From the archives [part 1]

I've been wanting to write a post about how I got to this whole swing thing for a while, so I'm making a little series about the development of my story, characters and how things came to be.
But withhout further ado, here's how it all started:

                                       (late 2010)                                                             (feb 2011) 

Now, I can't exactly pinpoint the moment I got into swing music, but by the end of 2010 I wanted to start a comic project about it. The drawing on the left is what it all began with, spontaniously doodled while doing my comic class homework. Prototype Holger was born. Still nothing much, but that little sketch soon got me to make up a swing band of several characters. At the time the band was pretty much based on American swing and on the more recent swing music. The characters didn't have much personality and there wasn't much of a story. They were just a band and in desperate need of an environment to get them to develop.
During the process I was reading 'The Colditz Story' by P. R. Reid and realised a situation in a p.o.w camp would be interesting, not to mention a struggle for the characters as well as their music. Most of these camps actually had their own bands, musicians and theatre. A problem, though, was the inability to use the female band members. I wasn't there yet, but I was getting closer.

 (Swingjugend in Hamburg - photo taken from 'Die Freiheit Lebt!' by Herbert Diercks)

During my internship in Hamburg last year I still hadn't let go of the WW II time period and was still trying to find a way to make something out of it. Moritz, a colleague at the atelier mentioned the Hamburger Swingjugend and the more I got into it, the more I loved it. My theme was there and I could finally start the comic project I'm still working on today, currently brainstorming over and writing the story and bringing the characters to life.

(sketches from 2011)

Speaking of which: Holger was the very first of them. His personality hasn't changed much either, save for his family situation and that him not aspiring to be lead singer anymore ;) Piano and double bass are where he belongs. Despite the fact that he's not the main character I love to draw him, but that may be because he is what it all started with.

Next episode: Klara