Semmie to the printer!
I have uploaded the printing file of Semmie the Forest Gnome to the printer last Sunday evening and ordered my first advance copy. I can’t believe it is done, that in a few days, after all this time, after it consumed every spare hour I had I can really hold it in my hands.
Preliminary work on Semmie 2 is also progressing, below is a study of the Grey Heron a bird very common to the Netherlands and found along many canals and water filled ditches, that is the reason it is going to play a very big part in the next story.
Click on the image for the full version, have fun!
Preliminary work for Semmie 2
Work on Semmie 2 is moving along with a steady pass, one of the most important locations in the story is by the waterside near a mill. That’s why this week I visited some polder mills in the region to make a few photos. The illustration above is the direct result of this visit, for those of you who aren’t quite familiar with the workings of a polder mill, the hatch you see here blocks the entrance of a tunnel that transports the water to the mill’s paddle wheel. This paddle wheel will then lift the water for 1 or 1,5 meters.
In the mean time the work on the printing document for Semmie 1 is still going on, my Graphic Designer still has to take a critical look at it all before it can be send to the printer, so I will keep you posted!
Big angry chicken
Today a very late update (sorry for that 
). I am still very busy on Hop’s book and I will not be able to make my self-imposed deadline of Friday night February 25th 2011 23:59 hours. Which indisputably means that Hop’s book will not be at my house all printed and bound on Saturday March 5th, that’s the day of the convention where AtelierLuus.nl will launch her new spring kits.
The good news is that I am almost ready and I only need a weekend of hard labor before I can send the print file to the printer. The director of Atelierluus and I agreed that there will be a dummy of the book at the convention for people to look at and that everybody who buys all three kits will receive a in the mail as soon as they are available.
I managed to squeeze some time in to my schedule to whip up a sketch of a big angry chicken. This was supposed to be an illustration in the book but was eventually replaced by another.
Have fun!
Bunny
Now that book 1 of Semmie the Forest Gnome is done I’m going to need a few weeks to do a lot of preliminary work for book 2 before I can start uploading new pages. Until then I will be posting a new sketch or illustration each week, and maybe even a piece of guest-art by another comic maker/illustrator.
This is the first of a number of sketches I made / am going to make for the story that will accompany the new spring-kit from Atelier Luus. Actually this is the second story I make about one of the designs of Luus®, the first one was Semmie the Forest Gnome. Surprised? I’ll explain, Luus is my wife and when a large part of your house is filled with these rascals:
Then the only thing you can do is make up stories! You should pay AtelierLuus.nl a visit some time and wonder at the amazing designs there and if you are handy with a needle and thread you could order a kit and make your own Semmie! Isn’t that great!
Here this week’s sketch, have fun!
Lost
Only among 19th century explorers it is known that the best way to cross very rugged terrain like forests, mountains or city centers is on the back of a Himalayan Monastery bear. This bear helps his rider to not only climb over rock formations or make a path trough dens bush, it also manages to find water and shelter any time. There is even talk about Himalayan Monastery bears making fire within 30 seconds by only using two twigs.
As versatile as a Swiss pocket knife the Himalayan Monastery bear only has 1 point of weakness, navigation. He truly never has any clue where he is, therefore it is of the utmost importance that the rider of a Himalayan Monastery bear always knows exactly where they are.
Sometimes this one small task appears to be more difficult than it seems…
