Kikis Delivery service fanart

I love Studio Ghibli, and one of my favorite movies is Kikis Delivery Service. So I took the liberty to make a little piece of fan art, as an homage to Hayao Miyazaki and his wonderful movies. 

Illustration made by and belongs to: Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk.

Regards,

Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk
@ www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Eat your vegetables! - illustration

I decided to have some fun with my fantasy art and not paint my usual warrior women and sorcerers. I wanted to paint something homey and cozy with a touch of humor. I've had this idea in my head for a while and it was a relief to finally have it on paper so I can think of other images.

The piece is titled "Eat your vegetables" and it came about because I was contemplating whether or not kids have always shied away from eating greens or if it is a relatively modern phenomenon. if we go far enough back in time I don't think they had much choice though, eat your veggies or starve seems to be a more than likely scenario in my mind.

(c) Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

I chose to let the use of color in my image be inspired by Vermeer, his use of color and light is amazing, and I bow down low to his skill.

Until next time,
Anita Night
a.k.a Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

The Dream Keeper - an ImagineFX art challenge!

Yes, this is yet another step by step picture show of how I create my art. This time it's a piece made for an ImagineFX forum challenge. The brief was simply "Dream Keeper" and this is what I came up with:

Keeping it short and sweet this time around.

Until next time,
Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

Art Nouveau Mermaid - Step by step Illustration

Here's a little bit of a tasty treat for you all. I've been working on it for a little while. It started out as a tattoo design idea, I haven't decided whether or not to add a Art Nouveau "halo" around her upper body or not. I quite like it the way it is so I'll be experimenting with it a bit on my spare time I think.

Anywhoot here is a short and sweet step by step of the creation process.

1. The original pencil drawing:

2. The digital line art:

3. Flat color and home made texture:

Hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time,
Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

Contact: anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Website: www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Drink and Draw - The Norwegian Divission episode #4

Clap your hands and rejoice for the next episode of Drink and Draw - The Norwegian Division, or you know, don't. It's all up to you. What I would like you to do however is to subscribe to our channel or like the video on Youtube!

This episodes topics are magical forests and creatures, dolphin rape and lots of other things.
You are warned that this show contains some explicit language...it's not really suitable for little kids, but for the rest of you potty mouthed geeks and nerds out there it's smashing!





Until next time,
Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

Contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Website:
http://www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Pirates! - no, not the x-rated kind...

Hahaha one has to have a little bit of humor right? Well as you have surely noticed I've been doing a lot of pirate stuff lately. It all began with the decision to start a new blog about books and writing and poetry where I could write reviews and share some of my own written work. I always have a lot of difficulty trying to figure out what to call my blogs, but this time I came up with quite a fitting name I think - The Literary Pirate!

I love books, I love pirates and have a bit of a head on pirate like approach to the whole concept of writing so all in all it was quite appropriate.

When I had a name for the blog it of course needed it's own swanky header so I designed this little piece of fun:

(c) Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

I also decided to add some eye candy for my book reviews so readers could easily see what I thought about a book with a glance. Also it adds a bit of fun to it all. If it's one thing I've learned it is that pictures are essential to a successful blog! 

So I use these "emoticons" to label my reviews depending on how much I liked or disliked them,
clever right ;)

You can visit my literary blog here: www.theliterarypirate.blogspot.com

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

Contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

web portfolio:

www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Special Offer for all RPG players out there!

Yep, all you have to do is visit my official website:

www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com/about

There you will find more info on this offer and how to claim it.
Send me an e-mail using the address given on the webpage with Character01 in the
subject field and write me a request and I will get back to you!

offer ends 19.April 2013!

Examples of what I character portraits I have done in the past are here:

Full figure portrait

Bust portrait

Until next time,
Anita Olsen Støbakk

Inquisitor of the Sun - Commission

Below you can see one of my latest forays into character design. This a Concept of and Inquisitor of the Sun, a sort of priest or cleric that was created by my beloved hubby. He has created an amazingly elaborate world with it's own Gods and Rules and belief systems. He really wanted to get a proper visualization of the Inquisitors of his world and because he just happens to be married to an illustrator that wish was easy for me to fulfill.

(c) Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk and Ole Morten Stoebakk

I'm not going to say too much about this specific class of character or the other people populating this fantasy world as we are currently writing our first fantasy novel about the world and it's inhabitants. We are also planning to broadcast some RPG Sessions on Google Hangouts which are based in our fantasy world and hopefully it will be fun and interesting.

Until next time,
Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

Contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Website:
http://www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Meesha the Monk - A pathfinder character portrait

I've been playing a lot of tabletop RPG's with my husband and our friends up north via Google Hangouts lately. We recently started a new campaign where I chose to play a half-elf monk. I have never tried to play a monk before and I'm finding it to be a bit of a challenge mostly because I'm not a person with very monk like personality traits. I'm enjoying the challenge though.

While we've been playing I've been doodling when my character isn't participating in a certain scene, so below is the result of that. It is a character portrait of Meesha the Monk, my OC(original character). I decided to keep the design very simple, since she is a simple monk with few worldly possessions mostly confined to a silent and to her, often boring life in the temple.

(c) Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

(c) Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

I've always drawn my own characters, and I have often done so for my friends in the past. I enjoy giving life to characters.

Until next time,
Anita K. Olsen Stoebakk

Contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Website:
http://www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Drink and Draw - episode 1 doodle!

Ok, so if you payed attention to my last post you probably saw the Drink and Draw Hangout video that the members of my Drink and Draw group posted last night. The video featured me and my fellow artistic friends drinking while drawing Children's characters as horror characters.

If you haven't seen it yet then go to my previous post and do so!

If you've already watched it or can't be bothered to watch it you can see the drawings I made during the session in this post. Below you can see my supercute and slightly disturbing take on a My little pony/Cthulhu character - it's "My Little Cthulhu!" (cheers)

So this is the original sketch I made last night:

And this is the finished drawing that I colored in today!

I had so much fun making the Drink and Draw video, and hopefully we'll be able to make another one soon! I hope you guys have enjoyed the process and getting to know Drink and Draw - the Norwegian division!

If you want to see what Inna made she has also posted it to her Doodle Pod blog so head on over there and check out her adorable, but scary Pikachu drawing!

Inna's blog!

Until next time,
Anita Olsen Stoebakk

Contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Website:
http://www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Drink and Draw - the Norwegian division, Episode 1!

Yeah it's here! My fellow illustration and art loving friends and I have joined up for a little drink and draw session via Google Hangouts. In this video we do just as the title says. We drink and we draw, and we talk a loooot!

This episode is our very first one and our aim was to draw beloved children's TV and movie characters as horror inspired characters. Join us and see the madness that ensues!




Warning: Explicit content and adult language is used in this podcast!!!

This is a Drink and Draw Hangout hosted and run by Norwegian illustrators and artists living in Norway. We drink, we draw and we talk, we talk a lot!
Join us in our first episode where we draw beloved children's TV and film characters as horror inspired characters!

Hostess:
Anita Olsen Stoebakk - Freelance illustrator
Website: http://www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Blog: http://a-vinter.blogspot.no/

Adriane Vinter Freelance illustrator
Blog: http://a-vinter.blogspot.no/

Inna Hansen: Freelance illustrator
Blog: http://doodlepod.blogspot.no/

Jeanett Mikkelsen: Self-procclaimed artist

Also check out:

Vaginal Fantasy Hangout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcnYb8u9nSM

The Story Board:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52khu_YJAmo

New misadventures into the world of pencils and alcohol

As a lot of you guys know I do little vlogs every now and then and I really enjoy it, but it does get a little lonely in the long run.

As much as I love to hear my own voice droning at me from the computer screen, I enjoy talking and discussing with others more. That's why I am proud to tell you that soon, very soon a new video hangout will be up and running. It will feature me and some of my wonderful friends who are also illustrators. I will be hosting the very first show and I'm looking forward to it. I predict awesomeness!

I don't want to tell you what the hangout is going to be called and exactly what it will be about, but I can tell you that it will contain drawing utencils, nerdy and geeky humor, pretty ladies and alcohol (though no one has ever accused us of being lady-like mind you). What more could you ask for?

So keep your eyes peeled guys!

Mmmm Strawberry Daquiri...Delish!

Until next time,
Anita Olsen Stoebakk

Website:
http://www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

PIE!

No surprises, no half truths, no false advertisement! Here there be PIE!

Even though this is not strictly in line with my usual subjects I just had to share this with you all. I made my first pie in December. It was a classic apple pie with caramel sauce and it was utterly delicious. Unfortunately my husband detests all manners of cake or pie that contains apple. He's not really a fan of pie in general really...

(I don't understand how such a thing is possible, how can one hate anything with caramel and apples in it?)

Anyway since then I've been determined to convert him into a pie lover! A task I imagine is slightly easier that converting people to the cult of the flying Spagetti monster, but he is a stubborn man so you never know.

These two certainly seem to think pie is the cat's pajamas!

This is my second attempt at making pie and after tons of research into different types of pie I decided to try baking Mini Peach Pies! They just seemed tart and sweet and perfect! Below are some pictures of my process. 

I had pre-made the crust and put it in my fridge for two hours. Yeah that's right! I don't fuck around when I bake, I make it all from scratch. (cred, right?!)  I rolled it out with my rolling pin...

And stuffed the dough into my mini tart molds, I brushed the bottoms with whisked egg and poked holes into them with a fork to keep them from buckling and being soggy:

In a bowl I put some chopped peach, sugar, cinnamon, flour, nutmeg and salt and tossed it around a bit. I filled my little pies with the filling and added a small lump of butter on top before putting on the lids.

At this point my kitchen looked like a small hurricane had blown through it, looked at the havoc I had wreaked and decided it's work was already done and went on it's own merry way.  below is a picture from new years eve when I was cooking...this doesn't even come close to how it looked today! I'm the messiest chef you'll ever meet.

 Here my lovely pies are cooking in the oven, becoming all delicious and golden!

Aaaand here is the finished result, six yummy mini peach pies. They smelled heavenly and tasted just as lovely.

I made two types of pie, one with a full lid and one with a snowflake shaped lid. Both ended up looking good.

Ooh just look at that little piece of tart! golden, crispy and juicy.

So the question that remains to be answered is, did my dear hubby like the pie? Yes in fact he did. He loved it, so all my hard work payed of. I can finally bake pies that we both will enjoy and I've converted the bastard to the great world of pie.

I wonder if he ever gets tired of me bugging him into trying out new things, because if you think this is the only hobby I have that he gets dragged into you are sorely mistaken, yes sir...or ma'am. You have no idea what that poor man goes through because of me :p

Until next time,
Anita Olsen Stoebakk

Contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

website:
www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

The dryads are coming!

Or well one dryad actually, there is no plural here. I recently entered the latest ArtOrder "Nymph" challenge. "What challenge was that?" you might ask. Well, I could tell you but you know what instead of me doing a second rate job of it and skipping important details (because I'm whimsy and a bit forgetful) I'll just link it to you instead! Go here! 

Even though I did not win the challenge I had a lot of fun working on this piece. Dryads are cool, I'll have you know( waves passionate finger about). I also struggled a bit for sure. I started the challenge in a sort of creative dry spell. Originally I wasn't going to do a portrait style image at all, but  no matter ho hard I tried my other idea just didn't work out at all. So this was sort of the emergency plan. 

As you can see I made the image look like a comic book cover, the title is just something I made up on the fly. Below you can see the image uncluttered by letters. 

If you want to see the other entries in this challenge then you can check out the ArtOrder blog here!

Until next time,

Anita Olsen Stoebakk

website:
www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Challenge your literary self in 2013!

)Oh books, I just love them!
I don't know what it is about them...or well, yeah I do. Books are generally made of pure awesome. The feel and smell of paper and ink is just magical, not to mention the magic that one can find within the books, all the stories they tell, the unknown worlds they transport you to.

I can remember sitting in my mothers kitchen when I was about sixteen, reading one of the Harry Potter books. It was winter and completely dark outside. I had turned of all the electric lights and was reading "Harry Potter and the goblet of fire" by the light of a lonely candle (tottally recommended btw, there is no experience like reading about magic by candle light). At that point in time I was a very insecure teenager, with a history of being bullied and feeling lonely behind me. It was all fresh in memory however. My saviors were books and art. Ever since I was a kid I used my beloved books to escape the real world. When I read my Fantasy books I forgot about my troubles and for a couple of hours I felt like a hero in an epic saga. I didn't feel lonely as long as I had a book propped open in front of me.

Part of my beloved bookshelf  ^^

Now I'm an "adult"...I don't really feel much like a proper adult- Except for when I get bills in the mail and my heart slams on the breaks and momentarily stops. I would much rather stay a whimsy kid with a chunky book in one hand and a sketching pad in the other, but no such luck (damn you Peter Pan for tempting me with impossible dreams). Instead I've settled for the next best thing, I am now a whimsy adult with a chunky book in my messenger bag and a drawing tablet hooked up to my computer! I could be worse off ;)

This year I am dedicated to celebrating my love of books, and therefore I have set myself the goal of reading at least 15 books this year. I'm already at a good start so I might have to adjust that number up but for now 15 is the magic number. To keep track I've opened an account on Goodreads.com which allows me to make reading lists, track my progress and discover new wonderful books to read in the future. I urge you all to figuratively "run" and do the same!

So far my reading list looks like this:

1. The Hobbit by Tolkien - a re-read, still good, but not as good as I remembered.
2. A Clash of kings(Song of Ice and Fire book 2) by George R.R. Martin - Loving it!
3. The confidante by Hélène Grémillon - Absolutely hated it! Piece of sh#@ garbage...
4. The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams - So much fun!
5. In bed with a highlander by Maya Banks - Not really for me, so won't be reading more in this series, but some ok smutty bits in there though ;)
6. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest - Just started it and liking it so far.
7. A storm of swords by George R.R. Martin - yet to start
8. A feast of crows by  George R.R. Martin - yet to start
9. A dance with dragons by  George R.R. Martin - yet to start
10. undecided
11 undecided
12. undecided
13. undecided
14. undecided
15. undecided

I have yet to decide what the books 10 - 15 on my list should be, but I have a bundle of titles in mind, and two book clubs that I'm following have a book every month that I can opt to read as well. I'm so looking forward to delving into the rest of this little project!

I hope you guys may feel inspired to do a reading challenge as well! If you want to you can friend me on goodreads and we can track each others process, I'm also a member of the Sword and Laser book club and the Vaginal Fantasy Book club which is free for everyone to join.

This is my Goodreads.com profile:
http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/14191207-anita

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen Støbakk.

Anita Illustrated - Bookstravaganza! episode 6!

Yep, I'm back with a vengeance.
A new year is here and that means new content. After the epic collapse of my lifeline to the outer world (read: my laptop) I was forced to take a break in my video making. However I'm hopefully back on track now and you can look forward to more of me in the future! Huzzah!

So sit back and relax, and do try to enjoy my latest video.


Books I mention in the Vlog:
Jon hodgson - Fantasy Art for beginners
Gary A. Lippincott - The Fantasy Illustrator's Technique book
Burne Hogarth - Dynamic Anatomy
James Gurney - Imaginative Realism
Holly DeWolf - Breakin into freelance illustration
Darrel Rees - How to be an Illustrator

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen

contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

website:
http://www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

An officer and a lady - quick sketch

I was doodling around yesterday, just practicing different poses when I came across a photo of Greta Nissen. It was a shot from one of her black and white movies called "Hells Angels". it showed a man in a military uniform dancing with the lovely Greta and I got very inspired to draw their pose.

So I drew an image freehand whilst looking at the photo and paying attention mostly to the uniform of the soldier. Today I sat down and added in some color in photoshop just for fun. I have to say I find it to be quite the cute image.

(c) Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen Støbakk

Contact info:

anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

website:
www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Arya Stark - A little part of me

Todays Game of Thrines character holds a special place in my heart. I feel a connection to Arya Stark, like a lot of girls and women who don't fit in to the girly-girl mold do. When my brother and I played together as children I always wanted to be the hero or the knight. I was never really the princess type. Now don't get me wrong I love dresses and skirts, but I never played with baby dolls and instead of playing house I liked to set up scenarios where my Barbies had to fend of sharks or make a living in the middle of a swamp. I had toy swords and guns spread around my pink and yellow room in between my Stuffed animals, my costume chest and my drawing equipment. I am still the same today. I would much rather be the knight in shining armor on my noble steed or a swashbuckling duelist instead of a swooning princess in a castle.

So without further ado, here is my rendition of Arya Stark:

Image: (c) Anita K. OlsenCharacter: George R. R. Martin

Do any of my trusty readers share this attachment with me? Maybe you have another character that you hold in extra high regard? I would very much like to know :)

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen

Website:
http://http//:www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.comwww.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Contact:anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Daenerys for Christmas

I'm doing a little holiday project at the moment inspired by Game of Thrones. I'm drawing my favorite characters from the series. First up is the lovely Daenerys Stormborn of house Targaryen holding one of her beloved dragon eggs.

Image: (c) Anita K. OlsenCharacter: George R.R. Martin

She has a purpose which I will not yet reveal as it might spoil the surprise for some, so I will hold my tongue.
I did not intend for it to rhyme but there it is.

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen.

Website:
www.anitaolsen.daportfolio.com

Contact:
anitaolsen.illustration@gmail.com

Wintertime blues...

Yeah...so I'm not a big fan of winter. Which is quite unfortunate considering I live in Norway, one of the few inhabited places in the world with more winter than anything else! I don't have that big of a problem with the cold, I mean the cold has always been there. It's the nearly constant darkness that bothers me. Being bereft of natural daylight just makes me plain ol' depressed and bereft of energy. The dreaded - Wintertime Blues has struck again!

If you, like me have an issue with the changing of the season then you know how counter productive it is to any creative effort. I completely shut down for a couple of weeks unless I actually have a pressing deadline. So what can one do to get out of this slump?

I don't know if what works for me will work for you, but here are some of my creative wintertime tips!

1. Get smart, get a new hobby!
Use some of your creative downtime to learn something new or plunge into a hobby that you've been neglecting for a while. I have been beading like crazy for the past two weeks and the end result is that I have a ton of home made Christmas gifts to show for it. (Great hobbies are for example gaming, beading, reading, writing, scrapbooking, whatever floats your boat)

2. I know you don't want to hear this, but clean your house!
It's amazing how creative and fresh you can feel after all the clutter around you has been thoroughly cleaned and sorted.

3. Participate!
Participate in an on-line contest, or an artist forum or with your artistic friends on Facebook, Blogspot or Deviantart or whatever social platform you prefer. You are guaranteed to be inspired by someone or something in the end.

4. Do something new!

Do something that you haven't done before creatively, like trying to draw something you haven't drawn before or try a technique you haven't tried before. It may spark just the right plugs in your brain to get the creative ball rolling. I have never drawn an Atari 2600 joystick before but yesterday I tried it and that kind of got me going with other things too.

5. Don't stress out!
There is nothing more counter productive than stressing out over things you haven't gotten around to doing yet. I should know, I do it all the time. ust lower your shoulders and breathe a little bit deeper. If you haven't done anything yet then I'm guessing the world isn't going to end if you put it off a little bit more. The laundry is not going anywhere and neither are the dirty dishes. Life is to be enjoyed after all!

Yeah, this is what I do...except for the cleaning...
I do intend to rectify that today though, because even though I don't enjoy it it's necessary ;)

Until next time
Anita K. Olsen