Cathinkas døtre av Annikki Øvergård

Nok en serie av Jan Øvergård og Guri Annikki Torgersen er ferdig. Jeg avsluttet denne tilbake i Mars 2023. Her er alle 20 illustrasjonene samlet.

Jeg har hittil illustrert 75 bøker for Annikki, og det har vært en sann glede. De er svært opptatt av at bygninger og steder er historisk korrekte, så det går ofte med mye tid til å gjøre research. Da lærer man ofte en ting eller to selv i prosessen.

Jeg ønsker forfatterne lykke til videre. Forhåpentligvis krysses våre veier om ikke så lenge.

Jeg oppdaget også at jeg helt hadde glemt å oppdatere Anna fra Røros med de siste illustrasjonene der. Den siste ble laget i oktober 2020. Her er de åtte som manglet.

Nok et år, nok en avsluttet serie - Stormagasinet

Det ble veldig få oppdateringer på siden i fjor, men det betyr ikke at jeg har hatt nok å gjøre. Her er en serie som har holdt meg i gang. Arbeidet med den startet tilbake i Juni 2021. Jeg hadde både designet og illustrasjonene. Jeg ble egentlig ganske fornøyd med logoen.

Stilen skulle være art deco, og forlaget endte opp med å velge denne versjonen. Serien ble på 12 bøker. Illustrasjonene ligger i serieromaner-galleriet.

Salmund Kyvik skrev serien under pseudonymet Sandra Vik. Vi får håpe det kommer mer fra Salmund fremover.

Happy 18th birthday, nephew!

To my dear relative. Congratulations on reaching adulthood.

I know your name, but I won’t reveal it here. You grew up in Graz. The only son of an Austrian father and a Norwegian mother. As far as I know, you never had any contact with your extended family. I have never met you. But I have known about you since before you were born.
I am your uncle.

You might wonder how we know your name and date of birth? Here’s how: The hospital in which you were born called the Norwegian Embassy, informing them a young Norwegian woman had given birth to a boy. They in turn called your grandparents to tell them about you: A healthy baby boy, given a beautiful name. Your name and birth date is the only thing we’ve had for 18 years.  To this day, we don’t know why these phone calls were made. But they meant more to us that you might understand.

Being your uncle, I wish I could have been there for you all these years. That I could have been as good an uncle as the two I had in my life. Here’s the reason this didn’t happen: Your father denied us any contact with you. In fact, the last thing your mother ever told your grandmother was that your father would not allow her family to ever meet you. This occurred a few months before your birth.

We were never told any reason behind your father’s decision. I have never understood why he did it. I don’t think it was a nice thing to do. Not to us and not to you. In fact, I think he stole something important from you.

My two daughters have something in common with you. Your grandparents. They have an amazing relationship with them. Their faces light up with joy every time there is a visit. It makes them happy and it brings joy in all of our lives. And why would it not? You probably have the nicest grandparents on earth. I am sure you would have loved them. Neither could they have asked for a kinder aunt and uncle.  I would not even consider denying my daughters access to their family. It would have been both unthinkable and cruel.

I believe asking questions is a very natural thing to do. I have often tried to imagine myself being in your shoes. What would I know about my family? Who are they? What are they like?If I had the chance to talk to them, what would I ask? Similarly, I have often been wondering who you are. Who is this person? What are his interests? What is he like and what is his story?

I have been waiting for 18 years to write you this letter. I don’t know if it will ever reach you. But I believe in family. Therefore I believe it is worth it. If you want to contact us, you can do so through this website. We are out here, and we would love to hear from you.

Our very best wishes to you.

Nordlys relaunch

I produced 13 illustrations and graphic design for the relaunch of this romance novel series. It’s written by Synnøve Eriksen and published by Cappelen Damm. Editor Lisa Svendsen wanted a proper 70’s feel on both illustrations and design. We had lots of fun and creativity on this one.

These illustrations are set in Belfast, Berlin, Hammerfest, Lofoten and Blindern, Oslo. Theys also require that you study fashion, interior and various design from the era. Gathering reference and understanding is very often a fun and interesting process.

70’s graphic design is a world you really don’t want to get out of, once you dive in. How can you not fall in love with the shapes, palettes and patterns from that time? I really hope there will be more 70’s related projects coming my way.

You can have another look at the illustrations in the gallery here.

New toys

A while back I bought World Creator 2. I believe at some point it will be useful tool for me. So far I have not had a project for it to come in handy though. I crafted a little personal project so I could learn how to use it.

I am amazed how fast it is. The speed of the GPU accelerated viewport render allows for a very cool and fun creative process. I have tried other softwares doing sort of the same thing, but I found them clunky and not very user friendly.

I did the landscape generation in World Creator. The rendering was done in Blender. I did editing in After FX. Finally I composed the music on my wife’s iPad. Got to love GarageBand.

This also turned out to be my first Youtube video upload. I would be very happy for any like and/or comment. Hopefully more videos will folllow.

Tidløs - en serie av May Lis Ruus

Denne serien har vært ute en god stund, så det var på høy tid å få med den i galleriet også. En tidsreise ført i pennen av May Lis Ruus, og den andre serien jeg illustrerer for henne.

Jeg har lastet opp 12 illustrasjoner til galleriet. Snart kommer flere. En av illustrasjonene til serien, er denne. Den er litt utenfor det vanlige i sjangeren, og det var veldig moro å lage den.

Hva skjer her, mon tro? Les serien for å finne det ut! :)

Tårnhuset lukker dørene.

Aud Midtsunds serie rundet av på 18 bøker, og jeg leverte siste illustrasjon i Oktober 2020. Siste oppdatering på Tårnhuset-galleriet var på bok nummer 8. Jeg har nå lastet opp de 10 siste illustrasjonene, og de ser slik ut:

Jeg hadde mange hyggelige timer med disse, men en av illustrasjonene jeg koste meg mest med, var denne:

Det er stort sett alltid mer spennende å lage en illustrasjon der det er litt action. Det var interessant å male dramatiske flammer. Føler at jeg lærte en god del av denne jobben.

Du kan se samtlige 18 illustrasjoner i dette galleriet.

Jeg laget også en promo-video til denne serien. Jeg gjorde “alt”, inkludert musikken. Den skrev jeg i Garage Band på konas iPad. 3D er laget i Blender, ellers er det en mix av After FX og Premiere,

Nattlys tar kvelden, 7 nye illustrasjoner lagt til

Nattlys er den andre serien jeg illustrerte for Salmund Kyvik. Jeg leverte siste illustrasjon i Mai 2020, så det var på høy tid å oppdatere galleriet med disse 7 illustrasjonene.

Med to små barn blir det vanskelig å prioritere sin egen nettside. Men endelig ligger samtlige Nattlys-illustrasjoner ute. Du kan se de her. Serien ble på 15 bøker, og utspiller seg under den norske forbudstiden.

Flere illustrasjoner lagt til i Aftenstjernen galleriet.

2020 har sust forbi uten en eneste oppdatering på min hjemmeside. Det er det på tide å gjøre noe med. Jeg begynner med å legge ut disse 7 illustrasjonene på nevnte serie. Disse finner du her.

Det vil komme flere oppdateringer på serieromangalleriet snarlig.

Cleaning up my hard drive and finding old forgotten stuff

I am very spoiled when it comes to hard drive space, so there is not much need for cleaning it up. But I have been doing video work lately, and that consumes a lot more bytes than the other work I do. So a little brooming has been necessary. Then I stumbled over a lost folder.

Ahh.. the memories. This must be 12-15 years old. I was tinkering with this model after work hours, trying to self educate in architecture. I have always loved architecture, and a big part of me regrets not trying to go down that path, getting an education in it. Anyway, far too late for that now.
It was also a nice 3DSMax exercise. I have not used that program in ages now, really only because I am a Mac user.

My messy process, or lack of any at all, started with an idea of a central fireplace and a big windows. I would sit there an enjoy an amazing view of a landscape involving a large body of water. Of course, it is all about open solutions, so living room and kitchen is one space. I also wanted a bedroom with a view. I put that in the first floor to avoid nosey neighbours. Plus, I could go out on a balcony for some air. I also placed my studio in the first floor, you see that to the right. Obviously, accessing the balcony from it would be super cool. The balcony spanned over to a double garage, where I imagined an outdoor kitchen/barbeque area. I think that is kind of how far I got dreaming. I was jumping back and forth, paying way too much attention to modelling details on metal beams, girder detailing and so on, before completely changing my mind about the big shapes. But the most important part of it: I had FUN doing it. I think I got the lower front part pretty much how I wanted it, but the rest of it is all in the blue

Still, I had forgotten about all this, and finding this model brought many memories back. I have now deleted the work files. This collage will live on in my blog archive.

Aftenstjernen, en "ny" serie

Denne serien har vært ute i butikkene en god stund, så det er på tide å legge den til i serieromangalleriet.

Serien er lagt til Bergensområdet og utspiller seg rundt 1900. Den er skrevet av Jenny Micko, og gis ut av Cappelen Damm. Redaktør er Ida Helene Korsvold, som jeg har jobbet med tidligere på serien Hvite Hjerter. Her er en oversikt av de åtte første illustrasjonene jeg har laget hittil for den.

Illustrasjon nummer ni synes jeg det var spesielt morsomt å lage. Her er et utsnitt av den. Er det et spøkelse som sees gående rundt Ekenäs slott i Örtomta?

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Nok en avsluttet serie. Farvel, Morgensol.

Igjen så er det en god stund siden denne serien ble avsluttet, så det er på høy tid å oppdatere siden med denne informasjonen. Denne serien ble skrevet av Anne Marie Stamnestrø, og er satt til 1770. Galleriet finner du her. HHistoriske serier krever en der research på klær og forskjellige detaljer skal stemme, og det er en del av jobben jeg liker godt. Det er alltid en glede å jobbe med redaktør Christine Lunde Nyborg, og det er bare å håpe på at muligheten byr seg igjen. Her er en oversikt over de 12 forsideillustrasjonene.

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Jeg utviklet i tillegg det grafiske designet på denne serien. Her var også senior redaktør Anne Bull-Gundersen mye involvert i prosessen, samt markedføringsavdelingen.

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Noen av seriene kan ha ganske utarbeidede scener som kanskje ikke alltid kommer til sin rett, eller at folk overser på grunn av størrelsen på forsidene. Men det ble lagt inn ganske mye tid på å male gården, hagen, klærne og objektene på folkene i denne scenen. Bildet forestiller en tenkt storgård, Thrane på Ås i Akershus.

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Jeg har også oppdatert galleriet til Anna fra Røros med fem nye illustrasjoner. Men denne serien derimot, er fortsatt pågående.

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Tiden flyr mot jul nå, og jeg merker definitivt et værskifte inne i dette gamle steinhuset i Agropoli, Italia. Nå trekker det kaldt, regnet spruter og tordenværet slår. Da er det på tide med en morgenkaffe.

Fangen på celle nr. 17 - nå som lydbok

Ida’s fantastiske bok om sitt opphold i et amerikansk fengsel kan nå streames som lydbok på Fabel. Ikke nok med det, du kan faktisk prøve Fabel helt gratis i to uker! Så du kan høre hele boken uten å betale en krone for det! Her kan du lese mer om boken på Facebook.

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Så en liten disclaimer: Hvis du ikke er litt nerdete, kan jeg nesten garantere at resten av denne bloggposten er superkjedelig og fullstendig uinteressant. Du har blitt advart.

Jeg lagde denne snutten i After Effects. Det er kanskje det kuleste programmet jeg vet om. Jeg koser meg skikkelig hver gang jeg kan bruke det til noe. Dessverre bruker jeg det alt for sjelden, men hver gang jeg bruker det, lærer jeg noe nytt som jeg kan glemme til en annen gang. Denne gangen testet jeg null objects, og det var en skikkelig a-ha opplevelse. Jeg brukte også en del expressions, og video-flicker effekten var spesielt morsom å lage. Templates er en tidsbesparer, og noe jeg har tenkt å bli mye flinkere til å bruke. Jeg fant også ut at maksgrensen på bildestørrelse i Squarespace er 20mb. Photoshop gjør, så vidt jeg kan se, en mye bedre jobb på bildestørrelsen enn Adobe Media Encoder. Første forsøk gjennom AME endte på 450mb. Etter litt testing i Photoshop, bikket jeg under 20mb uten alt for stort kvalitetstap.

Jeg har også begynt å sette sammen en 4:3 versjon for Instagram, men det ble mer redesign enn jeg hadde regnet med. Dermed dukket det opp en del ting som jeg måtte prioritere først. For en som har After FX i fingerspissene, hadde det ikke vært store jobben, men dette er nok en av mange ting som skiller en normal fyr fra en pro-bruker.

Papirslottet, en avsluttet serie.

Det er en stund siden jeg malte siste illustrasjonen for denne serien. Papirslottet er skrevet av May Lis Ruus, og redaktøren er Anne Rath-Fredriksen. Modellen for serien er Aurora Nossen. Jeg har lyst til å takke alle tre for et hyggelig samarbeid. Dette er en serie som var veldig hyggelig å illustrere. Personlig skulle jeg ønske hadde blitt lengre, men den fant sin naturlige slutt på 12 bøker. Her er illustrasjonene samlet.

Galleriet for serieromaner har blitt oppdatert med de siste tre illustrasjonene.

We made a commercial!

My wife is going to be the instructor for a writing course at Forfatterskolen, a Norwegian online writer’s school. They asked her if she could make a video they could use for marketing. Ida is a highly creative individual, and came up with a really fun idea. Far too ambitious for something that does not have a budget and something we had no time to do, we set out producing it. Ida filmed almost all of the clips herself with our RX-100, it was all assembled in Premiere, and some of the shots have some After FX work on them. I am kind of proud of the music I wrote for it. Garage Band on the iPad is incredibly intuitive, and the only music program I know how to use. It is so much fun to use.

Sometimes it is super fun to blast through something you normally don’t do. There are so many things I have been wanting to do, but never get around to. A project like this is a great way of testing tools and techniques you otherwise would not touch.

An open birthday letter to my sister

Kjære Tone,

Today you reached the age of 40! Happy birthday! I wish we could have celebrated your day together. Unfortunately, that is not possible. A long time ago, you cut all contact. One day you told your family on the phone from Graz, Austria that you needed somewhere between 3 months and 3 years to find your true self. That’s now over 15 years ago. Time does fly. And sadly, it does not come back. The last time I saw you, you were only 24. I never got to meet you in your thirties. I will never have that pleasure.

A story has two sides, and we only know our side to it. We don’t know what happened to you. We wish we had some answers, but we don’t. Our letters have been returned unopened. There is no phone number for us to call. We have no email. We can only hope you are happy. It seems so crazy that in a time of all this great communication technology, we can not reach you. But then I thought maybe an open letter will reach you some day.

So I hope you will read this. We think about you. We miss you. And we worry about you. Because you are our sister, daughter, cousin, best friend, and also, aunt. Almost two years ago, a niece of yours was born. She is so beautiful, Tone. Her love, warmth, laughter and playfulness gets to us all. Had she met you, I know she would have loved you too. And the Tone I remember, would have been a great aunt. Can you remember how nice it was to have an uncle and aunt, or grandparents to visit? It breaks my heart that you are missing out on all of this, and I don’t think this is what you signed up for.

You see, I don’t think cutting contact was your decision in the first place. It probably felt like it was your decision, but I think you were manipulated in to believing so. Can I know this for sure? Of course not. But your boyfriend did do some peculiar things. Here are some of the things we know happened over time:
- He completely removed you from your own environment, placing you in a new home, in a new country far away.
- He changed your diet.
- He changed your clothing style.
- He removed access to your friends and family, and took away their access to you. Total isolation.
- He changed your way of expressing yourself.
- He changed your language.
- He made you go through a step-based system he had you go through so you could get to know “the true you”.

We know of more, but this selection will get the point across anyway. On their own, most of these things are not a big deal. But if you put all of them together a pattern starts appearing. And that looks a lot like mind control techniques. There is a lot of information about this on the internet, often provided by people that have broken out of a cult. However, you don’t need a big cult for this to work though. One person can also do this. This person needs to get your trust. Then he or she have to abuse that trust to hijack your faculties. And if this is person does it right, you will be convinced no one ever did this to you.

The person that could shine a light on a lot of this, would be your partner. But he will not talk to us directly. He will not even grant your family a way of contacting you if a tragedy where to occur. And If something should happen to you, we have no reason to believe he plans on telling us. I think most people will agree that’s not nice.

I wonder why he is so shy of contact. No one wanted him anything but well. He was a guest in your parents home. He celebrated Christmas with us. It is hard to see any reason he would have to trash your family. If I could guess, it would be for controlling a narrative he is carefully directing. Anyone objecting to it would be very dangerous to the house of cards he has built. This house of cards controls your freedom.

But you are free, and not forgotten. Your friends and family would really like to one day hear from you again. We are out here, and we are easy to find. My birthday gift from me to you is this letter. I hope it will remind you of all the love and friendships you have.

Happy birthday, my dearest sister. We love you so much.

-Kjetil

We are now voice actors!

My friends at Polygon Treehouse is hard at work making Röki, an adventure game set in Scandinavia. They asked my wife and me if we could do placeholder vocals for one of the side characters. They wanted to check if a Scandinavian accent would bring more authenticity. Turns out, they were so pleased with our performances, they offered us roles in the actual game!

Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou rented a sound studio in Oslo and got on a plane to direct the recording. We had a brilliant time. Hopefully, we also produced some good audio!

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Alex trying to direct a massively unexperienced voice actor…

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This seemed to go much better.

This is the first time any of us are doing any acting work. But the main character is voiced by actress Ingvild Deila. She did the voice for CG Leia Organa in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story! Needless to say, she is vastly more experienced than us. I am really excited to see and hear the final results. Alex produced a blog post about her work for Röki, which you can read here!

It is almost always good fun to try new things. This was definitely one of the more fun “jobs” I have ever done. Maybe I should try to get more voice work in the future?

Amundsen main poster

So after releasing the teaser posters, work ramped up on the main poster. It had started much earlier, with a rather big amount of sketches and approaches. The final result is a merger of several ideas. Director Espen Sandberg wanted a dark poster for his film, and I was very happy to go there.

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Amundsen was the first man on the South Pole, but his ultimate goal was to discover the North Pole. He is a man of many achievements, but his character is quite mysterious. His obsession and drive to explore these dark and unwelcoming places, mixed with an enigmatic character was my main inspiration driving my creative process. Again, big thanks to Espen Sandberg and Motion Blur to let me be a part of this adventure.

These days we are staying in my local town of Årnes, giving our daughter a chance to be together with her grandparents. Or maybe it is the other way around? I walked past the cinema the other day, and loved their placement of the big poster in front of their Dolby Atmos hall. Always nice to see something I’ve made on local display. :)

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Ny oppdatering i serieromaner

Jeg har lagt ut 18 nye illustrasjoner i galleriet for serieromaner. Anna fra Røros får 4 nye denne gang. Morgensol får 3, Papirhuset 4, Tårnhuset 3, Nattlys 3 og 1 i Over Skyene.

Teaserposters for Amundsen, a film by Espen Sandberg.

I have been involved in this project making film posters and graphic design. Working for Motion Blur AS is always exciting, challenging and a great pleasure. I should have posted these on a much earlier stage, but it is far too easy to a blog and a website to get neglected.

Roald Amundsen is a Norwegian national hero and icon. Short bio: He was the first man on the South Pole. Probably, he was the first man to see the north pole, definitely the first man to fly over the north pole, the first man to cross the northwest passage and northeast passage. He disappeared in the artic ice during a rescue mission and his body was never found.

I made two teaser posters. One for each pole. I hope you like the result.

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