Apr 12, 2012
Hooray! The first part of the design work for this years Phono festival in Bergen is done, namely the website and other digital goods. The feedback so far has been just great, so I hope it will still look awesome in a few months time, at the festival itself.
The biggest part of this first launch is probably the logotype revelation. I had a pretty heavy process to arrive at this tape-inspired thing you see up top, and expect to see a lot more of the outlying graphical elements in the upcoming posters.
Go check out their website, which I based on a layout from WPshower, and tweaked to fit. They also have a facebook page that you should click like really hard on.
More parts of the design will be visible as the posters and everything start rolling out.
Mar 6, 2012
I’ve been wanting to do a feature on Mattias Adolfsson for a little while now. The man currently holds a place in my top three illustrators, and have been for some time.
He is a fellow scandinavian, based in Sweden, and has a history working in the gaming industry and 3D, before “going analog” as he puts it, in 2007. A wise choice, at least from his fans’ perspective.
Growing up, I was a huge fan of the Serafin books, authored by Philippe Fix. Mattias seems to bring the quirkiness from those books to a whole new level.
Be sure to check him out on Behance if you’re on there yourself, and have a look at his blog. For the devout, there’s even a book you can get, with his drawings.
Mar 20, 2011
I just got home from a great couple of days in Oslo, representing at the release of the third edition of Kokong, an illustration and literature magazine. The mag is made by Max Alexander Berg, Olav Starheimsæter, Kristian Haukland,
Marte Veys Berg and Natasha Lid Bjørdalsbakke, mostly coming from Westerdals school of communication in Oslo(if I’m not completely mistaken).
Max, one of the guys behind the magazine, approached me in a few months ago, the result of that conversation being a limited edition silk screened art print, included in every copy of the mag. The print is a variation on the ut å løpe theme, and fits neatly inside a pocket inside the magazine.
The whole publication is more a crazy experiment in package design and origami than an ordinary magazine, and a brilliantly executed and successful one at that, I’d say.
Other illustrators in the third edition includes talents such as Dan Stafford (did the cover), Ville Savimaa, Micah Lidberg, and Sergio Haisch. Words by Kaja Svarva Denstad, Jo Fenne, Mathias R. Samuelsen, Ola Knoll Nielsen, Victoria Durnak, Andes Lunde, Jakob Skjelbred and Thomas J.R. Marthinsen.
The availability of the magazine is still a bit in the blue, I’ll update the post as we find out where you can actually get your hands on a copy.
EDIT: The magazine (all three editions) is now available in the store! I’m amazed it all worked out so smoothly, and I am delighted to see it in my virtual store shelves, it fits right in. Go have a look!
Jul 31, 2010
Moebius/Jean Giraud
When I was a kid, my father had these comics that I read all the time. The crown jewel in his collection were Moebius’ Inkal series, which chronicles the adventures of sci-fi private investigator John Difool. Ever since this first meet with Moebius, I have kept an eye on his work, and tracked down everything I could find of the old stuff he did.
He is perhaps most known for his creation of the western comic Blueberry. He started this comic in Pilote, and went gradually over to doing science fiction when he started Metal Hurlant, a french science fiction comic (later incarnated into Heavy metal in the english-speaking world)
One especially noteworthy story is that he was deeply involved in the film adaptation of Dune, together with Alejandro Jodorowsky and Salvador Dalí, among others. The entire project was killed due to distribution issues, but then the gang said “crap. Now what?”. So they made Alien instead, just like that.
Now that we’ve seen Avatar, Star trek and so on, it’s only a question of time before someone picks up the pieces and makes the Dune film, for real this time.
Another film project with Giraud that was actually finished? The fifth element, that’s what. Oh, and Tron, nothing less.
[singlepic id=142 float=left]
The eminent blog Sci-fi-o-rama has collected some of Girauds work for Dune, it’s all amazing.
It is now impossible for me to read any of his comics for more than a couple minutes straight, before I have to make a run for my sketchbook.His complete mastery of form achieved by simple line work is incredibly satisfying and inspiring. I have a pocketbook copy of Arzach, which now is quite a bit heavier than when I bought it, thanks to all the notes and paper clips I put in there.
As an interesting side note, Giraud is a good friend of Hayao Miyazaki, the heart of Studio Ghibli. Apparently, Giraud named his daughter Nausicaä, after the lead character from Miyazaki’s film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Which just happens to be on my top three most awesome films ever list.
his official homepage is in french, so you’re better off at wikipedia. Here is a really nice documentary about his history as an artist.
Egon Schiele
This guy really brings the human figure to a whole new level. I don’t remember much about him from my art history class, so use Wikipedia if you must know. Anyways, he was a protégé of Gustav Klimt, another of my favourites. He was an early expressionist, although his style is being referred to as art noveau a lot. And he got himself in quite a bit of trouble with the morality police thanks to his continuous portrayal of naked women, and on one point got locked up for it, too.
His paintings are awesome, but it’s his drawings that interest me the most, where I can analyze it for myself. I remember a lot of the stuff I did in early art school was all based on my references of Schiele.
I guess that does it for this edition of Jacob tells you what makes him tick. If you want more posts like these, holler back in the comments!
Jun 12, 2010
I just finished a new screen print! If you have been following my twitter activity as of late, you might have picked up some hints as to what’s been going on.
The print is a super limited edition (35 in existence) screen print, hand printed, numbered and signed by yours truly at the graphics department at the Bergen Academy of the arts.
I’m about to open a web store, so these prints will be available for purchase quite soon. In the meantime, hang tight and look at some cool photos. (update: the store is open)
(more…)
