SIRIEUZE HITS

WE THINK.

So as you might know I'm a student again. For the course Media Literacy we are assigned to write a blog every week. So I thought it would be nice to put some info over here as well. If you like to read more about my findings on the path to media literacy (in dutch) you are welcome to follow! I am planning to make an illustration every week so my writings and drawings will be combined. This trailer is made for the new book of Charles Leadbeater and also illustration related, very nice work by Debbie Powell! Enjoy.

LET'S JUST SAY I ENJOYED THE SUMMER.

Maybe you've noticed I haven't posted anything on this blog in months. I have been travelling to France and Italy, had a great time!
So I thought it would be nice to post a short update. Things are going to change, exciting news!

*Tree of Codes did finally arrive in June. Yeah! There had been a mix-up, and because of that my order hasn't been send. It is quite hard to read, I only read a couple of pages so I don't know if it is any good.

*It seems like it was taking forever, but my new website is almost finished. I know, it's hard to believe ;)

*I did work on a couple of project but there still in progress. I'm trying to do one project at a time, so I can move on!

*Because I want to expand my horizons I'm going to university! It will take some getting used to, after three years of freelance work. At the end of august I'm starting the pre-master culture studies. So if everything goes well, I will be master of arts in two years!  I will be continuing my illustration work next to my studies :)

*I am moving my studio! We started out with five people in one studio, but now there's just two of us left. So we planned on moving to a smaller place. We're leaving this month and because of that I will be having a sale! If you want to buy an (framed) illustration by me, now is the time. There on sale for -20% ! So check out my work on my website, and let me know which one you want!

Thanks for stopping by and see you soon... ;)

DE AANGESPOELDE WALRUS - AN UPDATE!

I have been sketching for a while now for the story 'De Aangespoelde Walrus', a collaboration with Twan Mul. I did little background/atmosphere paintings and I started working on the characters.
Here's a sneekpeek!

The dancer - ©  Siri Hol

The dancer is a very humble and friendly man. His arms and legs are a bit skinny but his shoulders are quite muscular. When he's not on stage he looks like an average guy. But when he's dancing he becomes a different person, his black make-up showing the lines in his face.

The boy and the girl - © Siri Hol

I still have to work on these characters, but thought it would be nice to share this drawings anyway. The boy is a typical teenager, a bit clumsy and his body isn't fully grown. His teeth are a bit crooked and his ears are larger then average.
The girl is skinny and her hair is very straight. Her grey eyes are quite small and she has little hairs on her upper lip. She's always dressed in grey and ocean-like colors.




The other characters are the walrus, the driver, the postman, the old man and lady. I will tell you more about the other characters in an upcoming blogpost.

Colorstudies - © Siri Hol

The backgrounds are actually colorstudies. I want the background to 'breathe' summer in a mediterranean village, but still look dewy and misty. So the colors have to be earthy combined with some unusual, unnatural colors.
I like the roughness of these little paintings, if I use the same techniques on the larger versions it looks a bit more polished. I'm very excited about the current backgrounds I'm working on. Twan and I will meet in a couple of weeks to discuss these. After that, there will be an update again.

Well, I would love to know what you think :)

FOODILLUSTRATION.

I just wanted to share the final illustration I made for the 'Nederlandse Vereniging voor Dietisten' I showed in this post. So here it is! Soon the complete version, it's a background for a movie, will be online on my renewed website..!

© Siri Hol

A LITTLE UPDATE.

It has been a while since my last post. I've been quite busy finishing a couple of illustration projects. Now, there all done and will be online soon. I'm trying to finish my new website and logo in two weeks. I'll let you know when it's done!

Also, I've been featured on a blog called westervin.com were my work got paired up with a picture by Kari Altmann. I think they did a nice job! Don't you?

In a couple of days i will give you an update on my collaboration with Twan Mul.
So stay tuned ;)

TIME TO NOT OVERTHINK.

© Siri Hol

This project is finally coming together, it's still far from finished though. The fact that there's no deadline makes it sometimes hard to work on projects like this. For example, the ending of the story has changed a couple of times and still I'm not sure if it's going to stay the way it is now. I don't have to finish today, so why not think about it some more? Then again, all this thinking will only make it better.  The choices I made so far are very well thought out. I don't have to overthink it, so my story doesn't get lame or too obvious.  So if I won't, this will turn out to be successful. I'm hoping this will be finished this spring!

PREVIEW!

Here's a little sketch of a project I'm working on.

It's fun to draw food related stuff :)

© Siri Hol

UPDATE - 'DE AANGESPOELDE WALRUS'.

Sketches- © Siri Hol

You might know I'm working on the book 'De Aangespoelde Walrus'. Twan and I had a very productive meeting/conversation a while ago and we are very enthousiastic about the project. We started eliminating some illustrations. But at the end of the day, we came up with a few new ones so the project's only getting bigger and bigger. Were up to 60 pages at the moment so I have lots of work to do! Maybe there will be some eliminations in the end but this is what we're aiming for at the moment.
We will meet again in a couple of weeks so I will keep you up to date on the process.

JASPER KUIPERS

http://jasperkuipers.wordpress.com/



Since february 2010 Jasper Kuipers is working at NIaf (Netherlands Institute of Animationfilm), were he  is working on a new animation project. After more than a year the film is coming together. The script has been written, the characters are cast in plaster, the set is being build. It all looks very promising, and I'm curious what it is going to look like all together. He also started a collaboration with  fashion designers JimmyPaul and Marie, which I think is very interesting.

You can follow his working process on this blog, were he updates frequently about the developments around the film. You can check out sketches, pictures of the characters and there are little previews as well.

So what are you waiting for?

BUSY BUSINESS.

But I will update soon. :)

I UNDERSTAND WHY IT TAKES MORE THEN 3 MONTHS.

Still waiting...

A NEW PERSONAL PROJECT.

A little preview © Siri Hol

So I have some news about my own work again! I have been working on a lot of commercial illustrations lately but now I have the time to work on a couple of personal projects. And I like it! The one I already told you about is a collaboration with Twan Mul, (which I will be writing about soon!) and now I'm finishing a personal project.

I wanted to share a couple of sketches for a story I'm working on. This is an idea I've been working on for about a year. I had it lying in a drawer for a couple of months but now I think it's time to complete the story.

So I started drawing again. Here are some of my new sketches. The story is still changing while I'm sketching so it's not completely finished. I won't tell you what it's about right now, maybe in a couple of weeks. I also have to come up with a title but I can't figure it out yet. It's a process!

I'M GETTING USED TO WAITING SO WHY NOT?

I thought that maybe there would be some 'Tree of Codes' in stock at some stores. I could still order it, so you'd think that there could be a couple of copies left..? Unfortunately that's not the case. Why do websites still offer books while being completely sold out?
Now I just pre-ordered a new copy on the website of the publisher, Visual Editions.
Should have done this a couple of months ago..!
Read this if you'd like to order one yourself. Because of the difficult producing process, the books will be delivered in batches. One will arrive the end of this month and another batch will be delivered in march.

DASH SHAW

Last week I read an amazing graphic novel by Dash Shaw.
It was released in 2008 so maybe this is old news for you. The dutch title is 'Een Bodemloos Bestaan', the original version is called 'Bottomless Belly Button'. It's a mysterious and intriguing story about a family reunion.

I had never heard of Dash Shaw before, I'm glad I stumbled upon this book and got to know his work. He is a very talented artist, on his website you can see daily dawings, stories, video's and other cool stuff.
I'm a fan!


Here you can order the book in every language!

THE WAITING CONTINUES

Oh no!
My order of 'Tree of Codes is delayed again!

I know it's worth the wait but I'm getting very unpatient now....
 : (

EXCITING NEWS!



One of my first sketches for 'De Aangespoelde Walrus'.

 A while ago the multitalented Twan Mul asked me to collaborate on a story he wrote. I was waiting for an opportunity like this, so I'm very excited to be working on this wonderful story together.

I'm not going to give away the story right now, but I can tell you it is called 'De Aangespoelde Walrus' and is about a lost love, loneliness and memories, starting with a walrus that washes up on the shore.

Twan is a storyteller, he writes and draws, makes comics and videogames.

On his Flickr account you can find some of his new work. But you must take a look at his website, which is really oldskool cool.

So I will keep you up to date and post sketches and maybe some other ideas as well.
Hopefully, you'll be as excited as I am.

TEA STAINED MONSTER.



© Siri Hol



BE PATIENT.



Look at the inside of this book here!



A month ago I ordered 'Tree of codes' by Jonathan Safran Foer.

I was happy that I could get my hands on it, because they're sold out everywere they asked a decent price for it. I knew it was going to take three or four weeks to ship, but my order is delayed, probably because the book is sold out. But I re-ordered it today and hopefully it will arrive next week. Finally!

 
 
 
 
 

FEATURE ON ILLUSTRATIONMUNDO.

Today I am one of the illustrators featured on the frontpage of illustrationmundo! This is a illustrator community website by Nate Williams, who is a great illustrator by the way. It's worth having a look if you're not familiar with this site, there are so many talented illustrators in the world :)
The world wide web brings us all together!

Thank you for reading and I will keep you posted. Soon there will be news about an exciting collaboration!