Sarahs thoughts on Drops

I have lived now in Viborg, Denmark for about one year and a half. There are many advantages about living here in comparison to other countries I´ve  lived in. One thing that has inspired me the most and been the base for all of my recent illustrations has been the nature. I always imagined that in flat countries there was not much to see. Looking at a landscape here is a whole new experience. Your eyes need some time to get tuned in to details. The colors are brilliant! There is so much variety in textures. 

Concept art of dressed up drop

The only problem I have experienced so far, is the weather. One days is never the same as the next. One hours is even never the same as one hour later. It is humid, sunny, cloudy, stormy, WINDY and foggy all in a span of six hours. But one thing is the most consistent: the rain.

The short-film DROPS is about this rain. It is my attempt to make peace with weather and enjoy every aspect of it. Most of us become irritated when we have dressed in shorts and t-shirt, ready to work on our tan, and then suddenly a summer storm hits. The streets are being flooded, needless to say my freshly done hairdo is turning into a frizzy mess! But had I taken the time to reflect on how important water actually is for the land? How lucky I am that this part of the world has abundance of it? Water gives life. Viborg, Denmark, is full of life!

That is why I have chosen to make characters out of the water droplets: to remind us. It gives a different perspective, to suddenly stop and imagine that the rain falling on your head has personality.

Concept art of Drops embracing each other

The summer 2015 has been the most grey and rainy I have ever experienced. I have felt gloomy and depressed. It is easy to see that I am not the only one. The lack of Vitamin D is evident in most faces you see while waiting in the line at the supermarket. But, I want to try to look at it from the “bright side”. For example, consider how it will not be as difficult to enter into winter, after a summer like this one. This is the perfect time to spend a little extra attention on making your home cozy, and bake those macarons that you have always wanted to do. Or, it´s time to get the right gear (ex. rubber boots, waterproof jacket and pants), and go for an adventure! Like my father-in-law likes to remind me, there´s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.

Still frame of Water drop girl in the forest

Dancing in the rain

This week week has been a step forwards with developing characters and the story. While it felt great to expand the story with all imaginable things possible, it also feels great to cut most of it away again and rediscover some essence of our little tale. 

The sketch above is one of the three ballerinas, which our main character will meet on his path and the clip below is his first lover.

We are moving into our home in a week and can't wait to stick our fingers into the garden space outside. The Ila now has two teeth and can stand for 2-5 sec. before she collapses.

Sarah and Karsten.

Filmmaking at Arsenalet

This month has been a very eventful one. Our Kickstarter did not quite make it, but we opened a Paypal account and many re-backed us, which has helped to get us rolling. We are still in “traveling mode”, waiting to move in to our apartment in May. With the help of Open Workshop, we have set up our temporary office space in Arsenalet, an awesome place for aspiring talents building their companies.  There has been much work involving the story and deciding what kind of film we want to create. Much of our time has been spent reflecting on the purpose of Waterdrops. Why do we want to make this film? I guess you call this phase PRE-PRODUCTION.

It has not been easy to find answers to our many questions; we have fired each other and quit various times, but we´re still here! The support we have received has been amazing so there is really nothing to complain about. So far, there have been two additions to our little crew:  Maggie Van der Molen, whom we have consulted with about script and marketing, and Caroline Fertl who will paint frames with Sarah this summer. There is still a need for another animator, and we are looking forward to see who comes our way.

Waterdrops on Friday

Exciting times, today Karstens "The Great Harlot..." was released on the internet.

On friday the 6. of March we're releasing the kickstarter, which will help us fund our next film "Waterdrops". We are offering original artwork and insight in the making of the film in return. Please help us by spreading the word.

Snowy storm

Today we have done some great progress, we have successfully dug a hole through the snowplows' dump section in our current backyard! As for the film, it was my day off. (This is Sarah writing, by the way). 

Our normal work time begins when baby takes her first nap, after we clean our table from breakfast and get it ready for "office time". This time when Ila took her first nap, I also took one. I guess that my car accident this weekend and not being able to leave the driveway because of so much snow, were perfect to inspire some enjoyment of the present moment.

Ps. The car and I were not harmed, my ego was a little...

Happy baby and a looktest

January 31. Hunter, NY.

To our dear friends and family. Ila is growing faster than my avocado plants, and seems to be exhillerated to be alive. She is compulsively grabbing and testing everything within reach. Ilas top speed is now at a 5 cm/min.

Sarah reports ice-cold winds from the mountain, where she teaches her little troupe of ski fanatics.

Progress on the film has been made, we put together a fairly random composition of elements that we wanted to test. A so called early look test.


All the best,
Karsten, Sarah and Ila.

Family life and shortfilm

The main purpose of this blog will be to inform our friends and families of our life situation and creative doings. Anybody else who should find it interesting is also very welcome to give it a read.

Sarah, Ila and I arrived in Hunter, NY, just before Christmas, to enjoy family, nature, skieng and other things. We share a little mountain cabin with our landlord, which has trees and nature in every direction. 

Another one of our occupations here at Barbets mountain lodge is an animation shortfilm based on illustrations Sarah did last year at the Open workshop in Viborg. 

The first step in our process has been to sketch out the major points of the story on christmas post-it notes taped to the wall. It is a romantic little piece about rain.