BA #8 2011: Bamse och den lilla åsnan II

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Andreas Qassim

Vi kör den här på svenska. Bamse nr 8 är speciell för mig av flera olika anledningar. När jag började med Bamse var Tony Cronstam en tongivande tecknare i tidningen. Serien Guld-Gnoms skatt (BA #1-2/01) var den första av Runes PM-serier som publicerades.

Här härmade Tony Runes tecknings-stil på ett kärleksfullt sätt som jag tyckte var super-läckert. Den bästa hyllningen man kunde tänka sig till Rune som tragiskt nog lämnat oss något år tidigare. Jag kände där och då att jag ville teckna Bamse på det sättet. För övrigt innehöll numret med Guld-Gnoms skatt II (BA #2/01) min första Bamse-serie, serien Lat-Ulf och Slö-Fox och godiset, skriven av Joakim Gunnarsson och Jan Magnusson.

Men mina tidiga Bamse-alster blev inte särskilt “Runiga”, av två anledningar. 1) Jag var inte tekniskt mogen för den typen av stil-experiment som Tony ägnade sig åt. 2) Som ny tecknare vid den tiden anmodades man fortfarande att följa mästaren Bo Michaneks stil-ideal. Även Tony kom från den “skolan”. Jag fick helt enkelt bita ihop och lära mig den hårda vägen (år efter år av Bamse-tecknande) innan jag ens kunde drömma om att göra någonting i närheten av Tonys grejer. Lat-Ulf & Slö-Fox rättades förresten av Tony och Joakim.

Tio år senare håller jag nr 8/2011 i handen. Andra delen av Bamse och den lilla åsnan är lead-story. Som jag berättade i förra blog-inlägget har jag försökt hålla mig så nära Runes stil jag kan genom att noggrant gå igenom filmen och boken. Omslaget är något så ovanligt som ett omslag tecknat av mig (tusch Bernt Hanson), efter en idé av mig. Annars är det oftast Joakim som hittar på omslagen. Tidningen innehåller enbart Rune A-serier. Och vem har tecknat tidningens andra långa serie Roligt och ruskigt på tivoli? Jo, Tony Cronstam! En oväntad men välkommen come back! Inte för att jag anser att jag “hunnit ikapp” Tony, eller att jag någonsin kommer att göra det, men så mycket “Runigare” än så här blir väl knappast ett post-Rune Bamse-nummer? 🙂

Som grädde på moset intervjuas jag på brevsidan, min första intervju i Bamse. Gillar inte att skryta, men det här numret är jag riktigt stolt över! 🙂

Nog med ego-grejer. Enligt tradition kör vi en “så-här-går-det-till-att-göra-en-sida”:

Runes manus-sida.

Referensmaterial från filmen och boken.

Min tolkning av Runes manus.

Renritad sida till tuscharen.

Fantastiskt tuscharbete av Kerstin Hamberg, som alltid.

Den färdiga sidan, kolorerad och textad och grann.

Alla bilder i det här inlägget är ⓒ Rune Andréasson.

BA #7 2011: Bamse och den lilla åsnan I

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Andreas Qassim

Bamse och den lilla åsnan must have been one of Rune Andréasson’s favorite stories, since he retold it so many times during his lifetime. In sunday strip format in the 60s, in the animated short from 1981, and in a book in the 90s (there might be others that I have missed). Surprisingly though, Bamse och den lilla åsnan never showed up in the main magazine. Until now! One of the scripts Rune left behind after passing away 1999 is an adaptation of this story, based on the film and the book. As always it’s an honor to be entrusted with pencilling one of Rune Andréasson’s few remanining scripts. Especially this one!

Here’s the process from script to printed page:

Most of today’s writers for Bamse make scripts in text only. With Rune’s scripts you get the layout of the panels, balloons and boxes for free. Sometimes even a small doodle of a pose or an expression.

I spent quite a lot of time doing research for this assignment, perusing the book and the film (taking snapshots). Whenever there was a pre-existing pose, expression or image, I used it in the comic. After all this is Rune´s Story with a capital S, so I aimed at getting as much of his style into the work as I possibly could. Doing this I felt a bit like one of those restoration painters fixing up old church paintings. 🙂

The rough, my interpretation of Rune’s script. By the look of this page you can tell it was written by someone well-versed in both comics and animation. I tried to draw it that way too.

Cleaned up page for inking.

Kerstin Hamberg’s amazing ink work.

The printed page.

With Bamse och den lilla åsnan, I was approaching Rune´s drawing style from the animated cartoons. I got into Bamse while studying animation. I never saw myself as a comic artist, but Bamse seemed a good thing to do until I could find work in animation. The drawing technique is similar to that used in hand drawn animation. I also thought at the time (late 90s) that if new Bamse films would ever be made, experience from drawing the comic would come in handy when applying for the job.

Said and done. The last two months I’ve been working on the pilot/trailer for the upcoming Bamse feature film. I was part of the design team, doing character turnarounds, expression sheets, mouth charts and poses and expressions for the animatic. Veteran Bamse artist colleague Thomas Holm (the one and only) designed the backgrounds and did layouts for the animatic. The actual animation will be done elsewhere.

I don’t know how much I’m allowed to write about this before the trailer is finished. I’ve probably said too much already! What I can say though is how much I enjoyed being back in animation again. Gave me a real boost. It’s a bit like coming full circle, from where I started all these years ago. I hope to be able to work more in animation soon.

Read the second part of Bamse och den lilla åsnan in BA #8 2011, in stores 30 May!

All images in this post are ⓒ Rune Andréasson

Muppet Comics

Posted on December 5, 2010 by Andreas Qassim

I’ve been in a muppet mood lately. Well, I guess I am always, but more than usual these couple of days. Maybe it’s got something to do with Ryan Dosier’s inspiring blog The Muppet Mindset. Anyway, back in the days, before the digital era, even before the VHS era (in my childhood home anyway), after The Muppet Show stopped airing on TV (early 80s sometime), the only way I could stay in the muppet universe was through drawing muppets (which I did A LOT) and reading muppet comics. In total there were three muppet comic books being released in Sweden, plus a certain world famous newspaper strip.

From Jenny Craven’s and Graham Thompson’s The Comic Muppet Book 1979 (“Full rulle med mupparna” in Sweden). Graham Thompson seems like the ideal muppet illustrator. I always found the muppets a bit scary. And zany of course. Thompson’s art had both these qualities.

From Jocelyn Stevenson’s and Graham Thompson’s Muppets at Sea 1980 (“Mupparna går i däck” in Sweden). I wish I had more of a “wild” drawing style, like Thompson’s. Seems like he’s mostly illustrating jigsaw puzzles these days? Is it the same guy? Does anyone know more about this artist? I’d love to get in touch with him and thank him for his inspiration.

The third comic book The Mild Bunch wasn’t as good as the first two. Don’t know who made it, the art is definitely not Thompson’s. But I wasn’t too picky back then, simply because there was so little to choose from. This panel however is a bit fun for the conscious muppet fan. Do you recognize this group of criminals? Of course you do! They are legendary mupeteers Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson and Dave Goelz! I didn’t have a clue about this back in the days.

Then there was Guy & Brad Gilchrist’s newspaper comic strip, apparently the first comic strip to be syndicated in multiple countries and newspapers from the very first day. Guy Gilchrist is arguably the king of muppet comics. He managed to stylize the muppets in a way that feels completely natural.

I used to collect these strips whenever I found them. I cut them out and glued them onto cardboard. Remember, only three comic books came out in Sweden, so I had to make my own.

Have you ever seen a more beautiful strip than this final Muppets strip from 1986? Guy Gilchrist is an interesting character with many years of experience in comics and music. Read more about him here.

This image makes me very nostalgic. You can read more about Guy Gilchrist and the Muppets at Muppetwiki.

But we shouldn’t get stuck in nostalgia. Muppet comics are still being produced today! Roger Langridge’s personal interpretation of the Muppet Show is loved by many. There’s even a Muppet Show Motion Comic in the making, based on Langridge’s art.

I wasn’t too keen on his style at first, but when I learned that Langridge is leaving the series, I ordered the first two issues. I’ve always been a bit late to catch on to things I guess. There are other muppet titles too being released by Boom! studios, like Muppet Sherlock Holmes, Muppet Robin Hood and Muppet Snow White.

Muppet Sherlock Holmes by Patrick Storck and Amy Mebberson.

Muppet Robin Hood by Tim Beedle and Armand Villavert Jr.

Muppet Snow White by Jesse Blaze Snider and Shelli Paroline.

Also, have a look at Dave Alwarez’s muppet art at the Boom! artists gallery. I really like Dave’s muppet strips! According to Dave he made these “just for fun” and as an homage to Gilchrist’s classic muppet strips. Dave has had some muppet cover art published Boom! Lucky Dave…

It would be a dream come true to draw the muppets professionally. I posted some stuff at the Boom! artists gallery in vain hope of catching the attention of some influential boss. Please go there and comment (I prefer positive ones…) to keep my post fresh and high up on the list. And cross your fingers! 🙂

Muppets, muppets, muppets!

Posted on December 4, 2010 by Andreas Qassim

For all fellow muppet fans out there, if you haven’t discovered it already, go check out Ryan Dosier’s blog, The Muppet Mindset.

Header art by Dave Hulteen Jr.

Ryan is just about the most dedicated muppet fan I ever came across. He writes interesting muppet articles almost on a daily basis. On Muppet Mindset, you’ll find the latest news on muppet TV shows, films, comics and other products. There are frequent interviews with key members of the cast and crew of various muppet productions. I for instance enjoyed reading about Jerry Nelson recently. Jerry was part of the classic group of Muppet Show puppeteers, performing characters such as Floyd Pepper, Robin, Crazy Harry, Lew Zealand, and many many others. One of Ryan’s ideas is to make his blog an outlet for muppet fans to express their fandom through articles, fan art etc. Yesterday’s post was thus a humble contribution from yours truly.