Nana Draws!

Muscle study

2012-02-16T15:53:00.001Z

Reference art by Min Yum @ http://www.minart.net/

Draw

2012-02-07T13:59:00.002Z

Encounter

2012-02-04T01:02:00.004Z

New additions to the gallery

2011-03-24T14:15:00.006Z

These were done last year for a project that's come to a halt so I'm happy to be able to show them now. :)
Pic 1 // Pic 2 // Pic 3

Vampire Hunter D

2011-03-11T09:48:00.021Z

D's design is full of big sweeping lines which is always a joy to draw.

Jakten på lyckan

2011-03-10T12:56:00.004Z

Swedish television has been running a series called The Pursuit of Happiness (Jakten på Lyckan) with the somewhat morose yet refreshingly pragmatic presenter Hanna Hellquist. The series looks into the contemporary obsession with happiness that has spawned a whole industry of self-help books and programs and asks the question of whether we can learn to become happier. Hanna's melancholic temperament and her history of depression gives context to the journey of exploration through everything from dolphin therapy to hypnosis.
At the end of the journey the conclusion seems to be that excessive soul searching and questioning of whether we're happy enough is something that actually makes us more unhappy. Worrying over happiness is a luxury problem.

Hanna is quite a strong character so I wanted to capture her somewhat pouty, sulky, yet determined personality.

Sigurd Eriksdottir

2011-02-18T11:30:00.002Z

Beach screencast

2011-02-18T00:30:00.003Z

I made a screen recording of the drawing from this morning, so here it is. :)

Beach

2011-02-17T11:06:00.015Z

Gnossienne no. 1

Wig

2011-02-16T12:02:00.000Z

Values are tricky...

Norman Rockwell's America

2011-02-11T23:13:00.006Z

The Dulwich Picture Gallery, located just outside of central London, seems to be favouring some great American artists lately. Last year they had an exhibition on the Wyeth family (N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth etc) and right now the gallery has a special exhibition on America's probably most well-loved artist, Norman Rockwell.

Apart from original paintings the gallery has covered a long stretch of wall with ever Saturday Evening Post cover Rockwell ever did. It's the work of a lifetime spanning four decades. Seeing them all hanging there side-by-side gives you an impression of what a prolific illustrator Rockwell was and how with-the-times he must've been to capture the American heart and imagination in the way he did.

Rockwell's mass appeal probably hasn't done wonders for his gallery presence so it's a real treat to see a gallery putting the spotlight him. Despite what critics have to say about his depth and choice of subject matter I think that each Saturday Evening Post cover is a little delight in itself, and on the whole his body of work reflects a nation's attitude of an era. His pictures are idealistic to be sure, but without truth they could not have touched the hearts of so many. He chose simple, everyday situations to portray, yet through the artist's lens we see these moments in a new and beautiful light.
The ability to make people see things with a fresh pair of eyes, giving them a new perspective, is one of the greatest things about art.

Norman Rockwell's America at the Dulwich Picture Gallery runs until the 27th of March.

Prickly

2011-02-04T17:39:00.000Z

Happy holidays!

2010-12-22T14:40:00.001Z

Fire mage

2010-12-15T02:06:00.001Z

A random sketch that looked like a witch at first but took a slightly different direction.

Ross Noble tour poster

2010-12-06T16:14:00.005Z

Last Friday, comedian Ross Noble was performing in the Cambridge Corn Exchange. I'm not generally that into stand up comedy but in this case we had a particular reason to go and see him.

Earlier this year I got the gig to do the artwork for Ross' Nonsensory Overload tour poster. I didn't know much about him before this so I had to do some research. Ross' shows seem largely improvised and he constantly feeds off little oddities and quirks that he finds in the audience. That unfathomable mind of his manages to make the most unconventional associations, of which he will happily paint you a vivid picture, usually resulting in surreal hilarity. This makes for a very random and bizarre comedy experience and it was this randomness that Ross wanted to show in his poster.

The idea for the poster was wholly Ross'. He already knew that he wanted a picture of his face with his long, crazy hair twisting and morphing into all kinds of random objects from past jokes.

In the beginning it was important to get a clear idea of what Ross had in mind was so I sent over a few different sketches with different levels of stylisation of his face. I felt that since he has such a distinctive look it would be a shame to make things too stylised, and indeed, the version that we decided to go with in the end was the most "realistic" one. After that it was just a matter of watching through a bunch of Youtube videos and noting down the random things said that could be used in the artwork. It was an unusual but fun experience to find yourself drawing owls in nightcaps, squids with foam fingers, feather-duster emus... not to mention the bum-faced kids. Gotta' love 'em bum-faced kids.

Rough and cleaned up drawing.

The colouring was probably the most challenging part since there were so many separate elements that needed to stand out. Normally I gravitate towards more muted colours so it was hard to figure out how to use a bright, crazy palette. I ended up going in circles and getting nowhere, but luckily there was a colour lover in the house. Chloe Citrine, my housemate, is great at coordinating bright colours and she quickly spotted the grave that I had dug myself into and suggested the solution.

The artwork was finished in April and to be able to see it used as intended now, towards the end of the year, is a great treat. Apart from posters and flyers, an animated projection of the artwork was shown on the curtains before the show started. When the curtains dropped, so did my jaw. A giant, colourful air castle made up from Ross' joke topics had been erected (or rather inflated) on stage and I could spot some of the elements that were used on the poster.

I was thrilled to see that the artwork was also printed on all sorts of merchandise. Signed posters were sold at the show for the charity Riders for Health (Ross is a big motorcycle buff). I hope that the art helps to sell them lots of posters!

After the show we got to go backstage and meet Ross, which was awesome. I didn't communicate with him directly as the artwork was created so being able to get the approval from the man himself was the ultimate closure. It turned out he had even used parts of the artwork on the shoes that he wore on stage, how awesome is that?

Me, Ross and house mates/ fellow artists Chloe and Anna!

I really appreciate the time that Ross and his crew made for us after what must've been an exhausting show. Ross is practically doing a performance every night in what must feel like a maddening marathon. He's a super nice and, despite what you might think based on his comedy, down-to-earth guy when you get chatting to him and seemed quite interested in comics. Do check him out if you get a chance, it's a surreal experience. :)
I feel incredibly lucky and privileged to have been trusted with bringing Ross' idea to life. It's not the type of commission that comes knocking every day and it's turned out to be an incredible experience. Freelancing might have its downsides, but it certainly also has it perks!

Twelfth Night - alternative US cover

2010-11-29T11:47:00.042Z

Abrams publishes SelfMadeHero's Manga Shakespeare titles across the Atlantic and I was given the chance to do an alternative background for the cover of the US version of Twelfth Night.

Originally I modelled the landscape in Twelfth Night on the dramatic mountains and valleys of certain regions of Switzerland and once I told my father that I'd love to go travelling there. My parents now live in Norway and my father, who's been to Switzerland, scoffed and said that I didn't even have to cross the border to see that kind of landscape.
When I redid the background for the cover it was not long after I'd visited the beautiful Geiranger fjord, just a few hours' drive from my parents' town, and that proved immensely helpful. Often I find that the most frustrating and time-consuming part of painting is searching for that something that you can't quite grasp, probably because of a lack of understanding or knowledge of what you're trying to paint. In contrast, when you have a clear idea of what you want you can avoid a lot of false leads and pitfalls, and shoot straight for that image in your head.

If you ever visit the fjords, make sure to pack warm clothes. It gets surprisingly nippy, even in the height of summer. This was July.

The memories of the fjord were put well to use when visualising the colours and atmosphere for the painting and it was an enjoyable and surprisingly agony-free experience to paint.
I'm not sure which version of the cover I like the best. I like showing the landscape in the US cover, it adds to the story, but the title and the characters stands out more in the original cover.

Ikea Man

2010-11-28T00:03:00.002Z

A doodle done while video chatting. I thought he might be a savannah explorer at first but the stripes on the tie suggested otherwise. His distant gaze turned into a puzzle over what to have for lunch.

Second Sky characters

2010-11-17T23:59:00.002Z

These are the main characters from Second Sky, the comic that I'm working on right now, written by the talented Mr Fehed Said. It's a comic that has been "in development" for a long time without really getting anywhere, the problem being entirely my own, but things are finally starting to pick up and I can't wait to share some pages with you soon.

The comic has given me quite a few challenges to tackle. The first and most important one being the character designs, which I felt needed to be different from anything I've done before. August's design went through the most revisions. A 36-year-old Asian delivery man is surprisingly hard to pin down.

August Zhao

May Zhao

Popo

MCM expo haul

2010-11-01T09:53:00.005Z

This last weekend was another MCM expo and I shared a table with John Aggs on Saturday (who has a just started a new developmental blog for his personal comic, Liquid City) and Belinda Leung on Sunday. I met Belinda at the MADE art symposium in Berlin this summer and hadn't seen her since so it was particularly nice to catch up. :)

Last expo didn't leave me any time to do shopping so this time I wanted to correct that, but still managed to fail at planning and ended up having to cram all the shopping into the last 45 mins before closing on Sunday. Thus, the expo haul is not big, but oh so sweet.

Firstly, I need to plug Paul Duffield's new self-published artbook/visual poem/narrative Signal. The artwork is beautifully emotive and captivating. If I could I would want to stick every spread on my wall. The book is a string of wordless narrative - part comic, part artbook, all gorgeous.

I also bought some beautiful art prints and postcards from Zarina Liew and Yuri Kore, both whose art I absolutely adore.

Nikki Stu is a new discovery who amazingly lives just up the road from me. Her comic was packed in a brown envelope and reminded me of why I love home-made stuff.

And here's another great find, Kenji from Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boy. Spot on dude!

Big thanks to everyone who came by and bought books, prints and commissions. Love you all! :)

Cambridge Coffee'n Sketch

2010-10-07T01:41:00.022+01:00

Last month saw the first Cambridge creatives' meet happen at Clowns café for the first time. The original idea was to get those of us who work from home a good reason to put on some decent clothes, leave the house and go out and interact with other humans at least once a week but of course, anyone is welcome! :)

The meets are on Wednesdays, from 2-6pm at Clowns Café in King Street. People can drop in or leave when they feel like it, it's quite informal. :)

For updates on the meets, see the Cambridge Coffee´n Sketch Facebook page.

Sidetracking... That photo was taken with my new DSLR which was broken in at today's meet. It's a Nikon D3100, fitted with a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens. It's a marvellous little piece of technology! I'm loving being able to take pictures with short focus and play around with the light settings.

Leon

2010-10-01T21:16:00.003+01:00

Luc Besson's Leon (The Professional) is a brilliant movie with iconic characters. I watched it for the first time the other day. Should've done it years ago.

My Deer

2010-09-28T09:17:00.001+01:00

Based on a fashion shot.

Backyard

2010-09-23T19:37:00.011+01:00

There were some great, low-hanging clouds in the sky this afternoon.

This epic cloud in our backyard made me stop dead in my tracks. The massive formation towered above our house like a mountain, the scale reinforced by the bush in the foreground. I tried to remember as much as I could about the colours and values, before doing this quick memory painting. The subtle warmth in the clouds from the afternoon sun is often lost in a photograph.

Round-hair girl

2010-09-21T22:34:00.002+01:00

Lately I've tried a different approach on hair. I wanted to give the hair a slightly rounder feel, treating the locks as larger shapes rather than wispy strands. It might not be very obvious though. :)

Finally, universities are starting here in Cambridge. I can't wait to do some figure drawing again. I believe Anglia Ruskin does an evening session, although I need to find out what day and time it is. Cambridge University terms don't start until early October, but once they get going I'll try to make the Architecture Society sessions again.

Chameleon boy & Red scarf girl

2010-09-07T00:10:00.016+01:00

I managed to get hold of an Intuos3 A3 on Ebay so I had a go at digital inking. It was definitely easier with a bigger tablet, although I still think that traditional inking is something I want to continue to work on.

The scarf set the tone for the rest of the outfit. That type of red scarf was worn by youths during Mao's cultural revolution. I don't know if they're still used in this day and age, but for a long time they were worn in schools as a sign of distinction.

The slogan on this propaganda poster has been so re-iterated to most Chinese as they were growing up that it's become somewhat of an in-joke, often told in English in its direct translation.

"Good good study, day day up."

You get the idea. :)