MORE STORIES

Things have really speeded up with “The Book of Comfort” which I'm illustrating. When I have pressing deadlines I work so much better, of course not if they are TOO pressing, but this time I set many small deadlines for myself rather than bigger ones further apart. It works

The sketching doesn’t get “prettier”, actually they look worse than the ones I made in the beginning. But it’s better to get many ideas onto paper rather than working throughly with one story and then there is no more time for the rest. And since I’m illustrating about 20 stories for this book I need to be really structured about the deadlines. Because other people is depending on me too, my editor and the graphic designer, and the date for printing is already booked and we will be put at the back of the printing queue if we fail to deliver. But I like working with strict deadlines. I get much more work done.

THE WEEKLY MONSTER

Today was a very good day at the office. We opened the “veranda” door and let the sun in, and I had visits from some of my lovely clients:) It’s sooo good to have visits when the sun is shining and it’s all ice cream and peachy and we can sit on the pink sofa and chat. Thanks for today’s sales Marthe and Kristin (and Terje for bringing me fårepølse), you have now funded my evil scheme for world domination;)

I have handed in most of the sketches that were due today, but I’ll stay here a few more hours still. Want to do just one tiny little thing more, and then one more, and then just one more I have to fix just give me two sec, and THEN I go home to drink cappucino on my balcony and watch last episode of Pillars Of The Earth with my boyfriend. Have a great Wednesday:)

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

No, it’s not. BUT the character has a red hoodie and is lost in the woods. Guess there is some hidden meaning in it all. When I started reading the story I’m illustrating I thought it was a modern version of the old story, but it isn’t. I think I need to email the author at some point, because this story confuses me a bit. But I still like it even if I don’t understand it.

 
And she meets a mythical bird!

I love drawing birds now. It was difficult at the start but now it’s all fun. I’m still not quite there, It’ll probably take years of practice until I get it right, but hey, the storyboard is due tomorrow. No can do.

“I’m a peacock, you got to let me FLY!!” Anyone seen “The Other Guys”? I love when Mark Wahlberg yells this out as his motto.

“Pecocks don’t fly, do they Allen? Please tell him.”

SKETCHES FOR BALLOON-STORY

A little girl loses her Winnie the Pooh-balloon and is devastated. Because it slipped so suddenly and unexpected. And learns a lesson about loss;)

I like the story in all it’s simplicity, because they mention loss of a family member, only as a small comment, but you can read so much into it. For the end spread I’m drawing not only her lost balloon, but several balloons far apart, to show that loss is something that happens all the time, and we have to learn to cope with it and move on with our lives. That part was not written into the story but I dicussed it with my editor and she loved the idea to bring something more into the storytelling via the images.

The book I’m illustrating is about comforting, and the different stories pick up something that one have to be comforted for. I’m not so sure that preparing kids for everything is the best way of sending them towards what’s coming in life, they will find out soon enough. But the book might be a good resort for a parent having problems explaining a certain topic to a child, and stories like this one is just as much written for grown-ups as kids.

I chose the Milne-version of Winnie the Pooh rather than Disney, because it fits my drawing style better, and I have set the story in the 1920’s. The first book about Winnie the Pooh was published in 1925, after the success Milne had when he wrote a poem about a teddy bear in 1924, so the timing couldn’t be better. I decided on the Charleston style for this story when I got the brief and synopsis, so I was very happy when I got the final script and it was a perfect match. Even with the balloon:)

RETRO PATTERNS

I’m working on 15 different stories at the same time now, and I’m in the concept and sketching base for 7 of them to be delivered to my editor on Wednesday. The sketches today are from a story about a boy that wants his family to stay together even if Dad has been naughty and kissed a woman that wasn’t Mum.

I didn’t want to make the opposing culprit the stereotypical temptress with red dress and blonde hair, or the suffering Mum grey and sensible. But make them equals and both attractive and beautiful in their own style, so that you don’t get a moral in the story that all beautiful women are evil and and all mum’s turn into beige librarians when they have kids. The other woman is not a big part of the visual storytelling, but she is the main reason why things are bad, so I thought I should include her.

I’m still working on the color scheme for the story, I want the kitchen the story unfolds in to have a kind of mustard yellow wallpaper and mid century modern/ Tiki-style, wich at the end of the story gets even warmer and more cozy and make their home really blossom with hula/luau warmth and happiness, even if things aren’t perfect.

I haven’t started drawing Dad yet, but my idea for him is that he is something in between rockabilly/psychobilly and a Chicago-gangster without “criminalizing” him. Suspenders and black and white shoes and black hair, and looking a bit sad and insecure but tryng to cheer things up. I’m really shit at drawing men, this may take some time….

So then I’m doing something more fun, playing around with Mum’s dress.

(These patterns and colours are only as inspiration, when I finally draw them out I use watercolor.)

I love playing around like this, sketching and listening to Johnny Burnette (important to set the mood for each story with music) and it’s much easier to decide what to go for when I have detailed sketches like this. Yum yum.

HAPPY EASTER:)

Easter Bunny is hiding in my salad. (Hawaii Kawaii spotted them and I obeyed.)


Lazy day with Terry Pratchett’s “Thief of Time”.


Milkshakes with sister and boyfriend.


Perfect hangover-dinner.

Happy Easter

MY KIND OF EASTER EGGS (AND BUNNIES)

The Easter Bunny sent me a two packages from Irregular Choice, and they arrived when I was back from my vacation. I ordered some polkadot haven-shoes after I discovered the brand a few weeks ago, and now I keep strutting around in them at home. There will be many occations to wear them since everyone is turning 30 this year (including me), but I would have bought them anyway. They will look great in photos for our Good Lookin Mama-shoots, and I want to wear them when I give talks and stuff.

These are definately the most flaboyant shoes I have ever seen. That can be worn at least. I loved the packaging with the little hearts and unicorn-looking bunnies.

The heel on this one is acrylic and looks like an aquarium haha! I thought they weren’t so high, but I felt like the Eiffel tower walking in them. I think probably it’ll be the top ones I’ll wear the most, because these ones are not exactly made for dancing if you catch my drift. Probably made for… standing up? I have already started a drawing inspired by these shoes, I’ll post it when I’m back at the office with my watercolors. They aren’t really justified in black ink

ORDERS

   

I see I never really mention when I get orders for “special made - just for you”;) I have a few clients that are returning customers when someone’s bithday is coming up, or their mum turns 60 or as a good bye present to good collegaues. I guess I never post them bacause when I make them I can’t publish in fear the birthday boy/girl will recognize “themselves” in what I draw and write. The picture with math and writing on it was an order from Maratonjenta a few weeks ago. She wanted a picture that conveyed her co-workers good mood and lively personality, and a setting that shows her at work.

The leaf-covered image was an order from a lady that wanted a picture of her and a friend enjoying life in a garden while eating apples. It’s good fun to make drawings from settings and personality rather than making portraits. I love to push someone “look” a little further, usually I ask what style the person wants to be rather than what they are. There is often an inner polkadot-queen wanting to come out.

FASHION STUDIES; BOARDWALK EMPIRE

I have earlier mentioned that I’m doing fashion studies of Boardwalk Empire, a series I’m watching mostly because of the costumes. It’s the same costume designer as in Mad Men, no wonder I like it. The costume designer John Dunn loves doing period costume design, and mentiones in the video underneath that he loves doing the research and emersing himself in a period of fashion history.

I love doing costume design and costume research, and for the stories I’m illustrating now I’m doing research in the same way as I would if I was making a garment or costume in real life. I think the stories get a deeper probability if you have done proper research for what you are doing. Not nessesarily to copy everything from a certain period, but base the story on a style or merging two or three that lies far away from eachother in history is also good fun and can bring a new dimension to the story told.

John Dunn

DR PROCTOR’S D.D.S.Ø.I.F.

In March I was in Oslo for Grafills Illustration seminar, and during my stay I went to see a monster-exhibition at the Natural history Museum; “Animals You Wish Didn’t Exisit”. This weekend I went back to Oslo with my boyfriend to have a short vacation and visit a friend of ours (and show them the DDSØIF monsters) before my life fully is wrapped around the book I’m making,

I was supposed to blog while I was there, I brought with me my laptop and had prepared some posts in case I didn’t have time to write. But then my little laptop refused to change IP adress when I was there, it simply didnt’t want to leave Bergen or something. So it didn’t allow me to use the net. And on my phone BloggerDroid wouldn’t let me change the size of the images, and that would screw up the layout, and we want none of that. But now I’m back at the office and little pink laptop is warm and cozy in it’s regular home and allows me to use the net.

The exhibition of “Animals You Wish Didn’t Exisit” has proved so popular that they first extended the show until April, and now I hear they are keeping it until August.

The exhibition is displaying monsters and creatures from Jo Nesbø’s childrens books about Dr Proctor and his “Animals You Wish Didn’t Exist”. The animals exhibited are bautifully made with silicone, plaster and silk, and I love the fact that an exhibition made for kids is so worked through and detailed. The graphic work with the displays and the whole setting is just stunning.

 
 

 

  
If you get the chance I recommend a visit! I’m in proper monster-mode now:)