Release party for Swedish Comic Sin 3!

Party party!!

Time to release the sinful comics to the world!
Come join us at Debaser Medis in Stockholm on the 26th of April at 17:00-20:00.

The third and highly awaited volume of Swedish Comic Sin is here! A fantastic book with 9 hot erotic stories, longer and more sinful than ever! Let us give you a threesome in the woods, foreplay roleplay, sexy dresses and intimate situations... In the book that is. Come get your own copy signed by the talented artists!

This release party is also a collaboration with the Boy's Love anthology GUYS, a comic anthology filled with male-on-male intimacy! The artists of this anthology will also be there, ready to sign and greet all attendees!

Check out the Facebook event for more information (in Swedish).

Interview with Maria Simone Büchert

Name: Maria Simone Büchert

Story: 2 for 1

1. Tell me a little about yourself. How long have you been active as a comic artist and what have you been up to?

I have been an active comic artist since I was 10, if we consider doing comics in religion class as being an active comic artist - Though on serious term, I guess you can consider me active since 2010, where I was published for the first time in the danish comic magazine, Comic Party. Since then I have been working on my adventure/drama/humor comic, Wasp & Lockbell, for the same magazine. In 2011, I was accepted into Serieskolan in Malmö, and migrated to Sweden the same year!

2. Why did you want to participate in this project?

I've heard about SCS before, and I thought it would be a fun project to work on! I also see it as a sort of challenge, since this will be my first break into the adult comic scene.

3. Have you drawn any erotic comics or incorporated sex in your stories before?

Can't say I have - which is strange, considering that I've been watching porn since the age of 14...

4. What has been the most difficult and challenging thing about this project?

Making something in time - I re-entered the project very late, and my way of working is very mysterious, so time has been a bit of a struggle...

5. What has been the most fun part?

Drawing the characters reactions towards another - specially their faces! My story is really light hearted, so there is a lot of silly faces in there.

6. What are you up to now and where are you heading? Any plans?

Right now I am having severeal projects in the fire: I am continiuing Wasp & Lockbell AND remaking the first 6 chapters for its english version, getting a new danish studio on its legs and prepairing my applycation for the second year at Serieskolan. If everything goes well, I will be staying in Sweden for another year, and will be able to continiue working on comics, which is all I need, really.

http://simoakalittlep.deviantart.com/

Interview with Tinet Elmgren

Name: Tinet Elmgren
Story: Her 18th Birthday
1. Tell me a little about yourself. How long have you been active as a comic artist and what have you been up to?

I've been drawing and writing for as long as I can remember. When I was little I wanted to write novels ("real books"), but I always ended up drawing pictures with my stories, too, and feeling frustrated with only text, so at some point I just accepted my fate.

I've drawn comics in extreme seriousness since I was 15 and began my epic socialist maritime fantasy comic Driftwood. I've published the almost yearly comics zine "Tunguska" since 2000, featuring Driftwood and various short stories. Eva ♥ Asbesthjärtan, a book collecting my hard boiled action stories about Eva, was published by Epix in 2009.


2. Why did you want to participate in this project?

Her 18th Birthday is a flash-forward from Driftwood. One of the elements in Driftwood is the love story between these two characters. Last summer when I had lyme disease I got this random silly idea for something they would say during their first time together:



But since I don't include much sex at all in my comics, I sadly assumed that I would never get to use that idea. :(

Last year I thought a lot about sex in comics and what interesting reasons there might be to actually do a story centered around sex. Sometimes it seems to me that my own experiences of sex aren't quite reflected in the image of sex that you get in most of popular culture.
Some friends encouraged me to draw sex comics that would reflect my own point of view, and then SCS editor Natalia at one point suggested that maybe I could contribute a story to Swedish Comic Sin.
So, after some fermentation in the back of my head there was a complete short story around that idea from last summer.


3. Have you drawn any erotic comics or incorporated sex in your stories before?

This is really my first comic that's mainly about sex. The heroine of Eva works as a prostitute, and there are some sex scenes in that book, but the focus there is much more on the action and ultraviolence.



4. What has been the most difficult and challenging thing about this project?

Drawing a toddler.
And I guess it was kind of hard to draw people naked, because I haven't done that too much before. ._.

Also I think I partly failed in my specific mission to present more beautiful and sensual manliness and beautiful and sensual hairiness. The latter because the characters in this story just aren't that hairy - he is partly Asiatic and she is still young. But I should at least have included some armpit shots. :3


5. What has been the most fun part?

Masha the doggie.
It's always fun to spend time with these characters, and it's nice to see them happy together.
Also, it was really nice and relaxing to have a strict and orderly submission schedule.
And it was really great to get feedback from my fellow artists and our editor!


6. What are you up to now and where are you heading? Any plans?

I've actually finished Driftwood now, after working on it on and off for 16 years. It's going to be published as a big fat book in Swedish now at the end of April, and this summer in English.
After that I have plans for a shorter book with a perhaps more realistic, everyday kind of story about people who will be drawn like pigs. Then maybe I will start the longer comic for which Driftwood was only the prequel. :D

Website: www.kommiekomiks.com

Interview with Anette Bengtsson

Name: Anette Bengtsson
Story: As the sun sets

1. Tell me a little about yourself. How long have you been active as a comic artist and what have you been up to?

Well, I guess I’ve been active for about three years now. Before that I mostly wrote stories and drew illustrations, it wasn’t until I got in to the comic school Serios in Vingåker that I started drawing comics seriously (now that sounded like a bad pun!).
Since then I’ve made and participated in a number of different fanzines and I have a comic published in the online magazine babian.se #20. Right now I’m attending the first year at Comic Art School of Malmö where I’m evolving so quickly that I almost can’t keep up! It’s fantastic!

2. Why did you want to participate in this project?

I just thought it was a really interesting project that would challenge me and give me a chance to work on something with other great artists.

3. Have you drawn any erotic comics or incorporated sex in your stories before?

I have actually! I’ve drawn a couple of Yaoi comics before, but this is the first time I’ve drawn an erotic comic with a heterosexual pairing, which was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be.

4. What has been the most difficult and challenging thing about this project?

Probably to find all the time I needed to ink and grayscale all of the pages, I was practically chained to my desk for three whole weeks just inking this comic. But it’s fine, since I love to do that.

5. What has been the most fun part?

To see the comic grow from nothing into the finished piece, and to give and receive comments, tips and such from the other artists.

6. What are you up to now and where are you heading? Any plans?

Right now I have a couple of different projects going on (most of them are still secret) but I hope to get into the second year here at the Comic School where I intend to work on my next long project, a story about homophobia, friendship and love.

Blog: theartinside.blogspot.com
Comic Diary Blog: anettesseriedagbok.blogspot.com
DeviantART: nettan87.deviantart.com
Mail: nettan87@hotmail.com

Interview with Ainur Elmgren

Name: Ainur Elmgren

Story: My Comrade in Bed

1. Tell me a little about yourself. How long have you been active as a comic artist and what have you been up to?

I have been drawing comics as long as I can remember, but I have never been a full-time artist. My strips have been published in the student magazine Lundagård and Populär Astronomi, a popular scientific journal. My favourite work is self-published, though; Goldenbird, a historical and humorous adventure comic. A spin-off story was published in the web magazine babian.se.

2. Why did you want to participate in this project?

I'm a feminist and I enjoy sex - doing it, talking about it, studying it. When I was young, I realized that if I want stories that please me, I have to create them myself - luckily this is changing, as we can see from the other lovely stories in the Swedish Comic Sin anthologies.

3. Have you drawn any erotic comics or incorporated sex in your stories before?

My first erotic comic was published in the AltCom 2010 Sex and War anthology, and my second in Swedish Comic Sin 2, which makes this the third! I have drawn erotic stuff before, but mostly for *ahem* private use. Some sweet fans tell me that my comics are sexy even without actual sex scenes. I enjoy trying to draw longing looks and salacious smiles that speak louder than words... Such little details are much more erotic to me than plain closeups of genitalia.

4. What has been the most difficult and challenging thing about this project?

To stick to the deadline... I really appreciate our strict but fair editor, Natalia, who has done an amazing effort to keep everyone focused on the goal.

5. What has been the most fun part?

The research.

6. What are you up to now and where are you heading? Any plans?

My dream is to get a scholarship to be able to focus on comics full-time. Some of my comics are being exhibited in Sweden and France (as part of a Maus memorial exhibition) and possibly in Kemi, Finland, later this year. This makes me feel that anything is possible!

www.goldenbird.se

Interview with Malin Lindroos

Name: Malin Lindroos
Story: Nature Lovers

1. Tell me a little about yourself. How long have you been active as a comic artist and what have you been up to?

I've loved sketching, drawing and illustrating since I could hold a crayon. I studied at the art program at Södra Latins Gymnasium in Stockholm and graduated in 2010.
I hadn't actually made any "real" comics until I applied to the Comic School in Malmö, with a five pages long comic about incest in a fairy tale kind of style (and yes, it looked as schizo as it sounds but at least it got me into comic school). Since then I've taken part in a couple of fanzines and conventions and I want to learn so much more about the industry of comics.
My own stuff is mostly humouristic and I'm often inspired by GLBT and feminist issues. I'm also a huge fan of horror and sci-fi.

2. Why did you want to participate in this project?

Well, I think sex is and should be fun so I was thrilled when I noticed a pink little book called "Swedish Comic Sin" at SPX in 2010. It looked intriguing and as I started flipping through the pages I was hooked at once! This anthology was unique, and I had never seen anything quite like it before. At first I simply enjoyed reading it, and later also volume 2, but the same fall as my first term at the Comic School in Malmö Natalia Batista visited one of my classes - she was looking for participants for volume 3. I immediately signed up of course, and that's how I came to be a part of this fun and amazing project.

3. Have you drawn any erotic comics or incorporated sex in your stories before?

I participated in a fanzine called "The Mastrubation fanzine - keep jerking off!" ("Onanifanzinet - runka på!"). My comic was a humoristic thing called "PC Porn Surfing" ("PK Porrsurf), and it was about the difficulty in finding politically correct porn, while still finding it hot enough. I had so much fun making it, but I almost always incorporate sex in my comics anyway, one way or another. I guess the topic is just a great source of inspiration to me, and as we all know - sex sells!

4. What has been the most difficult and challenging thing about this project?

Probably to make it without any dialogue or text (I had a script though). It wasn't really a conscious decision - after I'd been drawing for a while I suddenly realized that I had no dialogue. It's the complete opposite of what I usually do, so it felt new and exciting for me, but at the same time challenging - I mean how do you portray quiet affection, horniness and being ashamed but kind of happy of being caught masturbating convincingly enough without it being cheesy or clichée? Well, you'll just have to read my comic and tell me how I did.

5. What has been the most fun part?

Researching for reference material! Hahaha! And also working at this whole new level for me, with so many awesome and talented people. I've had fun and I've learned a lot during this project.

6. What are you up to now, and where are you heading? Any plans?

Right now I'm focusing on school, but soon I'll plan to begin making a shorter comic for an anthology about transsexualism. I'm really looking forward to that!
Besides that I'm open for any interesting (and hopefully profitable) project that comes my way. I can hardly wait to start on something new and exciting! One day I'd like to maybe illustrate a children's book or make a much longer erotic graphic novel.

serieslaven.deviantart.com
serieslaven.blogspot.com

Interview with Linus Larsson

Name: Linus Larsson

Story: Commune

1. Tell me a little about yourself. How long have you been active as a comic artist and what have you been up to?

My name is Linus Larsson, I'm currently 27 years old, and I guess I've been making comics all my conscious life. I studied at Estetiska programmet at Martin Koch-gymnasiet, Hedemora, and then two years at the Serie- och bildberättarprogrammet at Högskolan i Gävle. After graduation, I enjoyed an involuntary vacation for a couple of years before being employed as a graphic designer at a logistics firm. During the larger part of the last decade, I've mostly tried to find out what the hell I want to say, while improving on my craft with a weekly web-comic about fanged "poseur-angst". Never underestimate the importance of routine in creative endeavors.

2. Why did you want to participate in this project?

To be frank, a friend showed me volume 2 at last years comic festival in Stockholm, and I was intrigued. I'm well aware that making erotica, porn or whatever you want to call it, is a brutal challenge. The success of "sexy", at least my view of it, lies in the engagement and involvement
of the reader. This is achieved through story-telling, not merely the art itself. And I wanted to take on that challenge. Whether I succeeded or not, I cannot say. I have long since forgotten how to read my entry for SCS, dissecting it back and forth into absurdity. Maybe in a year or so, I can pick it up and read it, and make my own judgment on the matter.

3. Have you drawn any erotic comics or incorporated sex in your stories before?

No, not as the subject matter itself. Only as a "tool" to shine light on "other" aspects of life and the psyche of humankind as a whole. But then again, one could debate whether or not sexuality infuses everything about everyone all the time. But I'd rather look at it from another direction - everything about everyone infuses their sexuality - or rather everything about everyone affect everything about everyone - all the time. To isolate a part of our being is usually meaningless. So, yeah, um... let me rephrase that - Yes, I've made stories about sex before.

4. What has been the most difficult and challenging thing about this project?

To make the comic erotic. Sure, it's an anthology that primarily wants to collect stories about sex, and not necessarily making them all highly arousing. But I tend to dwell heavily on intellectual debate, and I constantly feared I would lose emotional tension.

5. What has been the most fun part?

The exact same things as mentioned above in point 4. I just enjoy experimenting with things I've never done before. Not knowing really were to start, what to do and how to do it triggers my interest. I guess I'm terrified of reducing art to craft, and thus get a twisted pleasure and satisfaction from being tormented with doubt, endless revisions and dissatisfaction of the result.

6. What are you up to now and where are you heading? Any plans?

Right now, I've alleviated myself from "creative" endeavors at work, assisting the design department merely with a solid technical base for them to right-side-brain-away upon. It has given me a much more structured weekday, and thus both time and sheer energy to work on
different projects back home in the studio. SCS3 is an example of that. I'm fleshing out a couple of comic ideas at the moment, painting with oils (usually at night, when I need to wind down) and trying to ignore and reject all my desires to work with animation again...

Interview with Sara Berntsson

Name: Sara Berntsson
Story: Just Playing

1. Tell me a little about yourself. How long have you been active as a comic artist and what have you been up to?

When I got into the Comic Art School in Gävle was when I first started really making comics. Since then I've made my fanzines Otaku, which is about manga fandom, and Misc, which contains mixed comics.

2. Why did you want to participate in this project?

I participated last year, since the theme of the anthology is one of my favorite subjects. It was really fun, and surprisingly challenging to portray sex in a comic, so I defineately wanted to explore it more this time.

3. Have you drawn any erotic comics or incorporated sex in your stories before?

The comic I made for SCS2 was my first time drawing sex in comics.

4. What has been the most difficult and challenging thing about this project?

Trying to create a believable sense of sensuality, staying away from clichées and instead bringing some of your honest feelings. Even though my comic is quite simple and silly, for me it was hard to not think about what other people might read into me by reading the comic.

5. What has been the most fun part?

Being able to connect with other comic artists by giving and getting feedback.

6. What are you up to now and where are you heading? Any plans?

Right now I'm working as a freelance illustrator, mostly drawing cute stuff for kids (quite different from this, hehe).

illustratorcentrum.se/medlem/sara-berntsson
rpgirl.deviantart.com

Swedish Comic Sin 3!

The new book will be released at Stockholm International Comics Festival, April 26th-29th 2012.

Contributing artists:

Ainur Elmgren - "My Comrade In Bed"
Anette Bengtsson - "As The Sun Sets"
Elise Rosberg - "You're Not Abnormal"
Linus Larsson - "Commune"
Malin Lindroos - "Nature Lovers"
Maria Simone Büchert - "2 for 1"
Sara Berntsson - "Just Playing"
Sara Hernoldson - "Maidly Embarrassed"
Tinet Elmgren - "Her 18th Birthday"