Way

Sometimes I write poetry. It's sort of a venting mechanism and an outlet for my creativity when I don't have time to draw. Sometimes my poems are about true things, about myself and my mind and my heart. Some times they are just stories or exaggerated emotions. No matter how they are written or what the current topic may be it's always very personal. Sometimes they come together in the space of five minutes, the words just fall into place. Other times it can take days or weeks before it starts to sound right.

This poem I just jotted down because I needed to. The words were just there today driven out on paper because of all the strains my family and I have been through this year. It's just been a bit rough as of late. One bad thing happening after the other and my frustration and sadness needed to find a way out. Anyway here is my latest poem.


Way

Why is it always so hard,
When happy news knocks on the door,
bad news comes around like a bad second guest.
Nice gestures are rewarded with nothing but a sour aftertaste as something
bitter is thrown your way.

I paint a happy smile on every day,
I keep hoping that I’ll be able to put on a real one someday.
When my troubles, my trials seem like nothing,
and things finally start going my way.

The black eyeliner smudging at the corners of my eyes,
herald the on-coming trickle of tears.
I hide them well in the darkness of my pillow hoping they won’t leave stains,
when my hurt is washed away.

By: Anita K. Olsen

Until next time
Anita Night

Nasal probing...

It sounds disgusting yes?..well, relax it's not what you think it is.
Unless you think it's a bunch of sketches where I explore the concept of drawing noses.
Then it's exactly what you think it is!

One of my tutors at the University of Wolverhampton mentioned to me that I should practice drawing noses because all my noses looked pretty much the same. Given some time to think about that statement I had no choice but to agree (damn). So half a year after the eye opening comment here I am drawing noses, and having a surprisingly good time doing so.

Voila! enjoy the nosy goodness:






Yes, mostly female noseyness going on, not a lot of variety there I'm afraid. So I figured I kind of had to draw a male nose, and I just couldn't leave the nose alone. It had such character and it deserved an equally interesting face so I drew an old man, a lovable little fellow who probably uses a crutch and likes hot soup.



Hoping someone will have enjoyed my sketchy nose special.

Until next time
Anita Night

Bejeweled

So a new update,
it's not a big philosophical work or anything, just thought I'd have some fune while exploring my new copy of ArtRage3 Studio.

Lots of fun!



I'm pretty happy with the skin and the general build of the face. The texture on the bows looks pretty good too. I'm looking forward to making a new illustration. Maybe something with a monster of some sort. I don't do enough of that.

Until next time
Anita Night

Death by Cashmere Cover

I recently found a competition on a Norwegian blog(http://epla.no/blogg/2011/omslagskonkurranse/) where they wanted their readers to design the cover for a book called "Death by Cashmere" or "Dødelige Masker" in Norwegian as it is soon going to be launched in Norway. The winner gets a cash prize and the opportunity to get their design printed as the official cover. The deadline is the 22.November, pretty short deadline right. I just finished my entry and considering the fact that I found this competition on thursday I would say I've done a pretty good job :)



I don't know how big of a chance I have or if I stand a chance at all, but if I don't try I'll never know, will I? All I know is that this is a great opportunity to get some experience and to get my artwork published. Also the prize money would really come in handy as I will have to invest in a new washing machine, a new bed and a new refrigerator in January.

wish me luck!

Until next time
Anita Night

Frost

A little speedy color version of a sketch I did almost two years ago. I have to say that I'm pretty happy with the lips. I felt like I needed to practice painting lips so I looked up a reference online and tried to copy it before adding some personal touches to the mix.

Practice makes perfect they say, so I'm gonna keep on practicing on drawing lips with pencil some more I think



Until next time
Anita Night

Death

I've been dealing with death this week, and right now I'm not a fan. I recently lost my grandmother you see, and so I've found it hard to do anything creative. Today however it all came out in a river of illustrative and physical creativity.
By that I mean that I colored and cut my hair (that part I did not do myself), I started making some artwork for this years Christmas presents and I finished a speedpaint image I had lying around in my head. I guess my way of coping with loss is to throw myself into new projects. It keeps me preoccupied and hinders me from rolling in self pity and sadness. It's not healthy.

It is however healthy to grieve the one you loose, but I haven't let myself do that properly yet. I'm afraid that if I start crying I won't be able to stop. So I'm keeping my emotions in check until I get home, until I attend the funeral. It leaves me with a tangled knot between my shoulder blades and an even bigger knot in my heart, but I just don't have the option of letting go of my emotional control just yet.





I will soon though

Until next time
Anita Night

Remember this?

That's what I've chosen to call this illustration. It was made for a children's book project I did during the summer, and isn't really a full illustration but it works just fine on it's own. I think it is being published now, or will be very soon. The details have been a bit fuzzy as of late. Looking forward to receiving my copies of the book though. It will be a great thing to bring along to client meetings.



I'll probably post more images from the book as soon as I hear more from the publisher about publishing dates and so on and so forth.

Until next time
Anita Night

The returning predicament of time management..

Yes it is a returning problem. I fear it will be an ever present factor that will irk me to no end.
I started working part time three weeks ago, thinking that I would only be working two days a week, maybe three, but due to the fact that one of my co-workers just became a baby daddy and had to take time off I am feeling like I applied for a full time job instead of a part time job.

It won't last forever, it's only for two weeks, but having found myself in this tricky situation I find myself pondering the mere fact of how easy it is to become lost in what is supposed to be a part time job and forgetting or just not being able to find the time to do my illustration work.

Because I am aware of the problem I can nip it in the bud, and avoid ending up like a lot of students who take up part-time jobs to pay their bills while they struggle to break into the industry. Often it seems like a steady paycheck lures artists away from professional full-time illustration work, and it's kind of sad. I don't have a lot of experience yet, but I'm going through that problem right now and I have to say that I get why people often drown in their part time jobs. Your boss might ask you to work some extra shifts and it is all too easy to say yes because you keep thinking that you need the money. You can't be blamed for doing just that, but it's only a short term solution. It may not pay of right away, but in the long run it might actually be more prudent to turn down some of those extra shifts and focus on your illustration practice or classes or your homework(if you are still in school). That is what I intend to do, as much as possible at least. Because in the end I have to prioritize my dream and not my part time job, no matter how good of a job it is.

I realize that this was a rather lengthy post, but I felt like I needed to get it out of my system. If anyone has any comments or thoughts about the subject feel free to comment as always.

and last but not least here is a little sketch from our first drink and draw session:





Until next time
Anita Night

A little early, but hey Happy Halloween

Let me start by saying I love Halloween!! I do the whole dressing thing. So much fun and this year I'm going as poison Ivy, well I will if my wig arrives in time that is.

I have for the fourth year in a row been able to keep my promise to myself and make a Halloween card. They are never quite the same, but for some reason I always end up painting witches and vampires. This year it is no different.

There is a witch this year too, the only big difference is that I have chosen to use the Blood elves from World of Warcraft as inspiration for my little yearly "spoof". So here it is, my sexy, wicked blood elf witch (it should totally be a new class).

(To read the text please press image for larger view)

To anyone reading this blog, I challenge you to make your own Halloween card!!!

If you do make one then send me a link as I'd love to see some more Halloween works.

Until next time
Anita Night

update time...

A tiny little update..

I've been busy trying to find a part time job and working on my illustration projects as of late,

and so there has been radio silence from this blog for a long time. I'm planning to give more updates soon. When I have the time to sketch a bit. I will also start attending business courses and that may interest people so I'll probably try to write a bit about that too.

In other news, I finally got a job. I'm not entirely sure of when I start, but it will be soon. It'll be nice to actually have some structure back in my life again. I don't like drifting around in uncertainty, leeching of family and friends.

And last but not least, a little sketch from a drink and draw session I attended:

Until next time
Anita Night

Updating the neglected

Unwise words from the skull...

It feels a bit like falling of the map, moving away I mean.
you are forced out of your daily routines, you have to improvise certain things and you don't have the time to do all the things you want to do. You just have to focus on cleaning, packing, logistics, paperwork and money.

When you move you rip your roots out of the ground, you throw away all the unwanted things you have in your life and the things you want to keep you take with you. Things both physical, mental and emotional.

When you move you leave something known and venture into the unknown, usually that is. In my case I left something I had just gotten to know and came back to familiar ground. I have to admit that moving to England was a bit scary. I didn't really know what I was going to and the things I thought I new weren't necessarily right. Moving back to Norway again wasn't as hard, but it's still a bit scary.

I've come back to what I consider to be home, I've come back with a degree and new perspectives on life. Which is great, but I've also come back not really knowing how my future is going to turn out. I don't have a job so I need to find one. We don't have any place to live so we're staying with family until we find a decent apartment and on the side I still have illustration projects and the founding of my own business to work on. It's a lot, my plate is quite full.

It's a bit stressful to be honest, but it also feels kind of nice. I have a lot of work ahead of me true, but because I have a goal, because I know what I want it feels more like an exciting challenge than a heavy load weighing me down.

Hopefully I'll be able to know within the week whether I have a job or if I need to keep looking. As soon as the job is secured pieces will start to fall into place a lot more easily. I'm looking forward to having all my pressing affairs settled, but I think it's important to enjoy and take in the process of getting there. A prize is always sweeter when you've had to work for it after all.

Until next time
Anita Night

I graduated!

Yes I did.

I wasn't going to write a long essay about this. I wrote a long one on my Norwegian blog and it was so emotional that I am left feeling a little drained, but it seems like my brain decided that I need to do just that. It was such a big day for me. It was the completion and the end of a dream that I have been carrying in my heart for years. I always dreamed of becoming some kind of artist, studying abroad, getting a degree. And now I have done it. I have officially graduated with the award Bachelor of Arts with Honours, Second class, first division in illustration.

I couldn't be more proud of myself and my accomplishments, I've worked so hard for so long, and it finally paid of.

Yesterday went by so fast so I didn't really have the time to take in the gravity of the moment, but now I do. I cried when I realized that my dream had finally come true. I cried because I was happy, and I cried because it was over.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow"
-Shakespear

I have that feeling now. I am letting go of a part of my life. I am not a student anymore, I am not striving for a degree, I have it. I am an artist. I get to make a living doing what I love doing the most. I get to draw and paint and illustrate every day. I can't really ask for more right now.

Sure a house to live in is a necessity, but things have a way of working themselves out. I am just grateful that I have been given the chance to follow my dreams, and that I knew what it was I wanted to do with my life from an early age.

On a final note I would just like to tell everyone how much my moms support has meant to me over the years. She never pushed me, but always supported me. She never once told me I couldn't do something and I give her full credit for me getting to where I am today. The past 4 years my dear Ole has also been an invaluable support and my rock. He left all he knew just to be with me when I decided to move first to Oslo and then to England. No man I have ever known gives up almost his entire life for the woman he loves, but he did and I don't know if I could have made it without him.

Until next time
Anita Night

Light as air

Another image in my new illustration series about love. I felt like flying the last time I fell in love. I guess that's what this image is about. If you have ever had that feeling, like your heart could burst from your chest and like your feet could lift from the ground if you just jumped, well, then you probably understand what I'm talking about ^^

That feeling was a good sign as it turns out. The guy I had these feelings for (and still do) is going to be my husband as of December next year.

Have you ever felt this way?

(P.S. also published on artflakes.com)

Until next time
AnitaNight

Heart Rain

I had a sudden burst of inspiration tonight. I sat down and made some sketches to clarify the idea, I ended up with a couple of sketches that I like so I'm going to try to do a series of images about love and hearts with my favorite color palette; red, white and black.

This is the first image in the up and coming series:

Heart Rain

Some people walk around wishing their true love could fall from the sky...

This image is of course available at my artflakes.com print store

Until next time
Anita Night

Flora

Time for a new update, yes indeed. I've chosen to post my newest image. it's just a little something I've been playing around with on my spare time. There was no plan for this, but it was very fun to do. It's nice to just do something that doesn't have any specific requirements every now and then.

I put it up for sale on my Artflakes.com gallery. So if anyone needs a little piece of art they can feel free to check it out and order a nice canvas print or a little poster.


I haven't been able to update this blog a whole lot lately. Basically it's been really busy trying to ready the apartment for the check out procedure, preparing for graduation and packing down all of my things. I do try to doodle a little bit, but it's hard to find the time because every day I spend 6-8 hours on my illustration projects.

Hopefully once I get settled into a new apartment back home in Norway I'll be able to update a bit more.

Until next time
Anita Night

Perky Pug

It's sketch of the day time again!! or it would be if this was last friday. I was going to put this image up here but I haven't had the time and it sort of slipped my mind, but here it is now

*drumroll*

The Perky Pug

He was originally made for a Q&A round at my Norwegian blog. My friend RoseDoll asked if I could draw a pug. So I found a picture of her little dog Morfar which in English is translated into Grandpa, and used him as reference.

I think he ended up looking great even if I didn't trace the outlines first. This was made freehanded. I just looked at the reference and drew. Which is how it should be done of course. I sometimes feel like a cheater if I trace things, even if I just trace a little bit, but sometimes I will do it if it will save me time on a deadline and I'm not in danger of infringing anybodies work.

Anyways, hope you like it

Until next time
Anita Night

Achievable goals...Not such a bad idea...

What better way to start the post than with a happy drunk pirate ^^

Ok, so I totally lifted this idea of my friend Vinter over at Lazy inhouse illustration , and she in turn was forced to do it by her boyfriend.

The name of the game is as you might have guessed: Achievable goals. Things you want to accomplish during the coming year. It got me thinking, do I know what my goals are? Surprisingly enough I kind of had a mental list, but writing it down makes it more real and forces you to do more than just thinking about it.

Here is my list:

1. Set up illustration business and apply for government funding.

2. Take business classes so I don't run my own business to the ground within the first year

3. Buy a new drawing tablet and Painter 12...And then learn how to use painter..

4. Explore other niche markets in the illustration market besides fantasy and Sci-fi art. (editorial, children's books, packaging or licensing)

5. Maybe set up a "drink and draw" sketch group (creative people gathering somewhere like in a pub and enjoying some nice beverages while sketching and socialising). Because let's face it, illustrators tend to be way too solitary and some social stimuli must be good for our creative mushy brains!

Most of that actually sounds coherent and semi -intelligent. So not too shabby if I might say so myself.

I don't know if I'll be able to actually achieve all of these goals but they should be within my grasp if I push myself just a little bit more. We'll see.

Until next time
Anita Night

Thoughts on personal style

As I mentioned in my previous post about the New Blood exhibition I had a portfolio review with some very nice ladies from a company called Artworks. I asked them about their general thoughts on my artwork and where they thought I belonged in the industry.

My portfolio is not a graphic one, it is a portfolio filled with a lot of pencil drawings, ink and acrylic illustrations and heavily rendered fantasy artwork. I don't use photo montage or collage techniques and I'm not into designing fonts. Basically I am not a graphic designer/illustrator hybrid like a lot of illustrators seem to be these days. I was afraid that they would take a look at my things and say: what the hell is this? Funny enough they seemed to like it, and they seemed to be especially fond of my pencil drawings. However they would never be able to use my work for their company, as they used a very specific and, surprise surprise more graphic style.

They told me that my portfolio looked very different from the other things they had been looking at during the day. Their opinion was that I most certainly had a niche market style, and that I should focus on children's books and licensed products and the fantasy art market. I was not unhappy to hear it. Those are after all my preferred markets, I was just happy to know that someone thought I had a niche where I could belong. That is the positive thing. Moving on to the negative, because let's face it there are always positives and negatives.

The negatives is that I don't really belong in the other industry niches. Fantasy art exists almost everywhere, but it is not a big industry and I am a bit worried about being able to get the right amount of work or the right type of work so I can pay bills and afford buying food, you know the necessary stuff of life. So I have to wonder whether I should try to branch out some more and try to do more graphic and commercial looking artwork so I can get jobs in more well paying parts of the illustration business, or if I should just keep concentrating on the things I do now and the things I am apparently adept at or good at. There is no easy answer to this question and I am not sure I have a good answer to it either.

My current plan is to keep focusing on the fantasy and children's art and hopefully I will be able to make it my bread and butter. On my spare time I want to experiment with different styles. Maybe try doing some editorial illustrations and maybe some poster designs. Things like that should help me broaden my horizons a little bit.

If any of my followers have ever come across this problem in their professional life and have found a good solution to it or if you just feel like weighing in, please do so.

New blood 2011

New Blood is a London based exhibit held at the Old Truman Brewery in brick Lane every year. Here Universities from all over the UK come to show of their students work. Not everyone gets to show their things at the exhibition. I find it to be a bit elitist but what can you do. I was lucky enough to have some of my things represented at the show (a bit surprised to be honest).

Below are some pictures of the booth that the University of Wolverhampton had set up. I thought it was very nice and interactive, but a bit too cramped. Our stall was not among the biggest to be honest. Both the graphic design department and the illustration department was represented which was nice. I would show you pictures of the rest of the exhibit, but I actually forgot to take photos for a while so sadly I don't have any.

Here is a rack of the business postcards all the students had gotten printed.

This is a close up of my card:

At this mac you could leaf through some of the artwork that was not exhibited on the walls or on the portfolio table.

Here is my portfolio on the table:

After standing guard at the stall for 4 hours or so I was quite happy to get outside for some fresh air. I also got to visit Lulu and Lush also known as fairygothmother.co.uk. By accident I discovered that their store was two minutes away from the New Blood exhibit. I have been wanting to visit their store for years after ogling their wares online. Sadly the store was not as impressive as I had imagined, although they did have a lot of really cute burlesque underwear.

I did have a portfolio review while I was at New blood but I'll talk about that in my next post as I have quite few thoughts on the matter.

Until next time
Anita Night

University of Wolverhampton Degree show

Our degree show was held in June, it's a whule ago I know, but I forgot I had these pictures laying about and so now I'm actually bothering to put them up on my blogs.

below you can see me posing in front of my panels. I didn't have a lot on my wall, I would have put up more of my fantasy stuff, but they weren't a part of my university artwork so I couldn't put them up there. I did however slip some of them into my portfolio.

Here you can see my panels without me cluttering up the picture:

Some close ups of my work:

Book covers

Poetry book artwork

Some doodles from my sketchbook and some children's book spreads:

Going into it I had no idea how a degree show worked really. We didn't really do it like this in Norway when we graduated. It was interesting to see how many visitors actually came to see the show, the building was packed on opening night. People also came visiting the following days as well. I don't know how much good it did me and my work in the end. I didn't really get much feedback from people or any job offers for that matter. At least I participated though. You can't win if you don't compete and not attending the show wouldn't have gotten me anywhere.

All in all it was a good experience and I also got to see all the stunning stuff my fellow illustration students had been working on.

Until next time
Anita Night

Buy My Art!

I recently got invited to open up a gallery at www.artflakes.com. It is a site offering a Print on demand service. I can upload my art to a personal gallery and then people can order them as prints. I retain all my rights and I get a 25% cut of the selling price.

So if you are interested in purchasing some prints just press the banner below and it will take you straight to my Artflakes gallery.

Support a poor artist just starting her career, buy my art! ^^

P.S. if there is a piece of art you are interested in that isn't in my Artflake gallery just drop me a line and I will add it for you.

Until next time
Anita Night.

Goblin pilot

So this guy started out as a character sketch for a children's book I have been working on, but I ended up using a different concept that went in quite a different direction.

I still really liked this sketch. He has a certain charm about him ^^

Maybe I'll re-use him later in another illustration or maybe I'll just color him? We'll see.

Until next time
Anita Night

For Oslo 22.07.2011

I can't lay down flowers in Oslo's city Centre, but right now I wish I could. That city was my home for two years, and will be my home again in September. Luckily neither my family nor friends who lived in Oslo were hurt in the explosion, and for that I am grateful.

My heart does however go out to those who did lose family or friends in the terrorist attack. I have shed tears for the innocent teens and young adults who lost their lives at Utøya and I am amazed by the efforts that volunteers, civilians and the police has put in to help the people trying to escape the island, the help they have given the survivors and the ones left behind. You are all heroes in my eyes.

I made this drawing, and it is dedicated to those who died yesterday. It's just a simple little thing. I just wanted to show my support and the grief I share with the rest of my nation. My little gesture means little when you look at the big picture, but it is there none the less.

In memory of the fallen.
May you all rest in peace.

Airy Fairy

Today I bring you fairy dust.

I like stripes and frilly skirts and fairies so why not combine them ^^
It has been a while since I did a fairy so here it is;

This was just a fun and fast piece. Probably took me an hour or two in total.

Until next time
Anita Night

A hairy sketch

Todays sketch is brought to you by an empty bowl of cheerios...

Yes well it's a pretty girl with wavy hair, not something one can write a dissertation about really.

I had to photograph it because it's actually too big for my scanner...hence the gradient effect.

Maybe I'll do a water color version of it sometime when I'm not sick of painting goblins and dresses and little fat men :P

Until next time
Anita Night

Lamia- A D&D Monster

A pretty monster, if you're not overly terrified of beetles that is *shudders*.

The Lamia is described as such in the 4th edition D&D Monsters Manual:

"A lamia is a bizarre fey comprised of hundreds
of black scarab beetles. It lures wayfarers to their deaths by
assuming a pleasing humanoid guise.

When a lamia slays a humanoid creature, it adds
another beetle to its evergrowing swarm. When a lamia’s
swarm grows too large, it reproduces by first slaying a worthy
fey creature such as a powerful eladrin. Rather than consuming
the body, the lamia divides itself, filling the corpse with
hundreds of its beetles. Over time, these beetles devour the
corpse and arise as a new lamia. This newborn lamia gains
much of the victim’s memories and knowledge in the process."

Text (c) Wizards of the Coast. I didn't Harvard reference this as I assume that people will understand that I am merely qouting the text from the manual and I am not claiming it as my own in any way.

Anywhoot, I thought it seemed like an interesting creature and decided to make an illustration inspired by it. Making this image tokk me almost a month. And not because I'm slow, just because I had to do it in between my current projects, whenever there was some leftover time. So usually I got to work on this at around 21.00-00.00 at night. Hence it took a while.

I like the concept of the image, and I am happy with the composition too. The colours are kind of cool too. I am sooo happy with the hands to be honest I think they are possibly the best part of the entire illustration. It's probably because I had a reference photo taken of myself holding a big book.

There are probably a whole lot of things that I will find in about a weeks time that will make me hate this image, but it will only inform my practice so the next illustration will be better, and so on and so forth.

Please feel free to critique it or make suggestions on what I could improve upon, and also shameless flattery is gladly accepted of course :p

Until next time
Anita Night

Things I wish I had...

The poor art student's impossible wish list:

1. A new decent Wacom tablet, because my current tablet is starting to fall apart.

2. The new Painter 12. I don't have Painter at all and I'm dying to get it. I have too much respect for the brand to download it of the Internet.

3. ArtRage 3 because I love the oil brushes and the palette knife tools.

4. An apartment to live in, in September. Kind of hard to move back home to Norway without an apartment you know.

5. To have my wedding this year like I was supposed to, but can't because deposits on apartments in Norway are ridiculous and have blown apart my wedding budget (we're talking £3000 deposits for one bedroom apartments which is pretty much the sum of my entire life savings.)

Yes well that takes care of this months unrealistic dreaming. On a happier note; my projects seem to be going well. I'm moving forward. 7 down 38 to go (illustrations that is).

Style Struggles - how to adapt to different assignments

I just signed on to a project where I'm supposed to illustrate a children's story for a book. At the same time I'm doing a very different project for an app game for a company called Dilemmr. I have found over the course of this weekend that it is quite hard to work with two styles at the same time.

The app project is sort of a Manga/Science fiction inspired style with as proper anatomy as possible and use of perspective and the like. The children's book is supposed to be child friendly and humorous, but inspired by fantasy, and I have to morph the anatomy and work in a more cartoony style than the other. I started sketching some of the characters from the children's story and this is where the trouble started. I just couldn't let go of the anatomy and my usual way of building a character. The characters weren't stylized enough and I didn't find them very funny either. I'm usually good with cool or cute characters, but funny is not really a strength of mine. This problem made me feel stuck and I felt a bit hopeless to be honest and I wasn't sure how I was going to solve the issue.

What I did know however was that I was not going to give up. So I started sketching a bit, gradually changing things on the characters, making things simpler, not drawing all the joints on arms and legs, making some body parts abnormally large or very tiny. halfway through the process I was still frustrated and I didn't know what to do. I bitched a bit about it to my fiancée who looked at the characters and then he came with the most ingenious suggestions of how to make the characters more funny. He is usually no help at all, he says he does not know what to say or look for, but this time he was a great help. I did some amendments to the characters and after seeing Ole's satisfied grin and giggle when I showed them to him I'm certain I'm on the right track.

So what do you do when you're a bit stuck? After having struggled with it myself and having thought about it quite a lot I've come up with some pointers that might help you should you ever be in a situation similar to mine.

1. Sketch - a lot. Don't be afraid to make silly doodles or drawing with the wrong hand. Sometimes it loosens you up and opens the door for that creative spark you are looking for. Don't shy away from reworking things either. I reworked my characters 5 times before I felt happy about them.

2. Have someone else look at your sketches if possible (if your not under a strict NDA or something). A fresh point of view may be all you need to see what's missing in your artwork.

3. Look for reference on the Internet or in books or movies, whatever is relevant to your assignments. For example I needed to do something very cartoony so I looked at a comic strip by Frode Øverli, the creator of Pondus. His drawings are very humorous, stylized and fun. Now I didn't copy any of his characters or his style. I merely looked at the way he stylized his arms and legs, mouths and noses. It really helped me along.

4. If you feel stuck and nothing of the above helps you should put your work down and leave it for a couple of hours or overnight and get back to it later. It gives you brain time to work things over and you'll maybe look at the artwork differently when you come back to it.

Well this turned out to be a fairly long post, but I hope someone can gain something useful from it, or indeed throw in their own ideas of how to switch between illustrative styles when you are working on two very different projects at the same time.

Until next time
Anita Night

Troubling Tremble- An update form the young illustrators life

First I would like to congratulate myself, this is my 100th post. This means that I have been able to keep up with this blogg for quite some time now, and I still find it fun and interesting. I deserve cupcakes...So hopefully there will be a hundred more posts at least.

P.S. I actually made these myself, but for a different occasion, as of this moment I am sorrowfully cupcake free.

Now on to todays post. I woke up around 11.00, I think. I did my stomach exercises. Toasted two slices of bread, spread some butter on them and sat down in front of my computer and started working on my next illustration ( I don't enjoy breakfast no matter what nutritional experts say. I stopped eating breakfast regularly in the fifth grade. It just makes me feel queasy for some reason). The time is now 16.21 and I have not moved from the spot unless you count my trips to the bathroom and a trip to the washing machine to put on a new load of dirty clothes.

I got up to pre-heat the oven before dinner, and do some dishes. As soon as I reached the kitchen I started feeling faint. I actually started to tremble and my motor skills were quite off. It turns out that sitting in the same position in front of a computer with a drawing pad for what? Five and a half hours without eating is not such a good idea. You would think that one would have enough sense to feed oneself every now and then, but no. Apparently not. This my friends is why I don't have kids. They would starve.

At least my fiancée knows how to feed himself, if he didn't I think we would both be in serious trouble...:P It seems when you like what you do, and in addition have a tendency to become slightly obsessive it culminates in situations like the one I experienced today. Now usually I would say that I will learn from my mistakes and try to avoid this in the future, but who the hell am I kidding. With my Obsessive Compulsive personality (at least that's what one of my tutors at the university thinks) and insane work ethic it's bound to happen again.

I wonder if any of my readers have had similar experiences? If you feel like sharing please do. I think it would be quite entertaining to hear what other illustrators young and old have to say about the matter.

Until next time
Anita Night

Grimm Tales Challenge Entry

Double update today it seems. The Art order is currently hosting a challenge around the classc Brothers Grimm fairy tales. Basically, participants were asked to find a Grimm story and to illustrate a scene from that story.

From what I've seen so far it seems like a lot of people went for "Little red riding hood" or "Little red cap" as I think it's called originally. I don't blame them. It is by far one of the most well known and beloved stories. I was tempted to do the same thing myself, but I chose to do a bit of research and I went with a different story after reading some stories.

I chose the tale of "Brother and Sister". It tells the story of an older brother and his sister who are running away from home because of their mean step mother. The Stepmother follows them and curses all the drinking water they find (for no other reason than being mean it seems). Anyway, if the siblings drink the water they would be turned into wild animals. After passing two water sources without drinking the brother couldn't wait any longer and at the third river he drank before his sister could stop him and so he turned into a Roebuck.

It is the scene right after he has turned into a Roe that have chosen to illustrate. The siblings are crying over their ill fortune, and the girl has put her golden garter around the Roe's neck.

Here is my sketching process:

I didn't really have much time to finish this in since I have a lot of illustration work to do on my other projects, but at least I was able to enter it in the challenge. I'm looking forward to see the other entries :)

Until next time
Anita Night.

A young illustrators life is never easy

I feel the title describes well the situation that we all find ourselves in when we graduate or when we decide to tackle the business of illustration.

As most of my followers probably know, I am graduating this summer. In September I will receive my diploma and go back home to Norway. I'll try to attend business classes, apply for government funding so I can actually buy some proper equipment and set up a nice office in whatever shady apartment I end up in back in Oslo. (Not looking forward to moving all my stuff to a new place, but I am looking forward to getting back home to my beloved country of origin).

I'll have to get a part time job so I can actually pay rent, and my other half will hopefully be able to go back to school, finish some of his remaining courses so he can start studying web design. Let's just say we have a lot on our plates. (Sometimes I wish I had an inhaler *wheeze*).

It makes me feel a bit sweaty every time I think about it, so I try not to. Instead I am just focusing on the present. As long as I'm in the UK I'll try to involve myself as much as possible in University projects, personal projects, exhibitions and the like. After all I have all summer to prepare a nice portfolio. At the beginning of June it seemed like I would have an eternity to do all the things I wanted to do. Now however, it seems like time is going too fast and like I'll only get to do half the things I wanted to do.

My biggest concern though is money. I just hope we will have enough to survive through the summer, get home to Norway, pay a deposit for a new apartment and so on...

Well enough about my worries. On the bright side the Hip Pop Rocksy project seems to be going in the right direction. I've done 4 of 45 illustrations,
yeah 4 down only 41 to go :p
I have to say that so far actually finishing the illustrations didn't take as long as I thought it would, but I probably won't be able to finish this project before September or Something like that. 45 large images is a lot after all. It'll be fun to see how things will evolve as I go.

Well that's enough from me right now.

Until next time
Anita Night

*happy dance and a slightly sad jig*

Yeah, this post is a bittersweet one. I've got good news and bad news for those who might read my blog.

The good news is that I passed all my classes at the University, and that I am graduating with a 2.1 BA(Hons) degree. I have to say that I am very pleased. I was hoping for a 2.1. I never thought I would graduate with a first, so I set my aims at the next best thing.

I'm looking forward to the graduation ceremony, with the cape and hat and everything. We don't really do that kind of thing in Norway. I've already ordered the cape and everything. The only thing missing would be my parents. it would be really great if they could attend the ceremony, but I realize they might not be able to because of the distance and the economy being what it is.

The bad news...I have to postpone my wedding. Moving back home to Norway in September is going to dig a huge whole in our personal savings. It's actually going to eat up all of our savings. We have been struggling so hard to save up as much as possible, but it's not going to be enough for deposits and moving costs and new furniture. Least of all our wedding. I have to admit it made me quite sad having to postpone as it was one of the things I was looking most forward to this year. But Ces't la vie right. It's only one more year and I can wait. And in the meantime I can do a bit of self-pity corset sale shopping. (www.corsets-uk.com FIY).

Beyond that I'm going to London next week to attend the New Blood exhibition in Shoreditch at the old Truman Brewery. For once we've booked an expensive hotel room so we could at least have a comfortable night of sleep and relaxation. Some of my works will be fatured at the University of Wolverhampton stand, so if you're attending New Blood please do drop by.

Until next time
Anita Night

Grand Etsy store Opening!

Oh yes, it is quite grand indeed. I wonder if this shop will be noticed by anyone besides my poor fiancée who has to attend and look at all the things I set my mind to doing, and my friends who by now are probably sick of me and my constant blog spamming.

But back to the point. Hurraaay, I opened an Etsy.com shop today. It only features two items for sale as of yet, but I will probably be adding some more items as soon as I decide what to put up there.

Should you want to visit it, please do. You can find it here:

www.anitanight.etsy.com

I think the items for sale are priced very reasonably, considering the limited print run, and the techmical effort that has been put into the images. Hopefully someone will like them and purchase them.

Until next time
Anita Night

Nouveau

I did some doodles today while guarding the precious degree show exhibition from art thieves :p
(I guess they exist)

Sitting on your ass for four hours straight is not very satisfying. I brought a book and my sketching kit and got to work. I did some simple sketches, because I was bored. Something most illustrators seem to turn to when they are bored, be it work or just for fun. We seem to be unable to let go of the pencil and sketchpad sometimes.

Time went by faster than expected actually. When I got home I scanned my sketches, adjusted the contrast on the faces and added a nice little self made texture in Photoshop.

Until next time
Anita Night

Hip Pop Rocksy - Recent release!

I've got a project...can you believe it (well I guess it's not so unbelievable, I'm just not used to having someone wanting my artwork, since I'm still in Uni). I can't say too much about the specific specifics, but I'm terribly excited about it :p

I'm doing some artwork for Dilemmr and their Hip Pop Rocksy project.

They recently launched their project online and you can check it out at this address:

www.hippoprocksy.com

You can follow Rocksy the the rockstar on her missions through space and well wherever her jobs take her while listening to some of her specially recorded songs. Follow it on Twitter or on facebook, or even on MySpace.

A lot of things will be happening in the future and hopefully a lot of people will find the project intriguing and interesting so stay tuned. It really is worth looking in to.

Until next time
Anita Night

I'm fine

So last night while burning that same midnight oil I had a surge of creative energy that just had to get out so instead of being a good girl and going to bed I stayed up drawing. I found a picture I had taken of myself a while ago(while I still had red hair) and used it as an inspiration. The look in the picture was a bit sad. It reminded me of how I look when I'm feeling depressed. It started a train of thought that lead to me thinking about what my fiancée usually asks when he can tell that I'm not doing to good. "Are you okay?" or "How are you feeling honey?". often I'll just say I'm fine. And then he'll look at me with a strict look on his face and remind me of what FINE means to him. "

Freaked out, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional"

I swear that man knows more about me than I care to admit.

This is how the finished thing ended up looking:

the face was drawn by hand with pencil and a black felt tip pen. The pink paint splotches are watered down acrylic on watercolor paper, the font is a custom font named never let go, and the perforated holes on the side was a happy accident that occurred during scanning.

This is the original inspiration for the illustration. Ain't I just adorable (insert thick Texan accent or something) :p

As always do feel free to critique or comment upon my work.

Until next time
Anita Night