iPAD PRO TEST

A while ago I caved in and bought the new iPad Pro. 

Much to my chagrin I realised that the iPencil - which was sort of the main point of investing in the expensive tablet to begin with - had a four week delivery period. Yesterday, however, that long wait came to an end and the much anticipated pencil was finally in my clammy mitts. 

Here´s my first test sketch on the Pro. It´s made in Procreate which turned out to be a pretty nifty, as well as cheap, program - pretty similar to Photoshop which I normally use. The pencil brushes have a nice feel to them and it´s all pretty intuitive.

Apparently there's also a pretty darn slick automatic recording function. I think this might turn out to be my favourite feature...

AN APPLE A DAY

Some lineart for an illustration depicting the goddess Idun. I obviously opted for a very jugend/art noveau inspired style for this one.

DECEMBER DEMONS

Today´s the first of december - and how better to celebrate the approaching festive season than with pictures of demons?

As I´m just now starting work on the third book in the Demon Detectives (Demondeckarna) series, where our intrepid adolescent investigators descend into Hell itself,  I thought this would be the perfect time to revisit some denizens of the underworld from the previous books.

HUTHUROT

EZERIEL

DEMONLINGS

DEMON GUARD

APEP

CENOZOIC DOODLES

At the moment a lot of my time is spent on the two big projects "Drakar och Demoner" (the classic swedish roleplaying game) and "Nordiska Gudar" (my book about the norse gods). However,  sometimes one feels the need to take a break from drawing burly gods and daring adventurers and do something completely different...

Enter "Första Urtidsboken" (My first Book of Prehistoric Creatures). This will be my fourth picture book and a sort of companion volume to the one about dinosaurs that came out this spring. Instead of everyones favourite giant reptiles this book will focus on the the amazing creatures that superseded them. 

For someone like me, with a life-long passion for paleontology, getting the chance to draw saber-toothed cats, mammoths and other forms of Cenozoic megafauna is simply a dream come true. 

Here´s some of the finished pices. The book itself will be out this spring.

SMILODON

TERROR BIRD

WOOLY RHINO

While the illustrations in these books are rather stylised I still try to keep them as anatomically and scientifically correct as possible. I´ve taken a lot of inspiration from classic paleo-art masters like Charles R. Knight and Zdenêk Burian as well modern illustrators like Peter de Séve who did the wonderful designs for the Ice Age movies (though I´ve made a conscious effort to distance myself from that look).

This research results in lots of preliminary sketches of the various extinct critters as I try to get a feel for them. As there´s only room for nine different animals, not all of them can make it into the final book. Fortunately this blog has no such restrictions so at least I can show off the sketches here:

AMPHICYON

ANDREWSARCHUS

ENTELODONT

HYENADON

MACHRAUCHENIA

HAMMERTIME

Time for yet another preview from "Norse Gods / Nordiska Gudar". Apparently some brawny, bearded fellow wields this...

DUNGEONCRAWLING

The Drakar och Demoner kickstarter has been a huge success and it made it´s first stretchgoal of 200.000 SEK in under 24 hours. Currently it´s supported by 800 backers and is closing in on the 500.000 mark.

I`m really thrilled to be part of this project - there´s something about these classic role playing games that goes beyond pure nostalgia. As most fantasy worlds are becoming more and more over-designed, inspired by computer games like World of Warcraft and the like, an old-school, back-to-basics approach somehow feels fresh.

We´ve started putting up some finished artwork on the official facebook page: Riotminds. I thought I´d repost them in slightly better resolution here.

VARGMAN / WOLFMAN

KRIGARE / WARRIOR 

 SKELETT / SKELETON

TJUV / THIEF

DRAGONS AND DEMONS

Hearken ye brave adventurers!

Today I can proudly announce that I´m doing the interior illustrations for the illustrious swedish roleplaying game Drakar och Demoner (Dragons and Demons). For the non-Swedish readers this game is as legendary for swedes as Dungeons and Dragons is to english speakers - since it´s debut in 1982 it has sold over 100.000 copies. 

The game will be very much a back to basics deal: black box with the old logo and Wheelan cover, the old Ereb Altor setting, ducks as a playable race and so on. 

The kickstarter is live now and the game is to be released the coming summer: 
Kickstarter: Drakar och Demoner

GOTHENBURG BOOK FAIR

Today is the start of the annual Gothenburg book fair! 

I'm taking the train down early tomorrow and have a few public appearances:

Friday:

12.40 Interview in Massolit/Wahlströms stand B08:22

17.00 Interview on Biblioteks & Berättarscenen D02:01

Saturday:

15.00 Interview in Massolit/Wahlströms stand B08:22

16.00 Signing in SF Bokhandelns stand A02:42

See you there!

APPROVED BY THE SWEDISH LIBRARY SERVICE

I just received a great review of "My First Book of Beasts" from the Swedish Library Service BTJ. 
(This is a big thing as it is they who provide the books for all the libraries in Sweden)

Here´s an excerpt for Swedish speakers:

" Illustratören Johan Egerkrans tycks uppfylld av att skicka kalla kårar längs de allra yngstas nackar. Nyss var det dinosaurier som presenterades i pekboksformat och i den här boken är det de värsta odjuren som gestaltas på kartonguppslagen. Den som inbillar sig att boken på något sätt skulle vara nedtonad i rysligheter eller på något sätt tillrättalagd för de allra yngsta läsarna tror fel. Här möter vi ett axplock ur mytologin och författaren tillika illustratören låter oss bli bekanta med åtta av de allra värsta odjuren."

" I Första odjursboken blir text och bild tillsammans ett bestiarium för de allra yngsta läsarna och Johan Egerkrans gör det så bra att jag tror att boken följer med långt upp i åldrarna"

Publiceras i BTJ-häftet nr 21, 2015.
Lektör: Ulf Malmqvist

FÖRSTA ODJURSBOKEN

My third picture book "Första Odjursboken" (My First Book of Beasts) - fresh from the printers! 

The book will be out in stores in Sweden late September.