"Martin Olsson, huh? He sure can talk, eh?"

A little word of friendly advice. Below is a cheerfully rambling account of my activities, relevances mixed with irrelevances, I call it "The Extended Version". For all of those with limited time and/or patience, I first kindly present you with "The Short Version".

"The Short Version."

Born in Sweden, 1971. Preferred drawing to football and fighting in school, grew up, and got a few illustration jobs. Travelled abroad, came back with wife and children, and a diploma in classical animation. Moved to and settled down in the UK in 2002, and now works as a freelance illustrator. Neat.

For all you guys with inquisitive minds, or just too much time to pass, please take part in what follows.

"The Extended Version."

I was indeed born in Sweden in 1971. Forever with a pencil and paper in my hands, my one ambition was always to earn a living through drawing. Initially I wanted to be a cartoonist, like James Thurber or Mel Calman. Had planned to become an art teacher first, and to pursue the cartoon dream on the side. I landed a cartoonist post in my local daily newspaper Sydostran (www.sydostran.se) back in 1992. I produced a cartoon per day for three years. Other spot jobs included cartoons and caricatures in other newspapers, comic magazines, postcards, shop signage, advertisement illustrations and fine art displays. Oh sweet youth. 

Had plans to attend University in Sweden, but these had to make way for the young person's urge to travel abroad and just live a little, in my rucksack went not only underwear and toothpaste, but also my artistic ambitions which I had decided I should uncork at a later date, when I was ready and finished with my hobo days. But just before venturing out one summer's day, I had finished a one year art foundation course in Öland, Sweden. Life drawing, painting, graphic printing, photography, the lot. A fantastic year, hands down. And to meet like minded people, a luxury I still benefit from today.

But abroad I went. Working odd jobs and playing chess wherever I stayed, Bavaria, London, Dublin, Krakow, Berne, Belgrade, Oslo. The enduring legacy of travelling was a new urge, namely that to settle down. Well my day came. Landed in Dublin, met a lovely english girl, and on her insistence searched out a College there, to pursue my artistic ambition. Surprised and delighted I was offered a place at Ballyfermot College of Further Education, and not sure what I should study there, I was advised by the administrator I met one summer day, long after the deadline for admissions had passed that I should attend their highly regarded course in classical animation. Well, heck, so I did. Only four years, eh? It proved to be the most rewarding educational experience of my life.

Thanks to a friend, I landed a job in an in Oslo even before the course had finished. So I worked for Filmkameratene AS on their feature length animated film "Karlsson On The Roof". By now followed family expansion however, and with my wife and baby boy I moved back to Sweden for a period, to reconnect with my kinsfolk in the new era of parenthood.

Managed to land a remote illustrator job for Storycircus.com in the early noughties, and with a growing family, we decided to make our final move and settle for good in England. Said and done.

The income and career of the artist and illustrator can be at best irregular and at worst downright haphazard, so I opted for "regular" employment for a long time but always planned and looked forward to the imminent establishment of my art practice. The path of a pragmatist. And a third child's arrival completed the odd achievement of having had three children in as many countries. So work hard I needed to. But nothing lasts forever, especially not in the precarious area of automotive manufacturing.

Well so came the day when redundancies were on where I earned my living, and people jumped or were pushed in a most unpredictable fashion. I felt this was my chance, and haven't looked back since! But my road is rarely straight, and despite having rid myself of an non artistic job, I still had new demons of distraction to battle, such as club-chess and banjo playing, a truly toxic mix for the aspirational artiste.

Fortunately, my wife possesses the most extraordinary patience, and has helped me to wake up to reality on more than one occasion.  

Have through hardly any fault of my own recently managed to land a few inspiring commissions for illustration, and has embarked on fine art production too, the classical canvas, lino prints, original pencil drawings and such. Very exciting has been to get to know likeminded artists and exhibitions in my immediate local area of Buxton, Derbyshire, and from them stems a flood of information, advice and encouragement. Took part in the first "Buxton Art Trail" under the auspices of the "Buxton Festival Fringe 2010", and likewise an illustrator's exhibition titled "Hi, Have You Guys Met?" that same year.

This concludes my first draft of these memoirs, undoubtedly shall I add to them with further items of wildly variyng relevance, but for now this gives you an idea of who I am and what I've been up to until today.