I grew up in Sandsbro, a tiny suburb to a not so big town, Växjö, in the relatively small country of Sweden. My parents separated early on, and so I was raised by my mother, seeing my father but for a couple of weeks a year. I drew a lot as a kid and got used to the concept of being "the one who could draw" in school. Inspiration came mostly from comic books and television series. Important creativity igniters for me were Tintin, Bamse, The Muppet Show and Fraggle Rock. On top of this I was inspired by a million other things that somehow found their way into my drawings. My mother was always interested in what I did and encouraged me in my creative ventures.

As a teenager I developed an unhealthily high level of self-criticism and at some point I stopped drawing completely, convinced that my drawings were crap and that I would never make it in "the business". My other major hobby in life, the saxophone, took over and music became my new focus. I did solo performances, played in orchestras, a quartet, a big band, jazz groups etc. I got the opportunity to travel to a number of countries with various ensembles. It was great fun! I took my music interest far, far enough to be considered a promising talent, I believe. The world of higher music education seemed to await me at the next turn. However, I never felt quite at ease with the idea of making music a profession. The fun ended when the seriousness began, so to speak. This is when I decided to stop the music for a while. I think I disappointed a few people who had expected me to continue with music. Or they couldn’t care less, I don’t know. Anyway, I always believed in letting yourself be guided by your heart and guts, so I did what I had to do. I started drawing again.

I applied for art school in Liverpool, where my dad lives, and to my surprise I was admitted to the art foundation course. This course was a real eye-opener onto the world of art in general and creative thinking in particular. During this year I had a go at a bit of everything before I decided I wanted to try to get into animation. I applied for animation school in Fellingsbro, Sweden, and was admitted. Here I got to learn the basics of the craft, and it was through my animation teacher I got in touch with the people at Bamse – Världens Starkaste Björn, the comic book I used to read as a child. After animation school, I started working for Bamse at the same time as I was hired to do a couple of animation projects in Fellingsbro.

At the turn of the millennium, I moved down to Malmö where the editorial office for Bamse is situated. After a year or so of trying to make a living out of drawing, I found the hardships too burdening, and decided to enroll at university, something I thought I’d never do. I continued working for Bamse during my spare time. University really meant a widening of horizons and shift in priorities for me. Gradually, I realized that reality is stranger (and more interesting) than fiction, and this changed the way I see films, comics, video games, TV series and other media that I used to regard as being more important than anything else. However, I always seemed to return to these interests in my essays. Thus my film essay was on Swedish animation, my BA thesis on Arab Children’s Comics, and my MA thesis on Arab Political Cartoons. I majored in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies and graduated in 2007.

In 2002 I joined the student performing arts group, Lundaspexarna, something that opened up a new world for me, socially as well as creatively. Among other things, being part of this group caused a revival of my music hobby, so that now I’m active playing the saxophone again in various contexts. It was also within Lundaspexarna I had my first go at puppeteering, and contacts via the group even led me to make computer graphics for Lundakarnevalen. Thus, since 2001 I’ve combined studies and creative work. Professionally I mainly did stuff for Bamse, but on top of this I worked with many other things. You can see a sample of what I’ve done at the portfolio section of this site.