CELEBRATING THE DUCK! (Norwegian style)

This year Donald Duck turned 75, believe it or not. A group of Norwegian fans decided to celebrate the duck by arranging a festival and an exhibition in Oslo called Celebrating the Duck. They invited cartoonists from around the world to interpret Donald as the 75 year old man he is today. The response was so good that they decided to extend the exhibition into 2010 and invite more cartoonists to join. I was very honored to be one of those cartoonists. At the moment we’re around 50 cartoonists included in the exhibition, among them some of my heroes like Bud Grace and Freddy Milton. Below is my contribution. If you’re in Norway next year, keep an eye out for Celebrating the Duck (Norwegian style)!

celebrating the duck färg

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE AND HAPPY NEW DECADE!

MEGA BAMSE BLOG POST!

I’m in a Bamse mood today. Believe me when I say I’m not always. As a freelancing artist for Bamse you get SO fed up from time to time. Why am I doing this, you think to yourself. But then you get a blog reply like Tob’s in the last post, and you’re reminded of why you’re in this business. Sometimes, it IS actually worth the effort.

Since christmas time is coming up, here’s my present to all you Bamse fans out there, a MEGA BAMSE BLOG POST!

BAMSE #16: SJÄLV-MÅL eller GLÄDJE-MÅL

Yet another Rune A-script, the follow-up to KICK-NICKE (Bamse #12). Kick-Nicke and Spark-Mark (another former professional football player) compete in training the junior football teams against each other. They are VERY serious about this, to the dismay of Bamse, Skalman and the others.

In spite of having remained in the archives for several years, this script is unfortunately still relevant. Sports get professional too early these days. I heard on the radio about English parents (mostly fathers of course) being a bit too serious about their children’s football, screaming and shouting from the sidelines, calling the referee names and so on. Is it really that important to win? Shouldn’t all children be allowed to participate and play just for fun? Skalman comes up with a plan how to deal with Spark-Mark and Kick-Nicke’s elitism. Classic Rune A material!

spark-mark manus 3 blogPage from Rune’s script.

spark-mark_skiss3 blogMy interpretation.

spark-mark tusch 3 blogKerstin Hamberg’s ink original.

spark-mark publicerad 3 blogFinished page.

BAMSE #17/18: BAMSE och det MAGISKA LJUSET

Most likely, DET MAGISKA LJUSET is the last Mårten Melin script pencilled by me you’ll ever see, since Mårten isn’t working with Bamse any longer. There is more than a little melancholy in this since I think Mårten is THE foremost Bamse script writer to have emerged after Rune. My first Melin script was BAMSE och HUSVAGNSFOLKET, and it was clear from the outset that this scriptwriter was something out of the ordinary. If you like Mårten’s stories, there are plenty of books out there that he wrote. Check them out when you’re up for some REAL literature. And check out Mårten’s blog while you’re at it!

Anyway, DET MAGISKA LJUSET is a comics adaption of an illustrated short story Mårten wrote for BAMSE’s ÄVENTYR. I like the occult elements of this story. Scary stuff. I like scary…

magiska ljuset skiss 4 blogSorry for the crappy quality of the sketches. I had no scanner at hand so I had to do with the iPhone and “natural lamp light”.

magiska ljuset renritad 4 blogCleaned up sketch of page 4.

magiska ljuset publicerad 4 blogFinished page. Ink by Kerstin Hamberg.

BO MICHANEK 50

Bo Michanek turned 50 this year. Bo was one of two artists drawing for Bamse during the eighties and early nineties (when Rune still wrote all of the the material for the magazine). I grew up reading Bamse, and some of my all time favorite Bamse stories were drawn by Bo, like DE TRE SVÄRDEN and VARGENS LIV.

Technically Bo Michanek is on a whole other level than the rest of us. He’s the perfectionist’s perfectionist. He used to draw Bamse with the precision of an architect. He was actually still with Bamse when I started, so my very first Bamse drawings were corrected by him. I was so nervous the first time I met him, since I respect him so much.

Simon Bülow and Oskar Forsgren, both Bamse artists, compiled a booklet paying tribute to Bo Michanek on his birthday. This was my contribution:

bamse 80-talet 1 blog

bamse 80-talet 2 blogBo Michanek is the youngster in the middle. I think you need to be a nerd like me to really appreciate these. 🙂

FRITIDSRESOR’S BAMSE SHOW

And like this wasn’t enough I will end this MEGA BAMSE BLOG POST by throwing in yet another clip from the animated backdrops to Fritidsresor’s Bamse show I worked on last year. I’ve been wanting to add more of these to the portfolio, but I’m planning a complete restructuring of the site, so until then you’ll have to do with these sporadic blog entries. Earlier this year there were talks about doing more shows, but then I guess the financial crisis happened. Rats! I had such a good time making these animations. If anyone out there is able to finance the production of A REALLY GOOD BAMSE GAME using this technique, please get in touch with me! 🙂

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

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© Fritidsresor and Junior Productions

All material in this post is © Rune Andréasson.

I Seriernas Värld: Press

Seriefestivalen är över. Det har varit jobbigt, svettigt, uttröttande och alldeles… alldeles underbart kul. Här är en liten sammanställning av iSV-relaterade artiklar som berörde de prylar jag varit involverad i. Jag skulle ha postat dem fortlöpande under festivalens gång, men jag hade lite för mycket att göra. *svälj*

Vårt Malmö nr 9 Okt

Inför Seriemaskeradutställningen med tillhörande workshop på Malmö muséer.

isv-artikel_vårt_malmö_nr9_okt_2009_small

Vimmelreportage i City 2 Nov

Under öppningskvällen av seriemässan på Form- och Designcenter (30/10 – 1/11) fick jag frågan “Vilken seriefigur vill du ha som polare?”

CIT-2009-11-02-1-1-001.pdf

Lunds universitet 11 Nov

Och så den roligaste artikeln för egen del, intervjun som hamnade på förstasidan på Lunds universitets websida:

Uppsats om arabiska barnserier blev utställning

Det skrevs en hel del annat om festivalen också, men inte om mig personligen vad jag vet. Har ni sett nåt som jag missat får ni gärna höra av er. 🙂

Exhibition: Arab Children’s Comics!

Since the first Facebook-comment on the last post was in English, I’ll switch back once more to being international. Bear with me oh ye Swedish readers.

The exhibitions at Malmö Stadsbiblioteket opened officially on Sunday. A recorder quintet from Malmö Kulturskola played for us and started appropriately with:

blockflöjtskvintett bamse

There were opening speeches by project leader Caroline Lund and chairman of Seriefrämjandet (main organizer of the festival) Fredrik Strömberg. The recorder quintet played baroque music while the guests mingled and stuffed their faces with snacks and cider. It was nice!

I introduced the exhibitions to the great crowds of interested people (three of my closest friends and my girlfriend). I gave a special introduction to the Arab children’s comics of course. Here’s the exhibited material in low-res:

Arabiska-Barnserier-01---5B-saghirThe Little Arab, by Qindil and Fawaz, © Al-Arabi As-Saghir (Kuwait)

Arabiska-Barnserier-02---10A-al-hijarThe Adventures of Antara, Zarqaa and Ashab, by al-Hijar, © Fikra (Jordan)

Arabiska-Barnserier-03---draculaDracula Wants to Die, by Qurah Bayt, © Al-Arabi As-Saghir (Kuwait)

(Only in the Rosengård exhibition)

Arabiska-Barnserier-04---0-juha-omslag

Arabiska-Barnserier-05---9B-juha-seriesidaJuha the Funny Laugh maker, by al-Bari and Husni, © Dar al-Jayl (Libanon)

Arabiska-Barnserier-06---6B-kahf-&-mughara1

Arabiska-Barnserier-07---kahf-&-mughara2Kahf & Mughara, by Saad and Tawfiq, © Basim (Saudi Arabia)

Arabiska-Barnserier-10---2A-hawla-al-alamKaslan Jiddan, by Umar and Rahma, © Majid (United Arab Emirates)

Kaslan Jiddan is a classic character in Arab comics!

Arabiska-Barnserier-12---12B-al-batha-at-ta'ira1

Arabiska-Barnserier-11---11B-al-batha-at-ta'ira2The Airplane Expedition, by Umar and Hijazi, © Majid (United Arab Emirates)

(Only in the Rosengård exhibition)

Arabiska-Barnserier-13---6F-reem-&-reemaReem & Reema, by Majaysh and Abod, © Basim (Saudi Arabia)

Arabiska-Barnserier-14---11A-shamsa-&-dana1

Arabiska-Barnserier-15---shamsa-&-dana2Shamsa & Dana, by Shafiq and Skahir, © Majid (United Arab Emirates)

One of my personal favorites from Majid magazine. Both style and contents are strange and unique. Another Arab classic!

Arabiska-Barnserier-16---6H-rada-kamil-cirkusThe Dream Circus, by Farah and Kamil, © Basim (Saudi Arabia)

Arabiska-Barnserier-17---takhayyal1

Arabiska-Barnserier-18---takhayyal2Imagine if We Lived on the Moon, by Abd al-Aziz, © Basim (Saudi Arabia)

Arabiska-Barnserier-19---10E-tanabilat1

Arabiska-Barnserier-20---3B-tanabilat2Tanabilat al-Sibyan, by Ahmad Hijazi, © Ala’ ad-Din (Egypt)

Ahmad Hijazi is one of the most interesting creator of Arab comics. This spread is far from his greatest, but it was the only one I could find. His comics are clever, political and satiricial. A bit like the Simpsons, but Arab.

Arabiska-Barnserier-21---6E-tootaToota, by Fathi and Salih, © Basim (Saudi Arabia)

I’d like to point out that I didn’t ask the writers and artists for permission to exhibit these pieces of work. I sincerely hope you don’t mind, dear colleagues! That would have been impossible, given the tight time schedule and the fact that I’m doing this 100% voluntary on a zero budget. I’ve been very careful with writing your names and where the comics were published. I just wanted to present to the Swedes a small sample of the comics being produced in the Arab world. Inshallah the libraries will import more Arab comics after this. At the moment Basim is the only magazine available in Malmö.

Shukran jazilan to Muhammad Shennawy and Hischam Rahma for sending me some of the pages!

Al-mukhlis

Shoqi Andreas Qassim