Bamse/Blue Village

Posted on June 18, 2009 by Andreas Qassim

Last year’s Big Gig for me was making the animation backdrop for Fritidsresor’s Bamse show. It’s been on for a while now so I think it’s safe to post a sample:

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I enjoyed the challenge of producing nearly twenty minutes of animation in approx. two months (!), something I would’ve never been able to do without learning Flash. I became quite good friends with Flash in the end. It’s definately a powerful animation tool.

So anyway, if you’re headed towards one of Fritidsresor’s Blue Village charter resorts this summer, be sure to check out the Bamse show, and especially its animated backdrop.

Happy holidays!

Bamse in Flash

Posted on January 15, 2009 by Andreas Qassim

I just finished my Bamse animation job for Junior Productions/Fritidsresor. This job was important to me in several ways. I got to animate again, which is always fun, and I got to learn Flash, a piece of software I wanted to learn for a long time. My animations will be used as a backdrop to a live show featuring Bamse, Skutt, Skalman and Vargen (people in suits). The show will launch later this spring, and you’ll see it at Fritidsresor’s Bluevillage charter resorts (like in Gran Canaria and Turkey and the like). Since the show is still Work in Progress, I can’t post any of the animations here, but I’ll share with you the demo I made to get the approval from Junior Productons, Fritidsresor and the Andréasson Brothers (Rune’s sons) to be a Bamse animator.

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So, last week I went to Oslo to meet the other people behind the show. We hung out in the studio for a whole day talking about the show, adding sound effects and recording silly background voices. Very relaxed, lots of laughs. I had a great time. Here some blurry mobile phone pics from the event:

0109ketil

0109studio-coffee

0109eating

We finished the day with a grand meal at restaurant No. 15 in Frogner, one of the posh areas of Oslo. I had reindeer steak (an apology to all the vegetarians out there) and Crème Brulée and Calvados for desert. Good food = happiness!

0109red_men

The Norwegians are funny. Instead of one red man they have TWO at each zebra crossing. Is this an extra precaution so they definately won’t walk too early?

BAMSE OCH GLUFF-GLUFF

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Andreas Qassim

The hard cover book BAMSE OCH GLUFF-GLUFF just came out. It’s “my” first book ever! Yeah!

Text: Lisbeth Wremby
Pencils: Andreas Qassim
Ink: Kerstin Hamberg

I loved being allowed to “spread out” visually over entire spreads for once.

That’s something else entirely than the usual layout puzzle of trying to cram everything – visuals, word balloons and text boxes – into constrictive panels. These large spreads makes for a much bigger and bolder look than what the average comic book page offers.

I was given a dummy with text and VERY rough sketches by Lisbeth. The challenge was to try to “fill out” the spreads and at the same time leave sufficient space for the text. The overall look is supposed to be balanced and natural looking. Easier said than done!

Not all images were complicated however, like the one above. By the way, I chose to stick very closely to Fransisco Tora’s original drawings (BA #6-7/1978). I find his characters (gluffarna in particular) hilarious, so there was no reason to change them.

All in all it was a stimulating detour from the usual Bamse assignment. Actually, I’d say it’s one of the Bamse jobs I’m closest to satisfied with (an artist is rarely 100% happy with anything he’s made, at least not me).

BAMSE JULALBUM #18

Posted on October 20, 2008 by Andreas Qassim

I got BAMSE JULALBUM 2008 in my mailbox a while ago:

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Idea: Mårten Melin
Pencils: Andreas Qassim
Ink: Bernt Hanson
Color: Lise Jörgensen

This is my third cover for BAMSE JULALBUM. Thought I’d try a little Flash animation displaying the work process. Unfortunately I couldn’t find the rougher shetches. It doesn’t really start out as clean as the first image in the animation. Rather, that’s the third step or so in the process. Never mind. I hope you enjoy it anyway.

Bamse #12/08

Posted on September 7, 2008 by Andreas Qassim

I’ve been busy lately dealing with new upcoming jobs, and thus slow at updating this blog. Better late than never however, so here we go:

Idea: Joakim Gunnarsson
Pencils: Andreas Qassim
Ink: Bernt Hanson

Yet another Bamse-cover drawn by yours truly. This is the third one for the main magazine I’ve done. Susanne Adolfsson who wrote the lead story, which the cover is based upon, was very pleased with this one. So was I, I guess. Actually I got compliments from others too, so I guess I achieved something a little extra this time. It’s nice receiving appreciative e-mails from your scriptwriter. Doesn’t happen every day at Bamse.

The story is a “modern” take on the emperor’s new clothes. Reinard fools the villagers they’ll get really smart from this miracle potion he’s selling. Unless you’re really really stupid, in which case you’ll get a terrible itch instead. Not surprisingly, the itch inflicts everyone drinking the potion, but no one dares to confess, in fear of being regarded as stupid. Luckily enough there’s this cure potion, only available at Reinard’s wagon. It’s a bit on the expensive side, but if you need it you need it, right?

From a cartoonist’s perspective this story was all about trying to vary poses of itching and scratching as much as possible. Quite a challenge, but quite an amusing one too. The weird part is that this summer while on a one week charter vacation in Cyprys, I got chicken pox, of all deseases, and I was forbidden to travel back home because of the mega high contagiousness, and I had to stay at my hotel room another week. This story I drew early on in the year, maybe in February or March or so. Four to five months later I felt EXACTLY like these characters feel. The little dots rushing all over your body was spot on. That’s what it was like. Getting chicken pox as an adult is not like getting it as a child. It’s much worse, and like Skutt and Bamse I was nearly going mad from the itching.

Is it really possible to commit so strongly to your characters that your body reacts in the same way as theirs? Like you have too strong an imagination for your own good or something. Like some kind of voodoo. Maybe I should try to find a way of directing this power of mine toward my enemies…?

Andreas Qassim

Comics Illustration Animation

Category Archives: Bamse

Bamse/Blue Village

Bamse in Flash

BAMSE OCH GLUFF-GLUFF

BAMSE JULALBUM #18

Bamse #12/08