Letter of Intention

My name is Karitas Eir Gudmundsdottir and I’m 24 years old.
This is a link to my online portfolio on WordPress: https://karitaseir.wordpress.com/

I’m applying for the Graphic Storytelling Bachelor program, since I’d like to become a better comic artist, and TAW seems to offer the most serious learning program for this. I constantly strive to improve and I’d like to attend a school where I’m challenged in a structured way. I’m very motivated to expand my horizon and willing to work hard to learn new things. Creating worlds, making up stories and drawing is constantly on my mind, and I believe this program could help satiate my need to better my skills and use them on a professional level.

I’ve attended a graphic storytelling class at Skolen for Kunst og Design as well as an illustration class. Beyond this, I haven’t had professional mentoring in terms of art, and I motivate myself to learn and improve on my own.

Software knowledge and user level:
Photoshop – good
Paintshop Pro – good
Clip Studio Paint – good
Fire Alpaca/SAI – advanced

Regarding my ambitions for future work, I’d like to publish illustrated stories either online or physically, illustrating in collaboration with others or as my own independant projects. For this I’d like to improve at sequential storytelling, structuring, drawing dynamical characters as well as movement – and be able to manage my work process well, independantly and with others.

I imagine smaller independant artists gaining a bigger platform in the future via sites like Patreon and online in general, but the printed industry may become less prevalent, since reading has been digitalised futher with tablets and ebooks.

My professional influences are widespread between smaller comic artists like Isobel Kelly, mangakas like Yana Toboso, movie directors like Tim Burton, cartoon creators such as Alex Hirsch, modern ‘classic’ oil painters like Roberto Ferri and illustrators like Katsuya Terada. I seek out inspiration across many genres and platforms, and in general I’m very open towards leting new things influence me.

My personal taste is very broad, but in general I’m very drawn to any universe that’s exaggerated and well established, also in terms of its own aesthetic. (e.g. Silent Hill, Edward Scissorhands, Batman..) Theme wise I love works that focus on social or societal issues (e.g. Stitch, Adventure Time, HTTYD – subsequently a lot of horror and fairytales as well.) – And plot wise I’m very occupied with anything mystery or adventure based. (e.g. El Dorado, Treasure Planet, Atlantis.)

I do have a few areas I’m not especially drawn to, such as political satire strips(e.g. Wulff og Morgenthaler), very stylised or oldschool manga or anime(e.g. Dragon Ball), mindless comedy or – action.(e.g. Transformers)
I usually try to keep an open mind in terms of genre, and I can enjoy works for how they’re executed within their own genre, even if that genre isn’t personally appealing to me.

I haven’t applied to the program before, nor have I attended other classes at TAW.

In regards to experience abroad, I’ve traveled primarily vacation wise to a lot of different countries, including a few months in Japan that have impressed me in terms of how casually comics and drawn media is consumed by mostly everyone.

I will finance the material costs of the education via rehabilitation funds (Revalidering) that I’ve been granted by Aarhus municipality.

Contact information:
Karitas Eir Gudmundsdottir
karitaseir@hotmail.com

Storytelling example

I grew up in Denmark with an icelandic heritage. My parents moved here when I was just four. And I learned from a young age that their view of life often clashed with those around us. I grew up in a strange duality, it sometimes being quite diffucult to shift between a lot of different points of view. Chrismas time was certainly something that examplified this. In icelandic lore, Santa Claus most certainly isn’t as friendly as he is in danish lore. And there isn’t just one of him. I’d grown up both learning of Santa Claus as this friendly giftgiving sweet old man who lived on Greenland but also simultaneosly leaning that there were several Santa Clauses, and they were not so friendly. In fact there were thirteen of them and they’d create a lot of trouble. They’d slam doors, steal candles, eat your sausages and peek in your windows at night. Rather harmles troubles so far, but this wasn’t all. These men had a mother and a father and a family cat. The cat was as big as a small horse, ragged and evil. It would assist their mother and father in capturing children who misbehaved around christmas time, throwing them in a bag, carrying them up the hill and eating them. Suffice to say, I was terrified. I was given two plushies that looked like Santa Claus, and eventually I’d build up a strange forced loyalty to them. I was afraid of somehow wronging them, earning their rage and being eaten. Their cold, dead, black pin-eyes confirmed this deep within me, and I figured I’d stay on the safe side and not do anything to bring down their judgement upon me. This included not telling my parents anything of it. When I think back on it today, they were actually rather fluffy and entirely harmless. But each year, I’d grow to have a stranger and stranger relationship to the plushies brought out at christmas time. I furthermore told myself that they must be angry for being locked away in an ornament box all summer, while the rest of my plushies got to stay put in my room. I believed that the santas jealously must’ve harboured some ill intentions towards my other plushies. So I’d keep them at a safe distance from the others. But still not far enough away to awake suspicion from the evil santas, of course. After all, I was outnumbered two to one. Year after year I’d smile and nod each time the plushies were brought out, and I’d play along to not anger the evil, childsnatching santas until I was old enough to grow out of plushies entirely. Still today at twentyfour, I heavily dislike the danish traditions of keeping the small mischievous ‘nisser’, elves or santas everywhere at christmastime. In the midst of my peers who love them, I to this day still find them highly unsettling.

World Creation

This universe revolves around a congregation of demons at the outskirts of Hell. The church resides in a desolate place called the wastelands, where outcasts are left to fend for themselves, as opposed to those living in the inner capital of Hell. Their preacher Diavol believes steadfastly that demons aren’t inherently sinful, anymore than humans or angels. He opens his doors to the lost souls of the wastelands, in his sermons drawing parallels between fallen angels and demons, and glorifies themes of redemption. Meredith Adelaide is the head of one of the more influential bloodlines of Hell, seeking out alliance with the church on the premises of political influence. She’s practically a nonbeliever in Diavol’s cause, but stays loyal on the grounds of wanting to goad believers into supporting her. Her son William is very detached from both causes, being quite apathetic towards anything they’re involved with – that is, until the rarest of occurrences happens and an elder arch angel turns up on the doorstep of the church.