I have just finished mine and Kenny Lindströms kitchen illustration, so tomorrow I will send it to the printhouse because instead of paint it we will print, just to save some time. The main idea was to mix our styles.

My work was concept, copy, making the lady and put everything together. The idea is also to make a black stain on the table underneath
where the coffee is pouring. When I wrote the copy I wanted to achieve a feeling that the picture is taken from a saga, a story (not final);

“Her coffee smelt nice, but it felt like somebody was watching her. It was chilly outside and the aroma of the coffee now had a touch of salt. Like a deep lake of oil, her drink now took on a new dimension. Another side of the kingdom was now presented.”

— Work in progress

The illustration is made on a Cintiq 12WX, based on a photography I took a couple of years ago. When the plan was to paint everything we wanted a clean and simple illustration, which we kept even if it now will be printed.

Kenny Lindströms beautiful octopus. Original file in illustrator above. Below after my coloring.

On Monday FWA will publish our wallpaper kit to their special edition 10th Anniversary collection. We where invited by Rob Ford together with 9 other great agencies (FWA 10 top winning agencies) like Goodby, B-Reel, Big Spaceship and EVB for this special occasion. It was of course a big honor for us, but also a chance to make a quick piece of art which is always challenging and fun.

Get the wallpapers here — FWA 10th Anniversary wallpapers by North Kingdom

If you like the font I have used and made, you can download that one here.

When we had no time whatsoever we made a quick collaboration in house. We didn’t have any directions among us more then just go “bananas”, to make something we wanted to have on our own desktops, and to keep it black and white as our graphic profile.

The directive from Rob Ford was; “The wallpaper should include the FWA logo, your own logo, the number 10. I am happy for the FWA logo to be manipulated in any creative way rather than having it placed, as is, on a nice image.”

   More pictures and information here.

Air France did I finish last week on my flight from Paris to Miami. I have again used the Brush application which have been updated with layer function since last time I used it. You can also import photos from your photo library. That´s how I did the copy; I took a photo on a page at the airplane, imported it to Brushes and painted Air Fran(ce) on the top layer. The color & contrast correction is made with the Mill Color application.

Some sketches from a concept I’m working on right now. The characters had to be very simple so I continue to work with the style I made for The Lodge showreel a couple of years ago. I have no idea if we will use these small fellows but they where really fun to do :) Next step will be to build them in 3D if choose to continue. The project will be launched first after the summer so it is a very early sneak peek.

Another drawing I made on my iPhone with the Brush application. I made it when I spent some nice days at the Stockholm archipelago this summer.

When we did our showreel for North Kingdom last year we also made our own soundtrack together with Andreas Lundmark. I have used his music before when he was a part of Elodie, a great group from Skellefteå with a original style. The last thing I wanted for our showreel was a high tempo pop/rock/techno tune which almost every showreel uses today. Instead we wanted to give our reel an odd story with a calm pleasant feeling.

The soundtrack turned out so good so I wanted to give it a proper record cover with our Dear Deer Lady. I tried a new, quite fast, technique where I painted (with Wacom Cintiq 12wx) on top of a photo I took a few years ago. To fit the graphic profile of North Kingdom I made it black & white.

Download wallpapers — Dear Deer Black, 1920×1200 px (zip)

Download soundtrack — Creatvt (North Kingdom) (mp3)
Download typeface — Black Nun Bold (Illustration file) (.zip)

I spent this Sunday at “String” on Söder, Stockholm, with a thermos of coffee and my sketchbook because I needed to come up with some ideas for some wall paints to our new North Kingdom office. Damn nice day btw, “String” is a really great place. This is a first concept drawing for the kitchen. I will make the paintings with Kenny Lindström, who will work on the jellyfishes (or whatever we do there) on this one. The idea behind it? Well, I just wanted to continue to work with our strange, odd nature, which we presented in our showreel from last year.

Personal Work. I have vacation right now and tried do something on my Cintiq 12WX meanwhile I was listening on a e-book. I had no plans what-so-ever when I started, except that I want to build him with ZBrush one day.

I am not sure what he/it is. From the beginning this character was looking totally different but when I flipped a copy of the original horizontal and multiplied it on top; a new character appeared which felt much more unique. Then I took this new character and finished the work.

On my flight back from Munich yesterday I did a new small drawing on my iPhone with the Brush application. I felt very very tired on the trip home so I guess that’s why the guy ended up like this…

Finally, DCHPL-2 is live! These three picture is my first of a series I will continue work on during 2009 and probably 2010. They are found at my Cover Art selection if you have not seen them.

I have had these illustrations almost ready for over a year now but I have never had time to finish my website so therefore I have kept them in my drawer. I’m sure you know how it is… there are thousands other things to do then finish your portfolio. However, I came up with a pretty easy solution in the end but still very open creative with the cover solution. The base of this WordPress blog and my portfolio on Cargo. Thank you Andreas Philström and PM for helping me out with the WordPress programming. I really like this solution where it will be more focus on creating stuff for my portfolio instead of recreate my website.

I have actually been working on the content for the site during several years. The main idea for the site was to try out new techniques and medias that I never have been working with earlier. For example fashion drawing, learning Painter and concept drawing, creating a font, learn more about After Effect and so on.

My goal was also to make everything myself but as I said, the time issue is pretty big in this branch, so instead of making the photoshoot myself I worked close with a photographer, Håkan Moberg, and Mathias Lindgren (North Kingdom) helped me out with making the robots from my concept drawings.

You can download the pictures as wallpapers here.

Close up — Father Robot

Close up — Black Black Sunday

On my way back home from New York I tried this new iPhone app. called “Brushes”. It’s a program where you can paint with your fingers on your mobile! Very easy to use actually. I drawn these two robots here below on the plane (shown in three steps each);

The process for making DCHPL-2 have been long, very long. The goal has not been the final result but just the process. To take time and learn new stuff! To sit down and think; what do I want to try? Here is some sketches and ideas I have had during these years I have been working with this. Sometimes it have been three four months between each time I have open the Designchapel folder, sometimes even more. And yes, it can be very frustrating to not launch the ship, to ask yourself “Will I never ever finish this?”, but somehow, you have to tell yourself also “Well, it is just a bloody webpage. Focus on what you think is fun, nothing else!”. It can be hard many times to not be stressed, but during my years in this branch you have to think on your social life as well, otherwise you will never stay long in the business.

   More pictures and information here.

This illustration did I actually start to do the autumn of 2006. Back then it was made to be a part of my upcoming portfolio. However, I felt after a while that I wanted to learn new stuff instead repeating myself. Therefore, I have put it on hold until now. This autumn I where invited for a new illustration book called Monarchy Series (will be released 2009). My idea was to take my old unfinished illustration and add new technique and elements to it, because I realized I had to little time to start over from scratch. In the end the illustration wasn’t that different then the old one when I wanted to keep it clean and simple.

The model is my ex-girlfriend (who also is the model for all old Designchapel illustrations) and to make them more unique we borrowed some wigs from a hairdresser shop in Skellefteå called “Torsten”.

The main idea behind “Royal Nun” is the ever ending struggling between having a pretty big company (North Kingdom) on one side and my creative freedom on the other side (Designchapel).

   More pictures and information here.

I was invited by Marcelo Baldin to be one of 28 artists to make artwork for the metal-industrial band The Omega Code.

This spring I have been working with our showreel for North Kingdom´s first 5 years. The reel itself has a small story built in with a branded main character who sits down with a magic black flower. On the pictures above you can see my concept sketches on the girl and a picture from the shooting in Stockholm from June.

   More pictures and information here.

This is a first glimpse on our upcoming fashion brand MINK / Made in North Kingdom. The logotype of a blinking deer character have I drawn in Illustrator. The hangtags (on the right side) are for the t-shirts and will be printed on canvas. From the beginning it will only be printed t-shirts with Limited Edition. I am not sure though when this project will be launched. Hopefully during 2008 or 2009.

For a couple of years ago I started an internal project at North Kingdom where our different designers made their own version of our NK symbol. It turned out pretty cool actually! Here above can you see 4 of these t-shirts prints designed by Kenny Lindström, myself, Charlotta Havh and Bjarne Melin. More to come!

We from North Kingdom will take care of one module at Hyper Island this winter. It is for their new one-year program called Interactive Art Director in Stockholm. We will give the student a Big Task (subject is still secret) among work shops, inspiration lectures etc. When it is finished we will gather the students work in a printed book. Can be pretty cool!

The illustration is just from a lonely night when I was bored…

   More pictures and information here.

A painting for my little sister Rebecca. It is basically from an illustration I did back in 2001. Gouache on canvas. Size 140 x 110 cm.

My first sketch of the painting.

This is just picture from my living room from this morning. I have printed the illustration I did for D-Mode from my Blaugallery.com project. Size 160 x 103 cm. The chair is a redesigned present from my girlfriend.

D-Mode magazine from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Some other prints I have done lately. Photo from my office.

A first concept drawing of Father Robot. A character which will be built in 3D and added to the pictures with the new Designchapel nun.

Project: Illustration. My work: Illustration. Client: Two Faces.
Information: Two Faced was a book project I was invited to last year. At WIWP site you can read that the book “approached a large variety of creative people ranging from Toy Designers to Art Directors, Photographers to illustrators, Musicians to Designers. The Artists were paired off and given the task of creating a portrait of the person they had been teamed with, using their own style for which they have become renowned.” I was teamed together with the talented design group Vasava from Barcelona.

Project: Illustration for Fashion Magazine. My work: Illustrator. Client: D-Mode Magazine, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Information: A project where chosen illustrators and photographers work where combined. Photographer: Pablo Franco. Production: Christian Bernay. Model: Josefina Valente.

Project: Painting. My work: Illustrator/ Painter. Client: Designchapel.
Information: Acrylic on canvas, 120×80 cm.

Project: Magazine Cover. My work: Illustrator/ Graphic Designer. Client: Bert Hagendoorn, D-Zone Magazine, Netherland.
Information: A cover and an article for a design magazine.

Project: Illustration. My work: Illustrator. Client: Designchapel.
Information: A self portrait of myself and my Amazon -66 made in our summer cottage in Skråmträsk during a low period of my life.

Project: Character Design. My work: Graphic Designer. Client: Designchapel.
Information: Work in progress.

Project: Magazine Cover. My work: Illustrator. Client: Macromedia, England.
Information: Illustration for Macromedia Masterclass MX2004 magazine.

Project: Illustration. My work: Illustrator. Client: Designchapel.
Information: A new illustration made to match the Designed Religion, another dark colored illustration.

Project: Magazine Tutorial. My work: Illustrator and writer. Client: Computer Arts.
Information: Tutorial for Computer Arts Magazine (England).

Project: Wallpaint. My work: Illustrator. Client: My sister Ragnhild.

Information: An illustration made for my sisters livingroom.