We'll wrap up our interview with Karin Rindevall today, moving from more Teddy-and-the-Yeti-centered questions to more general, and perhaps more personal, ones. I really can't reiterate enough what a great job Karin is doing on the book or how grateful I am to have her involved with this project. Karin has colored a short T&Y story for issue #3 and a backup "Andromeda Jones" tale for issue #1 (as seen above), is working on all the covers, and (if I can twist her arm hard enough) will be coloring flashback scenes for issues 1 and 2 in the very near future. I know I've said the before, but I'd put Karin's work against any other in the industry with confidence. But enough sucking up (for now) - let's get to the conclusion of her question and answer session.
JM: Are there any artists you particularly admire, both contemporary and historical?
KR: Well, one of the online artists that first got me into digital drawing was Emily Gregg. She mysteriously vanished back in 1999 with a simple "goodbye" message on her homepage, which was a really sad day for me. I wish she knew how much she inspired me, and how she got me into drawing. Another artist from that time that has kept on inspiring me until now is Vanessa Adams. Her pieces are truly something "more." They always have some sort of feeling or message in them. It's never just a drawing; there is always something to tell from her pieces.
I don't really have any historical artists in mind. Don Rosa is truly fascinating, though, and I loved his comics when I was a kid (and still do).
JM: When I think of Sweden, I think of yodeling and snow-capped mountains. How far from the truth am I?
KR: I think you are far from the truth, but not entirely! I don't know of much (if any!) yodeling here. When I hear yodeling, I think of Austria or Switzerland (now *I* am probably far away from the truth!). And when I look out of my window, I see mountains but no snow (yet). We tend to get snow in November (October is we are lucky) and it disappears in March or April. In southern Sweden, the winters tend to be pretty wet and the snow doesn't really come to stay until January or February.
But I do remember that we had more snow when I was a kid, but that could be because I lived more north [compared to] where I live now, and in a more mountainous place with huge valleys. Or it could be simply be that as a kid everything is "more", "bigger" or "longer" in that time span.
I do know that winters in Sweden are longer and colder than in a lot of places - and during winters, the sun rises really late at sets really early. When a good friend of mine from the USA visited me back in 2005 to celebrate New Year's, she was really excited and pleased with the amounts of snow - but less excited about how short the days were (the sun came up around 9:00 am and went down around 3:00 pm). It's the other way around during the summer. Where I come from, it's only dark two-to-three hours during "midsummer's eve", and in Lulea (far north in Sweden) the sun never truly sets...which basically means the sun never really rises during "midwinter's eve". Pretty inspiring, huh? Even though I love snow and love to snowboard, I think the Swedish winters could get pretty depressing because of the lack of sun.
JM: If you were stuck with one color (and all of its shades) for the rest of your life, and you had to use that color and no other, which one would that be?
KR: I don't really know; it all depends on my "period" in drawing! Usually, since it is my favorite color, I would say 'blue', but I am kind of bored with that color right now. So I'll have to say 'orange'!