Sofia Falkenhem

God Jul!

2009-12-24T21:33:00.001+01:00

(click = enlarge)

2009-08-11T17:14:00.004+02:00

After years of being best friends at comics festivals and in life, I am now officially a part of the C'est Bon Kultur crew. Working for a more varied comics climate in Sweden - and abroad - CBK publishes C'est Bon Anthology, an international anthology in English for comics with higher artistic ambitions. Featuring artists like Anke Feuchtenberger, Andrea Bruno, Emelie Östergren and Amanda Vähämäki it has always been one of my favourites.

Vol 7 is out now, and we are working on Vol 8. This autumn we are also bringing back some of the old CBK-crew for the exhibition C'est Bon Panorama II, a Frankenstein-themed exhibition in glorious panorama format. Workblog for Panorama II will be found here.

If you would like to contribute to CBA, you can find the submission guidelines here.

summertime, 2009

2009-07-20T02:41:00.001+02:00

Comics.

2009-07-02T19:23:00.004+02:00

I've brought this comic with me to a couple of comic shows this spring/summer, but have completely forgotten to post any of it on the internet, so now I'll offer the whole comic to read here. The title can be translated to "Hour of dawn". I hope you'll like it.

I have also had the honour of being asked by the incredible Rene Engström to do a guest comic for her Anders loves Maria. If you haven't read it, go here and start now, it is a beautifully drawn comic with characters that all readers seems to take to their hearts. It is very, very real and very, very good. You can find my guest comic here.

spx09

2009-04-22T14:41:00.002+02:00

Visit the Swedish spx at Kulturhuset in Stockholm this weekend! I'll be there sharing a table with Samuel Larsson, and we will bring lovely minicomics (including "fågelhjärta", the erotic comic with the very long Swedish title, and something new I haven't shown yet) and other pretty things for you.

More info here.

Love Hurts.

2009-03-31T17:14:00.002+02:00

Kim W Andersson has been a friend ever since I first moved to Malmö to attend the school for Comic Art, over five years ago. The first day of school we talked comics until we lost our voices, and he instantly nicknamed me "hopey". This weekend Kim moved to Stockholm, leaving the studio where I have my workplace. It's empty here now.

In April his first book, a collection of romance/horror stories named Love Hurts, is debuted at the swedish spx. Of course I had to draw him a picture themed after this.

trappor

2009-03-30T20:16:00.003+02:00

Quick drawing just for fun, done while having a coffee at På Besök, listening to a young father reading aloud from a The Phantom comic book for his daughter.

Kalle Skavank

2009-03-30T16:27:00.003+02:00

I Januari kom den femte Kalle Skavank-boken, Motorsågar i Björkhagen. Nu i Mars har jag precis tecknat klart bilderna till den sjätte boken, som har den kanske läskigaste ploten hittills; en stenhuggare hittar en gravsten med sitt eget namn inhugget. Och ett dödsdatum...

På http://www.kalleskavank.se/ finns det nu en massa nytt, som videos från Bagarmossen och tävlingen "Hitta Sofia".

Spring?

2009-03-17T15:16:00.001+01:00

Sunny days.

Blåjeans.

2009-02-16T19:51:00.001+01:00

Sketchbook stuff.

Aj.

2009-01-21T19:42:00.003+01:00

Ow.

Focused, with antlers.

2009-01-20T15:07:00.004+01:00

"Shake your antlers", Kolbeinn wrote yesterday.

2009-01-14T18:30:00.003+01:00

Yeah... that pretty much sums it up. I hope 2009 will turn out to be like the sketch below, which looked horrible first but after a while turned out pretty fun.

Maran.

2009-01-12T15:54:00.003+01:00

From September 2008.

Merry Christmas.

2008-12-24T22:42:00.005+01:00

Goat.

2008-12-19T20:01:00.003+01:00

In the days before Santa Claus, there was the Goat. With gifts for good children and a good spanking for bad children.

2008-12-18T17:48:00.004+01:00

You can read an erotic comic in colour by me now, at cigarett.net . Just go back a few days and you'll find it, four silent pages. The title says "And we do our best to make sure that no one falls in love".

I've been away.

2008-11-28T01:27:00.003+01:00

And this is what I did for one week of November. Hwei Lin Lim, Emma Rios and Ken Niimura in the studio we shared for four days in Eizankaku. Proper post with lots of pictures to come as soon as I have time.

October

2008-10-27T19:46:00.003+01:00

October was painting,

And feeling the autumn in your body (it's better now).

And lovely birthday gifts. This one is from Niklas.

Heteronormativ mjukporr.

2008-10-20T01:54:00.004+02:00

What makes Johanna blush like this? I guess she was surprised to find less innocent looking stuff than usual on my desk. I had fun doing this comic, playing with Tombow-pens and water. Here is a sketch and part of page two:

Rat

2008-10-18T20:49:00.004+02:00

Not that Adam is rat-like in any way. But every time I see a rat nowadays I think about this.

Sleepwalker

2008-10-03T01:50:00.002+02:00

Coughing after Gothenburg.

2008-09-29T13:04:00.006+02:00

Two days in Gothenburg was enough to catch a nasty cold. But I had a good time there, realizing I need to go there more often (Gothenburg that is, I need one year between each book fair). Something I haven't noticed before: a lot of people in Gothenburg look you in the eye as you pass them. In a nice way, smiling. At first that freaked me out and I am not sure what that says about the place where I currently live...

Mara.

2008-09-24T23:49:00.005+02:00

Yes, I am alive. Yes, I will be at the Gothenburg Book Fair. Yes, I have been drawing.

Drew a comic about nightmares last week, and this week I have nightmares every night. Guess I got the Mara's attention.

Mostly I've been drawing things like this though:

The book will be out in January I think.

Oh, and remember the skate park incident? Now you can watch the video we made. Niklas and Michel suffering for the sake of art.

heartbreak, whiskey, skateboards.

2008-08-11T01:03:00.004+02:00

It's been a month since I posted anything here. I'll just say July was pretty much like this:

But it was also a bit like this:

And let's not forget riding the bike with Chet Baker as company...

This week I got a job as an art teacher at a private school, we immediately celebrated by going out to the skate park for a secret project. It is just like Niklas to do something like this:

He had a helmet, luckily. I just forgot to draw it.

(click on the images to enlarge)

rats. fishes. no fever.

2008-07-10T00:56:00.005+02:00

It seems the drawing helped, the fever vanished. I started experimenting some with watercolours again, you can find some of it here.

This weekend I am feeding a magicians fishes, which is oddly appropriate when you think of the comic I am working on right now...

fever

2008-07-07T02:04:00.002+02:00

Playing around with watercolours. Would like to get rid of this fever now, thanks.

something fishy going on

2008-07-06T14:56:00.000+02:00

flickr and bread

2008-06-30T23:20:00.002+02:00

... so it seems baking bread and reviving my old flickr account is part of the dance. Suits me just fine.

gotta dance

2008-06-29T02:02:00.003+02:00

Trying to catch up with everything here. Following the sheep man's advise: Yougottadance.

Digesting

2008-06-26T16:58:00.002+02:00

Back in Malmo, trying to get some boring but important things done. Rome was fun, thank you everyone at the fortress and Valerio's (and Luca's) house!

I promised writing about the festivals, but that will have to wait until I've collected my thoughts a bit. Will try to portion out that and some sketchbook stuff from the trip during the next few days.

Until then, enjoy the summer. (Or winter, but I think all my readers are in the northern hemisphere so far.)

s

airport blogging

2008-06-18T04:08:00.005+02:00

Writing this at Skavsta airport at 3 am. Arrived in Stockholm almost 24 hours ago and leaving again in four. Sleeping on the plane was hard as the guy beside me kept moving around and bumping into me, so forgive me for whining about my very tired day. After spilling coffee on both my laptop and my sketchbook I got offered a place to sleep for a few hours at my sister's place, and that and a shower took away the most embarrassing effects of the lack of sleep (such as mumbling to yourself in public).

But all the other days has been pretty much as Niklas' shirt says. I was very sad to leave NY and the new friends I made there. The last week was mostly very quiet, just walking around, drawing, reading, eating good food. The only comic related in all week was the Rabid Rabbit release party for their book "The White Album". The Rabid Rabbit people will soon be official hosts for swedish cartoonists if they continue the hospitality they have shown us. This is Ben cooking me dinner my last night before returning to Europe, it was excellent and all the garlic he put in cured the cold I could feel trying to sneak up on me.

In Stockholm this afternoon I could tell the rainy weather had followed me back to Sweden...

Luckily it cleared up as I met up with Anna and Mark for a quick sushi dinner by the water close to the central station. Stockholm in the summer... mmm...

This last photo is just to show how light it is here at 11 pm in the summer... waiting for the to the airport in Nyköping and getting all sentimental from the familiarity of a small swedish town in summer.

Now getting something to eat before checking in and then sleeeeping. Looking forward to it.

Fragments

2008-06-06T17:57:00.011+02:00

My photos are not nearly as good as the ones you can find at Niklas blog, but I feel posting requires images, and I have no scanner here, so...

My bed right now, I am staying with the lovely couple Jacqueline and Ruark and the shy but determined cat Nim.

Good people and good food.

Niklas and I are both doing some writing while we are here. It looks something like this:

When writing feels like that, there's only one thing to do: Go look at art! This is from the Takashi Murakami exhibition at Brooklyn Museum. I feel a bit indecisive about his work, but I do like the giant sculptures very much.

A glimpse from the MoCCA festival. Our table was facing Adam's, it was nice having a friend to wave to from time to time. It was a great weekend, I will write more about it when I have collected my thoughts a bit.

Today we went to Coney Island and the aquarium there, and I fell in love with this beauty:

New York

2008-06-02T02:48:00.003+02:00

Sitting in a half dark apartment after killing the lamp in the kitchen when plugging in my adapter... One friend down with a cold and the others out somewhere, and noone to ask what to do to fix it. Not brave enough to push any strange looking buttons.

I've been here for two days now, two very good days. Niklas already posted some pretty pictures he took with his new darling camera, go here and have a look.

We are here for the MoCCA festival, and looking forward to spending time with our wonderful friends who are also coming here this week.

Other news: The 4th book about Kalle Skavank will be in bookshops sometime this month, and since I was in Stockholm a few days ago I'm posting picture from the book, a scene in the Stockholm subway.

s

2008-05-17T20:55:00.003+02:00

Crappy diary drawing, translation below.

"Hey sweetie! Are you on the train? No, I'm trying to draw, but it's not going very well, my arms are weak from carrying a TV. Do you want me to meet you?"

May 17, 2008
at Lilla Kafferosteriet
Who would have thought such a small TV could be so heavy to carry? Arms can barely draw. Soon meeting K at the train station.

Vill du följa med upp snygging?

2008-05-17T01:15:00.004+02:00

I was planning to write about Adam Cadwell's autobio comic The Everyday, one of the minicomics I brought from Bristol, because I really liked the issue he traded me. It is published in a small format, on paper with a structure that makes your fingers smile, and - most important - it's really good comics.

So today I was really flattered to find myself in one of his strips...

I wish there had been more time to spend with Adam and his friends, especially Mark Ellerby's swedish girlfriend Anna. Anna is the she-devil behind the title of this post, telling poor british boys it is a good phrase to impress swedish girls with (well, I guess there's worse ones...), and someone I really hope to get to know better sometime, now we barely had time for a beer.

You can buy The Everyday here, I really recommend the small ones, the format is so nice.

Stockholm, Bristol

2008-05-14T21:56:00.004+02:00

I always forget to document my travels with the camera. So when I want to blog about them, I have nothing to show you. Stockholm and then Bristol resulted in two (2!) photos... If anyone was more ambitious with their camera, please feel free to link, I would love to see pictures.

I already wrote some about spx 08, but here goes again... It seemed like everyone had a good time at the expo, good parties, lots of comics, sunshine. For me the best things were being there with lovely friend Charlie, and all the new, equally lovely, friends I made. The comics scene is so special. Everyone really takes care of each other, not hesitating to let new people in.

Outside kafé 44. Kolbeinn, Karolina, and Federico. I will meet both Kolbeinn and Federico soon again, in Rome, together with this beautiful italian girl:
Mariapia drawn from memory.

So, Bristol... I had no idea what to expect from this expo. I thought it would be maybe a bit messy and busy, with not very much opportunities for spending time with your friends. But not at all, it was the perfect combination of big/small, big enough to wander around, picking up interesting minicomics, and listen to fairly well attended panels, but small enough to find quiet moments with friends, new as well as old. I will treasure those late night-conversations in the warm summer-air.

The only photo I have from there is this one, of (The) Sean Michael Wilson and Andy (sorry Andy, I never got your surname), who I am told speaks japanese more or less fluently. They were part of the very small group who could actually read the comics by the very sweet Akiko Shimojima (who said swedish sounds like magic spells. i miss her already). If Sean sees this photo, he will probably mutter something about his hair and ask me to remove it. But I won't. Unless he blackmails me, which he probably will.

In front of the boys is a REALLY cool book, because being in Spanish makes a book automatically cool. This is EL GRAN LIBRO DEL MANGA! It is "¡La antología más completa del nuevo manga!", you know.

My first translation to a language I can't read well. And they didn't use comic sans! Hurrah!

On Saturday I was involved in a panel on swedish manga (let's not debate about that word, ok?), which to our surprise was attended by more than two people. Fredrik Strömberg (once my teacher), the ambitious, energic and very talented people from Yokaj Studio, and myself talked about the swedish manga-scene, and our experiences working within it. It was great discussing with them, though a bit weird doing it in English, since we are all from Sweden, and the intelligent audience asked good questions.

The Yokaj-people are pretty much the coolest swedish cartoonists I know. A Big sister, a Little sister, a Cousin, and a Boyfriend, all collaborating. If you can read swedish, check out their blog for their version of the Bristol-trip. They promise four updates about it, and they are much more entertaining than I am. If you can't read swedish, look at the photos, there are lots of them.

I will try to show some of the nice things I found at the expo, but for now I will just point out that apparently Åsa has a blog nowadays. Go there and say hi.

s

All is well.

2008-05-08T22:36:00.002+02:00

"Gävle. A sleepy bumblebee discovers our computers. From downstairs comes the sound of juggling. Happiness.

30 min. later...
- But I'm not in the picture!?
- Now you are!"

Still have to find a good way to draw Charlie.

April was a happy month, seems like May will be too. Had a wonderful time at spx 08 in Stockholm, made new friends, got a hunger for making comics again.

Tomorrow I leave for Bristol comics expo. Will meet some old and some new friends, and hopefully find a few more. Also bringing a few copies of fågelhjärta, so if you are at the expo, let me know if you want it, and maybe I have one for you.

Now i have to get some sleep, train for the airport leaves 04.22. Horrible, horrible life...

Simrishamnsgatan 3

2008-04-03T22:43:00.005+02:00

I do a lot of my sketching and writing at Café Simrishamnsgatan 3 here in Malmö. And now in April some of my girls hang on the walls there, among them this darling:

She is the last of my trio of birdgirls. So go there for a coffee and a nice avocado sandwich with her. You might run into this handsome fellow, too:

Niklas is the sweetest there is. I sketched him secretly today when we both were at the café but at different tables.

MY problems

2008-03-28T02:09:00.001+01:00

How about a shave?

2008-03-06T12:07:00.003+01:00

I don't have much time for pleasure-drawing right now, so when I can combine drawing with some other activity, like watching a film, I try to bring my sketchbook. This was drawn in the company of good friends after watching Sweeney Todd.

Falafel

2008-03-03T02:57:00.002+01:00

Too cool for school.

2008-02-28T23:45:00.004+01:00

School is dangerous nowadays. Dangerous asphalt-particles and then the acid. Always make sure to wear a mask or glasses/gloves.

A small demon is sitting on my head, pulling my hair and making me worry. Good thing I've got a working schedule from hell to distract me.

Dangerous fluid making pretty pictures.

So how was your January?

2008-02-13T00:25:00.001+01:00

Decided to try some watercolours again. More than four years since I last used them. It looks like crap but I hope I will improve soon.

Never attend a lecture without some nice, white paper.

Hiding under a blanket is a good solution some days.

Magpies have short wings and a long tail. I'll post better pics of this print some other day.

Do not draw on papers you got from someone who works in a smaller format than you do. The feet will not get enough room.

Completely unrelated but of greater importance: A friend of the Coilhouse crew is in trouble in Dubai. It could just as easily have been one of your or my friends going for a nice vacation but instead suddenly risking four years in prison - in this case for a drug that is actually LEGAL in Dubai... Lots of other fishy stuff going on, people being held for months without knowing what they are getting charged with, signing papers they can't read... So, give those links a few minutes, and then maybe you would like to sign this petition. He is not the only one treated like this, and trying to help him might help others too.

Lastly, I actually DO want to know how your January was. Mine was miserable, but February is looking pretty okay this far.

Tired, tired, tired. And an invitation.

2008-01-11T01:48:00.000+01:00

January just makes me feel like a hollow shell that longs for the sun. What to do? Hang prettypictures on whitewalls? Obviously. At least if your class has a group show at Galleri st. Gertrud. Sooo... everyone in Malmö is welcome to drop by at the opening this Saturday (jan 12, Östergatan 9a). I THINK the flyer says 12.00-16.00, so if you show up 13.00-ish I'm almost certain it'll be open. I will be there, at least for the first two hours.

Come and see the wonders of REAL graphic art, none of those digital... things.

aquatint

2007-12-15T02:09:00.000+01:00

This morning I woke up with a terrible pain in my right shoulder, from printing all day yesterday. Somehow working with the exact same movements all day today cured it, so I'll try another session tomorrow :) And then show you how the girl in progress above turned out.

Pretty things to pin onto your shirt.

2007-12-06T17:57:00.000+01:00

Yay! Buttons (/badges/pins)! An inexpensive way to make someone happy. These are for a fair at my school this Sunday, but if you need one badly I can put one aside for you, just leave me a comment. They look a little fuzzy here, but that's just my camera acting stubborn. These are the motives this time:

Tomorrow will be a long day at school, working with several prints, including this House Sparrow (work in progress):

Want to go see Ed Harcourt tonight, but no time, no money. So I'll just put Hanging With The Wrong Crowd on repeat...

s

working...

2007-12-02T00:11:00.000+01:00

Working a Saturday night. The joys of freelancing.

Here, have a look at something else:

s

bird heart

2007-11-30T13:19:00.000+01:00

I missed seeing inked pieces here, so I'll give you page six from bird heart. My father told me he liked this page, which made me happy.

Kolbeinn said something very sweet and encouraging about my woods, I thought I saved the conversation, but now I can't find it. Whatever it was, it made me all warm inside.

You will be able to read the whole thing next autumn, in a fancy anthology with wordless comics.

s

Comics?

2007-11-30T04:02:00.000+01:00

Yeah, well, I know I'm supposed to draw comics... but being ill for what feels like months, playing with etchings (I hope to have something sweet to show tomorrow), and illustrating the next Kalle Skavank-book leaves little energy for them. So I'm mostly doodling in my sketchbook, planning prints etc. for Christmas-themed craft fairs.

This one is for Klotter i Kärrtorp. I had a lot of fun with the graffiti in the book, making it silly and happy. (You spot something, Kolbeinn?)

elsewhere

2007-11-18T03:26:00.000+01:00

Neverever.

2007-11-06T13:40:00.001+01:00

Five minutes ago the sun shone and a still rain was drizzling down, now it's all grey and November-y again. Printed this aquatint yesterday, managed to get a faulty one home, the red plate is 1 mm off. But the colours are still pretty.

Staying inside today with fever and a sore throat. Need some new music.

Sullen girl.

2007-11-06T01:25:00.001+01:00

The mask I made for this Halloween. Had to rush it, want to do a more refined variant of it, but it did what it was supposed to, so yeah, hurrah! Not me in the photo (obviously).

Copper.

2007-10-24T19:22:00.000+02:00

I mistreated this etching by letting it stay in the acid too long, I wanted that rough feel to it. Turned out it was too rough, the prints didn't look as aimed for. But the plate itself is kind of pretty. Very hard to photograph, of course, but here's a try.

Guts. Cuteness. Angst.

2007-10-22T19:15:00.000+02:00

So, got BNM2 the other day. Flipping through it, I notice better paper and print than vol 1 had (though the black is still a bit on the pale side). I feel shame burn my cheeks when looking at my old drawings (but am still pleased with the pacing and layout). What strikes me the most though, is a thing that has been gnawing me lately: most stories are well drawn, and I see incredibly talented artists everywhere these days, but... we really need to work on those stories. What kind of stories we tell and the tone in which we tell them. We are stuck in teen-angst land, wallowing in clichés and moral.

I feel really uncomfortable comparing the comics I've done the last years to the books I read (Pamuk, Murakami, Woolf...), and that is why I've almost stopped making comics, though the medium is my biggest love. Not that I can or want to achieve the level of those mentioned (well, ok, except for Murakami, he does things I wanna do), but... I am not satisfied in teen-land either. That's why I've been sticking to my little girls lately. At least with them, I can let go of the neatness, moral, and clarity, and let the reader fill in whatever s/he imagines the story to be about. I hide behind short and sweet but hope some readers can find something else there as well. And now I sound all goth-angsty instead. Hrm.

Ugh, just forget about it, read and enjoy, and make new, GREAT stories. I want a new Gilbert Hernandez, telling stories about real humans, with blood, flesh, heart, guts, in manga-style. Rip my fucking heart out. I can handle the cute in the meantime.

A quick one from the sketchbook. This is how I would draw Red now.

s

Göteborg Book Fair

2007-09-27T23:37:00.000+02:00

Just decided to take the train to Gothenburg tomorrow. There will be too many good people at the book fair to justify staying home... So, a quick trip. Do anyone know someplace near the fair with fresh, reasonably priced vegetarian lunches? I never find anywhere good to eat while there, and get all cranky from boring, dry or greasy food.

The pic above is from last fall, the view from Kungshuset in Lund, where all my lectures in Theoretical Philosophy was held. I... miss it. Even the dangerous slippery eighteenth century wooden spiral stairway.

Anyway, this was just a post to say: If you're at the fair, or nearby, send me a text message, and we'll meet up for a beer. (and if you don't receive an answer, you might want to try again, my phone is mischievous right now, bouncing some messages)

monday

2007-09-17T23:43:00.000+02:00

Planning lots of things, but nothing to show yet. What to do? Post my favourite from Bird Heart? Yes!

Censored. By librarians.

2007-09-16T03:27:00.000+02:00

... or at least the "ethically responsible" person at the library in Karlstad. S/he doesn't necessarily have to be a librarian, of course. I shouldn't really post about this until I've heard the full story, but I'm just too baffled to keep quiet, so here goes.

So... I did an illustration for the queer-club Stolthet och Fördom (Pride and Prejudice), to use on their posters for an event. They wanted something resembling The Rocky Horror Picture Show and were very happy with it, as far as I know, but ran into some trouble putting it up around town. Apparently, it didn't fit the library's ethical profile, and they were denied advertising about it there (yes, in a small town like Karlstad, it makes perfectly sense posting about events like this in the library). Hm.

I can only hope they have something interesting and educated to say about the problems with sexual objectification, but I fear the only arguments they can come up with will be some mumbling about obscenity. (Me, I think the only problem with the drawing is that I had to rush it, and thus the result is slightly more sloppy than desired.)

Ok, I shouldn't judge them too hard until I know more about this so for now that's all I have to say. I do however want to ask for your opinions: Did I not think it through enough? Is the illustration completely harmless or is it stupid in some way and I Messed Up? Should I send them an envelope with a different picture of a man in corset to them everyday until they relax a bit?

s

mornings

2007-09-12T02:06:00.000+02:00

Something from my sketchbook/diary. No idea why I did it in english...

That morning continued with me failing to catch the ten o'clock-bus after turning back home to collect some things forgotten, then getting on the next bus (11:50), only to get off at the second stop because of nausea. So, yes, that day pretty much sucked.

Today was better. Made silly mock-up trance club-poster with zebras during class. Because there's really no other way of exploring the stupid photoshop-effects we were supposed to. (Max, you're a lovely teacher, but those effects-thingies are just not for me.)

(And, yes, I do use the f-word too much... silly since i speak swedish, but the "ck"-sound is so perfect. It's the most commonly used word when I'm inking, because, well, I fuck up a lot.)

No etchings. 28 pages of foxes and magpies, though.

2007-09-09T22:59:00.000+02:00

So, yes... been ill pretty much all week. I somehow managed to finish Bird Heart though. (My hand is not pleased with my way of treating it lately.)

This is one of the nicest pages. I am pretty happy with the way it turned out, I consider re-inking the last two pages, but otherwise I think it is the loveliest looking comic I've done. I'll let you know when and where you can find it.

My mind is still occupied with girls, masks, and magpies. I'll let them stay there for a while.

So, September is lovely, and what makes it even better is me turning into a bookworm again. I've missed reading so much. The photo is from August, reading The Master and Margarita at Ariman's in Lund. It looked so pretentious I had to document it... It's a nice book, very easy to gulp down, very straight told, lots of things happening all the time, and a talking cat riding the tram.

The book by my side right now is the short story collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Haruki Murakami. Where The Master and Margarita was nice entertainment, this is pure love. I love the english translation, I will probably never read him in swedish (and my japanese is limited to introducing myself and ordering coffee). The first Murakami-book I read was Kafka on the Shore, reading a few chapters every night after working late. Made me dream of other things than drawing cool children solving hard cases. Things like libraries, old records, and dangerous woods. Some of the chapters I would read out aloud to myself.

Would you like to see my etchings?

2007-08-31T23:25:00.000+02:00

Things being a bit chaotic for the moment, new school, lots of work, suddenly sharing my tiny, tiny apartment with a sweet boy. I thought I could finish Birdheart until tomorrow, but now it seems... unlikely. Kind of hurt my hand coloring the third Kalle Skavank-cover (still not used to my wacom I guess) and need to rest it. Damn, I really thought I would be able to make it.

School is really fun though, studying printmaking and spending a lot of time with copper plates and acids. The self portrait above is a drypoint doodling I did the first day of the semester. Check in later this week for some etchings. (And, uh, sorry about the lame joke in the title of the post.)
s

Every man is evil and every girl is a liar

2007-08-11T03:31:00.000+02:00

Yeah, that's what she was planning to do with those antlers. (This is the cover for a mix-cd I've put together for a friend)

And speaking of banjos... if you are in Malmö tomorrow, Saturday 11, you really ought to go see/listen to Woven Hand. They're playing at Inkonst and I can promise you fantastic songs (perhaps this one) and a singer who really feels everything he sings to you about. I long to be there, as all of you aware of my love for 16 hp knows, but due to economical circumstances it seems unlikely. I might reconsider though...
s

Wish for November.

2007-08-08T01:38:00.001+02:00

So, yeah, I want it to be November. Leaves on the ground and all that. Not this heat...

Not really a serious colouring session, just trying things out. Inked pictures are damn hard to colour, you know? Normally I use too much black to even try, but when I did this I thought I'd see what could be done.

And of course blogspot made the colours boring. And suddenly this happens when I do the "save for web"-thingie in photoshop too... why oh why? Have I made some stupid change somewhere? Anybody know?

EDIT: Tweaked it in ps, hopefully it will resemble the original more. this is getting really annoying...

EDIT2: better, but still off. So, any suggestions are warmly welcomed.

Breathe.

2007-08-07T14:13:00.000+02:00

Just breathe.

Street art II

2007-08-06T05:05:00.001+02:00

Remember my street art-post? Well, someone has responded to the art in question. Nicely put :)

It makes me happy taking my daily walk.
s

Cheburashka

2007-08-04T23:00:00.000+02:00

Here's a little one I did for Vidar to cheer him up, I think he won't mind if I use it to cheer you up too. Yes it´s Cheburashka! We've grown very fond of him lately, almost so fond it's silly. Almost. (I do recommend the Russian original series with subs, what I've seen of the Swedish version was absolutely horrible compared to the original. Also, Cheburashka sounds waaay more adorable than Drutten.)

In other news: a webpage for vol. 2 of The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga is up at http://bestnewmanga.com/ , go over there and have a look at some of the artwork. Over 500 pages of new comics, including my A walk in the woods. It's really reasonably priced too...
You can find vol. 1 at amazon or adlibris, and saw it on the shelf in Science Fiction-bokhandeln in Stockholm, so you can sneak in there and read my Instant Noodles and Åsas New Shoes.

s

Cute Animals II (with toast)

2007-08-01T18:03:00.000+02:00

Random sketchbook drawings. Will try to update with some "real" drawings tonight, but in the meantime it's picnic with the bears ^__^
s
EDIT: oh, yeah... the colours are not that nice on the original, but they end up even more wonky here. I am lazy today, so I won't fix it properly.

Cute Animals I

2007-07-23T01:41:00.000+02:00

I might as well start posting those cute animals at once, actually... This was done for a pin, but I Messed Up and only made two pins with this sad little bear. I will do more of them when I have somewhere to sell them.
s

Books.

2007-07-23T00:40:00.001+02:00

Well, this ain't too shabby, eh? Suddenly I find my books right next to Roald Dahl in bookstores. The secret? Hook up with a writer named Dahlin... These are mystery/detective stories for children, we've made two of them so far, and I´m just starting on the cover for book number three. Many evenings this autumn will be spent drawing Kalle and Dilsa, as the books are richly illustrated by yours truly.

I´ve always counted Roald Dahl as one of my favourite writers, but now that I think about it I have only ever read one of his books, The Witches (but if you consider how many times i read it, I guess he still qualifies for the "favourite"-title). I think I reread every book I could find about witches at least ten times as a kid, and the school library's copy of Häxtävlingen (Which Witch) by Eva Ibbotson only left my house when I traded it in for Agnes Cecilia by Maria Gripe. They both had stunning cover illustrations, and both pictures seems impossible to find using Google. Sigh.

Ok, boring post. Next one will include cute animals. I promise.

s

Just sketching.

2007-07-13T21:20:00.000+02:00

Spent most of the day sketching at my favourite café. Trying to figure out how magpies work, how to give them that arrogant, elegant look they possess. Mine this far mostly look like clumsy crows...

Also did the pencils for a picture I had to get out of my head, will ink it tonight if dinner doesn't get in the way.

s

Birdheart

2007-07-11T20:24:00.001+02:00

I know how it ends now. I also have a working title that will probably stick. Now let's just hope it's a good story...

s

New Delhi Noodles

2007-07-10T02:16:00.000+02:00

I recently had the honor of being featured in the June issue of the Indian magazine First City. They cover what happens in Delhi, and also music, books, films, etc. This issue was a comics/graphic novels special, for which they interviewed creators they like. I was pleasantly surprised to suddenly find myself in the company of people whose work I really admire and have been reading for years. I will put up some scans, but in the meantime you can read the short Instant Noodles special I made for them. (click image for bigger version)

s

Street art, possible fanart.

2007-07-09T23:24:00.000+02:00

So, a few years ago, I did this comic about a girl and a boy and the falling in love with someone in the friendly kind of way that doesn't lead to a relationship. Anyway, there was this page where they see something written on the pavement.
Translated to English it says "you are beautiful". It was just something I made up to get the plot going in the right direction.

Today, more than two years after I printed this minicomic, I spotted something written on the bicycle lane a minutes walk from my house...

It's not that an original thing, I guess. But I would love it if someone actually got the idea from my comic. Crazy fanart, you know... It was a small edition, but I know the library here in Malmö has it (thanks to a lovely librarian who takes comics seriously), so the chance still exists the inspiration came from me. If not, well, it's still a nice thing to put on the pavement, isn't it?

s

Things that go squish

2007-07-06T01:56:00.000+02:00

It has been raining constantly here in Malmo for days now, and somehow I find it hard to not put a raincoat on everyone I draw...

sofia

Destroy everything you touch

2007-07-04T17:12:00.000+02:00

I am currently Messing Things Up at my web page, so if anything looks really weird, you know why. The weirdness might continue for a week or so, but at least the comics section should work as it´s supposed to.

Also, working on that fox thing... I hope this one will work out, the ending is still missing. As you can see, it is a sequel to fox spirit, which can be found here.

Just sketching, thinking.

s

Starting up...

2007-07-04T01:53:00.000+02:00

Welcome to my sketch blog/work diary/whatever this will turn into. I´ll try to make this an interesting place to revisit, with sketches and other sweet things. If you want to read my comics, I´d recommend a visit to www.sofiafalkenhem.com.

This summer I´m working on a comic with foxes and fire in it, so that´s two things I will probably post a lot about.

Ok, let´s try this.

sofia