nice weekend and stay tuned….

Finally a full day of work done.

The last two month since I came here to La Palma, I have been a lot on holiday. And I have to admit, very little work has been done.
The situation also being, me still not having found a place for myself where I can work undisturbed, has led to a lot of moving about. Hence not a lot of art or music has been produced.
But I am lucky to have a friend resident here on the island, whom have lent me her computer, scanner and flat with an internet connection.
Thus today I’ve done heaps and even managed to knock out a few drawings and a painting.

Pond-in-marsh_Watercolour

The first one here, is a watercolour piece I did over three days.
Like I just did a few min each morning, and this morning I felt it was ok.

Then again I am also constantly working on the characters for the new graphic novella I try to stitch together (still have no name for it as of yet).
Her’s a couple….

Protagonist

 

Bad-Guy

Just to show I am still at it.
Stay cool and keep an eye on my blog, more cool news are on the way.

Retry on sexy protagonist

I am not satisfied; thus I will continue drawing till I am….
Next step….

Still the main female character

 

I will get there in the end….know I will

Sexy protagonist for new graphic novel

Just to show that I am not on a permanent vacation, here is a drawing I did of one of my new characters I am doing for my new graphic novel idea (it’s just an idea at the moment)….

The main female character in a new idea I am working on

South Atlantic groove party in Bar Central El Paso

Last night I went out to have some fun with a friend, and we decided to go to Bar central and watch VRANDÁN play African inspired salsa and Latin.
A good Idea I must admit. That band was cooking and burning hot. In other words, we loved it.

Vrandan-in-Bar-Central_El-Paso_La-Palma

Another reason I went to see the band, is that the guitarplayer Jonny Acosta is a guy I already have met and heard.
I like his playing and hes real good.

Jonny Acosta on guitar with Vrandan-in-Bar-Centra

Jonny Acosta on guitar with Vrandan-in-Bar-Centra

 

They did a real good concert and it was obvious that people was having a good time.
My man Benno did a brilliant job on the sound. He hit it right off without a minute of sound check……I mean that’s extreme sport.
Go benno Go Go!

Benno Knauer doing sound for Vrandan

 

It was well worth the 5 eoro they charged at the door.
Thank you guys and gals for a brilliant night.
The only thing on the minus side was nobody in Bar Central knew how to serve tequila, but then again they were only two girls running the whole bar alone with only the cook to help, and he was even more stressed out with everybody ordering food.
The food in Bar Central is an experience to itself.
If you ever find yourself in El Paso La Palma, you should treat yourself to a snack or two here. Prices are very nice and the food and the service is major good.
Now that’s it folks, I’ll be back tomorrow…..see’ya

A sexy place to live and getting inspired

Playa-Nuevo

 

This time around I will use the chance I have to work on a computer with Photoshop and an internet connection.
So let me show you around La Palma.
One of the smallest of the canary islands, and the one furthest west out in to the south Atlantic ocean.
All the pictures are done with my HTC smart phone.

 

El-Paso

El-Paso

This was two shots of a small mountain town called El Paso.

 

Harries-and-Me

An old friend Harries More was nice and came to visit. Unfortunately we both got real sick and had to stay in bed for his whole stay.
This is one of the few times we managed to get out of the apartment in Tezacorte.

 

Lali in Bucaneros Bar in Puerto Naos

One of many good friends I have made down here.
Her name is Lali, and she runs the coolest bar with live music in Puerto Naos, The Bucaneros Bar.

 

Manou and his folk band in Bucaneros Bar, Puerto Naos

And these guys are rocking up The Bucaneros Bar with some real hot local folk music. The bass player is the main man, and the brother of Lali the bar owner.

 

Stempunk-Hair-dryer at the local market in Los Llianos

Sunday mornings we often shoot of down to Los Llianos, where they put on a real cool market.
Everybody is welcome to sell or buy all they want, and they do.
I love it, one can find just about anything and bargaining is a part of the deal.

 

Playa-Nuevo

the rock of Puerto-Naos

Two shots of the waves created by a storm way out in the Atlantic.

Now that was it for now, but I’ll be around, stay tuned.

The isla bonita are realy inspiering me.

This is my workspace at the time being.
I am at time of writing this, residing in Puerto Naos on La Palma in a flat with two friends.

La Palma and its people has realy inspired me.
I have to admit that once again I am pregnant with a new story and already have started drawing characters to go with it.
Here are some examples…

This guy I recon will end up being the main protagonist of the tail.
Here`s another sketch…

The hero needs a sidekick or two, so I have of cours cooked up a sexy little bonita to run in to the story….

And….

And then as sort af a counterweight, we get the mascinist and allround tough guy

Thees anti heros, does of cours need some sort of transport. La Palma being an island and all, a ship is not a bad thing to have.

The story is set ca. 30 years in the future, here on La Palma the canary island furthest out to the west in the south atlantic ocean.
The world has gone in to total chaos and is not anything like what we know today.
La Palma has maged to keep a sort of anarchistic free state staus, and as such a trade center smack on the coast of Africa.
This is where I set the story (roughly).

I am also doing some different stuff as well, like a shoot a lot of photos thees days with my pad and my smartphone.
And I keep working on my watercolor painting.
Here`s a few postcards I did….

Ok that`s it for now, but if I can get on with this wordpress app, I`ll keep you posted…
Take care out there…

A flight … and the world changed

 

This is where I am sitting and trying to scratch down a few impressions before I am going to hit the bar scene in El Paso La Palma . The place to be tonight I’m told, is Bar Centrale. A real hot flamenco nuevo artist is gonna hit the strings and make town swing…..

Last night I was just doing the strtees of Puerto Naos, as I ran in to this guy in the picture below. He’s a double bass player, and he was having a good time with a few friends stomping some rockabilly. I couldn’t help myself as usual, and asked to join for a few songs. Man that guy could pull a mean bass. It turned out he was one of the main guys in the most famous act from La Palma. We’ve already made appointments fore a session, see what happens. Check out his band here in La Palma  http://www.myspace.com/tihuyacats

 

 

Our friends Maria and Ollie in La Bodega in the picture below. It is the bar right around the corner from our apartment. They’ve been very nice to us, and Ollie has turned out to something of a soul brother….

OK and then of course there we have Bones at ten thirty in the morning after a bottle of vodka with some real good grass…..ai ai ai

But all’n all, I’m having a real good and inspiring time……

Two different worlds

 

I have moved from this to……..

This …….he he he

This is my life

 

I have little time for my work these days, witch in it’s turn makes for very little worth posting here on my blog.
There is also no way for me to surf the net in order to dig up juicy stuff for you guys, thus it has been a very skinny last nine month.

But as I have said I will be back, and I do have some stuff produced during the last nine month, being compulsive n’all.
I’ll be back before x-mas hopefully, with some new scans.

Meanwhile I’ll try to bridge some of the waiting time with a few impressions from where I live at the moment….
ENJOY!

My workspace at the moment.

 

 

The buss stop outside main station in Bergen Norway about two month ago aprox. 15 sept. 2012

The view from the back of a car ferry going from Sandvikevåg on Stord, to Halljem south of Bergen on the mainland.

The street through Nestun. Nestun is a small suburb to Bergen.

Back seat driving with my mom at the wheel. 06 dec on the damned cold and desolate Stord where we live at the time being……brrrrrrrr

Now that’s it for this time, but stay tuned…..we’ll be back of course.

I am not dead, and I will be back

It has been a long time since I have written anything on my blog, but I intend to come back. And then I will try to at least publish something a few times each week. At the moment I am in the process of moving to the Canary islands.

But as soon as I am on line down there, You’ll hear from me again.

Sexy swords woman and progression

Once again we’ll have a quick look at what I’m doing, and how my progress in mastering watercolours are developing.
As you can see at my desk below, I keep busy and are hard at practising.

My little workspace well littered with work and practice projects

On the computer, you can see a nearly finished poster job I do for a local band (below) called “HardAnger”.

On the smaller pad, you can see yet another study of the girl I call “the Baader twin”, whom will be featuring in my ongoing series The St. Pauli Blues next episode (there is already two finished albums in the series, I am trying to get published these days).

Another study of the Baader twin. Assassin, all over good looking and a psychopath of dimensions....

The big pad is a watercolour project I’ve been contemplating for some time, and witch I seam to go rather slowly about. Beneath you can see the first pencil draft, penned in with a 0.2 UNI P/N fine line, and I have started brushing in some colour.

Watercolour project long contemplated, slowly materializing....

Before I do something as detailed and elaborate as this, I will mostly do a few thumbnails and ink sketches.
This to see what I want to do, and how to get there. Beneath you can see the once I did for this Indian in his canoe. These led to the big one in work.

Thumbnails and ink sketches done as pre studies for the watercolour piece I'm working on at the moment.

The last shot (I have no scanner available to me at the moment, ending up having to shoot these pictures with my HTC smartphone) below, is the WC (watercolour) picture with some more ink. I will proceed with more black to the straws in the foreground. Down on the left side, then let it fade in to negative space as we move in to the light source coming in from the right above.

The watercolour picture with some weight in form of shadows added by my ink brush.

I will try to keep you posted on this one as I move along. I am aiming for something along the lines of early Jean Girard/Moeibus. Like the work he and his staff did in the Blueberry series….Gonna have to slave hard for that one I guess.
That’s it folks, stay tuned I’ll be back…..hopefully  :)

New residence and slave quarters

Once again my situation change. I’ve been very lucky to get a flat for just a month, so that I can get a little breathing time and decide where to go and what to do next.

My work area. Doesn't look like much, but it does what I need it to do.

Above here you see my slave quarters.
This is where most of my writing, drawing and rendering take place.

 

Storage of all my inspirational stuff, and my tools and recording gear

I have also for the first time in about a year, full access to my collection of magazines (Computer arts, Computer arts projects, Imagine FX, heaps of comics and other art and design related publication that serves as both reference and inspiration).
To me this makes a big difference.
Here you’ll also find my tool kit and recording gear as well……I am still a musician, and gigging/recording ……

Kitchen and living room. It has a nice and peaceful feel to it.

Kitchen and living room is also very nice, and inspires me to work. These things tends to mean a lot when you work out of your home…

More art is in the works. Just stay tuned and dropped out   ;)

Ink and paper makes my day sometimes

These two pictures, are something I did one day I didn’t really have an agenda.
Ink and paper always get my juices going.

This native American, is done with a picture I found in Vanity fair as reference.

 

I was inspired by a story about Napoleon and one of his most trusted marshals and cavalry officer Murat.
According to history a dashing personality on the battle field as well as in the ballrooms of Paris.
Also a key figure in many of Napoleons battles.

I just pencilled everything first as usual, and then went over it with an ink pen for the line work, rubbed down the left over pencil stuff, and slabbed the rest with an Nr. 12 brush and bottled Indian ink.

Poster project

Somebody I know saw my art work, and decided they wanted my input on the visual part of their musical endeavour.

It turned out to be a very straight forward process. We found our touch point at once more or less.

The way we set it up was very much related to the fact, that her band is a bunch of revolving characters all according to who’s available.

I shot a few photos of Aina ( main dog), and the rest I cobbled together of stuff I had in my library. The font is as simple as you can get it….. Arial Black. Works wonder as fare as I’m concerned.

I also just got a test print from the print shop, and it is spot on (actually a small surprise considering my screen has never been calibrated). I’m just borrowing an old Compaq laptop, whom barely manages to run Photoshop CS 5.1

But all’all I am satisfied, and so are the customer.

I also recommend everybody to check out this lady AINA HATLEVIK 

Ink and watercolours

Here is a few sketches of various characters from various projects I am working on or contemplating.
As you can see I am once again trying to get in to water colours. I don’t have access to my drawing/painting gear at the time being. This makes things a little problematic. But I make use of what I can find or scrounge, and have bought a few cheap additions.

The paper is real crap, and of lowest price/quality. Same goes for the brushes. I have one acceptable one, but I use that for inking.
Pens for the line work is also a constant problem. I usually have three real good once I’ve bought over the years, and I keep refilling them (for this I need ink of high quality, real black and with as tiny pigments as possible in order to pass through the pens feeding system).

Still Alive and Well

Once again I have managed to ignore my blog for a long time, due to circumstances and work.

I’m in the middle of figuring out how I can get the first two albums of my graphic novel (The St. Pauli Blues) published, and at the same time record a CD and plot a tour for the band.

But still though, I am drawing a lot these days as well. Mainly to hone my growing skill set.

Being in between flats, I am also at the time sharing a very small flat with my friend and guitar player in the band Roger (band being The Plague)….
This here is our work area for both musical and graphic escapades. Shot with my HTC Smart phone and stitched in Photoshop (panorama stitching of six shots).

But that’s no obstacle. I just try to put all my spare time in to it. And here is a few samples to feast your eyes upon…..nothing serious in the term of being aimed at any special project or anything. Just doodling and trying stuff out. Testing ideas and such….

And that’s what I had laying about beside my desk today, I am of course sorry you’ve missed out on month of my work, but I might scan some of it at a later point…..If I can get it all in one place…..we’ll see.

Take care ya’ll, and thanks for popping in