SV page updates Chapter 02

I finally got these done. It took a while since I had to get used to my new job. Well,  I guess it’s time to move on to chapter three. Old ones are to the left/on top. New ones to the right/bottom.

In slightly related news, I’ve begun to use some photo reference. The results are frequently good so I’ll be using it a lot more from now on. Here are some examples:

Serial killer face! Ehum, anyway, that last self-portrait is the only one I’ve made that I don’t hate. Hey, working with color is fun, I should do that more. Oh wait, I have a 100 page chapter to draw. Dang. Well, I haven’t been all that active on this blog but I’ll try to step up the pace. There is some material I’ve managed to do this summer, I guess. We’ll start with that…..soon.

Left-handed train doodles & animals

I haven’t been drawing much lately. I’ve just been resting for close to four weeks. I went home for a while intent on letting my arm heal. It worked, kind of. The pain is gone but I still feel a bit worn. I expect I’ll start drawing again soon, though. Anyway, here are some doodles I made on the train with my left hand:

These were kind of relaxing.

The ink ran out of every damn pen I used for this.

Before I took the train back I went to the local zoo with some friends. It’s called “Parken Zoo”, formerly known for its white tigers and the attraction called “Fantomens Grotta” (The cave of the Phantom, yes the comic book character). Both of those attractions are now gone. The cave was modeled after the cave in the comics (I think, I’ve read very few of the comics) and it had a throne, treasury and an employee dressed as the Phantom who walked around the zoo giving kids ink-stamps with his skull-ring. I’ll talk about that more soon but first, some animals:

"WUT?"

This guy was climbing above us in the new house of reptiles. Not sure if he was actually supposed to be outside his cage.

Snack, please?

That is one badass turtle.

This one had something up its sleeve. I didn't dare go closer.

This fellow seemed a bit lonely.

I know, the photos suck. I took them with my phone camera and I suck at photography overall but it’ll have to do anyway. Most of the animals in the front of the park were missing or largely bored but some of the ones in the back were interesting to see and a bit more lively. Well then, let’s return to the cave. I remember going there as a kid and thinking it was cool but nowadays I’m more or less ambivalent about the place. Still, I was curios to see what they had replaced it with. What do kids like these days?

Is that a....pirate flag?

"The piRATs nest." .............Seriously?

God, they ARE serious.

.....................................

….yeah. I’m not sure what’s worse. The things I saw or that I actually miss the phantom. Google “fantomengrottan parken zoo” if you want to see how it looked like before. Well anyway, after that last disappointment we left.

They kept the statues at the entrance though.

We went a bit closer...

...but were careful not to touch.

Also......lol?

SPX

I went to Small Press Expo this weekend and it was a blast. Getting there was tough though as I didn’t get a lot of sleep, had to run to catch the train and felt like shit most of the weekend. That aside, I met a lot of old friends, made some new ones and attended some interesting seminars. Author of Scott Pilgrim, Bryan Lee O’Malley, was there as well. He did book-signings at SF-bokhandeln. Sadly enough, he wasn’t very talkative when it was my turn but I can easily understand why: the line was looooong. Well, I got a nifty looking cat drawn in my copy of Lost at Sea so I’m not complaining.

I was sitting between Linus Remahl (far left) and Fredrik Svensson (third from left) at the Comic Royale-table. We were selling books and fanzines between 12pm and 2pm, saturday. -Thanks to Lyn Karlsson for the photo.

This years Comic Royale is loaded with good comics. One of the high points of this years SPX, though, was the fact that the 2nd years from Gävle university’s Comics and Storytelling-program won the people’s price with their beautiful anthology “7 Oktober”. Congratulations, you guys.

We wandered around a whole lot in Stockholm and it took its toll on me. The only thing keeping me from being a total wreck right now is lots and lots of sleep. I’ve been kind of lazy these last few days as well but I’ve still managed to draw a little. With my left hand.

Random doodles.

Yes, this is left hand-drawn as well.

I’ve also started working on the storyboards for the second chapter of my webcomic. If I have any luck I might be able to start drawing the actual pages again soon. Anyway, the final japanese exam is coming up in a week or so and I might not have time to work on any pictures for a while. We’ll just see. If I know myself at all, I’ll probably get something done anyway.