Guðrún Þóra Gunnarsdóttir
It’s no great secret that I’m a massive fan of Hanna Karlzon‘s wonderful drawings, so I’m thrilled to share my latest catch up, wherein she talks about her new book Magisk Gryning, a magical exploration of all things otherworldly. Best of all, I have managed to secure a chance for you to win your very own copy, and the giveaway is open WORLDWIDE, so if you are still eagerly awaiting it’s release in your country this is your chance to get Magical Dawn, as it is to be called for the English speaking market… just read to the bottom to find out how… and enjoy the wonderful coloured pages from the book on your way (colourists credited below each one.)
Claire Eadie
Suzana Hánová
Tímea Kalakai
How do you start the creative process each day – for example do you lay out all your implements, or do you start with research for that particular project?
Well making colouring books is a long process, at least for me. It takes me about 5 months to complete a colouring book so I just take it day by day not to get overwhelmed with the amount of work. I try to make one page a day but since I also make all the layout design for my books myself; some weeks I work a lot by my computer and some weeks I only use pen and paper and draw. It’s a mix. And I have my office that I go to every day so I just pick up where I left the day before. I mostly start my days answering emails and messages and taking a look at my Facebook and Instagram and after that I listen to music or podcasts and draw, draw, draw. When I work with the coloring books many days contain the same kind of work, since it’s about 100 drawings that I need to make, but luckily it never gets boring, at least not yet anyways. 
Stina Gustavsson
Siv Stenseth
Sirpa Seppälä
Liz Moore
What are your favourite motifs to draw at the moment and why?
Well I love to draw people and jewels, crowns and all things that sparkle. I don’t really know why, maybe because its something that you can alter and change every time, there are no rules or regulations, I just draw whatever comes to mind. But it’s also fun to draw birds, and mushrooms, and flowers and I like to mix it up, one day I draw a really detailed illustration with lots and lots of stuff everywhere and the next day I draw something more simple and clean. I need to mix it up like that to make it fun for myself in the work process, but I also think it’s good because that gives my books a diversity of illustrations, a range, from quite hard and detaild pages to easier more simple pages and I know a lot of people like that. Somedays you just want to color something small and simple, like a beetle maybe, and other days you just want to go all in on a big detailed spread, and it’s the same for me, somedays I go simple and somedays I go all in.
Péťa Lukt Ratajovi
Megan Silcox
Maria Ronessen Pain
Maria Ludvigsen
Do you have any current plans beyond colouring books? (for instance further products featuring the images from your books?) I know you’ve been very tied up but your work has become so very popular that I imagine you must have plans for the future!
Well before I started making colouring books I made a lot ot pattern design, for fabric, wallpaper etc and I would love to go back and work more with that in the future. I miss making patterns!
And not many may know this but when I started my own business my main focus then was to sew and screen print clothes with my own designs. I made tank tops, leggings, scarfs, totebags and other stuff and sold them in my own webshop. After a while though I started to focus on just designing the prints and that lead me to making illustrations and patterns instead (to cut a long story short) but I miss screen printing and I would really like to start doing that again too. And yes, talking about my webshop, I plan to get it up and running again sometime this year, kind of a re-launch since it has been dozing for a year or two whilst I have been super busy with my books. So, there are many things I want to do but as usual I don’t know what I will end up doing, I just go with the flow.
Margo Daniels
Liz Moore
Lucy Fyles
Maja Bergsten
Did you learn anything specific from your research for Magisk Gryning and if so what?
I don’t know if I could say that I do a lot of research when I make a book. I just draw what pops up in my head but I always try to have a local, northern Sweden, feeling in my illustrations, I try to use the animals, flowers and elements of nature that can be found here, where I live. But yes I space out sometimes, we don’t have mushrooms with stars on them or squirrels that run around with little jackets on but you know what I mean, the core of my inspiration will always be my home and the nature around me.
Linda Russo
Kicki Rolandsson
Jenny Ågren
Jennifer Lyons
Have you learnt anything from the fans in your Facebook groups and on instagram and if so what?
Well yes, I have learned that creativity is something we all need, regardless of where in the world we live, it is a common ground that makes us meet and come together regarding of age, nationality, gender etc. We all need to express ourselves and colouring books are a great way of doing that. Seeing the coloring community growing every day and all the new friendships that are being made online is truly super amazing!
Hazel Smithies
Ingrid Rockx
Julianna Blumenthal Kahn
Elzelina Kriek-Breet
Can you tell us more about your new hobbies, including root binding – how does it work? It’s not something I’m very familiar with! What makes it so engaging?
Root binding is something I have been doing for about a year and a half. It’s a really old handicraft that you can use to make items like boxes, bowls and jewellery from thin birch roots. It is really, really time consuming, it takes hours and hours to make a small bowl but it’s so much fun. You gather the roots in the forest in spring/summer and then you can store them all dried up and when you want to use a root you put it in water and after a while it gets all soft and you can use it for your craft. And it’s something special working with your hands, creating something that you can see and touch, and since I have never fallen for knitting or crochet, like so many others have, I have really found something in root binding. And I love the fact that you use something as natural as roots for your work and that’s it, nothing else, just roots. It’s just old school, back to basics and that just strikes a chord in my history nerd heart.
Grisell Martinez
Doerte Ef
Christy Whetten
Anita Malkhandi
As always it’s a pleasure to catch up with you and I can’t wait to see your new book TideVarv, good luck with finishing it off!
Thank you all for supporting me and my work!! /Hanna
Beth Oram
Ann-Sofie Younis
Angela E. Colagross
Aline Ferreira
Agnes Perger
Robyn Lipner
Marianne Lindahl
Е. Я.
Magisk Gryning is currently only available for international buyers from Penstore, but shipping costs have gone up recently, so be warned! Many thanks to the awesome colourists of the Facebook group Daydreams Colouring (fans of Hanna Karlzon, Dagdrömmar and Sommarnatt) Why not join the group yourself?
To be in with a chance to win a copy of Magisk Gryning visit my Facebook Page for Amelia’s Magazine here and be sure to leave a comment before midnight on Sunday 26th February 2016 (GMT). Open Worldwide. Good luck!
Categories ,Adult Coloring, ,Adult Colouring Book, ,Coloring for Adults, ,Dagdrömmar and Sommarnatt), ,Daydreams Colouring (fans of Hanna Karlzon, ,Giveaway, ,Hanna Karlzon, ,interview, ,Magical dawn, ,Magisk gryning, ,Penstore
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