Inside Levende Streg's Animation and Art Studio in Copenhagen

We have our headquarters in the Meatpacking district in Copenhagen, Denmark—in an office hotel called SOHO. This is the creative/entrepreneur/startup hub of town. 

Levende Streg is a creative agency. We create business animation videos, illustration, comic books and concept art for global companies (basically everything that’s drawn, animated and has a story). It’s important for all of us that we really enjoy our workspace and love to come to work here. By the way, if you’re wondering about our name, it’s Danish and means something along the line of “The line is alive” or “Brush strokes brought to life.” 

Above is a look at one of the walls, where I did a mural of one of my favorite comic book heroes. Hulk not only gives us energy to keep going during sometimes long hours. He also reminds us to always think big. 

Comic books and inspiration

Most creatives have a clear recollection of what inspired them as kids and led them to become professional creatives. With me it was comic books—Tintin and Marvel especially—that sparked my imagination and got me on my path to start up a creative agency with a focus on illustration and animation. 

So, of course, our Tintin figurine has a prominent place alongside our neon sign (from our in-house SOHO mates at Sygns.com). 

Working digitally 

We all spend a huge amount of time in front of our computers at the agency, working on stories, storyboards, animation videos, comic books and live drawing footage. 

I personally spend a good deal of time in front of my iMac during most of my work week. My Wacom Cintiq 27 QHD and my X-keys programmable keyboard (for all the shortcuts in the Adobe Suite) is indispensable. 

Behind the camera

At our office we always have one of our cameras (a Nikon d5600), a Røde mic and our Neewer ring light out and right at hand. It’s great for blog pictures, vlogs, tutorials and speed drawing videos. And it’s really easy to move around in a crammed space. 

The rest of our video gear and lighting is safely tucked away to keep our workspace nice and orderly. Because even though we are in the creative business, we love order and tidiness as well. 

Digital art

Above is an example of some of the digital artworks we also create at Levende Streg. The digital drawing is a business version of Ironman. It’s part of some of the concept art we do for companies. 

Creativity unleashed 

Quite a bit of the concept art we do is created with acrylic paint, acrylic markers and spray paint. This is both for the murals, analog artwork and paintings we create. 

We have a small paint booth at the office where it’s possible to go crazy with colors. We try to keep as many of the colors in a water-based (and healthier) version of Montana paint. 

Hanging out in the café

As I mentioned before, SOHO is an office hotel in the center of Copenhagen, in the trendy Meatpacking district. This means there are lots of other companies here in the building—large, medium and small. The café on the first floor is a great place to hang out to work—or to talk to co-workers and people from other companies. It’s a very friendly and energetic atmosphere that just makes you feel happy and positive. And the crowd here really knows how to throw a party.

Thinking outside the box

It’s such a cliché, but to me and colleagues, it’s important to have the right surroundings and environment to be able to think new and inspiring thoughts. Our clients love to come to our office for a meeting, because it’s so different. 

Here’s a look at another wall decoration that clients meet when they visit SOHO. It’s made from lots and lots of old cell phones.