And a lot happening this year! First of all, we started a record label and booking agency last year called «Klangkollektivet». I did the entire identity for the label in addition to illustrating and designing two of our first released. Namely Monstereo and Ekkolodds debut albums. More info on those coming in a promotion wise more timely fashion. In the meantime you can check out the profile for Klangkollektivet in my showcase, or click this link right here.

While really fun to work with, designing the profile was quite a big effort for me, I did it pro bono, since this is an effort I’m both emotionally and financially involved in myself. It took me about four weeks to nail the profile and design all of the elements, and make sure they came out according to our visions as a label. At the same time I made the cover for Monstereos debut album, and that was quite the effort as well. I’m not going to spoil the surprise on that one just yet, but I can say as much as it was quite time consuming.

To say a few words about our label is difficult for all of us, since all of the people involved is really invested in the project, but i’ll try. (In my own words): Klangkollektivet is a label focusing on norwegian music, often the more shoegazy stuff than the pop-oriented stuff. We do digital releases and vinyl releases only – meaning no CD releases. Not quite as bold move as it would have been a couple of years ago, but a statement still. I’m involved in all of this as an investor and household designer. If you’re a native, you can check out our norwegian website at www.klangkollektivet.no (brilliantly done by my awesome neighbor Eivind Mjelde).

One of the projects I worked on this summer is finally getting ready to be released as well, the awesome hardcore effort From Strength To Strength’s debut release (hereby FSTS). FSTS features some members from In Vain, a band I’ve held high since their first demo release, so naturally it was quite an honor for me to be able to work on this album as well. As a vinyl fan, I would like to see this one on a vinyl release, but a CD release is the first one coming out. You can see more of the artwork by clicking here or going to Selected works. I’ve made cover, logo, backdrop and T-shirts for this release.

Some of the dudes involved must have been pleased with the result, because shortly afterwards In Vain asked me to do cover for their new album as well. As I’m writing this I’ve just delivered the new front cover to the label. In Vain is always about the quality stuff. Really epic proportions and amazing songs, and I’ve tried to reflect that in the artwork somehow. I’m not quite sure when the cover is official, but in a couple weeks I can probably post it.

Something else I’m really stoked about is taking over the role as designer for Fett after Grandpeople. This is quite an awesome task, and probably a lot of hard work. Not too much to say about this just yet, but keep your eyes peeled.

Another thing missing in the showcase is of course the new Antimatter album. I did the entire design for jewelcase, digipack, vinyl and artbook for their new release on Prophecy Production. As this was quite the difficult task for me, I’m going to leave it resting for a couple of months before I’ll start putting together a post with some of the work we did there.

That’s it for now, but there’s a lot of stuff going on these days, so if you’re a sucker for more rapid updates, check out my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/attheends and / or follow me on Instagram: @attheends – There’s a lot more sketchy and random stuff posted there, so be warned.

Back in the day, I used to update this blog with some of my own rantings as well, and not just write a post every time I updated something here and there. Fact is, I’ve been incredibly busy this summer. I guess it always kind of feels like this, and there is never any time to kick back and use a few minutes write something that doesn’t manifest itself in a concrete result.

Here are some of the stuff going on these days. I’m incredibly stoked and proud to be a part of a newly founded label, as a graphic designer. I’m doing the profile, and album covers for two of the bands, and it’s really a whole lot of fun! We’re looking at a release very soon, so keep an eye peeled (probably at facebook!), and you’ll be able to catch some more info on this!

In addition to this, as long term projects go, I did the profile for an incredibly cool festival this summer called Flatøy Rock:

(You’ll find more images in the portfolio!). Flatøy Rock is a festival at an island outside of Bergen called Flatøy, and this year they needed some fresh blood on the design bit. The spirit of the festival, the people attending and the people in charge is really good. They want to make this into a really nice event, an experience for the people attending, not just a string of concerts. To give this a bit of epic feel, giving the profile some warmth and humor, at the same time making it stand out from the crowd, we started working on a real 80′s feel. I worked together with Stine Malene Foss Berg on the logo, and for the rest of the profile we used photos of the families of the people behind the festival, to give it a personal touch as well as a nostalgic feel. The result turned out really cool, and the merch and all sold really well. Nice! This is really a big high five towards the people behind the festival for being open minded and really cool about any crazy ideas coming along. This kind of good spirit ensures the best possible result, and that is really nice to see time and time over again.

Next year, this is going to be something different, and something great as well, and this is probably going to be a pretty big project (at least engagement wise) in the time ahead.

Monstereo is releasing their first album pretty soon! This also a project I’m really stoked about. Look out for something really psychedelic, hand drawn and crazy for this one. (I need to learn to make my drawings a bit less complicated! F!).

Their mates, and the very good people in Ekkolodd is also working on their debut, and this is also going to get my touch in some way. How, is a bit in the blue yet, but it’s going to be very different from Monstereo at least.

Other than that, I currently wrapped up a cover for the Trondheim based punk group «Status: Fatal»! That’s going to be a bit different as well! Other stuff I’ve produced recently: A couple of shirts for Bergen based stoner / post / sludge outfit Krakow, album cover for norwegians From Strength To Strength,  album cover for Bergen based Abode, in addition to this I recently wrapped up cover for an british band called Antimatter.

Busy couple of months, as you probably can imagine! Here are some snippets of different things (you can find more of the stuff mentioned in the portfolio section!):

Abode front cover.

I’ve inked a couple of deals regarding artwork this summer, so there’s a few cool projects going to happen in the near future. First of all, I just wrapped up the new Evoken artwork – this one is coming out on Profound Lore, and hopefully due to some exposure. It’s coming on a real nice digipack as well. The process was really fast this time, but sometimes that can produce the best results. Check out the front cover, and a couple of snippets from the rest in the portfolio!

I’m also due to start working on cover for a hardcore band called «From Strength to Strength» in a short time – this one is getting the more hand drawn approach, as a lot of projects do these days. It’s really nice to get inquiries for hand drawn artwork, as this is a thing I’m really enjoying. It’s also quite nice in the summer I think. For some reason I enjoy drawing more in the summer. But I’m also stoked on doing more graphic design-related stuff, so the balance between these two ways of working is really nice. I feel really lucky to be able to get jobs in both areas of this field.

Other news, I’m going to do the new Havnatt-album as well, this one is due later summer, and is also getting a more hand drawn treatment! I have some nice ideas here, and I’m quite stoked on getting started on this one, probably more against late June sometime. On top of this, Ekkolodd is finishing up an album these days, so I’ll be working with them as well. Just finished up cover for their first single. The guys will be playing some live shows this summer, among others on Hove festival, which is quite a nice gig for them. Ekkolodd is also located just across the street, so I guess it’s quite easy to communicate and collaborate on the art in some way.

I’ve wanted to present this artwork for quite some time now. The Fall of Every Seasons «Amends» album has been in the works for far to many years, and I’ve been working off and on on the artwork for the last three-four years. Finally, the release date is closing in someday soon, and I think it’s way overdue to present some of the progress and artwork we’ve made for this release so far. Initially, after the release of «From Below», I pictured a more hand made approach on the «Amends» album. Over the last couple of years, the album has grown to be one of my favorite albums, and one of the strong qualities of the album is the raw emotion and the filmatic sound. It sounds big, epic and at the same time very direct and raw. All of this led me to the idea of giving it a more psychedelic, film noir-style, having the lyrics shown as a piece of text, more like a story, and making an illustration for each song.

A couple of years ago we actually settled on this cover:

The images above is the early drafts from the artwork. The image to the right is meant to be the front cover, a bit noir, a bit blue note-inspired. But dark and gray.

These are some of the sketches from the sketches from the booklet, the different images is meant to show some of the content of each song.

And these are some of the drawings I made for the album, that I cut apart and used for the booklet sketches.

However, as at is when you’re working on something you love, it’s difficult to settle, so this summer I took two whole weeks working on one big drawing that was meant to be the final artwork for Amends. It’s now finally settled, It’s been about a year since I made this one. It is without doubt the most difficult pieces I’ve drawn so far, I think it’s about 100 cm x 60 cm size, so about A0 in real size. I had Kim Kvalheim, as usually document it, and I colored it digitally. To see the final result, go here:

The fabulous fantastic people of Monstereo is going on tour in China, and we’re pressing a very special edition CD version of The «Lunar Phase» 10″ EP for this tour. This EP also contains the Sonic Wall EP as a special bonus for the lucky people who can get their hands on a copy of this one. This is the artwork for the CD!

Finally, I’ve managed to move my entire portfolio from Indexhibit to WordPress. I’ve tried to maintaint much of the same feel and functionality as the old portfolio, but having more focus on the identity and function. I’ve removed some of the old and scattered stuff, and made room for some new projects. I’m really eager to show of the new The Fall of Every Season artwork, and the new Majestic Downfall artwork. Both of them stands out as pretty hand made stuff, and especially the new FOES artwork is one of, if not the most detailed drawing I’ve done in a few years. Hopefully, the album will be announced before I get old and grey. Some of the other stuff I’ve been working on since the last update:

- Artwork for a pretty cool doom outfit called «Monolithe», keep your eyes peeled for some spaced stuff there.

- Just finished up a video for Bergen based outfit Sonisk Blodbad, check that out in the «Selected Works» section.

- Inked a deal with Havnatt, doing artwork for their debut album this summer.

- Finished logotype and artwork for Monstereos debut EP with the songs Lunar Phase and Skanks. Also made design for a Monstereo CD single with the songs Sonic Wall and Spacesuits On!

- Made artwork for a new Katatonia-esque / black metal inspired band called «To Wither»

- Finally wrapped the design for «Recreate The Sun».

- A whole lot of book designs!