20. The Fight

1. I did not make it. 2. You did not dare. 3. It was then I realized
I had to do it if I didn´t want to loose Svalan as a friend.

It´s a fight to keep up with the projects you want to do.It´s a matter of trying to keep the balance between work you chose to do and the money you need.
I would need a second life you do all the things I have on my to-do-list.
I just dont want to "do it" I want to it to be good to and good in a specific way. I don´t really know if I can tell want I am looking for but when working suddenly it´s there. The line and look I want.
This sounds crazy but I cand "fall in love" with a inked line I just did. It´s confusing.
Other projects keep this project dealyed but I will get back to it soon. About 40 pages finished at the moment of 150 planned.

19. Adding fresh air.

1. - Hurry Up! She is coming.
2. - I am going home. 3..- Are you a coward? 4. I am NOT!

I haven´t been able to keep up the work I planned. Other projects have taken my time but now I think I am on the track again.
And I have missed the characters. They have been waiting for me to finish this.
But I also realize that sometimes it´s good to have a pause. Looking through the finished pages I understood that I hade to add an open spread, two pages with hardly no text och image on it, just some fresh air to the story.

18. The Spirit of Snow.

Finally there are some snow here this winter, It´s not so much but it´s enough to get me inspired to do some paintings. The comic has a lot of snow so it a big task to manage to create the spirit of the snow in an interesing way.
If you think to much on how to do it it often gets wrong. If you just "do it" it gets a better character.

17. Update

Unfortunately I haven´t had the time to work on the comic lately. I have been animating a musicvideo for Fanfare Ciocarlia. So until there are more comic news you can view this. I hope you like it.
I will be back with the comic within a few days,

16. Inside or outside the box/ panel?

page 36 inked.

In creativity you often talk about to think inside or outside the box. When doing a comic you have to deal with boxes or panel all the time.

Each panel takes the story forward. When working on this graphic novel I try more and more to losen up that panelbox. You need to see it´s a box to understand where the story goes but you can give visual meaning to panel by removing some of the "walls". Somehow it´s can seen that the characters or whatever is inside the box/panel want to get out.
I also sets the mood of the story by removing the "walls".

When adding the second color I can work with this even more.

15. A bad drawing for a good story?

Page 32 almost inked.

This is a scan of a half page 32 in progress. Most of the inking are done. But still some more to add. And then the bluegreen color.
In one way I am a perfectionist but in this case I try not to be. I want the images not be too finished. They should have something left for the reader to complete.
I also defends on how you want the reader to read the image. How much will this panel tell. Is it important information about the story or is it the speed of something that you don´ t really understand.

And somehow could a "bad"drawing work better for the story than a "good" drawing. I don´t know how I succeed in it but I really like to work with these small variations.
In the half page here beside an old lady is appearing while Hasse and his friend starts to fight.

14. Inside or Outside

"This is the revenge. we shall give her the fear!" he says.
"Which revenge?"Hasse answer.

I have been working on this projects for many years. Or rather I have planned to do it for many years. There was a problem to get "inside" the project because of not being able to spend so many hours  needed.

To get inside a story you often need some time to do the  transfer. Of course You could tell yourself to start doing the work even if you just had an hour to work  on it.

But to get inside and "feel" the characters you need to be there within the story.

But when you work you sometimes need to get outside of the story. To try to see it from a reader perspective. Forgetting you are the one who did this. Trying to behave like you never seen this comic before. To read it for the first time.