Merry X-mas to you all!

Holiday are here, and I have been slacking off just a little these two days. Have been refurnishing our studio room a little as well. As we say in Sweden; variety is a delight. So now I will bring in the new year with a new and inspiring work space!
Pictures might come later...

Here's something else for you!

This is two Swedish traditional figures:

Swedish "julbock" (= Christmas goat)

This is a traditional Swedish Christmas decoration, a goat made of straw. It's origin is debated. In old times, young people used to go around the farms singing Christmas carrols and "goat songs" and one was dressed as a goat with a mask made of straw. Back in those times, people often sacrificed of a goat around Christmas, and a man dressed as a goat with a mask used to act as Santa Claus today, bringing gifts for the children.

Usually the straw goats are about 50 cm tall at the most, but the biggest one is in Gävle at 13 meters height. Sadly, it usually don't survive Christmas, as the towns people have put into tradition to burn it (illegally) before December is over.

Lucia
The girl is dressed as Lucia, an Italian saint that are celebrated in Sweden on the 13th of December. Don't ask me why, it's practically unrelated. The Swedish Lucia-tradition is a celebration of light, as this is the darkest time of the year in Sweden. Usually all schools and town halls have their own "Lucia train" where young people dressed in white follow the Lucia, everybody holding lit candles in their hands. Lucia on the other hand has a crown of lit candles, often dripping stearine in her hair. Ouch.

I made the lineart and my dear sister Catarina colored it with Copic markers. She's just awesome at Copic!! (Look at those shades!!!)


Hope you all will have a nice holiday time and see you again around New Years Eve, when I  as usual make my New Years resolution and go over the milestones of my works during 2012.

Oh, and don't forget about Nosebleed Studio's December Sale!

Our anthologies Seaside Stories and 5 Years Jubilee Anthology are both 10% off, and also the Deluxe Set is on sale!

~*~*~*~ Happy Holiday Everyone! ~*~*~*~

Teaching, PRAO and a new project

Long time no see!
Sorry for the one month silence here... Well, life have been busy and I wanted to get rid off some stuff on my table. Here's a report on what I've been up to!

Two weeks ago, I was teaching at Serieskolan in Malmö for the first year students, about how to build a story.
It was very fitting, since I just recently finished John Truby's The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller, a very good book on how to tell a story with natural and organic storytelling. I read it because since I started sending in my mangas to the Japanese manga magazine Ribbon, I have wanted to evolve my storytelling (since that was one of the main problems my stories had).

So my week with the students at Serieskolan was aslo a perfect chance for me to repeat the ideas of Mr. Truby in my own mind, and see them in use.
We also talked about visual storytelling; how to construct a picture and how the reader reacts to a picture or sequence of pictures. I recommend Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics to get knowledge on visual storytelling and comic perception.

The week after, I had a PRAO (an intern) here at my studio at home. She was nice, working hard on her own project and practicing drawing wolves. Rawr!


And now, I have started working on a new project. Like before, this will be a Ribbon manga entry, but also a short story in Nosebleed Studio's next anthology!
I don't want to spoil too much, but as Ribbon editors have suggested I do something more Swedish this time, and because Nosebleed Studio's next anthology will be a Swedish-themed, this story will play out in the Swedish countryside during the shojo-manga-esque traditional Midsummer Eve. Flower crowns, nice dresses and the romantic feeling in the air will be perfect for a Ribbon manga entry, don't you think?

Here's some quick sketches I did of the main character, Julia. Oh, and her childhood friend Dennis as well.

I've just finished the layout sketches and will probably start drawing any day soon. I look forward to it!!

A Sword Princess Tale, my longer project, is also developing nicely. I have a Swedish and a Danish comic publisher on the line and they are both interested in publishing it next year. Because I don't want to get too hasty, I won't reveal  names before contracts are written, but it is surely looking good right now!
Some things should not be rushed.

Oh, and now some shameless advertisement!

Nosebleed Studio is having a December Sale on our webshop!  
Our anthologies Seaside Stories and 5 Years Jubilee Anthology are both 10% off, and also the Deluxe Set is on sale!
Here's a perfect chance for you to get an awesome and uique X-mas present for someone, save some money and also help us fund our future projects!
Please, check it out!

~*~*~*~ Happy Holiday Everyone! ~*~*~*~