Setting the scene

She looks very different with her snowy coat and the elusive nordlys.

These drawings look so tiny on screen, compared to their metre wide reality. And those metre wide drawings are tiny in comparison to the arctic landscapes that inspired them. The hard part is deciding what not to include.

These are essentially the base layers, the background scenes, but what a stage. The actors are yet to enter, stage left, but once they do they will have a hard time competing with the arctic landscapes.

But then Svalbard is the perfect place to feel so tiny in nature.

It is surprising how it defies the romantic perceptions that have been placed upon it. It can be warm [surprisingly warm]. And dusty. It can be green and orange instead of the expected white of snow and ice. It can be incredibly wild and hostile, but also incredibly calm and fragile. It is vast and empty, yet so full of a million different things. It is constant, but always changing. In the story books it is the land of hardy adventurous men, except Longyearbyen is also a town full of hardy adventurous women. 

Looking north. Although there is only about 1,300kms further north that you can go before you start heading south again.

Immersed Svalbard – Part 1: Into the dark season

Nybyen

Hey friends, it has been a while... Just to update, the drawing part of Immersed Svalbard [part 1, into the dark season] is happening.

But like many artists (or is it just me...?), I am never quite sure of something until I have moved well past the part I am working on – and before I hit the 'this isn't working at all... whose stupid idea was this...' point at about 2/3s of the way to the finish.
[Please tell me this isn't just me...]

So, now I am beyond the early sketch stage, I feel like I can share these very early preliminary underdrawings of the backgrounds for the final drawings and scenes for the graphic novel.

These are just the working drawings for backgrounds, so no character reveals yet.

You can tell I was still working my way through these drawings – what should stay, what should go, notes to self – by the scribbled notes to the side of the drawings.

The biggest challenge, so far, has been the scale of these drawings. Usually I work quite small – 19cm x 19cm is my go-to. I figured that size doesn't do Longyearbyen, Svalbard or the arctic justice, so these are going to be about 1.5 metres wide. [well, not the graphic novel of course... although, well, maybe...]

But what will the drawings look like...?

Good question [even if I do say so myself…]

To give a rough idea, here are a few from previous projects. The first are from a story about the Faroe Islands.

And a couple from Paris.

Beekeeper at Opera Garnier. Bees have made their home in the rooftop hives of Opéra Garnier for over 30 years. These hives are among more than 700 housed atop Parisian landmarks, including Musée d’Orsay, Le Bon Marché and Notre Dame Cathedral – the bees even survived the Notre Dame fire in 2019.

Rungis market in Paris is the world’s largest wholesale fresh produce market. It comes to life in the early hours of the morning as retailers and restaurateurs search for choice produce. There are many protocols and traditions to follow - deals are often made with a handshake.