Södra Esplanaden

”I shopping och kärlek är allt tillåtet.”

Årets spel är här: Ullaredspelet! Spelet är skapat av Pia Forsberg på Krabat i Lund. Andreas Qassim har illustrerat kartongens framsida, samt varorna som man kan shoppa i spelet. För grafisk formgivning står Jerry Söderström på S&S Design.

”Spelet där allt kan hända, precis som en helt vanlig dag på varuhuset. Du köar, springer på bekanta, tappar bort maken, campar, fyndar, fikar, flirtar, går vilse…

Samtidigt som du är indragen i ett rafflande, skoningslöst och makalöst roligt kundvagnsrace!”

Spelet finns att köpa på Gekås Ullared och Krabat i Lund, Klostergan 14 (Bytaregränd).

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In support of Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat

”On August 25 2011, Syrian cartoonist Ali Ferzat was beaten by regime security forces for his system critic editorial drawings against the country’s president Bashar al-Assad. His hands and fingers were broken by his assailants, as a warning not to “draw against his masters”, before he was thrown by the wayside to be found by passers-by.

This kind of oppression and scare tactics is unacceptable to us as cartoonists, and with this project we want to show the despots of the world that if you break one artist’s hands, a thousand will rise in his place. We call upon cartoonists of every creed and nationality to produce works celebrating the freedom of expression, opposition to censorship, and in support of Ali Ferzat.”

The excerpt is taken from the site One Thousand Ferzats. If you’re a cartoonist and freedom of expression is important to you, I urge you to participate. Let’s collect a thousand drawings to show that pens will always be mightier than dictators. Yes Saleh, that goes for you too.

And while you’re at it, make sure to check out the archive with so many great cartoons from all over the world in support of Ferzat.

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Sommarjobb

Vacation is just one day away, so I thought I’d share a couple of illustration jobs I did recently, before I’m off to foreign lands.

Text by Emma Agering. Loosing vital information through careless handling of unsecure usb-sticks is a big problem for companies worldwide. That’s why Blockmaster AB invented the Safestick Secure USB Drive! The illustration will be used for customer Powerpoint presentations, but you can also see the illustration on Safestick’s website, as well as requesting a free evaluation stick!

Ystad’s Allehanda is writing about two summer music festivals in the south of Sweden, Backafestivalen and Sommarrock Svedala, comparing the two. What guy would visit which festival in your opinion?

Hm, it’s raining outside my studio. I think I’ll just pack my bags and leave for sunnier latitudes. Au revoir and happy summer everyone!

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Carlstad Comic Con 2011

Lite sliten idag efter ett par dagars intensivt serie- och sci fi-nörderi i den värmlandska huvudstaden. Mitt signerande blev inte riktigt som det var tänkt. Egmont hade vänligt nog skickat 200 ex av Bamse #7 & #8/2011, men allt som kom fram var en kartong med vattenflaskor. Någon på budfirman hade kanske en dålig dag. Arrangörerna lyckades hastigt och lustigt skrapa ihop nio ex av BA #7 från Karlstads tidningskiosker…

Men skam den som ger sig! Istället ritade jag Bamse-teckningar på löpande band från kl 10 på morgonen till strax före stängningsdags. Jag fick dela bord med mina högt vördade kollegor Johanna Kristiansson och Malin Biller. Till höger om mig satt min gamla klasskamrat från Fellingsbro-tiden, Max Gustafsson, som tagit bilden. Barn och vuxna (med barnasinnet kvar) verkade bli lika glada över att få en Bamse-teckning som en Bamse-tidning. Se bara på TK8505 överst som gav tummen upp!

Det var mycket Star Wars på mässan. Inte utan att det kittlade lite i nacken när Darth Vader marscherade förbi med sina stormtroopers i släptåg, och rebell-fångarna Prinsessan Leia och Chewbacca. Allt till tonerna av Imperial March från Rymdimperiet slår tillbaka (Star Wars #5). Johanna höll på att råka illa ut när hon sa ”Snygg dräkt!” till Chewie. Ett gott råd: Förolämpa aldrig en wookie!

Det blev även lite naket på mässan. Utan förvarning marscherade Gladiatorerna in i sina minimala outfits. De spelade in i den stora ishockeyrinken intill och passade på att visa upp sig. Flexade lite med bröstmusklerna och poserande med Star Wars-figurerna. Med såna här slagskämpar på sin sida kanske det hade gått bättre för Rymdimperiet?

Jag höll även i en liten Bamse-workshop liknande den som vi hade på Södra Esplanadens inflyttningsfest för ett par månader sen.

Min sammanfattning av workshopen: tala är silver, rita är guld! Tack till alla tappra själar som kom och ville lära sig rita Bamse. Ni var mycket duktiga!

Jag hade en mycket trevlig helg i Karlstad, och vill passa på att tacka arrangörerna för inbjudan. Uppskattade ölhänget med kollegor från när och fjärran. Som gammal Star Wars-nörd var nog ändå mässans höjdpunkt för mig att få träffa och posera med äkta imperial stormtroopers. Men jag blev lite smått överraskad av att de talar norska…

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BA #7 2011: Bamse och den lilla åsnan I

Bamse och den lilla åsnan must have been one of Rune Andréasson’s favorite stories, since he retold it so many times during his lifetime. In sunday strip format in the 60s, in the animated short from 1981, and in a book in the 90s (there might be others that I have missed). Surprisingly though, Bamse och den lilla åsnan never showed up in the main magazine. Until now! One of the scripts Rune left behind after passing away 1999 is an adaptation of this story, based on the film and the book. As always it’s an honor to be entrusted with pencilling one of Rune Andréasson’s few remanining scripts. Especially this one!

Here’s the process from script to printed page:

Most of today’s writers for Bamse make scripts in text only. With Rune’s scripts you get the layout of the panels, balloons and boxes for free. Sometimes even a small doodle of a pose or an expression.

I spent quite a lot of time doing research for this assignment, perusing the book and the film (taking snapshots). Whenever there was a pre-existing pose, expression or image, I used it in the comic. After all this is Rune´s Story with a capital S, so I aimed at getting as much of his style into the work as I possibly could. Doing this I felt a bit like one of those restoration painters fixing up old church paintings.

The rough, my interpretation of Rune’s script. By the look of this page you can tell it was written by someone well-versed in both comics and animation. I tried to draw it that way too.

Cleaned up page for inking.

Kerstin Hamberg’s amazing ink work.

The printed page.

With Bamse och den lilla åsnan, I was approaching Rune´s drawing style from the animated cartoons. I got into Bamse while studying animation. I never saw myself as a comic artist, but Bamse seemed a good thing to do until I could find work in animation. The drawing technique is similar to that used in hand drawn animation. I also thought at the time (late 90s) that if new Bamse films would ever be made, experience from drawing the comic would come in handy when applying for the job.

Said and done. The last two months I’ve been working on the pilot/trailer for the upcoming Bamse feature film. I was part of the design team, doing character turnarounds, expression sheets, mouth charts and poses and expressions for the animatic. Veteran Bamse artist colleague Thomas Holm (the one and only) designed the backgrounds and did layouts for the animatic. The actual animation will be done elsewhere.

I don’t know how much I’m allowed to write about this before the trailer is finished. I’ve probably said too much already! What I can say though is how much I enjoyed being back in animation again. Gave me a real boost. It’s a bit like coming full circle, from where I started all these years ago. I hope to be able to work more in animation soon.

Read the second part of Bamse och den lilla åsnan in BA #8 2011, in stores 30 May!

All images in this post are ⓒ Rune Andréasson

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Vägen går till huset, eller?

For a month or so I was working on a bunch of illustrations (37 altogether) for a linguistic investigation. PHD scholar Johan Blomberg is writing his thesis on how we use verbs of motion to describe images.

”The path LEADS to the house” is such an expression.

Or does it lead FROM the house?

I was asked to vary the perspective from 3rd person to 1st person. Is the road going INTO the tunnel, or is it LEAVING it?

You get the picture. The majority of the illustrations have some sort of linear element in them that the eye can follow. Participants from different countries and cultures will be asked to describe the images in their own words.

Does the bridge CROSS the ravine? Does it LEAD to the other side?

Are there alternative ways to describe these scenes? A couple more samples:

Johan will also investigate how the human eye scans images by filming the eye movements of the participants (!).

The illustrations were supposed to be culturally nonspecific, clear and easy to read to anyone. At the same time Johan didn’t want them too boring. They weren’t supposed to look like schematic drawings from a scientific book. So a bit artistic, but not too artistic. Also the budget required me to make about four of these a day. Efficiency was key. Who could say no to such an interesting challenge?

Some pictures were supposed to be void of linear elements like roads, bridges and telephone lines. The chronology of the illustrations will be somewhat shuffled in the investigation. The participants shouldn’t be able to calculate what the next image will be.

With these ”control images” it was especially hard to not draw pretty pictures. A cartoonist tends to want to have fun when he can.

In the end I did not make four illustrations a day. Rather two, or even one. But I developed an illustration technique using Flash that is at least semi-fast. Illustrating in vector makes it so easy to edit. If you set it up properly, you’re free to move around objects, deform them and resize everything as you wish.

I guess I didn’t succeed in being culturally nonspecific either. I found that super hard. Maybe some cartoonists would be able to do this from the top of their heads, but I at least need reference to make believable pictures. Can you guess from where I got this mountain scene?

All in all, this was an interesting and different illustration assignment. I enjoyed it and I think I learned something in the process. I’m curious about the results of Johan’s investigation. I wish him the best of luck!

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