Illustration – Nina Johansson

October 1, 2018February 23, 2019

Skröna – a very long sketchbook

Skröna (Tall tale) is a long sketchbook with pencil drawings concerning a summerhouse I share with my extended family. I worked on it for most of the spring in 2018, and it was exhibitied at Vårsalong (Spring salon) at Norrbyskär´s museum in June the same year.

I used all kinds of pencils and graphite for this book, and had a lot of fun with the Portuguese graphite product Artgraph by Viarco (you can see it in the video clip below). Like painting watercolours with graphite, and leaves a matte graphite surface when it dries. Fantastic material.

It felt like a great bonus to be mentioned in the local newspaper´s (Västerbottenskuriren) article about the exhibition, with one of my drawings included.

March 6, 2017January 22, 2019

La Fille de Gamla Stan

Here´s something fun I did during the autumn of 2016, an illustration for a wine etiquette, for Domaine Chavy-Chouet.

I started by doing an on-location sketch in Gamla Stan in Stockholm, to get a feel for what I could do. However, the sketch needed quite a bit of work, including a complete redrawing, the girl (“La Fille”) had to be added, the paper grain had to be removed in Photoshop and whatnot, so what ended up on the finished etiquette is actually not at all the sketch below. But it was a good start to work from!

Also, I quite like having an actual drawing memory associated with a wine etiquette. I made the sketch standing beside my bicycle, with the sketchbook lying on the saddle. I couldn´t sit down, because the place was crowded with tourists at the moment and they would have covered my view. Drawing on location vs. camera snapshot: 1-0. When drawing, you choose what to capture on the paper, but you also choose what to leave out. 🙂

Bottom drawing: 18 x 9,5 cm, Kizuna deco pen (fude nib) with black De Atramentis document ink, on Stillman & Birn sketchbook page.

February 25, 2017January 22, 2019

Drawing around Sagrada Família

In 2012, I spent a week sketching around the Sagrada Família. Had an amazing time drawing the inside and out of this fantastic building, along with the intense street life around it. The two and a half sketchbooks that I filled was then published in this Sketchguide from Zahorí in 2013.

Right now, the book is available from Amazon.com at a very reasonable price, so if you´re into Gaudí, the Sagrada Família, Barcelona or just enjoy plain sketching and drawing, this is the moment to get your copy!

Want to see more? This link will take you to Zahorís intro of the book, with a video and all. Also, more pages from the original sketchbooks below.