“ROMSDALEN NORGES TYROL”

In August I have a deadline for illustrations for a book about how the mountains in Romsdalen came to be.

As a dead giveaway I’ll say that it has something to do with trolls and the sun coming up;)

I made these sketches for the publisher so that they have pictures to promote the project with along with their text. (I don’t have time to start working properly with it until June.) I loved the story and the project idea they sent me, so I had lots of material to work with for the sketches.
 
It’s nice to have gotten to know the text this early.

I’m going to Romsdalen in July to promote the book and give some Monster Drawing Courses, I’ll post those dates when I have them.

To round of this Romsdalen-post, what is more appropriate than PolkaBjørn and Kleine Heine with “Romsdalen, Norges Tyrol.”

THE “MWHOHAHAHAHA-DAY”

 
This is what it looks like when a high level of energy is released onto paper when you use random drawing as a way to focus. I tried to get my mind on other things than the VERY interesting assignment I was given yesterday, which took over the areas in my brain ment to be used for deadlines and functioning socially without bursting out in manical laughter.

As soon as I get the contract I’ll believe it myself. (And not be afraid of jinxing it by giving away the news too soon.)

:)

COVER ILLUSTRATION

I recieved the magazine “Nynorskopplæring” this Monday and was happily surprised to see that both me and illustrator Torunn Hunnes had participated to the same magazine:) We know eachother well from KHIB in Bergen, and our work really fits together! I sent her a message saying “we shoud definately do this again”, at least have an exhibition together or something.

 
I loved her pencil-tree:) The paper they have used for the print really makes the colours pop by the way. I like matte paper.


There is an interview with me inside the magazine, talking about how to create visual products from given texts.

 
The illustration from the last page is alo made by Torunn, I want this as a poster at home:)

THE WEEKLY MONSTER: GENERAL BEWILDERMENT DAY

Being gone from the office for three weeks should not mess up your routines too bad, but... it did;)

First thing I did when going back to work at my office at Bryggen, was that I had to call one of the others to let me in. Keys forgotten, couldn’t remember what I was supposed to do, and general bewilderment were my assets today.

But fortunately it got better during the day, being jet lagged is bollocks.

FABRIC SHOPPING IN BANGKOK (OR: HELLO SWEATY!)

“Horses sweat, men perspire, women merely glow.” Well, I was “glowing” alot at Phahurat market in Bangkok at 33’C last week.

Last time I went to this market for shopping fabrics I went mental. This time, well I went mental too, just not AS mental;) Phahurat market (Little India) is a couple of narrow alleyways crisscrossing between different fabric-, sewing accessoirize-shops, cloth shops and tailors north in Chinatown.

Last time I went about nine or ten in the morning and it was so packed I could barely move. But it was still an experience walking trough then, when you think it can’t get narrower or hotter, a motorbike tries to squeeze trough and a homeless person with a karaoke machine follows. This time we went at about four, fortunately not as crowded then but still hot, emphasizing on HOT. I couldn't even wear my braid down, bacuse it stuck to my skin and tugged at my head! (The “Hello Sweaty”-thing is from a very failed pickup line a French guy tried to pull on me in Paris. Felt a bit sorry for him when me and my friends burst out laughing when he went for his own version of the word “sweet”. So of course we have been using that ever since when feeling… well, glowing.)

I acually ended up buying less fabrics  than planned, when you have tons and tons of stuff to choose from you end up just leaving because of the overwhelming amount of choices.

With the lace and ribbons I was on firmer round, I went to the same vendour as last time I was there, and I basically knew what I was looking for so those choises were easier. After round one we had lunch at a street kitchen in the midst of it all, a chicken curry and ice cold coke that we downed in seconds.

After lunch I spotted this huge yellow fabric rose to wear on my head. I think that might be filed under impulse shopping.

The fabrics cost me 40 baht a meter, which is about 6 kr. The lace was 20 and 10 baht, which is 3 kr and 1,50 kr. The red gingam I delivered to a tailor and got back a lovely rockabilly shirt-dress, for about 200 kr

If you ever go to Bangkok and are not too claustrophobic, I would recommend a visit at this market. I felt like in a candy store

BACK HOME:)

It didn't take long for me to miss dark rye bread and a proper cappuccino while travelling, even if Vietnamese coffee was amazingly good.

So one of the first things I wanted when I got home was that combination;)

And it's so light outside! We've only been gone for three weeks, but I notice the difference in how many daylight hours we have compared to before we left. Yay!

While gone I got a few new jobs from different publishing houses, so it's back to work Monday with renewed energy and creativity:)

And we will start editing the pictures and shots of film from our trip during this week too, just have to stop being jet lagged first;)

STILL TRAVELLING

I'm still on the road, our vacation has taken us through Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, and we have enjoyed this marathon immensely.

This photo might look photoshopped, but it's the mirror of the outdoor sink of a rather social toilet on an island outside Hoi An.

This photo is not photoshopped eighter;) I AM actually sitting by a pool in Siem Reap working with a drawing for a publication, nipping to a cold drink. Whaaaaa:D

I feel so lucky that I am able to work from other places in the world as well as from my office. Travelling gives me so much inspiration! Even if it sometimes is a hassle not having all my normal office equpement, it somehow works out.

This trip has been a blast. Now we are enjoying a few more days in Bangkok before heading home.

It's going to be good to come home too;)

WORKING FROM A ROOFTOP IN SAIGON

Right now I'm sitting on a rooftop terrasse in Saigon corresponding to Norway about illustrations for new bookprojects and other tasks. I have the place all to myself, quite special in a busy city like this. We are surrounded by people at all times, so this is precious!

It's quite an experience that I can sit here and work undisturbed with the glittering rivers of motorbikes 11 floors below and a red asian full moon above.

The hotel is not even high class, just had this amazing oasis. Who needs Rex or Continental?:D

I think I'm having an Asia-moment;)

A publishing house asked me to look at a project to see if it's something I would like to work on, and I got asked to make illustrations for a text from a regular client, those are due in two days. (The text was very good by the way.) So that is my task for tonight.

I just discovered my cellphone is glued to the table with sticky rice, and I can see down into a park where there are about thirty or fourty zumbadancing Vietnamese working out in perfect lines. I'm not distracted at ALL, good workflow, yes yes;)

HA LONG BAY

We are already on our way to Saigon, but I wanted to post some pictures from Ha Long Bay in the north of Vietnam where we were about a week ago. The whole bay is on UNESCO's world heritage list, thousands of limestone strucktures, islands and caves. We stayed one night in a cute cabin at one of the djunks scattering the bay.

We visited one of the myriad of caves, and after the mystic lighting inside it was great to come out and have this beautiful view of the bay. Don't be fooled by the tropical look, it was really cold the first few days. Full jacket and scarf and all. (Until we left, when the tempreature rose significantly. Of course;)

I had to wear almost everything I brought, so my fashion sense and the colour mix of my cardigans I must say was interesting;)

I really recommend this trip to anyone visiting Hanoi, only go when it's slightly warmer so thay you can enjoy staying on deck. We had a driver take us to Ha Long Bay and back, and the drive itself was quite interesting if you like strange and random architecture.

COLOURFUL VIETNAM/ PHOTO EDITING TOOLS FOR TRAVELLERS

I'm in an epiphany about all the pittoresque sights and colourful things to photograph here in Vietnam! Good thing I'm editing along the way. That way it's easier to see what I actually have been taking pictures of as well, and don't end up with lots of the same kind of photos. And I wont spend hours, and days, back home going through tons of material.

I'm using my Nikon D40 with a Nikkor 1.8 50mm prime lens and use the SD card connector for my iPad. You can import and work with RAW or JPG, and I read somewhere that it's best to have the 64G version of iPad2 to be able to have a good workflow, but you have to check if this is the case with more techno-focused bloggers;)

The apps I'm using are a combination of diffrerent photo editing apps. Filterstorm for general photoshopping like curves, white balance and such. This app has so many oppertunities if you use a few hours to get to know the app. If you normally like working in PS with your photos, this gives you much more control and creativity than the PS app.

For something like PS actions I use two filter apps as replacement. Pixlromatic gives you some alright filters for quick editing, but the best one I've tried so far is PhotoStudioHD. This allows you to fine tune your filters so that you don't get the full whack of the filter, and can play around with more subtle tweaks. Love it!

If you want to work with text or do a wee bit of graphic design/typo-work, you can use Filterstorm and lots of other apps. (...that I haven't spent enough time with to give a proper recommentation for.) I have spent some time working with MoodBoard and find that this app suits my travellers needs best, together with Filterstorm.

For backup we are keeping the pictures and films on the SD cards, import the ones we find most interesting to my iPad where they are automatically stored in iCloud. (When I'm connected to a wifi and it's charging.) The ones I really don't want to lose I upload to Dropbox.

We are filming with a Nikon 5100 as well, but since there are no apps (that I have found so far) that allows you to import and edit in HD this will have to wait until we get home.

We are allowing the photographic and filmatic work we do on this trip to shape the end product, but we still have a ruff plan what we are going to do with the material we are collecting. So stay tuned;)

TRAVEL BLOGPOST

I'm in Vietnam:)

Last week went in a fury, didn't want to leave any loose threads for due illustrations. I even managed to have Friday off to make sure I had everything packed and ready before our trip, had some red wine and blue cheese with friends in the evening, and then wooooosh, we were off Saturday morning. On a million hour flight to Vietnam.

Candy pink seats makes waiting for the next flight less dull:) Bergen-Oslo-Bangkok-Hanoi.

I'm travelling with my boyfriend Roar from Katapult Media, and during this trip we are going to film, photograph and draw our experiences there. I even went to the extravaganza of getting myself a new Nikkor prime lens, thanks for help with research, Sushibird and SortEnke;) I went for the 50mm 1.8, and I'm soooooo happy with it!

For the moment we are in Hanoi and it's freezing:) It was quite a gamble about the weather, and we pulled the last straw, but it's still great to be on vacation. In two days we'll have summer when we go to Hue, and then later we'll probably miss the cold weather when we are sweating away around the Mekong delta;)