Peter Hermann

Businessweek

2008-09-16T12:12:22+00:00

A few illustrations for Businessweek, the art director was Donald Besom. A truly nice guy to work with. I did another one for him last week, but since I'm not sure if it has been printed yet, I'll hold off posting it.

On the back of the New Yorker...

2008-08-25T17:36:12+00:00

this was a rush doodle done on the back of the New Yorker renew your subscription envelope. while my son was using the toilet and subsequently when he was having his teeth brushed by his mother, i was doodling away on the envelope... feeling really darn close to the New Yorker. what i did not see coming was Jonas (my son) reaction when he saw the drawing. first joy, then a confused look and the little question: why are they taking a bath when I'm not having a bath tonight? (he skipped his bath tonight on the account of looking more clean than usual). I quickly saved the situation explaining that the two characters in the tub had stepped in some very large and very gross pile of poop made by a space alien with 70 arms (70 is his favourite number right now). a this time he was laughing, I was feeling home safe and then my wife gave my the "way to go Pete! teach our 4 year old every nasty word you can think of"... leaving me only with the feeling of being close to the New Yorker's subscription address. (I'm hoping for a Candy Man effect here, I mentioned the New Yorker 3 times which should make them.. oh crap I mentioned them 4 times... never mind).

Birthday card for my dad

2008-08-04T09:46:25+00:00

a birthday card for my dad. he wanted a new garden hose and a trolly. to me this says something about age, maturity and wisdom. when you are a kid you want everything from the toy store, ( when i ask my son what he wants for christmas, he answers "everything i don't have")
when you get older, the few special things, that are way to expensive to be bought by yourself, find their way to the wish list.... and then you reach the enlightened years, where you ask for a new light for the car trunk or a new garden hose.. at this age the majority of wishes benefit the family as a whole.

the drawing is done with ball-point pen and my sons magic markers.

Adam Mansbach

2008-05-06T08:57:03+00:00

The illustration was for an interview with the writer Adam Mansbach. I asked the AD if I could do a portrait, but they already had plans for running a small photo at the end of the article. So a more conceptual solution would be the way.
The article was the first in a series about jewish literature in America.

It was printed on the cover of the book section of kristeligt dagblad. i would have liked a little more room around the drawing, but you can’t always get what you want.

Looking for the next bestseller

2008-04-15T08:07:45+00:00

A black and white illustration for Kristeligt Dagblads book review section. This for an article about publishing houses looking for the next bestseller. Very fun to do.

Relationships

2008-04-08T12:58:59+00:00

I recently did some illustrations for the danish arena magazine. The art director was super cool to work with and gave me total freedom (low pay). The illustrations were lots of fun to do.
This was for an article about relationships. And the author compared the success of a relationship to the flight of a bumblebee. The bumblebee should not be able to fly due to its weight, but hey it flies anyway. I wanted to draw a couple, just plain graphic drawing, and then a little bumblebee.
I didn't do any sketches for this, just a bunch of brush drawings, trying to think out and feel the shape inside, before going for it on paper.
I really like the girl (the hand belongs to the man). I also did a portrait for the same issue, you can see it here.

The girl. Drawn with brush on bond paper, cut out with scissors and pasted together with the man in photoshop... that's a comment on relationships all by it self.

On stolen wheels

2008-04-07T14:56:30+00:00

Another spread for the Danish magazine Samvirke. This time for an article about bicycle theft. A cyclist is stopped by the police for a random check and it turns out his bicycle is reported stolen. This puzzled the cyclist since he bought the bicycle at a store... But the owner at the store bought it used from a somewhat seedy character (the racoon), and he turns out to be the bicycle thief who started the whole ordeal. Originally this was a one page illustration, but a misunderstanding between me and the art director, left no room for text... so they had to rearrange other parts of the magazine to make room for the article to grow into a spread. Unfortunately they still had to crop a bit of the illustration to make room for the text.

I inked all the characters on separate sheets, making for more free brush wielding but also for a somewhat disconnected picture. The AD wanted spring-like colors, and in retrospect I think a photoshop adjustment of the brushstrokes to a warm red might have worked better... but hey, too late now.

I tried to repeat a past success, (bad move) and did the bicycle, the bolt cutter, lock and so on, in illustrator, making for some awkward interaction between a rhino and a... I call it a bicycle gone wrong.
I'll take comfort in learning more from a failure than a success.

Lightning

2008-03-27T13:58:31+00:00

This could have been on the section cover of the danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad a couple of weeks ago. But it's was rejected for being too powerful and direct. The articles main focus was a 14 year old boy who was hit by lightning and killed during a soccer practice. What thought ran through his co-players and coach at the time, how did they deal with the crisis in the following days. counselling and so on. I wanted to show a, yes powerful, image of a sudden act reminded all bystanders of their mortality, and to my the moment when the lightning hit showed this most clearly. I swallowed my pride after a short talk with the art director, and came up with a much more counsel oriented solution. they accepted. Still I would have loved to see this printed on the nice grainy newsprint.

J.D. asked about the illustration I did instead of the lightning one above. This is the illustration they printed. Because I did not see the potential problems in the first solution, I had very little time to execute this one before this one before the paper went to print.

Verbal terror

2008-03-19T12:09:58+00:00

I did the illustration for the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, for an article about spousal abuse (not physical, but verbal). According to the article, a lot of women in Denmark (and most likely in every country of the world) are being terrorised by their spouses ongoing down putting remarks, rude comments, treats and cruel mind games, making them live a life in fear.

Doodles

2008-03-17T11:37:48+00:00

my doodling is beginning to take over. last week i casually started what was suppose to a straight forward shopping note. i write the items in the order they are placed in the grocery. i jotted down kitchen towels near the bottom of the note... and then it happened. i could not control the ball-point pen and out of nowhere came this weird little racetrack scene. i have not been to a racetrack in about 15 year, last and only time was in Louisville, Kentucky. so where this came from i just don't know. should i seek help, or just use larger sheets of paper?

And this was not a lone incident. a few days ago, just when I thought it was safe to jot down the sequence of some new illustrations I wanted to put on my web site. constructive work to help getting more jobs... But the list went from readable to pure "road rage" when this off course duck racer entered the paper.

I'm considering quitting my job as an illustrator, but right now it seems like the only thing keeping me from doodling.

A fun one to do

2008-03-12T14:58:15+00:00

I did this spread for the Danish magazine Samvirke back in mid january, and finally it saw print on the first of march. I'm very happy with the way it turned, with the exception of a little too tight cropping.
I had free hands to incorporate the headline (in red) and the under title, is that the right name? (in the white singing balloon emerging from the crow). The assignment was half a spread, but I had so much fun I started to spread out the joy... and the two birds at the bottom right ended up being my favourites.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-13T11:25:45+00:00

I would like to wish you and your loved ones a merry christmas and a wonderful new year :)

A little over a year ago I got an email from Edel welcoming me to Drawger (at that time I had yet to get my invite), but a few days later the email from Zimm arrived... making me a little intolerable for some days. Picture the kid Eddie Murphy is portraying in Raw, singing "we got McDonalds!" over and over again. just substitute McDonalds with Drawger, and you know how I acted for the first days.
I would like to thank you all for the amazing illustrations, family photos, sketches, opinions and behind-the-scenes you have all shared so generously.
Your comments and emails have meant the world to me, and have given me the sometimes much needed extra fuel to grow as an artist and as a person.
Thanks.

The doodle dandy

2007-11-20T13:40:22+00:00

Lately I have been far to busy working for my usual amount of doodles to pour out of my sleeve. But I thought it was about time to collect a few of the lines I did manage to squeeze out while working for the man.
All the doodles are in done with a black ball-point pen from BIC, my favourite tool for a long time now.
Hope you'll enjoy them, I sure did.

Danish elections

2007-11-12T11:36:19+00:00

A couple of illustrations done with the help of my new best friend, Mr. Wacom :)
Tomorrow we vote for government here in Denmark, deciding whether to keep Anders Fogh Rasmussen as our prime minister or elect our first ever female prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Watergate

2007-10-23T12:41:30+00:00

Once in a while I get a really cool assignment. This one was at the very top. It was for the Progressive calendar, the art director was the brilliant Nick Jehlen. The same art director who several years ago gave me my very first foreign assignment, and have stayed with me through 3 style changes. the first assignments I did for him were painted in acrylic, highly conceptual, then a couple of years later a weird collage with God standing in water for a tsunami article.... and now this super cool assignment, the Watergate break-in. So much fun to do.
Later I learned that Zina also did an illustration for the calendar, how cool is that :)

Tentacles and turtle

2007-10-22T17:45:04+00:00

several months ago I made the decision to try using a wacom tablet. I went to the online apple store and shelled out the dough, waited about a week... and there it was. I quickly installed the software and plugged in the usb cable. I was ready to go, this was it... it was going to be wild, crazy and wonderfully creative.
I tried it for 2 minutes and cursed it to hell. then I cursed myself for once again buying some dumb ass thing I would never use again.
and for a long time it just sat there on my shelf, collecting more dust than a tumbleweed in a Sergio Leone movie. and this would not have changed, had it not been for my dear brother Martin. he kept suggesting I gave it another chance. he had his own and said it took him a while to get used to it. (I even tried selling my wacom to him at this point, figuring if he was so dandy about it, maybe he should get a bigger one.... )
but then a small idea emerged. we could do an online project together, draw only on the tablet, just a little drawing every other day or so.
back and fort it went, and slowly I started feeling more and more at home with the wacom.
the first week it was like a new pair of running shoes. sure they felt good at the store, but on the pavement it a very different story.
the drawing here is doing in illustrator, with no sketch or nothing, I was just trying to get some of the same energy I feel when doodling onto the screen. and I like what I see, and on top of that, it felt super fun doing this.
Thanks Martin :)

Doodles

2007-09-30T08:42:22+00:00

The drawings / doodles are from last night. Jonas and I were waiting for his mom, so we could play some cards... meanwhile I started a doodle and he promptly asked... "Who's he?" , he was referring to the bear in the centre... and then the happy train left the station, making no stops until his mom was done, and a game of cards looked like more fun than dad and his magic ball-point pen show.

On another note.
A note of warning!
DO NOT KEEP A SOFT DRINK NEXT TO YOUR LAPTOP!!!
I just had a near "dead ibook" experience, only avoided by the fact that an ibook stand like a roof while you sprint for paper and a hairdryer.
It is now 30 minutes since "the spill" and it's still working. I'm planning on keeping it running all day, in hope of vaporising the few cola drops that are bound to be hiding inside , with an overheating battery.

Moving in 2 weeks

2007-09-26T17:53:21+00:00

I'm not stressed I'm not stressed I'm not stressed... I just hope my new internet hook-up works and that there is water in the pipes...what else do need anyway?

sometimes life really sucks

2007-09-10T07:51:13+00:00

My son Jonas have been going to kindergarten for the past 3-4 months. And he really likes it, have good friends, plays all day and is generally very very happy being there.
But friday was a hard meeting with the "real" world. One of his friends wanted to play, but Jonas had other plans and said no. they are both 3 years old. Jonas then got pushed quite hard and was stunned by the other kid's behaviour. A kindergarten teacher intervened and tried to smooth it out at talk about what to do and what not to do, meanwhile the kid saw his opportunity to give Jonas another much more hard shove. Jonas landed face down on the pavement. He was very sad and upset.
He has talked about it all weekend, saying over and over that he never wanted to go to kindergarten again... but slowly he seemed to be more and more certain that we (my wife and I) were telling the truth when we told him it would not happen again.
Everything was fine this morning, I drove him to the kindergarten, helped him unpack his things and put his lunch box in the refrigerator, But then he saw that the kid who shoved him was also there (he is a nice kid and it is the only time he has done something like that). Jonas started crying and I lifted him up and tried to comfort him and tell him everything was okay, and the kid was not going to hurt him again... (promising him the world would be forever safe, like I was superman, and able to protect him from evil in however small sizes it would rear it's head), but I'm not. And It broke my heart having to go and wave good-bye while his was crying. The staff at the kindergarten said it would be best if I said good-bye and left... they were probably right.
A week from now, Jonas will hopefully have forgotten all about this and will be playing with the other kid again, having fun as they did before. But right now he is learning the hard lessons of life. a life that is not always nice and safe.
I know most of you have kids of your own, and have been through this a million times, and it's just a part of growing up, learning and getting stronger. But it sure sucks not being superman on a day like this.

My high school math teacher

2007-08-20T09:11:35+00:00

Another drawing for the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, for an article about business sponsoring in public schools. I really struggled with the topic, it was one of the first days after a long and wonderful vacation. 3 weeks of just hanging out with my wife and son, family and friends (now that's life). Well back to the assignment. I had to find some angel to drawing, something I could get a little excited about, the topic didn't bring my brain out of vacation mode... but doodling weird bearded men (not that bearded men per definition are weird) made me think of my old math teacher in high school. He was a very nice guy, and was a really really good teacher, but he did this funny thing when he was giving a lecture. He would be rolling a piece of chalk in his hand, over and over again, leaving his palm almost white. And there I found my energy for the drawing. I cranked out a sketch with ball-point pen, scanned it and redid the lines in illustrator, printed it out a did the shadows on a separate piece of paper with a brush, scanned again, and combined the two in photo shop, where the text was added.

Recent lines

2007-07-11T18:00:05+00:00

Some of the drawings, doodles, monotype test print, and assignments to have crossed my tiny desk recently. The one thing they have in common was that they were all fun to do.
A little recommendation for other "not so darn sharp in perspective", (judging from the company here at drawger, I'm probably alone), but for anyone else reading, googles sketch-up, the free version, is a pretty nifty program. I helped me do the sugar cubes and vitamins a heck of a lot faster than... will to be honest, if I could not have used sketch-up, I might have gone with another idea with no need for dimensional accuracy.
With the encouragement from Zina (this might not be what you meant, but it works for me, so thanks) I'm trying to incorporate a more cartoony (and thereby more me) feel into my editorial work.

Nice wolf

2007-06-25T08:26:47+00:00

It's been more than a month since my last post, so I wanted to restart with a piece I'm quite happy with... at least the wolf.
Now I'll probably be gone for another month while reading up in all the wonderful posts that have been added since.

Daily doodle 007

2007-05-23T17:09:51+00:00

It would have been real nice, if I had been aware of which number this doodle would be. Then maybe it would have a bit more secret agent looking, instead of mister mellow pants here.
Now back to work... No sir, we could not get the stain out of your pants... is this thing still on??

Daily doodle 006

2007-05-22T16:46:17+00:00

How fitting I get to post these 2 sheets of fun right before I have to tuck the little master in.
Todays daily doodle was created with the assistance of my son Jonas.

Daily doodle 005

2007-05-21T16:09:17+00:00

A funny email from JD made me think of another email from JD, where we talked a little about Berni Wrightson. I used to be a huge fan of his, and I still love the work he did in he did on Swamp Thing, House of Secrets... well all his spooky stuff. The doodle came from me thinking of Swamp Thing.

Daily doodle 004

2007-05-20T16:10:37+00:00

Ahh another great weekend, lived to the fullest. Seize the day and all that.

Daily doodle 003

2007-05-19T17:43:00+00:00

Only doodle today, not much on my mind... hey it's the weekend, not much is suppose to be on our minds. Hope you all have a great one.

Daily doodle 002

2007-05-18T17:51:35+00:00

It feels really good to be posting these. I imagine the young man is playing "Black" on his ps2. that's what I played the last time my ps2 was plugged in... it's been a real looooong time.

Lack of focus

2007-05-17T17:59:14+00:00

The daily doodle 001.
today was, in lack of better words, very uninspired art wise, I had to many things on my mind. My son Jonas quit using his pacifier when he sleeps last night... We had talked about it for several days. And he seemed ready for it. Yesterday afternoon he and I went to the local toy store and exchanged the pacifiers (he had a whole bag full) for one of the machines from Bob the Builder, the blue crane, in danish he is called Kranberg, I'm not sure of the real name. The afternoon passed and everything was all peachy. BUT then came time to sleep. And now the young Hermann was not all that satisfied with the deal he had made at the crossroads... insert several hours of crying here... finally he fell a sleep, for a couple of hours, before he woke for another round of mourning. My wife ended up sleeping on a madras on the floor with him.
Tonight everything was much better... not super, but much much better.
I love that little superman.

In a hurry

2007-05-16T12:49:30+00:00

I was going to start a new "drawing a day" kinda project today, but a pesky thing called work got in its way, so the start has been pushed off a day or two. But still I had time to add a new text to an already completed doodle. Weird how one has time for this and not the other.

Take a stand

2007-05-14T18:43:34+00:00

Tonight I take a stand for the impulsive, sloppy, with no thought process, cheap ass materials kind of drawing. I salute thee, thou careless and fun line, feel free to smear my hand, I will forever be your brother in crime.

Just having fun

2007-05-09T09:25:45+00:00

A couple of nights ago, my son Jonas and I were telling crazy stories (it was right before his bath, and he was trying to prolong the wait. He loves being in the tub, but he does not want to get in there...crazy kids logic)... well the crazy stories started to get visual when he wanted me to draw while telling the tale. I grabbed a ball-point pen and an empty envelope from the bank, and the lines started to form weird faces, dog droppings, lizards and skateboarding pigs. So much fun. It only lasted for about 15 minutes, but we were both in the zone, laughing our asses off (apparently I did not laugh hard enough). You should all try this at home.

Danish prime minister killed in movie

2007-05-08T09:00:05+00:00

This illustration is a couple of weeks old. It was printed in the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, for an article about a new movie mixing fiction and fact in a very manipulating way. The movie is called AFR, after the Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. In the movie AFR is killed and his gay lover is suspected of the crime. Anders Fogh Rasmussen is very much alive, and if he is gay or not should be irrelevant (he is married and have children).

Many politicians were interviewed for the film, but their statements were used in completely different connections. Statements about the assassination of the Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn, were edited to be about the Danish prime minister.... and so on.
I have heard of a similar film being made about George W. Bush.
Political differences aside, I must admit I have a really big problem with these kind of movies being made. No matter how much we loathe our politicians, we should not go around killing them, not even fictionally. They are real people like you and me, with families and loved ones. I am all for attacking them on their politics and bringing them to justice when they screw up. But what happened to going after the ball not the man?

Bob Dylan

2007-04-24T12:21:30+00:00

In 11 days I'll be going to me third Bob Dylan concert. The first two times were with my wife, this time I'm bringing my dad. I got him the ticket as a surprise pre-christmas present, and boy was he glad. So, now I'm hoping that his Bobness is up for it. The concert on the 5th is his last in europe before returning to the US.
I did the illustration for a promotional piece I'm working on. I have been in a mental slump for some weeks... I have had plenty of work to do, but I have not felt the same excitement doing it, as I used to. But while doing this Dylan illustration it starting coming back. Not that the illustration itself is anything to blow trumpets over... but it just felt good working on something I really care about. And I want more of this feeling.

Now I have probably have to spend the next week flipping through all the fantastic stuff I'm bound to have missed on drawger.

wash your hands and a duck

2007-03-28T09:39:41+00:00

i did this illustration a little over a month ago for Samvirke, one of the biggest monthly magazines in Denmark. i had worked for this AD a couple times before, but this was a few years ago ( i actually thought i was blacklisted due to some prior disagreements over a spot illu). it was a straight forward "how to wash your hands" illustration. eight small illustrations showing the rub and tuck of it all. quite fun to do actually, especially the water running between the fingers.

this one was for the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad. for an article about a new law that would force priest to baptise whoever wishes to be baptised. usually the priest have the final say, and they don't say no that often, but once in a while they will turn someone down, if they believe they are being baptised for the wrong reasons... much like my little rubber duck here.

Lets talk

2007-03-23T18:00:53+00:00

This was printed in today's edition of the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, for an article about coaching. Not really a topic that makes my inner water kettle boil... but still it's always nice to put ink on paper.

Another smoking illustration

2007-03-22T13:30:26+00:00

(this post was inspired by the beautiful smoking illustrations by Scott Bakal and Adam McCauley).
An AD I've worked with for steadily for the past 5-6 years (one of the really nice ones) called me last friday. She had a little rush job, a quaterpage. I was hesitant to accept because I already had more than enough to do. And I have promised myself and my wife to cut seriously back on working on weekends...
but the AD keeps sweet-talking me, you can do one of your more loose line drawings, no colors needed, and the topic was too zany to turn down. a smoking jacket. no, not the top part of a suit, but a jacket that would actually suck in your exhaled smoke to avoid causing any annoyance to your surrounding (let's get real, if that was ever a real concern for smokers they would just stop smoking). being a fanatic non-smoker myself, I accepted the job.
Today the magazine arrived in the mailbox. And my son even liked the way it looked... or maybe it was the "filthy smoke...cough cough, uhh I'm so disgusting" remarks that he liked... we'll never know.

2 in a row

2007-03-21T08:45:09+00:00

I did these two illustrations right before the weekend, and they were printed on friday and saturday in the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad.
The first one for an article about girls wanting to be grown (read sexy) too fast.
The second one was about how priests seem to take up a lot of room in the public debates, and they seem to have an opinion about everything... I couldn't really hide my own opinion on this one.

1, 2 or 3

2007-03-12T09:49:58+00:00

Just before the weekend a Danish minister starting talking about the Danes not giving birth to enough children. I think it's 1,8 per couple in Denmark. The female minister who is 34 and without any children (she says she is too busy to have any), suggested that we should all have 3 children, making my wife and I come in 2 children short of being good citizens. there was quite the public out roar telling the minister to mind her own f..king business, and improve day-care, child leave and just about everything related to having a child.
No legislation is even being suggested from this...no one really thinks the government should meddle in what happens beneath the sheets.
The illustration was for this theme, and was printed in The Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad this saturday. My idea was to show that the first two children was out of love and the third one was for Denmark.

Rush job

2007-03-09T18:39:36+00:00

About two weeks ago I was commissioned to do a full page illustration for a small Danish magazine. My plate was already pretty full, but I don't really like saying no. Two or three days later, my wife's grandmother dies. She was 89 and had lived her life to the fullest. Leaving many loving grandchildren and great grandchildren behind. the funeral was the day before the deadline, leaving me one day short to do the same amount of work. Work that seemed a bit irrelevant at this time. 4 assignments got done on time... and this one had slipped my mind with all the stuff going on... so an hour before before deadline I started this sketchy piece, added some colors to make it look a bit more finished and turned it in on time.
My wife's grandmother always said, the best way to avoid too much work is to do it right the first time.

Problem solving

2007-03-06T09:08:08+00:00

This illustration was printed in saturdays edition of the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, for an article about integration problems in Denmark. In retrospect I think it would fit the situation in Iraq as well, so I changed the text on the sign before posting it here.

Business 2.0

2007-02-26T19:36:57+00:00

About a month and a half ago, when I was really sick at the same time as my son, I was commissioned to do 5 illustrations for the magazine Business 2.0 , the illustrations were each suppose to be a little smaller than a quaterpage.
The designer at the magazine was really cool to work with, all changes were minor and all very understandable. I had to incorporate a specific color in each illustration, different color for each one, to go with the layout. A layout I had from the beginning, making everything a little bit easier to predict. After I turned in the finals, and the final changes were made, someone higher up in the food chain than the designer had a change of heart and the layout of all th pages were changed completely, leaving my illustrations in the size of spots.
Overall it was a really good experience, all though I prefer doing editorial work.
Here are the least poor of the five illustrations.

This is for Randy

2007-02-26T11:06:38+00:00

I want to show you some of the works of Danish graphic artist Palle Nielsen (1920-2000). When I was 19 or 20, an art teacher introduced me to his works during a linocut class. I was blown away then and continue to be now.
Palle Nielsen was a workingman's artist, refusing to number any of his prints, keeping the prices low and affordable to all.
There are a number of books published collecting his works, which include linocuts, lithographs, brush drawings, watercolors.
I hope you will enjoy these, they are some of my favourites.

Medical castration

2007-02-24T08:04:22+00:00

Here's a little morning topic for all you morning risers out there :)
No seriously, I did this illustration a couple of days ago for today's edition of the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad. The article is about medical castration of convicted pedophiles. This was a really though one to do. If there is something that gets my inner Hulk going green, it's the thought of someone hurting children. So naturally most of my initial ideas were way out there... I scrapped them all, they were too brutal and over the top, and very unsuited for publication. I had to take a long break, another hit from the mighty Coca Cola and try to make sure I was visually communicating the topic, and not just my own feelings.
So I settled on a less vicious one.

Is there anybody out there?

2007-02-23T08:29:02+00:00

This illustration is printed in today's edition of the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad. It's about increasing your chances of being heard.

Gold eggs

2007-02-17T11:53:13+00:00

I did this illustration for an article about women selling their eggs ( the ones that can become little babies), and how much they should be paid for this. Should the payment be purely symbolic, like the payment for a sperm donor or should the payment be of a more substantial size, and thereby increase the number of egg donors.
The illustration ran with the article in today's edition of the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad.

Strays

2007-02-13T10:29:10+00:00

A little collection of doodles, all done while I should have been thinking a little bit harder, about the assignment I was working on at the time. Usually I print out the specs and text for an assignment, to avoid staring at the screen to much. And with a simple ball-point pen in hand I start reading and jotting down ideas (if any pop up), and within a couple of minutes my hand and the pen get restless and the doodles start to appear.
None of the ones I have scanned here have anything to do with any assignment. Therefore I call them strays... not that they should be neutered. (some adult material has been edited out)

school uniform

2007-02-12T14:26:45+00:00

This was for an article in the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad. Should schools be allowed to put restrictions on what the students could wear to school. And my take on this was that the only real "uniform" teacher And parents should make sure the students wore... were their brains.

Not a lot of room for being romantic

2007-02-11T15:47:46+00:00

I just returned from a small 3 day vacation, and ran straight for the mac to show you guys this illustration. It ran in fridays edition of the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad as a section cover. The article was about how the media, the sex industry, magazines and so on, seem to have confused us all about want we really want from our love life.

cat got your tongue?

2007-02-05T08:40:36+00:00

I have not posted for a while. I have been sick a couple of times and been really busy most of the time.
The illustration shown here was printed on saturday in the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad, for an article about, if the Danish government should pass legislation to try to protect the Danish language from the massive influence English/American.
I did the illustration rather fast, and I'm quite pleased with the result (so was the paper).

The muslim brotherhood

2007-01-13T12:41:40+00:00

I did this illustration a few days ago, and it was printed in today's edition of the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad. It was for an article about the coming Egyptian election and the possible part the muslim brotherhood would play in the election (if they are allowed to take part in the election). Depending on who you ask some believe that the muslim brotherhood is ready for a more democratic way of seeing things and yet others believe that they would want a sharia rule, much like the one a few years back in Afghanistan.

Andr� Franquin

2007-01-10T19:03:41+00:00

This is a small tribute to André Franquin. If you like what you see here, you can find loads of information about the great and late artist at these links:
http://www.franquin.com/
http://lambiek.net/artists/f/franquin_andre.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Franquin

I grew up with Franquins stories about Spirou and Fantasio, of course Herge's stories about Tintin (already excellently covered by Rob).
For some of you, these samples might get a bit too cartoony, buy most of you are sure to get a real kick out of them.
The illustrations I have chosen to show here are from the late 60's, and the reason they are without text and color, is because I have scanned them from the french book: Franquin, et crea la gaffe. Absolutely worth a look.
Enjoy.

Iraqi refugees

2007-01-05T08:56:47+00:00

this illustration is for an ongoing debate in denmark right now. close to 500 iraqi refugees are currently staying in denmark, and they are about to be flown back to iraq. this is because they came here BEFORE the latest iraq war started, and therefore apparently had no valid grounds to be granted asylum. then the war started, and one would think that kinda changed things... but no. since it's very important for the danish government (part of the coalition, based in basra) to convey the felling that things are really improving in iraq, they are telling everyone that they are sending the Iraqis home cause it's safe and no harm will come to them. i guess they are not reading and watching the same news as the rest of us.

The last place for solitude

2007-01-03T09:23:18+00:00

I did this illustration about 3 weeks ago for an article in the Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad. The article deals with the fact that the bathroom seems to be the only room left in the house, where you be alone for a few minutes. A chance to rest your ears and visit your private oasis.

My first time

2006-12-26T14:19:07+00:00

First of all, a heartfelt Merry Christmas to everyone and huge thanks for the invite to Drawger. I am very proud to be a part of this unique group.
It has been a crazy last week. way to much work to get done before the holidays, a 2 day visit from Australia, a day in sick in bed and still no Christmas present for my wife.
Well I got the assignments done (the one above was the very last one, and I could really relate to the polar bear), my visitor travelled on, I got well again and miraculous found a really nice gift for my wife... and on top of it all, Edel send me an email about the Drawger invite, before I even got it.
Now that's what I call Christmas. And I'm more than sure that it's going to be a very happy new year.