In the first issue of our new Letter from… column, we asked toonpool.com artist Kresten Forsman (Gorpur) about his life and begged for some photographs of his icy place, the most northern region where toonpool.com artists live. Kersten left Greenland heading south for vacation – on Faroe Islands – visiting his mom, probably the most northern living cartoonist’s mom of all.

Kresten had a problem with sending us a photograph of his favorite pub or restaurant or a street scene with people in it because: “There are currently no restaurants here, and it’s very difficult to find people to take pictures of…”. Most of Glyvrar’s 400 souls are working in Bakkafrost’s fish factory.

1. Give us a short description of yourself. Tell us about your trip.

I am the world’s least commercially successful cartoonist. It has now been ten years since I started drawing cartoons and in all this time I have not managed to sell a single one of them – and I have tried everything! I should be in the Guinness Book of World Records for this amazing accomplishment.

Needless to say I don’t draw cartoons for a living. No, I earn for my daily bread working in a factory that peels shrimps. This is in Nuuk, Greenland where I now have been living for almost seven years. Before that I was working in a factory in the Faroe Islands, my country of origin. At this moment I am on vacation in the Faroes, staying with my old mother; we are having a great time together.

One of Kresten's cartoons - click to see more

2. What was your dream last night? What did you expect to see when you awoke – the Faroes or Greenland?

It is very seldom that I remember my dreams and last night’s dream was – unfortunately – no exception. During the first year or so after I had moved to Greenland I would have these very powerful dreams at night, but after a while they stopped. Don’t know what happened.

When I woke up the first morning here in the Faroes I knew very well where I was because of the sounds from outside. Nuuk can be a very noisy town at night and Runavik, where I am right now, is dead quiet. The difference in sounds is so huge that you cannot confuse those two places with one another, even when you are just waking up.

3. Next plans or ideas?

I have no idea. Perhaps I will write a novel… The world is full of possibilities and I am still young.

One of my plans is to publish a book about this Faroese cartoonist that I admire a lot. He has been dead for some twenty years now and the people of this country seem to have forgotten him completely. I want to make sure that he will be remembered. His name was Johannes Haraldsen, but I don’t expect you to have heard of him or seen any of his cartoons since he has never been published outside the Faroe Islands and would be impossible to translate. Some two years ago I published a little book with my own cartoons; it failed to sell a single copy, but at least I can say that I have experience in publishing.

4. Your food today?

Today I had lamb of two kinds. Dried Faroese lamb for breakfast and roasted ‘foreign’ lamb for dinner. Life in the Faroes revolves very much around sheep.

5. If you were to draw a cartoon about a man from Greenland visiting the Faroes what would be the punchline?

“Let’s kill some whales!” ( both the Faroes and Greenland are whale hunting countries ). Sorry, bad joke.

6. Do you like your place or would you like to live somewhere else?

Every place on Earth has it’s plusses and minuses, and Nuuk is no exception. There have been – and still are – times when I wish that I was someplace else, but all in all I think that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Certainly if you like to gamble on the stock market ( like I do ) then Greenland is a good country to live in since you don’t pay any tax on the profits…

My work table in Glyvrar

7. How does your lifestyle and homestory influence your style?

I’m not at all sure if it does. There is very little in my cartoons that I recognize from my own life, whether past or present. When I draw I simply put the pencil to the paper and just let it find its own way.

My lifestyle is a very quiet one. Of course I have certain philosophical ideas – and I am an active member of the Bahá’í Faith (editor’s note: a monotheistic religion founded in Persia in 19th century) – but I would never let my persuasions influence my cartoons. That would be propaganda and in my eyes propaganda is the lowest form of art and generally on life it is seldom a very dignified endeavor. I want my art to be sanctified from propaganda. There are other times, however, when I have absolutely no problem with propagation.

My cartoons are sometimes very dark and have a strong element of schadenfreude in them, but I honestly don’t know where that comes from. But then, schadenfreude (taking pleasure in people’s misfortunes) is one of the most common ingredients in cartoons generally. Perhaps that says something about the people who become cartoonists..

View out of my window

8. Why black and white?

Mainly because I have not yet taught myself how to colour, he he. Actually, I like my style the way it is and don’t see any reason to change it. Adding colour would only create a distraction and would spoil the gothic feel that I want my cartoons to have.

9. Witch is your favorite cartoon that we did not yet see on toonpool.com?

It’s still in my head, but it is so complex that I am not yet able to get it down on paper. Perhaps in a few years from now you will see it on toonpool.com…

In mid-October, Kresten will return to Nuuk/Greenland.

Nuuk's roaring center's main street, a boulevard of sunset and dreams...

Credits to Nicoleta Ionescu for talking with Kresten.