Hanna Strömberg

Jewish Images in the Comics

2012-02-21T16:40:00.000+01:00

I recently made an illustration for the inside title page of Fredrik Strömberg's book "Jewish Images in the Comics", which will be published by Fantagraphics pretty soon. He asked me to draw a picture where half of it is a realistic portrait of a normal person and the other half an antisemitic caricature of a Jew, the way they have often been depicted in cartoons and comics.

'Once Upon a Time in Morningside' coming along nicely

2012-02-21T03:04:00.001+01:00

The first chapters of Once Upon a Time in Morningside, the book I am working on together with Sean Michael Wilson, are colored now. Here's a sneak peak of a spread:

Click to enlarge!

I chose to keep it simple, with two shades of grey - made with ink wash, which I afterwards worked on in Photoshop.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-22T19:11:00.000+01:00

Pussycat

2011-12-11T19:44:00.001+01:00

My husband and stepson were making saffron buns the other day. This is a Swedish Christmas tradition and they're called Lussekatter - Lusse-cats. They're made in different traditional shapes, cats and other things. My stepson was, however, making one in the shape of a weiner, so he asked me to make a Lusse-vagina. Fair enough. A lusse-pussy, you might say.

Autumn!

2011-10-26T20:48:00.001+02:00

The hills are alive with the... color of leaves! Which means it's time to paint some stuff. This is oil on canvas, about 40x60cm.

Notice the pretty water drops! It's a good thing the paint isn't water soluble.

Number one: The larch. The larch.

Once Upon a Time in Morningside

2011-08-29T19:39:00.001+02:00

I am working right now on the art for a graphic novel written by Sean Michael Wilson. It's called Once Upon a Time in Morningside and is a collection of memories from Sean's childhood in the Edinburgh district of Morningside.

Here are a couple of pages from the first chapter, with adult Sean walking down his old street, finding the house where he grew up:

This book, once it is finished, will most likely be published both in digital form and as a book. I will keep you posted!

Work in progress: Oak tree

2011-05-26T15:51:00.000+02:00

Oil on canvas, ca 30 x 40 cm

The first spring in our summer cottage has been very exciting so far, seeing which plants are what and watching everything grow. The last tree to bud is the old oak tree on the far side of the ... uh, yard is the wrong word here. At the bottom of the hill. Here's a painting I'm making of it.

'Tis the season...

2011-05-09T11:27:00.000+02:00

Finally, the season for painting outdoors has started!

Oil on canvas, 50x65cm.

Oil on canvas, 65x85cm. Not finished!

Group photo of the three pictures I've been working on this weekend! The small one is for the cover of a graphic novel I'm working on. I'll write more about that later on.

Bluesmen only get better with age!

2011-04-09T19:02:00.005+02:00

Happy 50th birthday, Patrik Norrman! May you live long and prosper, and become one of those 90-year old guys still playing.

100 questions?! No, not quite.

2011-04-07T00:03:00.000+02:00

An entry in Swedish! But not to worry, it is not essential that you read it.
The illustration has nothing to do with the text and is a panel from a comic that I'm working on, which I will write more about later on.

Hur orkar man skriva eller läsa HUNDRA FRÅGOR?! Detta snodde jag från Stef Gaines’ blogg, men hundra är lite väl många så jag har tagit bort några frågor.

Well, here goes:

1. Hur gammal är du om fem år?  41.

3. Hur lång är du?  178

4. Vilken är den senaste filmen du sett?  Shirin, av Abbas Kiarostami. Cool film! Han säger att han gillar filmer som låter en ta små tupplurer under filmen, men som stannar i medvetandet under lång tid. Sådan var den!

5. Vem ringde du senast?  Min make.

6. Vem ringde dig senast?  Min make.

7. Hur löd det senaste sms:et du fick?  ”På väg?” Från maken, helt otippat.

13. Vilken är din favoritjulsång?  O Helga Natt, men det måste vara Jussi Björling som sjunger!

17. Vad skrämde dig om natten som barn?  En klädhängare. Den var en sådan som sticker ut från väggen och har krokar åt alla håll, och så var den fullastad med kläder, så den såg ut som en stor gestalt.

18. Vad fick dig verkligen att skratta senast?  http://www.dockhusanimation.com/karlakarlarna.html

21. Sover du med eller utan kläder på dig?  Låt mig säga så här: jag sover ihop med en som emanerar värme som fem stålsmältverk.

23. Hur många landskap har du bott i?  Tre, och i tre övriga länder.

24. Vilka städer har du bott i?  I kronologisk ordning: Lund, Menlo Park, Lund, Austin, Lund, Freiburg im Breisgau, Stockholm, Upplands Väsby, Lund, Bergen, Nantes, Göteborg, Malmö.

25. Föredrar du skor, strumpor eller barfota?  Ulltofflor modell gubbe.

33. Kan du spela poker?  Det var ett tag sedan, och då spelade jag seven-card stud. Det minns jag inte hur man gör, det var något med två öppna kort.

34. Tycker du om att mysa/kela?  Dude, totally.

35. Är du en beroendemänniska?  Dude, totally. Men är helnykterist så det gör inte så mycket.

36. Känner du någon med samma födelsedag som din?  Ja, jag hade en mycket god vän med samma födelsedag som jag, men han dog tyvärr. Saknar honom! Sedan känner jag ytterligare ett par-tre personer med den dagen. En populär dag!

38. Kan du några andra språk än svenska?  Dude, totally. Norska, tyska, engelska (pga att ha bott i dessa länder), franska (pga skolan och att ha bott där.) Men franska är svårare och kräver viss startsträcka.

41. Vad spenderar du helst pengar på?  Grejer som gör livet jättemycket bättre, typ en sommarstuga och en elektrisk pennvässare.

47. Vad har du för ringsignal?  Kvack!

48. Har du kvar klädesplagg från då du var liten?  Ja, en tröja från Alcatraz. Den är rätt sleten nu, kan man säga.

49. Vad har du närmast dig just nu som är rött?  Det blir delad förstaplats mellan en liten modell av Kalle Ankas bil och ett par hantlar.

53. Vilken var den senaste boken du läste?  Small Gods av Terry Pratchett pågår nu. Lite seg men den börjar ta sig.

54. Läser du dagstidningen?  Vi fick några månaders Sydsvenskan i julklapp, så den läser jag nuförtiden. Det är skumt. Alla nyheter som står i den har jag läst flera dagar tidigare på nätet. Men jag såg en annons för en möbel, och åkte och köpte den. Det har nog aldrig hänt förut.

58. Vad var det senaste du krafsade ner på ett papper? ”annan gul?”

59. När var du i kyrkan senast? En gång ville jag in i Berliner Dom men det kostade pengar så de kunde de fetglömma!

60. Vem var din favoritlärare på högstadiet?  Högstadiet? När var det? Öh? Ingen aning.

61. Hur länge har du campat som längst i ett tält?  Tre veckor i svenska fjällen. Och en gång gjorde jag och några vänner en roadtrip i två månader i Australien, men vi blandade tältning med hotellning, så det räknas väl inte.

64. Har du varit med i tidningen? Ja, på en mingelsida i Svensk Damtidning. Och en skånsk dagstidning när jag skulle till fjällen. Och en stockholmstidning när jag ritat en bild. Fast då var det inte jag på bilden, utan bilden...

67. Vad är det för färg på din tandborste?  Svart, för jag är så fräck!

68. Hur imponerar man på dig?  Genom att vara jätteklok eller rita jättebra. Eller skriva, som min syster gjorde häromdagen!

77. Vilket är ditt drömjobb?  Konstnär.

78. Finns det något du verkligen skulle vilja göra men inte haft tillfälle, tid eller råd till?  Bli jätterik samt bara vara glad alltid.

79. Vad har du haft för husdjur under ditt liv?  En katt som hette Tussan.

80. Berätta tre saker som dina läsare antagligen inte vet om dig?  Jag kan spela Bridge Over Troubled Waters på piano. Jag använder hårbalsam av märket ”Shrek den tredje”. Jag stod en gång ganska länge och väntade på en buss i Bö i Telemark.

81. Svär du ofta?  Lite väl ofta. Närvaro av barn brukar hjälpa.

85. Vad har du för utbildning?  Konsthögskola.

Deconstructing Christmas

2011-01-16T12:13:00.002+01:00

Click here to see an animation of us taking down the Christmas tree!
EDIT: Now there's sound!

Notice the bird's nest halfway up the tree trunk. It ended up a decoration in the kitchen window:

Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T21:24:00.002+01:00

Here's a recap of the very exciting year 2010:
Click to enlarge!

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-23T11:52:00.000+01:00

Then and now

2010-12-06T22:14:00.000+01:00

Some changes have happened since september, when I painted these:

Oil on canvas, 125x55cm

35cm of snow

Call of the wild

2010-11-07T17:05:00.001+01:00

Here are some better pics of the paintings from the previous entry. Click to enlarge! Contact me to buy!

Oil on canvas, 45x71cm

Oil on canvas, 56x56cm

Oil on canvas, 125x55cm, painted among furry beasts

Landscape painting!

2010-10-19T17:41:00.000+02:00

I have spent the weekend painting in my summer cottage. I bet my family thought they got a house with a porch. It is in fact a house with an external studio attached to it.

This one I painted in the wild, with risk to life and limb, among the bloodthirsty Hereford cattle.

Mr. Diös again...

2010-09-20T19:41:00.001+02:00

Well, it seems like every entry these days is about Stefan Diös.
Oh, well. This summer he turned 50 and I drew a comic about him. Here are a few panels:

Click to enlarge!

He will next week receive the Unghunden award from the Swedish Comics Association, for his work as Donald Duck translator. More on that here.

More Stefan Diös for the masses!

2010-06-29T19:40:00.002+02:00

My good friend Stefan Diös, of whom I made a caricature for the Swedish Donald Duck website, reminded me that I've drawn him before:

He apparently uses one of these as an avatar at some Scrabble site. It must be 15 years ago that I drew it!

EDIT: Eight years ago. I stand corrected. Thanks, Stefan.

Tires again

2010-05-17T13:00:00.000+02:00

Making progress with the moonlit beach.

Tires on Moonlit Beach

2010-04-30T00:26:00.007+02:00

Remember my tire series? Check out "Tires at Sunset" here and here.

Now I've started tire painting #2: Tires on Moonlit Beach.

Really hard to photograph in the middle of the night, sorry! The finished product will get better photos than this.
I'm painting on the floor now because my temporary easel sucks! But I found a guy on the internet who builds easels just the way I want them, so I ordered one. But sitting on the floor ain't half bad, actually, it's way better than sitting on a chair and painting.

A busty portrait

2010-04-22T15:35:00.000+02:00

As you might have noticed, I've made many portraits of my husband. For one thing, he's easily available, and another thing, I like the shape of his head. This one I gave him for his fortieth birthday. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, and he said "A portrait", but I don't really think he was expecting a bust.

Kristoffer Appelquist DVD

2010-04-17T12:35:00.010+02:00

I recently made the cover art and layout for a DVD by comedian Kristoffer Appelquist.
Front:

Back:

Label:

Click to enlarge!
This project was all kinds of fun, because 1) I had to look at a bunch of youtube clips of Kristoffer in order to get the caricature right. And he is very funny. 2) because Kristoffer was excellent to work with, he had good input and was easy to work with. And obviously 3) it was a fun picture to draw!
Here is Kristoffer's blog.

Ink practice

2010-04-12T18:54:00.001+02:00

Practicing drawing with a steel nib (is that the right word? the kind of metal pen that you dip in ink? According to my dictionary it is.). I started out with the nib because I was afraid inking with a paintbrush would be really hard. But it turned out it wasn't so bad once I tried it.
I attached this picture to a Christmas present for my husband - to inform him that the book he received included a person reading it aloud.

Swedish Comics History

2010-04-07T20:59:00.005+02:00

Today was a really exciting day. The book Swedish Comics History arrived from the printers.

Why is this exciting, you ask? Why, because it has utter awesomeness between its covers. I am talking about this illustration:

It is a picture I drew of the Swedish comics characters "Mannen som gör vad som faller honom in", Adamson, 91:an, Bamse, Socker-Conny and Nina Hemmingsson's nameless character.

Click to enlarge! It was really fun to draw, because I had to study the technique and temperament of each artist - and it turned out I have a knack for it! The very day after I made this, I actually got another commission for a drawing in a famous comics artist's style. But more about that later on, it will get its own entry.

Of course, there is other awesomeness in the book as well. It is a short history, in English, about the comics culture in Sweden. It is published by The Swedish Comics Association and distributed in the US by Top Shelf. Read it! More information at the author's blog: www.sekventiellt.se.

The man, the myth...

2010-04-07T20:40:00.000+02:00

A while back, I made a Disney style caricature of my very good friend Stefan Diös. This is used at Donald Duck's Swedish web site and facebook page, where Stefan writes a column about nerd stuff Duckburg and its inhabitants. Stefan is an inexhaustible source of interesting Donald Duck trivia, and certainly has the gift of gab, so this is definitely a nice addition to the site! Here's the picture:

And here and here is the first article.