So to make my life easier, I’ve put the book on ice for a while. And besides, I need a little brake from it. I’ve been working on the book for almost a year and quite frankly I’m a little tired of it. To be able to breathe, you also need to exhale.

Have a wonderful autumn everyone. And be sure to keep an eye out for all the lost gloves out there on the streets. Once you start noticing them, they’re everywhere.

And do come to the exhibition C’est Bon Panorama II: Frankenstein.
And do get the new issue of C’est Bon Anthology.
And do come to comics festival I Seriernas Värld in Malmö.
And do get the new number of Bild & Bubbla.

It’s for a scene in the book where the kids do the kids thing. You know, play.

Looking back, I never thought I’d be working on the storyboard for as long as I have. I started writing about it on this blog in December. The script has gone through several phases until it was ready to be drawn, and the first draft has little in common with the finished script. I gave the development of the story as much time as it needed, and there were periods when I put it away to let it rest. To give me some distance from it.

So it’s with great pleasure that I’m finally drawing, seeing the story come to life!

Let me show you the work space where I draw my daily page. My space is a part of the C’est Bon Kultur studio, which is part of the Comics Center in Malmö.

This is some of the materials I use when I draw. An assortment of pens and brushes. My main tool for this book is the Pentel Pocket Brush.

And here’s one of the pages from the book on the drawing table surrounded by some reference and inspiration images.

Now I’m hitting the drawing table to draw yet another page!

See you soon.

I don’t think anybody in their right mind would say that flying in an airplane is a PLEASANT experience. No?

What I’m personally the least happy with — besides cramped space, constant mindnumbing engine noise and bad food — is the landing. The take off isn’t that bad: the speed increases, you lift off rather smoothly. The landing, however, is something different entirely.

So, you’re in high altitude. Been flying for eight hours. The captain announces that you’re approaching the destination and are about to land. Fasten seatbelt. Fold up your tray. Chair in upright position.

Then, more often than not, “you might experience some turbulence”. Meaning rough air shaking the plane like a pack of orange juice, and making it drop unexpectedly God knows how many meters, over and over. Oh yes; my stomach is getting a bit CONCERNED. I’m starting to think about death, for some reason. Explosions. Burning airplane parts. The utter pointlessness of the safety instructions they gave you.

This seems to go on forever. I need to get my mind off things. Like what would happen if the landing wheels brake when we hit the ground?

I pull out my sketchbook and draw. I don’t think; just let the hand move. I’m not in a plane. I’m not in the air. I’m not about to die.

Shit.

The front cover looks like this:

And the back cover looks like this:

Click here if you want to read the first and the second post about the idea and making of the short story.

I’ll write some more about this soon.

I went to Kemi to receive the prize and met the other awardees, invited guests and festival organizers. I expected it to be cold that far north, but it was actually just as warm as down in Malmö.

I finished the second draft for the book at the end of March. I had three colleagues read the storyboards, and I can’t tell you how fascinating it was to see what each of them found. Different people find different things in the stories they read. And to see what those thing are in your own work… it puts a smile on my face.

The storyboards also grew into two binders instead of one:

So now, the story is full, it’s complete! I’ll begin drawing it, from page one and onward, very very soon!

But before that, I’m doing a little story-before-the-story, as I’ve mentioned before. I’ve been going at it for about two weeks straight now, doing one page a day. I’ll be posting something from that soon as well!