This time I have made a flower growing out of a kind of ball or planet-like ring. I actually came up with the design after putting a cup of coffee on my notebook and it made a circular stain - the planet - as I called it.

The plant growing out of the planet - good name for this design – especially if I make it into a painting in the future - oil or aquarelle. I will tell you – and post it on wohill.com - if I get the time and inspiration to do it some day. I think the plant is growing in a nice twirling way.

I have drawn this design in ink on the back of my Moleskine notebook.

A lot of wallpapers, ads, and clothes are filled with graphic patterns. Even old buildings and museums have lots of shapes and inspirational forms. Take a look when you are walking down the street next time – give a glance up in old building ceilings. You will see a lot of very well made things. There are exceptions to the rule… but you will be inspired in some way.

The other day my good friend Hasse was going to make a party invitation for Michaela. Of course, I would like to assist. So he needed a nice pattern that had a good flow and gave that free feeling that this invitation should have. I made some twirls and dots as you can see. It’s going to be a two colour-print so the graphics had to be only one or two colours.

So maybe this pattern will inspire you too in some way. I might even use it for Wohill.

Hope Michaela gets to have a great party!

The other day was a long day and I felt like just sitting down to draw for a bit. What better than to draw somebody sitting down too. Not completely tired but enough to want to sit down and rest – that kind of feeling. I drew one or to inner lines also to give something extra to the mans dynamics. Or a more three dimensional kind of look – without making him in to a 3D model of course.

The little man in the top left-hand corner also has a block behind him to enhance the feeling of perspective and depth of the picture. I used that block mainly in the beginning to see how I wanted the man to sit.

Take a break now and again – from today’s stress. So you can go even faster when you stand up again.

As you might have gathered by now I sit and draw when I am on the phone. Maybe not when I’m in the car, but otherwise, I usually grab a pen and paper. This time I made a little tulip study while I was talking. There was a bunch of tulips in a vase in front of me on the table - pinkish in their colour and a lot of green leaves. They had been standing there for a few days – so the flower had over-bloomed a bit and opened up. Some of the tips of the leaves had curled, as you can see from one of the leaves I have drawn.

I wrote “tulip” too - just to give it a “pen” or sketch feeling. I made the slight shadows in pen – and just gave it some colour in Photoshop after scanning it - so you can get an idea of the colours I saw, while I was sitting babbling on the phone.

I have several sketch-books and papers that I draw in nearly everywhere I go. So this is the cover of a “Moleskine” sketchbook. The skull is drawn with a marker from “Copic” - very nice feeling to draw with actually. The marker also has two different tips or ends – one broad one and one thinner version. This gives you the possibility to make details with the thin end and more filling out with the broad one. But best of all you get it to stay in the same colour-scheme since the marker has the same colour. It’s a nice flow to the marker - good paint or colour flow. The “Copic” logotype is a bit boring – but I guess one could say it is classic and practical because you are able to read what it says.

I made a little shadow in pencil underneath to make it look like a floating skull. The yellow colour close to the edge is to give the skull a bit more depth – a bit more dimension.

I have been on the phone a lot lately. Who hasn’t? Today - compared to my childhood – sure, I was on the phone then too – but only when I was at home. Now I’m always at home or at least always on my telephone. So if one calls, I answer 99% of the times. This brings a lot of time-changes and checking to hear if people are there, and not setting as many exact time-dates as before. You just say: I’ll give you a call when I’m getting closer!

The ringing and calling people everywhere doesn’t stop me from drawing when I’m on the phone. Now – of course, not when I’m driving… but almost every other time I get a chance.

This time I made another face. A “Joker”-like face. I made it in ink and inverted it after scanning it – this gave it a little cooler look – on black in green.

Orchids exist in thousands of species and of course have a lot of different shapes. The other day I was on the phone having a long conversation, but still felt like drawing. You know – phone-doodles or just sitting sketching something when you are on the phone - lots of different things do in fact come up when talking on the phone! So, as I was sitting by the kitchen table and had an orchid in front of me, I thought I would take the chance to do a study of the plant itself – and not so much of the flower. I don’t really remember what was said on the phone, but I do have a plant sketch anyway.

The plant and its leaves have many lovely graphic shapes and forms.

Christmas has arrived and I sat here sketching away and all of a sudden I realize that I have started sketching a face that looks like Father Christmas - funny how the surrounding world can affect you like this. I have given him a dominant and powerful look. Maybe even a tattoo-“ish” style one could say. Maybe Santa Clause isn’t the most usual tattoo - but why not?

It is of course the red on his white face that enhances his Christmas-look - the big moustache and the beard also show the modern day look of Santa.

Hopefully you will have a great Christmas!

Christmas is coming and everywhere you look the Christmas-spirit is blooming. The windows in Sweden often have small lights lit – like a step-formation I would say. All the big stores and store windows have Santa Claus or elves in them – lots of parcels everywhere. People are running all over the place to get set for Christmas.

Not very many take the time to listen to some nice carols or something like that… or at least I would say that round about Christmas they are very nice to hear. After a few weeks of hearing them one can of course feel that they get on your nerves - but before X-mas like this – why not?

So I drew some “Carollers” singing. I mostly see these in Walt Disney cartoons or maybe in some old movies. Nowadays I haven’t seen anyone out on the street-corner singing - maybe some school-kids trying to make a buck – on the other hand these songs are playing everywhere.

If you feel like getting the lyrics or listening to some on your computer you should check out following links.

Mp3lyrics
Christmas carols
Christmas-carnivals
Carols.org.uk


Merry Christmas!

A couple of weeks ago we got lots and lots of snow. It looked like in a story-book. A landscape all white – trees, everything covered. Very pretty I must say - and if you were out walking in the dark evening or at night – the reflection from the full moon gave a beautiful look. Now it has all melted away and no more snow – only rain!

So I took this drawing I made last summer – to illustrate the feeling that one carries around a rain cloud all the time - instead of one containing snow. I actually made this sketch for my good friend “Nippe” who also has been guest-blogging here on Wohill (with photography). He kept year after year choosing his vacation on the rainy days of the summer - but this summer the curse was broken.

Maybe it will snow at Christmas!
Need the weather-forcast?

I was sitting sketching and scribbling yesterday and only had a pencil with me. Now I’m writing down some notes and have found a red pencil… so I have added some red to this duck I was sketching and then he got a bit of a crazy look. Really – this seemed to agree with the mood I saw a man in just a little further away in the coffee-shop I was sitting in.

I would have turned into a mad duck too if I had to wait any longer for my meeting to start.

The thing is that, sometimes, black on white paper is very traditional and it feels like it will last forever - but as you might see a two-colour sketch gives very nice clear impact.

Quack quack!

I occasionally go to meetings here and there – who doesn’t… Sometimes people like to go to meetings hoping that they don’t have to sit there at desk and work. Maybe they don’t like what they work with or are bored in some kind of way. These people tend to drag out meetings a lot. Now I’m not saying that I don’t like meetings – because I do. It’s just that I don’t like meetings that take far too long, or nothing important is said. I would rather sit down and know that the meeting isn’t to get on further with the project – it’s just a meeting to chat and get to know each other better. If you really want to get down to it – it should only take a few minutes to establish what you or your client wants…

This is why my thoughts sometimes wander off. This time I started sketching a face… a face with a strong expression – a caricature?

I think that after designing lots of different things that have to do with eating – it is about time to show some hungry Vikings. I posted one the other day that was all set to get out and get some food. So these two are prepared to eat.

I used these to illustrate an information-film a while back. They are just as you see - meant to sit and wait to for food that they can eat. Don’t really now if they have been hunting or if they have been on some kind of raid and collected lots of treasures and food - but that is up to your imagination.

Lunch-time! Let’s go eat.

If you have grown up close to the woods, or even been out for walks in the woods, you know there are nice edible mushrooms everywhere. Of course there are a few that you probably shouldn’t eat. Our guest blogger Nippe likes the “mushroom-hunt” – he doesn’t like to eat them but he likes going round in the woods looking for them… So by the way does Niklas – Wohill’s ”development-guy” - but I think Niklas is fond of making wonderful dishes with mushrooms.

So I thought I would draw some mushrooms for them - so they can have a look at this design and get inspired to go mushroom-hunting.

These are growing mushrooms that pop out of each other.

Enjoy nature!

I have grown up with Halloween - preparing the pumpkin, hanging up lights, candles and witches -lots of things that thrilled any kind of young boy I guess. It’s a very interesting time of the year – the nights are coming quicker day-by-day and it’s becoming more like Halloween by the minute.

A lot of cool characters show up at Halloween – ghost-like and everything from scary to funny. A good example is the film “Nightmare before Christmas” - lots of great characters and made in a fascinating way.

This pumpkin I made to give you some Halloween-spirit. A big grin, dark clothing and a scythe instead of a broomstick…

Happy Halloween!

A fearsome way of living - great travellers – well the Vikings must have led a tough life. There must have been a lot of sailing and rowing, lots of time at sea, lots of fighting and killing for a living – or survival. The Vikings have been portrayed in many different ways - mostly with horns on their helmets and beards and big swords.

So I thought it would be nice to draw a Viking that has a bit of a cartoon feeling - big belly, big sword, big shield… well big in general. Still pretty short to give him a bit more of a funny kind of look.

The Vikings had many different gods that they worshipped. Today, one might even say they more resemble fairytales from the past. I’ll see if I can do some more drawings in the future based on some of the old sayings.

Till then – look out for the mighty Vikings.

I have been drawing a lot of sketches lately. This is because it is the first stage of the picture or design I am going to make. Sometimes I draw something that I will use much later and sometimes I will go on and take it a bit further – such as making it vectorised in Illustrator. Or sometimes I go out and photograph what I need and then put it together in Photoshop. Whatever the outcome I usually start out on paper – sketching.

This time I have tried to capture the feeling of a wave starting to roll over you - or slowly form the shape of a tube. Just that moment when you let the wave catch up with you - this moment when you just let the rest of the world go… Just this roar from the ocean – but yet this moment of silence. Now if the truth be told and as you might have gathered by reading some of my other surf thoughts, I don’t really experience this every day. Only on a tiny little scale in the smallest waves… but when you watch the BIG guys do it - you almost get the feeling that you are there.

So – like me, keep up the dreams – one day that might just be you.

There are so many different ways of expressing your feelings and showing people what you feel like - as I mentioned earlier when designing another facial expression.

This time I have designed a silhouette partly inspired by my own face. Just again wanting you to see how some simple lines can give you a feeling of what the person is thinking just in that moment. Now, of course, it is the eye of the beholder that decides what he or she feels. Still it is very interesting to see how colour also gives you an entirely different point of view - even though the lines are exactly the same.

The red haired head feels more intense than the orange one, but yet they are so alike. The blue naturally gives you a cooler look – and since the head is tilted slightly forward - it also gives you the feeling that it really wants something with its definite stare.

Looking out early in the morning over fresh snow… Can you beat that feeling? The urge is to get out and make your mark in the snow. Carving down hillsides or maybe mountains if you please! Just that early morning when the sun is rising, the sky is blue and you grab your board to head out for some great riding.

Carving down the slopes maybe even catching some air-time - like the snowboarding dude I made here. Grabbing the board – letting the wind flow through your hair. Just pushing it that little bit extra.

Now this could mean that you will end up tumbling down the slope looking like a snowman - but it is just that thin line, between success and failure, that gives you that extra feeling of lust to push a bit harder…

Enjoy riding!

This time I have something from my sketch-book, where I make notes and write down what there is to do and what not. Most of all it gets filled with lots of sketches. After the meeting I usually sit down and go through my notes or mind-maps if you wish.

Meetings all day long and far too long meetings by the way… you sit and wonder what kind of weather it is and what you are going to do as soon as you get out of the meeting. Finally I got out and had had a meeting where one of the ladies there had big hair - or just a bad hair-day. It was flowing everywhere.

So what that did was that I felt like sketching a “flowy” kind of hair-style. The flow even runs down into the dress - a nonchalant look just as she is about to say something.

Most important is said in the first 5 minutes of the meeting – the rest… well you tell me.

I have been out and about this summer. There are very many nice islands in the archipelago – some of them have beautiful meadows with lots of green grass and flowers. You can feel the scent of the flowers from far away. Cows are walking around and munching away on the grass. Nice coats they have and a very country-like feeling there is when they walk through the grass to find more to eat. Cows that are used to be free grazing like this seem to enjoy their life a lot. Sunshine, water and grass - what could they more want? Hopefully they are milking cows!

When you pass by this picturesque view it encourages you to draw a cow. Or in this case a cow’s-head. Maybe even humming “Old McDonald had a farm… “E-I-E-I-O …” or maybe not so much singing – no, more humming.

This cow’s-head is made in black and white, which I would say, is a very cow-like combo of colours. It still very clearly shows it’s a cow. The expression that I have given the cow is made to look a bit corny so it gives you a bit of a cartoon-character look - maybe even chewing away on some fresh grass.

I think that I was only a few months old when my father took me flying. He was a member, and still is, of a flying-club that had a few aeroplanes. The model my father flew was the Piper cub. The one we flew was originally red and white and a two-seater plane. Through the years he has brought me along to fly in it may times. It’s an amazing experience. Flying in bigger planes is nice too but these small two-seater ones are a bit special. You really get the flying feeling. The wind is whizzing by and you hear the engine roaring.

The original Piper Cub was black and yellow. My father’s flying-club later got one of those. It too was very cool and looked like a sporty bird. This time I made a bird in just those colours. A bird feeling like it is all over the place - a bit torn and rugged – but still bright yellow and midnight black. The bird is stretching out its claws to grab something on the ground or in the air. I wanted it to be full of action and feel like a predator hunting its prey.

Maybe you feel like flying too!

A few years ago I went to Mexico to Costa Azul. It was time for a vacation and some surfing. I was there with my family, and of course, my surfing Uncle. He surfs almost every day and is pretty good too. So he had recommended this wonderful surf-spot that was close to where we were going to stay. My cousin had booked a super house with all that and then some.

My Uncle and I were out waiting to catch some waves. You know – sitting, waiting, dangling your legs and enjoying every second. I turn around for a few seconds to check out the beach. When turning my head back I saw a fin swimming towards me on my board. I was startled and thought of the movie “JAWS” right away. The fin disappeared and I saw something passing just under my board… There where several of them too. A relief I would say when I discovered that there were dolphins playing under me. They were surfing the waves just like us. Really nice to see them swim and ride the waves - extremely powerful swimmers, especially compared to my paddling on the board.

As you can see - this made me think of drawing a dolphin.

There are lots of different fantastic parts of the world - many wonderful places to enjoy, travel to or live in. Everybody, of course, doesn’t get the chance or have the possibility to travel around to see the world.

Sometimes you read about something or see something that you like on television or the net - places that you would love to travel to. I myself have lots of places that I would love to travel to. Some of them are places I have already been to - that doesn’t make them less desirable to visit again.

The funny thing is that a lot of places that you hear of have different stories or tales that you think are fantastic – they make you want to go there even more. Sometimes there will be mix-ups the more often the tale is told - and more often than not, it is the wrong tale - and this wrong tale can keep on being told. One example could be the mix-up between Sweden and Switzerland. Some people think it is the same place… They both are situated in Europe and both are beautiful places to visit - but otherwise they are totally different.

So this time I designed a little mixture of them both: the very classic “Dalahäst” (Dala-horse or Dalecarlian horse) from Sweden - made in the province of Dalarna - and the Swiss flag - the square red flag with the white cross in the middle. It is a little fun combo to remind you and make you curious enough to find out more about the different countries.

Happy travelling!

Shadows have lots of different ways in which they can appear. You can have tall or short shadows or even wide shadows. They can follow you around or they can merge into other shadows and make really neat patterns. That might be where I get some of my inspiration for my pattern-designs. Shadows can be fun or maybe even be used in horror-movies as frightening - everything or anything to thrill the audience.

So this design is strongest in black and with tone – so one clearly can see the shadows.
These people are standing or walking towards the same goal. They are female and male figures. I have used a blurred picture as inspiration for this design… Or at least in the beginning - it was two people. Then I made it into a crowd. I thought it gave more impact that way. Either it could be interpreted as zombie-like people that are moving slowly forward - or another feeling could be a crowd watching something happen in the distance – and they are curious and walking towards whatever they were looking at.

The picture as a whole would be nice on canvas too… Might try to give you some more different versions of shadows in the future.

Is someone following you… is it your shadow?

Looking out over the horizon – a blue sky, waves roaring, echoing sounds of waves pounding on the beach - beautiful shapes – water spraying – colours flowing… there’s lots to see and take in. One can stand for hours watching the powerful ocean. I have been fortunate to see lots of different corners of the world - but somehow I enjoy coming back to the sea. Maybe it’s nature’s force that thrills the mind. It could even be hiking in the Rockies or sailing in the archipelago or skiing in the Alps – it must be the force of nature that gives you the natural high.

Back to the symbol that this time shows a wave in a stylistic kind of way. The different colours of blue give the symbol depth. You can see into the eye of the wave. If you are a surfer - you might have been fortunate enough to have ridden a tube like that – or maybe you just have had the opportunity to be bodysurfing on a little wave and got a glimpse of that tube.

The three tongues show how the water rushes up into and over the wave, which is then ready to close and maybe throw you off the lip…

Surf’s up!

Expressing yourself is important. To show the surrounding world what you are thinking - or even just the people close by. Every time you spread your feeling in the room, or world you are in – you can send out good or bad vibes. Sending good ones I would recommend anyway. It spreads in a nice way. A lot is easy to read from facial expression. I like designing a lot of different facial looks. The face is normally what one looks at first or tries to take contact with. This makes it easy to read what that person is feeling right then and there. There are exceptions - where people don’t want to give away emotions – poker for instance. If you are hanging out with friends and family it is more common that you show your daily status.

This face is pretty hard and doesn’t want to give away too much – on the other hand you can look at it - as this face has a fear of giving away too much. That’s why it is so stiff and shows so little emotion. As you might notice - you don’t need very many sketched lines to express this feeling.

Keep on smiling and the world around you will too.

If you are joining for the first time or have been hanging around reading and looking at the different designs I have made the last month or so – you shall now also meet the person just as responsible for this design-experience as myself. Meet Nic. He is “all development” and an expert on web-technology. We started Wohill because we wanted, and still want, to share this site with people all over the place. My own speciality is design and art – and, as I mentioned, Nic’s favourite things are web-developments. Nic will also join in now and then explaining somewhat more technological things - such as – different good things that make this site interesting, efficient, searchable on the web and exposing my art and designs. I think we are a great combo.

The design I made for this occasion is made in black and white – it gives more impact that way. It’s almost like black and white photographs – they are a bit timeless. The blunt style of the two characters shows our main characteristics and gives a nice graphic logotype look. Also showing two faces repeatedly gives a massive and alive feeling - describing us and Wohill in a very good way.

Surfers often talk about the perfect wave. I guess everyone has their own definition of this perfect wave. Especially if you don�t surf ”Big wave contest” on a regular day basis. Most people who see an enormous wave on the front of a magazine with a person standing in the middle of the picture, no bigger than a little finger in proportion to the magazine, will at least feel how impressive nature can be. Even though these giants exist one can be pretty happy catching a smaller wave even if it�s a bit washy and no more than a couple of feet high…

Here I have drawn a wave with a very graphic feeling. Different blue colours and lots of circles and dots to give you a little thought towards - perfect wave. The shapes give an organic and flowing look. That makes the wave look big and fast. The wallpaper, under the header ”Wallpaper”, shows some text too. This I felt could be for a poster advertising a new movie or film about the great seas and oceans as well as the perfect spots in the world. The direction I chose here is much more calm than if one had done it more like the style I did for ”The Circle of Action” the other day. So this graphic version is more of an opposite to enhance the right feeling. Danger versus calmness.

It has a very nice coastline and wonderful surf-spots – with lot of surf and skate art in the area. So I did a little more of a skate / skull / surf-inspired design today. A bit more radical, one could say, or just a bit more ruff. Black as base-colour doesn’t mean that it is bad, or mean, in any way nowadays. Maybe an older public would think of it more as “something out there” or something from the dark side. Nowadays it is more likely to be found on just regular street-wear. There are many brands out today that give a more aggressive look. Like for example extreme – sport clothing. Then I guess it’s up to you to say what is extreme – sport and what is not. The red stands out very well in the blackish grey environment. The calligraphy suits the skull that is outlined in the background. To give it a broader feeling and a kind of electric look I have added some sparks or lines that come out behind the head. Another focal-point is the red dot behind the letter ”n”. I placed it at the same height as the eyes would be in the skull. It is easier for the viewer’s eye to catch ”California” as the main-word in the picture when it is aligned with these things.

Toes on the nose is the expression used among long-board surfers describing the ”surf-trick” when you are hanging ten toes over the front end of your board. As you can see I have used again the same surf-dude, with the Aloha tattoo on his arm, to illustrate a great accomplishment in surfing. The thing is - you can do lots of things in life that are most fascinating and even hard to do, but you would have hoped that once in a while someone saw you. Otherwise it’s just like another surf-story that your friends role their eyes at and wonder if you are going to tell the ”Big Wave” story again. I have used a style of drawing that gives a cartoon-look and an over-dimensioned surfer to give the picture a much nicer and dynamic appearance. The perspective in the picture starts out with the dude to the left – then the rest of the picture is swallowed by the centre of the tube behind him. This gives it a speedier touch.

There is a clothing-brand that started many years ago that actually goes by the name ”Hang Ten”. They have a cool symbol showing two feet and ten toes. It was Duke Boyd and a seamstress, by the name of Doris Boeck, who started this brand in the sixties, in southern California.

Hang ten!