Studio45 is a one man outfit supplying art illustrations and design on a high and professional level. Besides publishing all sorts of art and graphics (print & web), I also write, perform and publish music. Studio45 Produces and publishes graphic novels and subsequent video productions of the same novels for web and the commercial print market. Podcast and vidcast are in the workings.
I know I know I am as usual very late out with information on what’s up in Studio45. But my excuse is more than valid I would presume.
There has been a lot happening in my life that is not necessary related to my job as a graphic artist, but still they do have an influence.
One of the more important things that has happened lately is that I have started to get my band together and have started recording all the new material in a sketchy fashion.
This will cut down on rehearsal time, and make us a lot more effective both in rehearsal and later in studio.
I have purchased and installed Sony Acid Pro 7 as my main tool for this purpose.
One of my band mats is going to help out with this process, and Acid pro is just great for this sort of work.
But back to the graphics world, 2009 has proved to be a very exiting year so fare.
Recently I was contacted by some young people from Canada. They were in the process of starting up a Skateboard outfit, and as such were in desperate need of a profile.
We quickly came to an agreement on the economic aspect and I went ahead.
Sherpa Skateboards Logo design
The logo turned out very nice in my opinion, and I must say it was a very refreshing experience to work with these people. They had a very professional attitude towards buying commercial graphics, and as usual this lead to a very neat result.
The people at Sherpa was also very satisfied I think, cos they promptly ordered more.
First I did the visual design for their web page (in work), to be set up by their web designer.
Sherpa skateboards web design sketch
We also agreed that T-shirts also was very appropriate for the occation, so I knocked out a few suggestions….
Sherpa Skateboards logo t-shirt_big motive_Black tee
Sherpa Skateboards logo t-shirt_big motive_white tee
Sherpa skateboards logo t-shirt_small motive_Black tee
The people from Sherpa also turned out to be engaged in music marketing, and one of their artists was in need of a poster for a promotional tour he is doing.
The artists name is Matt Track and he is an up and coming Canadian artist with a lot of kick, and tons of street cred…
Matt Track Tour Poster
As a musician and composer of music myself, I very much recommend you to check out this artist. I guarantee you will not regret it. This is special…especially good…
There is also a new script ready for production.
This will be my second graphic novel.
I plan to do an old Chinese tale parallel with the production of album nr. 2 in the series on Napoleons life and Europe in the same timespan.
The old Chinese tale (700 years old) is called “The monkey king” and is a very dramatized version of the pilgrimage made by a lonely munch that went to India and fetched the Buddhist scrolls and brought them back to China. Thus brought Buddhism to China.
The tale is actually hilariously funny, and the graphical descriptions of the fantastic fantasy world woven together of the two old pantheons Buddhism and Taoism, really invites to visualisation.
The main character isn’t the monk but his lifeguard that just happens to be a kung fu fighting monkey with enormous strong magical as well as physical powers. This would of course be cool by the monk if it wasn’t for the fact that the “Monkey King” as the monkey calls himself, was a back talking, loud and noisy, big mouthed, bragging, lying, big headed, stuborn, self indulgent and in all ways un sympatic piece of work..
At the same time I am in the process of writing the script for an epic story of how human kind might have stumbled upon this planet. The idea for this script has been ping ponging around my old noggin for ages, and it was about high time I did something about it. If all go as planned, I will start drawing this tale in a year and a half…..If I live and have my healt :-)
It is not the first time, and hopefully not the last one either that we are featured in one of the many groups on redbubble.com
It is always a great honour since one is competing against rather accomplished and well skilled artists from all over the world.
I’m not sure how they choose the ones to get featured, but I think they are chosen by the ones running the particular group.
Sometimes I think there is some sort of voting involved, but I am far from sure about these things…just very pleased to see that people are aware of and paying attention to my art among all the great stuff out here.
So I bow my head and say Thank you guys…and girls of course.
For some time now I have been meaning to take advantage of the great offer they have on zazzle.com now. They let you put your design on to top notch boards and handles the entire sales process for you, before they mail you your cut.You set the price and thus determines your own revenue.
The first dedicated board design out of Studio45
My whole grown up life I’ve had a very close connection to the urban street scene even though I was born and raised in one of the most remote and rural places left in entire Europe.
I was brought up on Stord, an island up on The Norwegian west coast. Way out in the North sea.
But when I turned 23 I divorced and cut all threads before I headed for Hamburg Germany and a life as rock musician, busker with a very close connection to the street scene in Germany/Europe at the time.
This was the 80’s and skateboarding was having a revival in Europe, Break dance and robot walks was just hitting the streets towards 85-86.
Me I was busking my heart out (and learning some of the most important skills for life), drinking, drugging and hanging with the street crowd and at the same time a friend (Frank Wiedecke) and I was getting to grips with the concept of recording digital music with the aid of computers (commodore 64)…man that was times I like to remember.
It’s these influences, together with a close eye on that scene world wide ever since, that are coming to life in this design.
For a while now I have been thinking of making some interviews for this blog
The people I want to put up against the wall are fellow artists that really has an intimidating effect on me cos they’re so fucking skilled and well organized that it…it it…. FRUSTRATES ME OK??!!
After having carved out a living for the last 8 years through Illustrating and designing both for print and digital publishing I have gotten to know some very fine artists around the world.
And there’s also a few from the old days when I played music for a living.
The idea now is to bring you at least one of these cool people once a month… hell! who knows maybe even twice a month…we’ll see… and then I’ll squeeze them for info and trix. All this just for you my beloved readers.
So stay tuned art junkies, Photoshop addicts, buyers, vector nocturnals, paper and print odour lovers, camera geeks, colour aficionados, pencil & paper fetishists, oil paint greasers and all you other peculiar creatures of the fare fare away place we refer to as the land of inspiration and creativity.
There will be something here for every single one of you. Beginner or seasoned artist, you’re bound to find something to cherish and hold on to. Something to bring your dream for life one or more steps closer to Nirvana.
Today we will kick off this series of interviews with an online friend and fellow artist/online art pimp of me from Brisbane, Australia.
Her name is “thickblackoutline”.
She is an illustrator and graphic designer as well as being her own marketing expert (this she is doing a great job of, and she’s continuously breaking new ground).
We met at the “redbubble.com” online art gallery and community where we are both represented.
She has given me tons of good advice and pointers, as well as introducing me to great art and some very nice people
So here we go. Ladies and gangsters let me introduce to you….(drum roll) the incredible “thickblackoutline”(fanfare).
Here we have our heroin at work...
Interview with the illustrator and designer “thickblackoutline”
Q. For those of us familiar with your art it is obvious that Japanese and Chinese culture has had an immense impact on your different visual outlets. Can you give us an idea of from where this influence derive?
I think its a mixture of things, its a culture I am very interested in, and I find it so beautiful. Perhaps based on who I was in a past life, it seems to be all around me everyday for me to embrace, and express myself through my art.
Q. As soon as I joined redbubble.com was made aware of you TBO, and I think that’s because you’re very good at marketing yourself and you are also a very good forum person if one can use such an expression. You also have a very high productivity tempo, and you keep it coming. The question is, where do you take all that energy from and what inspires you to keep it up?
And also what is your main inspiration and driving force so to say?
The energy is inside me, I have identified what my passions are and I’ve learnt to tap into that resource whenever I like. Its such an important place to go to, when I’m thinking about my next pieces of artwork. There’s always 1001 things I want to do, I’m not saying I have some flat times, everyone does, but its just a case of following through with an idea or concept, and the good feelings you get when its completed. I’d say that would be my main driving force, I like to see the finished product of an idea i had in my mind’s eye – I’m not suggesting that they’re spot on every time, art always evolves as you do it… its just extraction is good… makes room for more ;)
Q. Does art and image production represent your main income or are you also employed in other activities to secure a livelihood?
Yes it does I can finally say! I used to do thickblackoutline full time, 7 days a week, but its a hard slog when you’re not getting regular income. Its a famine or a feast! So I have managed to get some part time Graphic Design work, for a Japanese food company in Australia. I’m the only Aussie there, everyone speaks Japanese all day, which I really love, b/c I don’t. Its nice to get into the office and do your work and not have to know about any dramas. But from what I can tell, there aren’t any. Its an absolute pleasure to work there, the people are just amazing, funny, fun… we laugh a lot. I’m VERY lucky to work there.
gumball-sushi-ii
Q. Can you give us a brief but accurate description of where you were born and your whereabouts from then on up until now. And if you think these things have had an influence on your art and visual expressions.
I was born in Melbourne, and grew up in the south east, close to the beach. My family is very surf culture orientated. I’m the youngest of 3 kids. When I was little I wanted to be an architect when I grew up. I loved cities, and looking at buildings, I still do. I love to see the design, and angles and materials. When I was about 9 or 10 I secretly want to be one of those people out in the water doing surfing photography. I aspired to do something artistic, but wasn’t sure what. It took me a while to get there though as I ended up doing a business course when I left school, which eventually lead me to the wine industry. I decided a relocation would be a good opportunity to change my career and head it in the direction I wanted, so i moved with my family to Brisbane, and started studying graphic design.
Q. What do you like to do for fun when you’re not creating art or pimping your work?
A wise man once said “pimping ain’t easy” (Jumpy) and its not, I like to find some time to cook and bake. I also like taking photos now and then, sometimes for fun, sometimes for reference.
Q. Did you ever travel, and if so where did you go.
I have only been to the US for a very short time at the end of highschool. I would like to travel very much, Japan, Morocco, Laos-Cambodia and UAE are my top 4!
Q. What is your favourite medium to work on, paper or digital?
I couldn’t pick one, I like each for their own reasons. Digital b/c its quick and instant. Paper b/c it allows me to express more. I like to paint on more than just canvas or paper. Cardboard, Skateboards, Floppy Disks… i really like how art can even be on something out of the ordinary
Q. Do you sketch your composition many times before you go to the computer.
I don’t sketch every time, but if i do its just twice. Once to get the initial idea down and then i trace it to clean it up and get the lines i want to use. Then I scan it and redraw it in Illustrator
saraswati
Q. Do you sketch on paper or in Photoshop/Illustrator?
Illustrator…… NEVER Photoshop… that’s for photos. Can’t people see that?
Q. Do you put together your whole composition in a sketch first, or do you make different sketches for the different parts, and then bring them together on your computer?
I do both really. When I haven’t sketched, I usually look for photo references. Take the bits I need, that arm, these legs, and compose what i need to use that way. i am always looking at the old school pin ups. Gil Elvgren, Greg Hildebrand are my favourites.
Q. How do you record and store the ideas you don’t use at once.
They’re either illustrator files, or in a sketchbook
Q. Do you keep a scrap book.
i have many! :) filled with sketches, other artist’s works, and pictures of things i like, ie: cool packaging, patterns, fabric.
Q. Do you carry drawing equipment at all time.
not all the time, but i do sometimes just in case i am inspired
Q. Do you use a lot of reference or do you draw solely from remembrance and fantasy?
reference
Q. When was the first time you made any art on a computer, and how old were you then.
i think i was 19 maybe? I drew a little dog in ms paint and it went from there.
Q. Are you a mac or a PC person, or are you a independent urban hobo sporting a Linux habit?
lol! PC lusting after a Mac
Q. Do you produce all the parts of an image yourself, or do you use materials and art from other sources for your compositions?
a bit of both, I’m a bit of a lazy artist sometimes and like to use the same things, but only b/c its exactly what I want. its something I drew at some stage, and if its a style i want to keep running with, I’m not going to draw it again.
Q. Is there anyone else in your immediate family doing art or photography for a living or a hobby?
yes, my mum is a sewer
Q. What equipment do you use for your analogue input (pens, pencils aso.)
just pens, pencils, fineliners…. there’s nothing like drawing with a biro (ball point) i must confess. i recently invested in a clutch pencil and have been enjoying that.
more-everything
Q. What do you find is the most important part of being an artist? to supply pleasant nice looking imagery or to provoke afterthoughts and point out wrongs in society.
i really love that people enjoy my art and are inspired by it. that is most important to me. society is a funny old land, i don’t think art points out wrongs in it, i think art is a pretty accurate description of a persons opinion of it. art is never wrong.
Q. What do you do for inspiration?
I like looking at other artists, going to galleries, talking with my friends, drawing with children is VERY inspiring.
Q. How do you handle a “total lack of inspiration” situation?
watch TV ;) I’m a big worrier when I’m not inspired, sometimes I place pressure on myself to produce art. its something that doesn’t last for long, I don’t believe its something that will never come back ever again, it’ll come back when its good and ready. sometimes I welcome the break.
Q. Do you have an agent and/or if not, did you ever consider one?
no, but i have considered one. its hard to find one here, and it seems to be huge overseas. its a case of them liking your work, and seeing your potential. I’m yet to find anyone like that yet.
Q. Do you exhibit in the real world or is online the only place one can purchase your art?
i do have representation in an oriental home wares shop locally. I have 4 pieces in there, waiting patiently for a new home. at the moment, online is the biggest market for me.
Q. How and when did you get in to computer graphics and how and when did you get in to art as such?
i was quite interested in art in the first place, I loved to draw when i was little and did art all through highschool… when i did my business course I did desktop publishing, i guess it stemmed from there. I’ve always been doing something artistic for as long as I can remember.
Q. Is there a particular moment in your life where you can point to and say: this is where it all started, this is where my love for art was born. Or is there a person in your life to whom you owe your love and determination for art.
no not really, i just enjoyed to draw so much when i was little. birthday presents, especially for my dad were always drawings, and still are today
Q. What was the first time you saw/tried art made on a computer.
i used to scan in drawn images in play around with them in an early version of Photoshop called Photodeluxe….. i soon grew out of that.
Q. What was your first computer, and what software did you have on it? ( nice with some information on price and how you got a hold of it).
i think the brand was Amstrad, and it didn’t have windows. just dos, and i liked those print shop programs where you made cards and posters and that with the dot matrix printers – such fun!
Q. What is your set up as of today? Hardware and software.
i have a compaq, with windows XP. and i use illustrator cs2 the most. i store everything on my iPod, so i can easily take ALL of my work anywhere i go.
I also draw with a good old fashioned mouse, I don’t think I’d ever get a wacom or anything like that. it would be a step backwards in my opinion.
sushicardrb
Q. What kind of plans do you have for the future.
I’d really like to take thickblackoutline to the next level, and collaborate with designers in various industries as some sort of guest designer for a range. this i hope would get some brand recognition, and i could start my own lines. I’m interested in things like snowboards, skateboards, stationery, gift/wrapping paper, bedding, fabric design, pyjamas… Peter Alexander + thickblackoutline is a big dream of mine. just one pair of pyjamas, come on Pete ;)
Q. Is there any art related books you would like to recommend to our readers.
I cannot recommend enough, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. this is a excellent book about figure drawing for anyone wanting to get into that area. I always have my head in any Illustration folios, or graphic art books, books on packaging design – such great inspiration in these for a quick fix.
Q. Is there any art related web pages you would like to recommend to our readers.
i like to look in at the Little Chimp Society now and then, its a really good news blog, its good to look at other peoples art. Also Drawn.ca
Q. Is there any art related tutorial resources you would like to recommend to our readers.
no, i don’t know about them
Q. Is there any art related online resources you would like to recommend to our readers
i love StartDrawing.org which features Asian artsts only… a favourite of mine for sure.
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Q. Do you listen to music when you work? and if, what’s your favourite artists to listen to when creating art?
Music is VERY important to my art. I like a very deverse range of music its hard to name them. But i know when i really want to power through something and get the job done i like to listen to heavier music, like Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine, A Perfect Circle, The Mars Volta are particularly important b/c their music IS art.
Q. If the Australian government granted you one wish that would make life easier and better for artists and culture as such, what would you wish for?
money ;)
Q. Do you have a message you try to communicate through your art?
not really, i just like to express what i am interested in as an artist, and if people like it a lot, then its a bonus.
Q. If someone offered you to cover all expenses, where would you go to live and make art for one whole year?
morocco, its a culture which is thriving with such unique art and food! i would suggest that my art would change somewhat…… so if i was to lift what i do currently to the next stratosphere, i cannot go past Japan, without a doubt.
Q. Can you mention a few artists that have influenced you and your art?
It was you that put me onto Alfons Mucha and I can’t thank you enough! Every time I think about his work, or see some of his pieces I get so inspired. I have based 2 pieces so far on his influence. Protection
and Thickblackoutline
, and i can’t wait to do more.
I am also influenced by the Chikanobu and Yoshitoshi Woodblock Prints
in my opinion this site is the greatest collection around and I just noticed has been updated with some more artwork.
Q. What is your favourite picture…ever?
wow, a tough one, i cannot just pick one. John BRACK Collins St., 5p.m. 1955 has been a favourite of mine for most of my life. I have seen the actual piece many times. I’m drawn to the colours and then different characters and the style. Collins St is a street in Melbourne, Australia and is in the CBD of the city. I have worked for a short time in that street, and still today, at 5pm, it turns into one of the busiest street in Melbourne for people travelling home from work.
Q. Who is your favourite painter/illustrator…ever?
again i can’t just pick one, but I have loved Gustav Kilmt’s work, and I am surprised i see his influence so much these days. From wine labels to haircare packaging, its such a recognisable style, and design elements.
i also have to mention Andy Warhol. a lot of people don’t understand the whole pop art movement, and its really such a genius concept. Warhol believed that everything around us was art. From packaging to advertising, to soft drink giants. i think a lot of what he identified is one of the reasons why media, consumerism, etc. is what is it today. we all should take a leaf out of his book, and take a moment to take in the art that all around us, from rows and rows of canned food that sit of a supermarket shelf, to the next time we have to sign for a package, that piece of paper is art too… someone designs everything.
Q. What roll do you think art and music has played in our society, and what do you think has and will change in the future.
i think music and art has influenced our society a great deal especially in the 60s. as associate feelings and memories with music and art. as for today, i think its (music) turned into a mass manufacturing machine, where the wrong people want to cash in on the message, instead of the right people telling it.
Q. Do you think civilisation as we know it would be possible without art, poetry and music?
artistic expression is such an important tool to tell a story. be it words, pictures, sounds, colours, etc. etc. imagine there bring no caveman drawings, no Michaelangelo, etc. etc. we would not be where we are today, with our knowledge – art can only get better.
Q. How would you define the word ART?
conversations from the soul
Q. Do you think art can change things in our society for the better?
i think it can from the ground up…… how high it can reach is another story.
Q. Do you think art should provoke, or only be there for our pleasure?
i think it should do both. its important to make us question, to be inspired, and to make us think about how we personally feel.
OK thank you very much Jen you are a love :-)
If any of you readers out there want to know more about TBO and her art, her redbubble account is a good place to start. There you’ll find links to the rest of her online world. Go have fun and get inspired…
And here is a video produced by another bub friend of mine, namely “musculareteeth”
There is an awful lot going on here at the studio these days. I don’t know my head from my ass for all the different stuff going down.
I’m trying to get the first episode of the Napoleon project out the doors, setting up my blogs here at WordPress since abandoning Blogspot after three weeks of nightmare, getting a sound track recorded for the Napoleon video, getting together two different great and big blogposts I’ve been working on for some time now (one on web comics and another one is a interview I want to do with a graphics artist I know from redbubble.com) and I have started up a new product line.
Zazzle has started to offer up skateboards as a new product one can sell with ones design on it.
I find this a great idea and I always wanted to design boards.
This being a opportunity I just can’t pass up, I’m already at it sketching and drawing cool skateboard motives.
As you can see I have also made a logo. I think I’ll market both board designs and some chosen t-shirt designs under this logo.
I am also working on another new line where I’ll offer up a set of tattoos I have been working on for a while.
There is a podcast with drawing and Photoshop tips still in production. I hope I can get it rolling before x-mas.
For as long as I can remember I have been doodling. Since I was a little baby I have been fascinated with the concept “pencil & paper”, and thus always had drawing tools handy.
But I was never serious about it. I never tried to make it in to something that could earn me money. Main reason I think was that from an early stage in life I was able to make money playing rock music. But one day I grew tired of touring, hotel rooms and never being able to settle down and take it easy. There was always something cooking, and I’ve had enough of it. I was also aware of something new and exciting happening on the art front, and I was determined to try….the bait was Photoshop and computer graphics. The blend of tech and art turned out to be irresistible. This was in 1997, and the rest is history in the making. But despite all the wonderful stuff that came with computers and graphics software, I am still sporting a fair attraction towards pencil and paper and drawing the old way. Matter of fact, I start just about all my work on paper (except for written work). So I keep paper and pencils handy and avilable all over the house, and I always carry a little sketch pad and pencil everywhere I go. I even have a set in my toilette. Every day I make an endless row of doodles and sketches, and they are floating all over the place. For the last 6 month I have been working exclusively on a graphic novel about Napoleon Bonaparte, but still I keep doodling all kind of stuff…just about anything going through my head. So yesterday I scanned all the doodles I have been doing for the last two weeks (well almost all of them). You can see them here on my picture blog….have fun
This guy is the person responsible for my unreliable postings the last 4 month
I’ve been trying for days now to finish of a great post I am doing about web comics, but I can’t seam to find time to finish it. The “Europe on fire” Graphic novel about Europe and Napoleon I have been working on for 4 month now is just about ready for the rest of the process, so I can’t seam to be able to put it down long enough to finish the comics post.
This is where I find myself most of the time these days
But bear with me, cos by now I have tons of stuff for you. And as soon as the novel is ready and I get situated, I will bombard you with cool stuff…so hang in there.
Later today (I hope :-) I will post some of my sketches from this holiday on my picture/sketches blog.
To say Oslo is a small copy of London is more than just a fare stretch…It’s..it’s…ok it’s just to get people to read this post OK!?
Oslo City
So let’s get down to it :-)
Thursday was the highpoint of my holiday so fare. It was such a great and exciting day. I met a lot of nice people and had long conversations, and I shot a full chip’o great pix. But the absolutely wildest thing that day was me finding an ART SCHOOL! totally different from anything I’ve ever heard off.
“Strykejernet” Art school entrance
All my life I wanted to study art, but it never came too for various reasons. The traditional art institutions has a much to rigid and “set in stone” attitude towards art creation and exposure for my taste. The way the traditional art schools have dealt with the digitization of the art world, also leaves a lot to wish for. After having employed a few artists out of the traditional educational system here in Norway a few years ago, I am more than a little shocked about how little they were capable of. My impression is that our educational system are run by idealists, but it doesn’t work out the way it should. They teach their students how it could and should have been (according to their “out of touch with the real world” philosophy), but in reality things are slightly different. This render the students unprepared for the world that meets them when they leave the protective cocoon that a school is in many ways.
The school I found on Thursday does things a bit different, and the guy who runs the school (according to Eivind and Synniva) is himself a working and practicing artist. I would presume this sees too it that things are a bit closer to reality, and makes what one learns a lot more valuable.
The school is called “Strykejernet”. That’s Norwegian and means “The Iron” ( an iron as for ironing your shirt).
The school was brought to my attention simply by the fact that the buildings it resides in are decorated by the students with some of the coolest graffiti I ever saw.
This was the first and longest wall of art I saw
I was just strolling along the river and decided to leave the path along the river and cross through town towards “Karl Johan’s Gate” and the “Busker’s pitch” to see if any of my busking friends was working at the time.
The river. Check the broken trunk in the river. It was torn of by lightening firing hundreds of lightening strikes as quick as a machine gun, breaking hundreds of trees and branches of trees.
I left the path through “Brenneriveien” and walked right in to a revelation…sort of.
Brenneriveien
There were the most incredible graffiti covering every inch of wall in sight. My jaw dropped, and there is most likely still a dent in the asphalt were I stood. I started taking pictures, and before to long I ran in to people and was dragged up in to this network of contemporary art.
I just love this urban guerrilla sort of statement art.
“Strykejernet” is situated in “Brenneriveien” smack in the center of Oslo, and as such a natural place to take off from the river if you are strolling along “Akerselva”.
The moment you step in to the street you realize you’ve entered something very different.
If this isn’t the coolest…
A cutout
Dead end graffiti
There’s a lot of cultural related activities and business going down here, and also one of Oslo’s best profiled and most used alternative music/art/poetry clubs “Blå” is also situated here in this visual explosion of a street. I also ran in to a small streak of luck. I met two people that was really nice and including in their way. They could tell me a lot about the school and how it is run. One of them have been studying there for 1 year, and she was head over heels about the school and it’s facilities.
Eivind….a house friend and enthusiastic advocate of the school so to speak
Synniva … A very promising student of this noble institution
I stayed and conversed with these two young ones for a good six hours, and I must say it was some of the most pleasant conversation I’ve had for very long time. Before I knew, it was 23:00 and i had to go. But I will call the numbers they gave me, and see if I might enroll in the program a year for starters.
Before all this I also had a long and relaxed stroll through the “Grunerlokka” part of Oslo.
“Markveien” on “Grunerløkka”
It’s an area that was built in the late nineteenth century, and has a very nice Victorian feel to its architecture.
Victorian inspired architecture on “Grunerløkka”
Every two blocks you have beautiful little parks with grass and trees casting shade. The parks were originally planned in to the city structure back then, and have been kept in the same style.
“Olaf Rhyes Plass” is one of the many parks on “Grunerløkka”
It’s beautiful and very pleasant. Each park covers a block both ways.
This part of town was made with people in mind, and it is a perfect place for interacting with people. It beats the internet any old time.
Two young people enjoying the urban room
20 years ago you could buy very cheap real estate in this area, and a some of my friends made very good money buying flats for around 60 000,- (Norwegian kroner) and sold again 15 years later for 2 mill.(Norwegian kroner).
On the left one can see old buildings that have been plastered up to get a contemporary look…looks nice I think, but too expencive.
Today this part of Oslo has been ruined sort of, by real estate developers. Most of the original little shops and bars with personality and flair are gone. In their place we get expensive, classy and hip coffee shops, disco, bars, night clubs and high fashion clothes and shoe stores. And of course the price ore the rent fee of a flat is no longer realistic for average people. But the place is still beautiful, and you can find decent places to eat, drink and shop.
“Markveien” on “Grunerløkka”
One of these special and very personal joints is a shop with the name “Birkelundens Lille Ostebutikk”, a cheese shop situated in “Thorvald Meyers gate”.
Cheese in “Markveien”
It’s in a bright and inviting little local with two storefront windows and an entrench. In front of the shop there’s little tables and and chairs were you can sit and enjoy the nice and very special atmosphere this part of town has to offer. And don’t forget the parks are for free, and so is the view.
Lots of atmosphere
They offer a small taste of heaven here in front of the store. You can sample cheese, wine and even patè while sitting outside on the sidewalk enjoying the sight of young and lightly dressed people in this most beautiful part of town. It is not an old shop with long traditions, but the concept as such is aimed at giving the impression of old traditions and well tested methods. As such it is very well executed, both visually and conceptually.
A very cozy little shop
The people involved in this project seam to be very skilled in their trade, and determined to make the absolutely best facility possible under circumstances given. If you find yourself in the surrounding of Oslo with a little time to spear, don’t let this opportunity pass you by…
The boarding scene is something that has made it’s presence more visible in the urban picture over the last 20 years. Before that it was more of a underground phenomena. It still remains a underground thing through that some of the people involved in the scene are very much anarchists, dope smokers, alternative life stylists and onwards in that general direction. These people very often romanticizes the outlaw side of it. Even though I personally think there is a stigma attached to the scene that never really was a true picture of the whole thing, and that most kids riding boards are cool and nice people like most of us.
I am also sort of drawn to this scene, even though I am shit scared of riding boards :-) but as a designer and artist I am intrigued by the whole visual part of it, and I am also a sort of anarchistic directed person in many ways.
Oslo is a very divers town with a lot of environmental variations. The population has also become international, colorful and diverse. This contributes to the all over fell of being a globally conscious city, were people care about each other and their city.
I can easily see myself spending a year ore two studying and working here. Even though there is a huge difference between Oslo in summer and Oslo in wintertime. In the winter Oslo is as cold and heartless as any old city, but I do have my family not too fare away when stationed in Norway.
After I departed from the art school I went down to the “busker’s pitch” on “Egertorvet” on Oslo’s main shopping and boozing street “Karl Johan’s gate”.
One of the facades towards “Egertorvet” on “Karl Johan’s Gate”
It was late, but I could hear Doc beating out those low down blues riffs. You could hear him thumping out his rock’n roll gospel from three blocks away. It was a mighty picture with that old street giant up against the lit Oslo Castle. It touches an old anarchists heart to see this king of underground entrepreneurs, as a victory statue against the last remains of a feudal past.
Dr Harmonica
Lance Wakely it says in his passport, but on the streets of Europe, Asia and US of A he goes by the noble name/title of Dr. Harmonica. And that ladies and gangsters, is a tittle earned the hard way.
Dr Harmonica on Karl Johan’s Gate 2008
Doc has been a steady guest in Oslo and also the rest of Norway just about every year since the late 70’s. We will do a later post on Lance on a future busker’s blog ore web page. There will also be future possibilities to hear Doc’s music. Lawrence and I are still anticipating doing a podcast, and Doc would of course be a very sought after interview object for us in that context. Doc’s been there and done it all, I know for a fact he’s got lots of great memories and anecdotes he could share with us if he chooses to do so. It’s worth it to hook up too our feed just for that….so don’t be stranger’s my beloved and apreciated reader (’s …?).
I met two more old friends on “Karl Johan’s gate” namely Jim Pizza an old and good friend who spends his time busking and traveling the world
Jim Pizza
I also met another friend that I just met on the busker’s festival up om Beitostølen last year. I only remember his first name, it’s also Jim. But I do remember he plays a mean guitar.
There has been some lazy nice days lately. We’ve put the vid on hold for a spell, and concentrate on getting everything ready for a problem free release for the first and long awaited Tassili album at the end of the summer or in the fall.
Tassili
I’ve had time to take a look at were my friend Nina Schliemann lives these days. Nina is a very talented photographer among others (she is also a very accomplished singers/composers in her own rights and a good graphic designer), and as such Ketil and I agreed it would be a great input to the project if Nina did the “Band photos” (also to be used in many other contexts), so Ketil hired her. We all met yesterday in “Noa’s Ark” (long time since I had a client meeting in a bar :-) at the very top of “Grunerløkka”. Nina took us down to the river (Akerselva) only a few 100 meter from the bar. To be smack in the middle of a capitol city (OK one of the smaller ones), this river is something special.
Ketil & Izza
The photographer in deep concentration
Nina are readying Ketil for the shot
Like most cities around the world, Oslo has grown up around a river that runs the total length of the city. Most modern cites today have these old waterways and power suppliers covered up for the most part, but Oslo not so. You can actually follow the river all the way over land, and the entire stretch has for the most part trees and nature around it. It is a genuine piece of nature, a green lounge in the middle of the city that continues way in to the deep Norwegian woods before it becomes hundreds of little creeks and streams. There for us all to enjoy.
Akerselva… the river in the city
You can even catch fish there now after they cleaned it up I’ve been told. Most of the old industry that used the river for power supply and as a waste dump, are gone and the buildings are either torn down ore in many cases they have been fixed up and are now used for different cultural purposes and/ore rented out as very expensive office space. Akerselva is a beautiful piece of Oslo that you experience the best on foot.
I stayed with Nina and the guys for an hour and shot a few dents in my chip as well. Some for later press package maybe, and then I shot a few of the occasion as such ( for you my readers only), then I had to split for an appointment. Later I ran in to Nina, Ketil and Izza again down by the “Eventyrbrua” where they were doing some last shots. I am looking very much forward to see the results of Nina’s work. Everybody seemed to have had a nice and relaxed few hours together (I can state that for the time I was ther), if just a fragment of the good vibes from this afternoon photo session are captured on chip…it was all worth it. I’ll post as soon as I can lay my hands on those pix….
Before I left from down “Buskers pitch” on Karljohans gate Lance “Doc Harmonica” Wakley rolled in on his blues rig, But my camera was at my room by then so I didn’t get a shot that day. Nina did though, so I got one from her.. Doc is something else and must be seen as well as heard.
As I write this it is about 00:50 here in Oslo it is still nice and bright outside, so I think I’ll just curl up and call it a day…It’s been a long one…see’ya.
I’ve been on holiday for five wonderful days here in Oslo Norway, and I am slowly winding down from the …..eeeeh very slow and relaxed life I usually live . As an artist one needs feedback and interaction with like minded people ( this old artist does anyway). But of course there is always the internet. It is not the same though, real living people in flesh and blood is always the better option if you ask me. Coming here to Oslo and seeing my old friends is just an incredible lift off.
Karl Johans Gate By night
I have been staying with Ketil Kielland Lund who live in Oslo for the last 5 days. He’s the main technical man on the Tassili project, and the one to engage my skills as an Illustrator and graphic designer on the project.
This has now evolved in to a lot more (so much for holiday :-). You see for the last two days we have actually been talking about doing a video for the band, and Ketil have engaged a producer/director to see it through. We have also been talking about me designing the concept and write up a draft and then do a storyboard. So we’re actually looking seriously in to what storyline and feel we want to give it.
Last night we had a very nice meeting were we recorded a podcast episode with Aizza the lead singer and Kjetil. It was a long and nice talk about life and music, and Aizza told us where he and his brother came from, and what brought him to Norway in the first place. We also looked in to where they have their many and very different musical influences from.
It will all be in a podcast episode from studio45 in a few days. They have also given me green light for putting up some of their new songs for your pleasure only ladies and gangsters, but I am afraid it will take a day before I can put it up. So keep this blog in your feed reader, there is a lot of fun and great pictures and music to come.
I also met up with some of my old musician friends. Most of them are buskers traveling around the world I have hopes and plans for putting together a very nice little band for the “Buskers Festival” up on BEITOSTØLEN this year ( if karma has it in store for me).
Daniel Glaister signed on as bassplayer of our little band project,
Daniel Glaister
and since Kjetil from Tassili are going to do the keys (bothe the black and the white….anyway that is what he claims…:-), Nina Schliemann has left the door a jar, and might just find it in her heart to make an old man happy by joining our little band (please Nina)…
and I hope to reach and sign in Jennifer Glaister (hope she’ll be over from Great Britain, but I haven’t had the chance to ask her). Then all we need is a drummer….hmm.
Lawrence and I’ve had conversations on and off through this winter about making a podcast where we focus on the busking scene in Europe (for starters among the folks we know from years of traveling and busking), and later whoever we might run in to and like . I have some plans and drafts for a page going along with it.
Sara Ogilvy a young woman I am just learning to know after she grew up (I remember her very well from back when she was born and up until she was maybe 8 years), she has impressed me with her great vocal skills. And for being a very sensitive and kind young person.
Sara Ogilvy
Her boyfriend Arne was also there later in the evening when we went out to Lawrence place for tea and cool conversation (even though I was under the impression that Ramona wasn’t all that awed by our solving of various world problems :-)
This summer I have decided to see if I could manage to keep a tab on some of these buskers. They do live very interesting lives, and they all have lots of quality entertainment to offer. 14′th of August I go to the” Beitostølen Buskers festival” where a lot of them will be, and I will trye to make a sort of reportage about the whole thing. One of the first people I met was this guy here..
Jim Pizza
it is of course Jim Pizza, and I think he is about as well known in Oslo as the king him self. This picture was not shot in Oslo though.
Another old friend Shy was also present yesterday at the time when I was over at the pitch, he did as usual look very sharp and in good shape.
Shy
Motti a veteran of the European streets with the coolest rock/blues voice in the world, blew in to town just a few days ago. After hearing Lawrence recording of Motti from Wednesday, I was inspired. It would be fantastic if he could join us on stage on Beito, and do a few real heart felt rock/blues/soul numbers. I just GOT TO to ask him.
Motti
Well that aside, it all draws up towards a very nice summer. I think I can recommend anyone to keep this blog in their feed this summer. There will be some fantastic art, music, poetry and film, made by and about very interesting and inspiring people from all over the world.
Here is some links to pictures and videos of these people in their day to day quest for love, understanding and quality art and entertainment to the masses. This is the link to a friend of us: GeeGee and his youtube.com page. He’s got lots of old and new shots of us as the years are passing by. Check it out. Another good friend is David Skunk and his circus. On his Youtube site there is also a few very nice buskers cuts…
It is always very satisfying when a job delivered generates satisfactory in a way that leads to more work from the same customer, and in this case on the same project. One of the band members (Kjetil Kielland Lund) is a good friend of mine, and he’s been the link between me and the band.
Kjetil Kielland Lund
We had long phone conversations, and I got more and more drawn in to the project as we kept at it. I find that when you work with people like Kjetil, it usually pays off let them 100% in on the creative process. The result of this process has been me getting deeper in to the project on other levels than just design and illustrating. Even though I am a professional singer, musician, composer and recording artist since 30 – 40 years myself, I got in on a much too late stage to be at any help technically or musically. So the visual presentation and web marketing was what was left for me to pound in to shape.
Tassili is a product that very much offers itself up for web marketing/sales. Cos in many ways it is a so called niche product and thus very difficult to market locally or in just one country. But for people that are in to this sort of super modern, cool, chilled, ethnic and soulful beats and riffs, this stuff is heaven sent. It’s TLC on scrooms man! dig that low rhythm and your baby’s ass gonna wipe the floor dude. It’s a mighty mix mama, so you go right ahead have a slice.
Napoleon is still a very actual theme in this studio, but I am going for a little holiday in three days time, but I hope to have something I can flog to the punters this summer before I leave.
One of the pages from my “Europe on fire” graphic novel about Napoleons life and legacy. There is a lot more to be seen here
But we’ll see, Napoleon or no Napoleon, I am going on holiday no matter what. I am looking so much forward to see all my friends in Oslo this summer.
I also plan to purchase a laptop while in Oslo, that’ll keep me online while traveling. You see I plan to go on traveling for some time, before I make a semi permanent move to Denmark this fall sometime. So to keep my “empire” running I need a laptop obviously.
I am sorry to say it has been a while since I’ve had time to addressee you fine people, but here I am back at it again. The Napoleon Graphic Novel project is and have been taking absolutely 100% of my time fore more than two month now, but I am very close to finale and last hand on the story and pictures, and they will soon cross the world to Australia to let MR. muskulareteeth have a go at doing a video out of the pictures. Looking very much forward to that.
But today I am at you for another matter all together. For the time being I have not been accepting any other jobs than the ones I create myself. My income have had to be generated from that. But now I am in the process of changing a few things and I will be on the road and in transit for the next 6 month at least, so I need a laptop and there fore some extra cash. To get this money I have in first instance accepted one brief from a good friend whom need a CD cover in the first place, but in the long run also will need posters, blog, visit cards, fliers, tickets and a all over visual design for marketing purposes. I reckon this will bring me a long way in order to get a laptop with sufficient screen res., a powerful graphics card and at least two gig memory preferably three to four gig.
What you see here is the motive we have agreed on and the same motive on the background we are anticipating and with the header as it will stand.
But on the inside there is hectic activity 24/7. I am writing, storyboarding, drawing, inking, coloring, editing and compositing my first ever graphic novel. All you’ll have to do is to go to our picture blog cos there I publish all the graphics from the comic as they are created. Here is a little taste….
And the governor himself Napoleon Bonaparte
I will go on to finish this production as quick as I can without compromising my own quality standards…
I am giving it all I’ve got to get this Napoleon video graphics novel up and running, and slowly I am getting there. This is my very first attempt at drawing, inking and coloring a full comic story on my very own… And I must admit that it is not a small and easy task. But I will not complain, it is very much fun involved and for someone like me who loves to draw…well it’s actually nothing short of a dream come true to be honest.
If any of you are interested, I am posting the pencils and a lot of the sketches on our graphics blog So just pop over and see if you like the way it is going…..
Once again within the same week, I have a picture on the home page of redbubble.com For those who don’t know, this is a huge honor. One are chosen between literary millions of pictures mad by 50.000 fantastically talented and skilled artists ….
My Code Zebra T-shirt made it to the front page of redbubble.com. That is a big deal. You are chosen among literary millions of pictures, and it is a real feather in your hat considering all the fantastic artists participating on the bub.
This is just to great!, go and check it out folks. There is an endless amounts of top notch imagery to look at ore to purchase if you want to….. Redbubble is your chance to buy top Illustrations, paintings, photos, prints and t shirts directly from the artist, without going through arty farty galleries that adds huge amounts to the price….
Here you can find a lot more pictures, photos and t-shirts from Studio45
Like I promised I am here again. And this time there was no long waiting period (not THAT long anyway). And I will try to keep that up for a while. In my nearest future there are a lot of traveling on my calendar and I plan to buy a laptop to stay online and updated as we crisscross Norway and Europe. Another thing I plan to do with those long traveling hours (we’re going on a tour with my band, to promote our new CD due for recording this summer/fall), is to bring drawing equipment and spend my time wisely. Like always there are many things I need to polish, and then we’re back to reference again. At the moment drawing figures and anatomy are high on the list, and I am also involved in a project that is going to really put my figure drawing skills to the test. It is comic related work, and in the more realistic corner, like a Graphic novel. But like I said, time is on my side, I’ll have a Wii fi compatible laptop and just the right tools for the job. The tools I would bring along are the simplest and easiest you can use. For drawing on the road, I simply get ore make myself a clipboard slightly bigger than A4,
My clipboard made out of an old file holder. I simply cut of the front (the part without the hardware attached to it) and use an old clipboard …eeeh whatever you call it in English :-) on top to hold the paper.
two technical pens o,5 and 0,7 both HB. three black ink pens (0.5 0.2 and a thick black marker for filling in ). This and a rubber goes in my pocket, and the clipboard is outfitted with printer paper straight out of my printer, and fits nicely in to my laptop bag.
This is actually all I need to do my comics and just about anything else destined for the computer and digital distribution (witch is about 100% of my visual work thees days)
I also carry a small notebook for the lighter ocations.
This is my little notebook. I take this when circumstances are a bit rough ore I just wanna jot down a few ideas. The front cover was decorated by the hack himself..:-)
So there i am all set to go, only one thing missing…reference. You see being on the road might make it dificultdt to be online any given time, and I really don’t wanna start filling up my hard drive with tons of pictures I might never use. As I was reasearcing this post, trying to find a solution I came over what I should have thought about at once (cos I new this, just new links). If you are an American, and even an artist as well, chances are you have heard about Andrew Loomies. Me I discovered him about ten years ago. His books are so old they where one of the first authors to be put up for free download at the time when internet started to be a common thing around here. His books are still here, and they are still some of the absolute best instructions you will ever come across. This I guarantee you. The first time I downloaded some of his books it was some really crude scans in over compressed PDF format. But that was thousand web years ago, today all his books are available for download in top notch condition PDF’s This is the best I could ever offer you. And rest asure I will download every single one myself too, and print them out bind them and take them on the road. So let’s get to the links First we’ll do Mr. Loomies, then there will be a few other great books for reference and tutorials you can download for free. and in the end there will be a few links to online facilities where you can study Loomies and thousands of other recourses for drawing and painting. I highly recommend you check every single one of them, they are gold worth if you wanna improve your drawing skills.
The next link I have for you is a great link for tutorials, videos and free book downloads. The place is called gekos
And at last I have a place for you that is sporting PDF’s and other documents full of drawing tutorials. And it is called Scribd I recommend this one warmly
This morning my mailbox (the real one) contained more than the regular bills and real world spam. It actually contained my first check from the nice people on Redbubble.com.
The other day I upgraded my flickr.com account to a pro account, and as I did that I got an offer from someone called moo.com. Moo has a lot of great offers, and one is these great little cards they print extreemly cheap. As a new pro customer you get to make 10 of those for free, and they send them too you if you pick up the postal fee. Great deal, I got mine today together with my Redbubble.com check…
Whenever you want to draw something you haven’t drawn before ore not for a long time, you like to have reference at hand in one form ore another.
When drawing a person ore many persons I find that I like to have both, many pictures and the real live model accessible at any time. The same goes for landscapes, interiors and exteriors.But this is of course the optimal scenario, and it rarely occurs. So one is obliged to make do with what is accessible at any given time.
There are a lot of things that can make life easier for a poor illustrator, and over the years the situation has really improved with the web making it’s entry on to the scene and all. But despite the web, books will always come in very handy. And I can not stress it enough how valuable they are, those huge cafe table books with real big pictures in them, fashion magazines (I usually ask my dentist and doctor if I can have the old magazines they toss from the waiting room. It’s all kind of womans magazines, science magazines and some weird stuff. It’s great), old news yearbooks with pix in them, old catalogs, old comics, toy catalogs, tool catalogs and so on in that direction is also fantastic reference tools.
You should collect stuff like this as much as you can store.My feeling on this matter is that you can never get enough. But don’t burn all your cash on this, I have another great source for you namely videos. Movies are great sources for reference. You can freeze your picture on anything your heart desires and make a screen grab (if watching on a computer of course). It is especially great for coming up with cool angles and perspectives.I struggle with a very difficult matter in a comic at the moment and my video collection is a invaluable help in this case. So always be on the lookout for cheap videos (even if it is a bummer at the box office and boring as he*&%¤.. the references can still be great).
But the one I use the most these days are the internet. There seams to be absolutely nothing you can’t find a picture ore a video capture of on the web. So for you people I will reveal a few of my favorites ones.
LINKS: At the Courtesy of a good web friend of mine that I met in the artist network redbubble.com Namely thickblackoutline I can present a great site for reference to you. thickblackoutline is something of a specialist in everything Japanese art, and here art mirrors that. One of her favorite places for reference to all that is Japanese art is this site here:Chikanobu and Yoshitoshi Woodblock PrintsThe next tip I have for you is from one of the most admirable initiatives on the entire web…..in the entire world come to think of it. I am of course talking about the Project Guttenberg.This place is overflowing with great reference material, and it is all for free (you also find a lot of other handy stuff in here, but that is for another post all together). Here is a couple of the best ones: The Brochure Series of Architectural Illustration. Architecture.
Children’s Picture Books. Art. The list goes on. All you have to do is dig.You will not run in to the picture at once you hit these links, but just dig away and you soon hit gold….I guarantee it. Architecture is a something most illustrators run in to sooner ore later, most likely sooner. This next link I have for you is a great reference if you look for city landscapes from the turn of last two centuries (1800 – 1900).I use this site a lot in a new comic/video production I am involved in at the moment. The story is in big parts taking place in Europe around 1800.The link is:
carfree.com.
Like I said I am working on a project taking place in the early 1800 in France. So I don’t get around Napoleon and his Grand Armè, Thus I have three very good links about thees times. It is about the army and the weaponry and uniforms…:
And for a good round up I have one more really top one, but it is also the most obvious one. Maybe that is the reason so many don’t think of it when they need reference for a project. The one I am talking about is of course Flickr.comThere isn’t the thing you can’t find a whole heap of great images of on the flickr, so bookmark that one on top of your list. It is the best one.
OK we are closing in on the end of this post, but before I leave you for now, I have two more links, but these are not so much for reference, but rather as inspiration.The first one is a real strange flower with the name of Luigi Serafini and his book “the CODEX SERAPHINIANUS” I won’t spoil your experience by yapping about it, you just check it out my friends, and remember to keep an open mind on this one….wide open.
The very last link for this time is is one of my favorite blogs. It is called “Today’s Inspiration” . I have been following this blog for a year now and I just love it. The guy running it has a very great nose for finding old classic illustrations from old magazines and analyzing them.Check him out you won’t regret.
That is my contribution for now, but grab my RSS feed and keep an eye on this blog, cos there will be more…lots of more.until then my friends…POS
I have to confess that this illustrator is a very happy camper today. When I woke up this mo….eeeh let’s see I got up at 01:50 and that’s not morning…but that’s when I got up anyway to be met with the delightful scene of my drawings on my favorite podcast front page. What a blast. Even though the drawing is old and not at all representative for what we are about to embark on at this time and day (hopefully we will manage to bring a lot more quality to the table than what thees early drafts indicate), it is with great pleasure I see that Mr. Reilly has registered my humble scribbles about our future plans.
The header for this post can be slightly bewildering, but I clarify all in a moment…ok? So now! first, what is this nonsense about Napoleon if I may ask? It is no nonsense your honor, but the full and whole bona fide truth as I stand her before you, so help me …. eeeh Bill Gates (He’s got the most doe, so he must be the most powerful and divine being…am I right ore am I right?)..
You see I (per ove sleen that is) has finally managed to find someone to work together with on my Napoleon project. What is your Napoleon project you may ask. Well, Napoleon project is a little misleading. You see it is a cartoon…ish project where the storyline takes place during Napoleons raise to power, his reign, his defeat and then his last years on st.Helena together with his death. But the story itself are going to be a collection of loosely bound together essays, where the action is going down in this timespan. The story is not going to be exclusively about the big shots like the history usually are, but about the small people. The bakers, the cobblers, carpenters, shopkeepers, office clerks, blacksmiths, soldiers, sailors, children, women, invalids, authors, poor suckers, thieves, cons, artists, painters, beggars, piano players, prostitutes, doctors, coach drivers, police constables, priests and just about anybody imaginable from that era. The episodes will be videoed and narrated with music in between dialog and in the background
We plan to involve a lot of people in this project, and to bring in a lot of different media. People can contribute photos, drawings, knit ware if they want, video clips, collages and just about anything creative you can come up with. If the brass at www.redbubble.com wants us (we are awaiting an answer on a mail My until now mysterious partner sent them), we plan to use the bubble as the resource to get contributors of visual stuff, but also as a place to get the script written by different people, thus keep the story just as divers and colorful as the rest.
Each episodes timespan is directed loosely by episodes in the podcast Napoleon 101. This eminent and highly informant podcast was also the spark that got me going in the first place (thank you very much David Markham and Cameron Reilly)
The pictures in this post are sketches I have done to get a feel for the different things special for the era. The first two (the inked ones) was done more than a year ago when I first had the idea.
The pencil sketches was done yesterday. And I am continuing the rehearsal of my drawing skills until we start out, cos there is a lot to be wished for in that department. But at least it is a lot better than last year. I also think a project like this, will to a great extend improve my drawing skills.
At the same time as this is going down, I am still very busy with my new web shop. There is still a lot of construction work left on that project, not to mention the process of gathering a great collection of products for my customers. I plan to have Tees, mugs, caps, all kind of sweat shirts, tank tops and just about anything related to tees ore pullovers, posters, prints, post cards, paintings, original art, etchings, tattoos, music, movies and a lot more. It will not be limited to products designed and/ore produced by Studio45 and me, but rather of a small collection of my absolutely best and most selling art together with a handpicked collection of other artists ore studios work. But it will all be designer products, and nothing serial produced. Any prints, etchings, t-shirts and other stuff that usually are made in huge amounts at the time, will only be made in small limited runs. And most of it is produced after the wonderful POD consept.
I am also spending a lot of time on the internet, to find new places to hit with my marketing, when I am not in the process of developing my brand new (and first ever) marketing strategy. It is all an awful lot of work, and especially when it comes to the boring things like marketing, mailing, accountancies, taxes and stuff like that, I am always trying to find a way around it instead of buckling down and get it done and over with. But now I have reached a stage where there is now way around thees things any more. I have to pay the price of postponing the important stuff over and over again.
My advice is don’t do like me. Get your marketing and all the other stuff that bores you worked in to your weekly progression/work plan, and you’ll see that you’ll totally avoid the situation I’m in now, and also your revenue results is much likely to gain from this too. Next week I hope to be back with a great post about lots of sites I’ve found on the net, and want to share with you. It’s tips, tricks, referral and inspiration.
The picture“Affie”witch is a very special portrait I have made of a friend of mine (Alf Inge Rimstad), has today brought me the great pleasure and pride of being featured on the front page of Zazzle.com as a “Todays best”. Can you believe that?
Spreading my art, and the message. I am stepping up my efforts to sell my art online. As a part of that plan, I am setting up in more POD services thus reaching a bigger number of customers world wide. At the same time I am setting up a new blog, that will only concentrate on my merchandising, and display the different products in high definition, and linked to the nearest POD service.
Thees POD services is also heaven sent for our customers too. It gives them an infinite choice in different top quality art and designer motives to prices, and a quality level the old art world has no chance to compete with.
OK! I know, it was to be expected. They wanted me to tone it down a notch ore two. And I mean what the heck was I thinking? blood all over the place. It’s a fact that she really don’t have to advertise, but she also don’t want to scare them away I guess. But you know here I am spending my days with cartoon figures, fantasy monsters, super heroes and the internet, so I might not be the first guy you should ask for a reality check (looking for reality you might be better off not asking a GUY at all, but that’s another matter all together).
Half an hour ago I went down to the dentist office and dropped of this. And I think we might be home any minute, by her reaction this time. I was under the impression that we finally agreed on this solution.
We agreed that it is best if we operate with two slightly different v¨persions of the logo. The one above is best used in the ads she buy for national day, and then I have a corporate looking one for the more serious occasions. Like when writing to the dental technician, ore things like that (tax office and such)
