This weekend the Stockholm marathon was on. It was a super day, might’ve been a bit hot for running, but the sky was blue and there was a bit of a breeze. I just want to congratulate Paul Kipkemei Kogo who won the race. It must be a great feeling to run the marathon. I myself have never run the marathon, but maybe will someday in the future. Great challenge! I do run now and then, but I must say that I run much shorter distances.

That is why today I have drawn a cartoon that is someone out running. He is giving it his best and he has a pair of giant soles on the shoes. So I, myself, better keep up the running to stay, or get in shape, and I congratulate all you runners who ran this weekend.

Keep on running!

I saw a little announcement about winning a pair of sneakers - a pair of “DC Journals” as a matter of fact. I really thought they looked nice and thought I should send in a suggestion for the competition. You were actually supposed to write a text about why just you should get a pair. So I thought a comic-strip would make it even clearer that I really wanted to win a pair of “DC Journals”.

The story is that you’ve got to get up every morning and you’ve only got smelly socks to wear - and that you’ve really wanted and have dreamt about getting a pair of cool “Journals”. The bubbles coming out of the main character’s head are dream-bubbles showing what I have been dreaming about and what I am thinking about.

The magazine is in Swedish and so is the comic strip to make it easy for the jury to read it. Hopefully I get them, the shoes I mean, as I really would like to have a pair of these cool sneakers!

Would be great to walk around all over the place with them! I work here, there and everywhere and have lots of stuff to do, so I go to lots of different places – hopefully in a pair of new “DC Journal” sneakers!

I was thinking about a walrus this time, a huge mammal with big tusks. I thought it would be nice to make one into a cartoon figure. So I drew this version of the Odobenus rosmarus. I made four tusks for fun and to give it a bit more character. He is making a funny face and sitting on a block of ice – drifting around the ocean. The ice-block has the shape of a star or asterisk. He could be a nice figure for teaching kids about the environment or arctic marine ecosystems or something like that. He would give you this look if you where polluting the planet.

So be careful with our Earth.

This time I have been sketching a bit while being on the phone. I thought of a cartoon defeating crime and villains. This is, of course, not a concept no-one has seen before, but the characters are designed by me and the story would be as unique and intriguing as possible. The characters will live in different parts of the city or country and their paths will cross in different adventures and stories. Maybe you can imagine which character would live where. Who is the farmer and who lives in the city? Or someone lives in a castle… You can help me decide which person fits into what kind of environment. Some of them might have moved out of their comfort-zone and some might just fit right in.

There is a lot to read out of these facial expressions.

I started drawing a little manga inspired cartoon a few days ago. It is about the warrior Uruk searching for the secrets in the Wall of Skulls. He has been travelling from afar to come to this place and seek for … well something that I will reveal later. I just felt like giving you a little taste of Uruk almost crouching down – getting into fighting position after pulling out his two swords - almost kneeling down into a cat-like attack. He moves like the wind and his thin ribbons follow his swords through the air. They lure the opponent – but show where they have been…

I also put his name up on the left, at the top part of the picture – there is a cut in the letters and a drop of blood is dripping from the “R”. The letters I have made look a bit Asian to get the right feeling. The picture below shows a better view of Uruk The Warrior’s pose. The other picture is tighter to give more effect and movement – but both would be used in the cartoon to better describe Uruk and his masterly ways with his weapons.

I have drawn and sketched a little bit more on the manga warrior I made the other day. This time I have put him into his world, a cartoon / manga world, or more exactly a forest that he has been travelling through, and where he has been thrown into the story right away. Here he has been travelling a long way and you see his eyes looking up from under the big hat he is wearing. Then he is tilting his head back down again. You can see the wind in the ribbons of his swords. He is coming closer and closer. To the left you see him standing in the water as the last sketch I made. Above him there is a little scroll or box with the text: “After several days…” - just so you as a reader can see that he has been walking for some time now. He, of course, is on a journey of some kind. The bottom part of the picture is when he approaches the guard at the “Wall of Skulls”. You can see the back of the main character “Uruk”, as I have chosen to call him, when he is looking at the guard. How will he be able to pass the guard and what are his intentions to come to the “Wall of Skulls”? – That will be told later… I also put a skull behind the guard to enhance the feeling of “Uruk” being at the “Wall of Skulls”.

When I get some time now and then, I might show more of this cartoon. If you are interested in more, earlier - just say so - and I will see what I can do about it.

I drew a manga-style warrior the other day and now felt like making a few more characters for the comic. He is wearing a characteristic samurai-like hat so you can’t see his eyes. This gives a bit of a mysterious look and feeling to the warrior. Clothing and ribbons are flowing in the wind to give more movement to the picture. He has a trail from each hand and sword that also gives some extra motion to the character. To enhance the feeling that he is standing in the water I made a reflection below and some rings on the water. He has a big grin to show his confidence.

I have used ink pens to draw this sketch and made the fades and grey tones in the background in Photoshop.

Enjoy the way of the warrior…

This is a warrior drawn in a manga-style. He has his spear with a flag and he is holding a few “skulls” in his other hand. He has a leather hat on his head to protect a bit from knives and other sharp objects that he can encounter when hunting and fighting. He has something on him - looking a bit like a kilt that now is blowing in the wind. He has a belt made of bones with a belt-buckle, which is also made with some cross-bones - a guardian of some sort… a fighter – good or bad – just working for food and shelter.

I drew this warrior-like character because I felt it would be great in some kind of battle-story, or maybe even a cartoon of some kind. I might draw, in the future, some more suitable characters that all could be in this story. Now I have to focus on getting a story running too – I have some ideas… One would like to have a group of characters fleeing over land and sea to find peace and some kind of treasure. They are on a quest that they have learned about from some dieing person’s last words. Everybody in the group has a few clues that are necessary to get to the right place at the right time… Can everybody be trusted? Well - find out more when reading the comic…

This manga character is drawn in ink and the shadows and shadings in the background are made in Photoshop.

My friend, also being our guest blogger now and again, Nippe ( Jan Kristian Karlsson ) has had some bad luck since before Christmas. He has been sick all the time. You know first you get a cold, then fever, then a sore throat – a never-ending story - like being in the twilight zone. I’m exaggerating a bit, but it feels like he has been struck by “bad-luck-sickness”. He has even been home from work all this week. So he is lying in bed trying to get better. That is why I made a little cartoon of lying in bed – a bit miserable and angry about being sick all the time. I am sending this post out to make him better now!

Get better soon Nippe!

There are a lot of plastic figures and animals made today. You can buy them at the toyshop, clothing-store or e-bay and of course on lots of different sites all over the place. There are a few well-known designers that have made lots of nice ones. For example Mori Chack – at myplasticheart.com. He is a Japanese designer born in Sakai.

I wouldn’t mind making a few of these cool plastic characters myself - but that will be in the future I guess. I will keep you posted if I do.

This rabbit would be one of the characters that I would make in that case.

I have drawn a penguin this time - one more bird with very special features. Lately there have been a few movies with penguins starring - “Happy feet” with lots of singing and dancing and some sweet characters getting through life. If you like surfing and surf movies - they made the movie ”Surf’s up” – about some penguins surfing and hanging loose - pretty fun little movie actually with very nicely made characters – cool postures and silly walks. Really giving you the feeling that they are real. That, of course, is the creator’s intention.

You might have watched the little penguin called “Pingu” too - a little clay-penguin and his life at the North-Pole - also a very well made series.

I have sketched a penguin in a way that uses only a few lines, but still giving the penguin life and a nice look. He is pointing with his left arm, or wing, instead of the right arm because the right arm would have covered too much of the figure. I gave him a little hair on top of his head to give him a cooler style. To give the penguin some extra detail I made a little reflection on his eye.

There are a lot of cartoon birds that have been made over the years. We have many famous versions of the duck for example. Everybody knows Donald Duck by Walt Disney. He made a whole bunch of cartoon characters while he was alive - even built fantasy-worlds like Disneyland and Disneyworld. When I was younger I visited Disneyland and enjoyed it tremendously. Recently I visited Disneyworld in Florida too. This time I would say that I am a bit older – but I still enjoyed it very much. It is fun and inspiring to see the different cartoons and the different worlds they live in. The architecture is also really fascinating.

There have been many more ducks made as cartoon characters. One is Arne Anka made by Charlie Christensen. Arne Anka, in the beginning, looked very like Donald Duck. So like Donald that I think they had to change his appearance a bit – so they wouldn’t come in conflict with Disney. Anyway – he also has a pretty cool look.

So I was sitting on the phone in my hotel-room in Barcelona and was looking at the net a bit about cartoon ducks. Then I was sketching a duck - all of a sudden. So I thought I might as well show it here.

Keep on reading cartoons!

I concentrated on making two lizard-dragon-like manga cartoons last week. This time I’m sticking to the manga-style of drawing but I have changed to a more grim and fierce look. This robot-like cartoon is a battle robot or a transforming robot – meaning that it can change shape and become different kinds of fighter-robots – like, for example, a fling aeroplane type or a fast moving street-fighter. This one has been hurt in battle and lost part of its body. I have named it robot 54 – and I have also given it that number printed on its chest. The colours are grey and steel and highlighted with orange - inspired by fighter-planes. You can see the cables hanging down from the upper part of the torso that have been connected to the robot’s legs. He is crunching his fists to show some slight emotions over the pain he might be in.

Using the manga style of drawing here gives a futuristic look but still the surreal feeling of cartoon art. I have made this first in pencil as a sketch and then inked the drawing and moved it into Photoshop to colour it.

Hope you enjoy the wallpaper I made too.

Today I have made a friend for Draz - the character I made the last time. He was a green little dragon-lizard kind of guy. This time I made a purple dragon-lizard friend. I named him Nog. Dragon backwards – taking the three end letters - just to give “the something” that connected them as friends. He is staring down into a hole in the ground that has filled up with some blue kind of substance. To make it easy I would say water… but if your imagination feels like filling it with something more amusing, please do. I have drawn him in a kind of Pokémon, Digimon, inspired way. I chose the colour purple to make him match his friend better if they ever become a cartoon or film. So if they would be in the same shot or picture they will match each-other pretty nicely. He also has big hands and feet to give him a cute look. These two characters could be fun to see in a 3D movie or frame too. Pixar might need two new dudes that could be acting in a new movie about their life and friendship. I’ll have to suggest this anyway.

I may make some more characters for these two friends in the future or even a little more environment!

The art of Manga or cartoons have under a long time been very popular. I think it’s increasing in popularity every day. There are many different styles and ways of drawing cartoons. Today I have made a little dragon-lizard, inspired by the famous manga characters from Pokémon.

Pokémon started in 1995 and was created by Satoshi Tajiri and has developed into a world-wide industry. There are very many different characters and features. I have made the little dragon-lizard green to enhance the lizard feeling. The little guy got some horns to make him a bit more dragonish and the small protective spikes give him his characteristics. Here he feels like a pleasant little fellow. The big eyes and large feet give him a cute approach. He could maybe use his dragon-force and change into something more terrifying…..- that I might show you later!

When drawing cartoons you also want to get a nice flow to the individual – if he is going to have a “pouch–stomach” then he might need to lean back and have his arm resting on the hip - as he is doing in the picture. I think I’ll name him - ”Draz” – as in part of the word lizard backwards.

Don’t miss out the next time you have the chance to look at some manga cartoons. It’s thrilling to see how the animator’s, or cartoonist’s, imagination and expressions come out in their art!