Merry Christmas!

I’m off to see the last out of three concerts Torshovkoret/the Torshov Choir is giving this Christmas. My wife Ellisiv will be singing from a bar stool because her pregnant belly is too heavy to hold up for an hour’s concert! I’ve provided the design and illustration for the poster. As you may see, I’m heavy influenced by the Czech artist Alfons Mucha who very much defined the Art Noveau in the turn of the century. We were in Prague earlier this fall, where I got to see some of his original work. It’s so beautiful it’s almost over the top for modern times. A tricky style to copy with integrity! I wish everybody happy Holidays!

“Obamamania” in Oslo

During the Nobel Peace Prize celebration here in Oslo I got to experience true “obamamania”. This glimpse of Obama was probably a once-in-a-lifetime-experience.
I wish him all the best. May he get the support he truly deserves!

Skylappjenta - Official Premiere & Release

Our book Skylappjenta is finally out there! It was released October 09. together with the official premiere screening of the film. Both cinema and publishing house (Cappelen - Damm) was packed - even the Minister of Culture, Trond Giske was there! In this picture I’m with publiser Cecilie Kirkaune Bodahl (middle) an author Iram Haq. It was a night to remember - and as you can see from my expression, there was Champagne… After spending months tweaking details and painting on everything from my Wacom to toilet paper, it felt fantastic to put it out there. I’m planning to post some work-in-progress-scans. We’ve had some reviews, and so far they’re all good. Most of the first edition was actually sold out in a week. Next edition will be out soon. Hope you’ll buy this for christmas! Get it here!

Skylappjenta - The Book

Iram Haq wanted to do a fully illustrated book based on the same story as the film we finished earlier this summer. Again a very cool challenge, which turned out to be very different from the film. Skylappjenta is my first book-release. It’s been a pleasure to work with Iram again, and we’re both very proud of the result. Skylappjenta will be released in October (Look out for the book at Cappelen Damm), but you can already have a sneak-peek here.

Blogging again!

This blog started out with weekly updates. Now it seems I’m down to annual updates. The rare updating is actually a good sign. It means I’m keeping myself occupied and happy doing other things – like living and working. I’ve actually been very busy. These days I’m finishing work on ads for NSB, Tine and Elkjøp - three major advertisers, and the Skylappjenta-book is soon to be released. I’d hate to see this site to die though, so I’ve posted a lot of stuff (backdated) - hope you like it!

If you’d like to reach me, send me an email on endre(at)skandferfilm.com or endre(at)stormstudios.no.

Skylappjenta/Little Miss Eyeflap

Summer 2008 I started working as production designer on the short film Skylappjenta. It’s written and directed by Iram Haq who also plays the lead part. I had the pleasure of working with Stig Saxegaard and Nikolai Lockertsen on the designs and backgrounds for the film. The technique was live-action shot on green-screen, with all the scenography digitally painted and animated. I think the result is quite unique. The Film premiered summer 2009 at Grimstad Film Festival and will run as on cinemas in Oslo starting from October 2009. Here you can see and read how we worked. And I’ve posted some of my own contributions to the project here.

Luxo Sr.

The Norwegian lamp-manufacturer, Luxo asked Storm Studios to do an homage to Pixar’s classic short Luxo Jr. (which is actually an homage to the original Luxo lamps). The story was to be a meeting between the old lamp and Luxo’s brand new desk light “Ninety”. They wanted it to be a short film, not an ad. I directed it, fleshed out the story, did the animatic and the design. It was cool to work with Daniel Flehner Heen who is an amazingly dedicated animator. I think he did wonders with those lamps within the very limited time he had available. Dancing the tango with stiff metal objects is not easy! El. Tango premiered in a packed DogA at Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 10 in Oslo May 28. You get to see it here.

Sadly, Luxo is now suing Pixar for using their lamp-design in merchandising. Hope they can come to an agreement…

Designing the next Elias animated feature

The production company Filmkameratene has started working on a new film about the little rescue boat Elias. The TV-series has been successfully running for years, and was nominated for an Emmy in 2007. This’ll be the second animated feature, following Elias og Kongeskipet from 2007. The new story takes place in some huge new locations, and introduces a dozen original characters. The whole story is taking place in wintertime, so the familiar locations like Lunvik will also look very different from what people have seen before. In close cooperation with director Lise Osvoll I designed all the new stuff in three hectic months. There was no art department in addition to us. The film will premiere Christmas 2010. I’ll post some artwork once the trailer is released.

MoCCA Festival NYC 2009

This summer I was in New York at the annual MoCCA Festival. It’s a cartoon festival, with visitors and exhibitors from around the globe. I was representing Storm, exhibiting some of our work. But I was also there to learn about the industry and look for talents. Before I went, I thought I was a cartoon-geek, but being there, I felt kind of misplaced. Some of those people really live for cartoons! It was a great experience, and I met very friendly, interesting, strange and talented people. You can see sketches of some of them here. I also took time to see a lot of NY - that city takes my breath away! This night-shot is from the top of The Empire State Building. I’ll be posting more NY-photos in my PhotoFun-gallery.

Kutoppen Theme Park

After years of planning, Kristiansand Zoo finally opened the Kutoppen/Cattle Hill park summer 2009. 8000 People attended the opening! Kutoppen/Cattle Hill is a Norwegian 13×7 min animated TV series. I was art-direcing and co-directing the show, and also led the group that developed the plans and designs for the theme park. It’s the first time I’ve designed actual buildings. We had to take into consideration issues like ventilation and access for wheelchairs - unusual limitations for me. Here you can see the result for yourself.