2011

A bit late, but happy New Year!!

Anyway, I've been busy trying to get something out of my holiday, drawing practice and various projects. Nothing really went according to plan, but here are some of the things I did get done. Some watercolor and gouache. Semi-happy with these..

Back to the new year - really looking forward to this year. Gonna do great things in 2011 :D

Jonas bm

Banner

So I got around to making a banner for my animation/student blog. Still dancing around making one for this blog. It'll probably be something like this or comepletely different - doesn't really narrow it down, does it?

Anyway, banner:

To see it in its proper place go here.

Jonas bm

This Little Piggy

So I'm starting a little project. Very tentatively, though. Not even sure I'll find the time, but seeing Mr. Charles Santoso doing his first ever children's book got me thinking that now is the time. I've been sitting on this idea for years now, anyway. Should be fun too :D

It's sort of an experimental webcomic with a theme: "this little piggy + something".

It'll have it's own website (or blog, actually). I'll post the occasional one here, though, probably.

This Little Piggy Comic

Cheers :D

Jonas bm

Photoshop is a different beast

I've only just recently been introduced to Photoshop, as in actually using it. Now, I've used Painter for years, but always looked forward to the day where I might hget to use Photoshop, because I hear good things about it.

Today, for the first time ever, I tried painting in Photoshop. It was confusing to say the least. I'm sure it can do whatever I want it to, but I haven't the farthest clue of how to make it do it. The hardest thing is not having the brushes you're used to. Oh yeah, learning Photoshop is gonna be fun :D

Here's the result of today's trial and error.

- Jonas

I Own Salt

It's not really something you expect to own, salt, at least I find the whole thing peculiar.

I moved out - that's the short of it. First time too. So far I'm doing better than I thought I would - I was thinking 'Giant Nervous Wrecking Ball', but so far, nothing of the sort.

But really, moving out is just a little bit of it. I've just started animation school, yep, I'm an animation student now I was super lucky to get in, and pressure is present, though not as much as I feared.

Anyway, I've been lucky enough to catch a few marathons over at sketchoholic.com, though school is taking up a lot of time.

Space Fisherman

Sci-Fi Witch

Cannibalistic Plant

To conclude:

- Jonas

The Worst Thing

Okay, so the worst thing happened just now. A project I was working on corrupted right in front of me. I dropped my layers and resized the image which I undid quickly after which things looked wrong. Then I decided to close the file and open the saved version, in which things had actually gone missing for some reason.

Really really bummed about it...

I mean, I worked on this thing for the last two days, really pumped about doing something in a much shorter timeframe than other recent projects. It was a picture called "Gustav and his chicks" and had Gustav big brute stand smiling with little chickens on his shoulders and head. So much fun to do. Damn. It followed much the same formula as the Samu picture, and I even thought of setting up a whole book project around this type of image and short stories to go along. Damn.

The good thing is that I didn't lose the practice that it gave me and if I choose to redo it, I can do it better.

For now, I'm going to bed. Cheers!

- Jonas

Drawing Exercises

This week is all about drawing. It's not something that is taught at the school, so they've brought in some guest teachers for a week of intense drawing. Today's focus was expressive drawing, and while I like my stuff to look like something, it was actually quite fun, albeit somewhat unnatural.

Here's some of my favourites from the day. Drawn after photos and comicbook pages.

- Jonas

Propaganda Poster

Well, it's been a while now, since I last updated. It's been a busy week, is all I can say - so, so busy. And troubling, too. Got really stressed out on Monday, ie. day two, bordering on a nervous breakdown - I'm better now, but still a little on edge. Kinda bummed about not having any time, energy or inspiration to really do something for myself. I mean, the week was a lot of fun, hoping to show you the rest of the week's work some day soon. Didn't get any pictures myself, so gotta rely on others to post it somewhere, the school should do it at some point.

Anyway, here's the result of our first assignment at the folk high school:

The picture's a little skewed, I know - had some trouble finding a place to hang the poster, so I put it on the floor and held the camera over it - it's the way i had to do it :)

The poster is supposed to depict the act of achieving success, not in spite of, but because of a long line of failures - strictly artwise, I thought, you know like, you're not really successful until you've tried to fail. Also, it's like 'practice makes perfect', thinking of Bobby Chiu a lot. Then a fellow student pointed out that it felt like a propaganda poster, depicting a fascist regime's quest for the super soldier, with failed genetic experiments and all....I know, right:)

I thought it was funny, a really cool idea - might even go and make that poster, inspired by this one.

Done with printer's ink(letter-stamps, people), acrylic paint, brushpen and colored pencil(for underdrawing) on bigger-than-me-paper. Had a day to do it, worked long and hard(heh). Should have made the pile of heads more organic in form, I was told - I see, where, they're coming from with that.

Anyway, another busy week coming up and I got the sniffles something fierce - Goodnight.

~Jonas

Busy, Busy

Turns out it's quite easily explained :D

I'm going to a Danish folk high school, the operative word being "folk" - didn't know this the other day. It's basically a six month long course of sorts with room and board. I'm going there to learn about Graphic Design, be around creative people and figure out what to do with my life. It's gonna be good :D

Time, in which to do personal projects, will be somewhat difficult to find, however, especially at first, but I'll do my best to keep at it. The laptop, for instance, is a way for me to do what I do at home, but anywhere else, albeit slightly smaller scale. We'll see how things go.

I haven't had much time to do anything creative in the last few days, as preparations are taking up most of it. Plus, the stress and fear involved with this big change have been taking my head for a spin. I'm super freaking happy that I won the CHIUstream, but what a time to do it. That night I was really motivated and energized - I wanted to do everything: draw, paint and write, like I used to. My mind was just preoccupied, as was my body. It won't be forever, though, and I'll be ready - like Lar said : "no hesitation".

Anyway, here's something, I did manage to do. Brushpen sketches (black, red, pink), trying out a simpler look. I did several, but these were the best - from the one piece of paper anyway. Color overlay added digitally.

~Jonas

Things Going On

Kinda feels like I went underground there for a moment. I've been very busy preparing for a new phase in my life - I'd tell you what exactly, but at present I have no idea how to explain it in English, because of many possible misunderstandings.

Anyway, a lot of my time has gone with setting up a little 11.6" laptop to suit all my creative needs, testing its capabilities and such. It's looking good so far. Got around to installing my tablet - Wacom Bamboo - here's the first sketch I did with it on my laptop.

Nothing overly exciting, of course, but I'm pretty excited about the whole thing. Plus I've been focusing on simplicity recently.

~Jonas