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Earlier this year, I decided to apply for the Comics School of Malmö. This is one of the pages I sent as my "audition" samples. It had been quite a while since I had done any story pages, so for whatever reason, I had this enormous artist's block, and it took a really long time to get started.

About a week before the application deadline, I attended SPX09 - the Small Press eXpo - and got the chance to meet some of the Comics School's students, past and present. The charming and talented Frida Ulvegren made me realize just how much fun attending this school could be, and the very gifted Niklas Asker (debuting his graphic novel Second Thoughts) gave me a glimpse into what kind of future the school could lead to. Spurred on by this, I ended up drawing most of my samples in the week between SPX and the deadline.

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Translation:
EVERYDAY CRUELTY #211
"No one will ever love you more than I love you right now..."
"(Shit! That's probably right! It's all downhill from here.)"

Like I said, unintentional cruelty = comedy gold.

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Translation:

EVERYDAY CRUELTY #237

"What an awesome sunset! Damn shame you can't see it."

"(Asshole.)"

As I said before, these were random throwaway sketches drawn at work, done directly in ink with no pencils beforehand. Having said that, I'm pretty pleased with it. The body language (relaxed vs tense), the details (the cane and the dog explains the context without spelling it out) and the composition (the open space on the right side which seems to imply a sunset). I like it a lot. This all came together very nicely, I thought.

Also, I guess this is where I realized: unintentional cruelty = comedy.

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Translation:
EVERYDAY CRUELTY #117
"Hey! Who took the last cereal and put the box back in the cupboard?"

Once again, categorizing the mean, petty things people do to each other is good for a laugh. But wow, that perspective is pretty weak... In my defense, this was done straight to inks, no pencil underdrawing, not even a preparatory sketch. But who cares, it was just a funny little gag to put up at the bulletin board at work. Until now.

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Translation:

EVERYDAY CRUELTY #543

"I'm fat, you're stupid - I can diet! Ha ha!"

"He's right!"

Drawing while at work, just to pass the time... The tagline "Everyday Cruelty #543" is what made this a keeper. The notion that every possible act of cruelty had been (presumably scientifically) catalogued and assigned a numerical value cracked me up. There are more of these to come...

090

Oh hey, long time no see! Been a while, huh? Honestly, it's been so long I'd forgotten my login password... how embarrassing is that? Thankfully, I had it written down.

Anyway, I haven't been drawing much lately. And even that, I didn't even scan, much less post. But everytime someone asked me about my artwork, I'd be showing them this blog, and frankly I was getting sick of that subpar Green Lantern picture front and center. So I thought I'd put up some "new" stuff.

As you can see, this pic is dated November 2008, so it's not really new, is it? But I'll be putting up some stuff I'd drawn and haven't scanned, for a start, then maybe after that get started drawing new stuff again. Here's hoping.

Anyway, enough excuses. This one, I was just doodling, and came up with a decent pose, then couldn't figure out what character to draw on that pose. Not sure why I chose The Scarlet Scorpion - I don't have any affinity for the character. In fact, I've never even read a story with him; I'd just seen the character in an ad or something. But come to think of it, that's probably exactly why I chose him.

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Looking at this, I decided that I really should stop doing so much feathering. Most of my favorite artists have very slick, elegant lines. Guys like Chris Sprouse, Mike Parobeck, Cory Walker etc. (If you're unfamiliar with those names, do yourself a favor and google them to see some awesome art). That's the direction I'd like my artwork to evolve in. I wonder if other artists have this problem - your natural art style being different from the kind of art you enjoy looking at? Hmmm.

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A small one - actual size is about 8 cm tall (or 3 inches if you're so inclined). I drew it while watching TV.

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Another obscure super-hero. This is Dynamo, of the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents. An interesting factoid about him is that he was named after one of his writers, Len Brown.

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I felt like drawing a few forgotten super-heroes. This fella's Atoman. He appeared in two issues of his own comic in 1946.

UPDATE: Some brazilian guy "borrowed" this picture for his blog. It feels kinda weird being pirated. No hard feelings, although I would've appreciated if he had acknowledged that I drew it or, at least kept my signature on it, which he removed when he colored it.
This is what it looks like in color:

(click to enlarge)

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Batman of the 2000s, after Jim Lee.

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Batman of the 1990s, after Bruce Timm.

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Batman of the 1980s, after Frank Miller.

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Marvel Monday!

Nighthawk, Nighthawk, Nighthawk, Nighthawk.

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Batman of the 1970s, after Neal Adams.

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Batman of the 1960s TV show, after Mike Allred.

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Batman of the 1950s, after Dick Sprang.

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Batman of the 1940s, after Bob Kane.