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Trial and Error - Oivind Hovland

• “The imagery is lovely, a firmly black and white work that shows us in a slightly unnatural way the people and other features of the district, and what impact JBB has on them all. I have more than once scanned a mainstream graphic novel to see if repeated images have been done in Photoshop, but here the repeated countryside is an ideal place for it to work, and work well – the landscape getting peppered with more wreckage as the story goes on.
If I just start to mention the words in this book, I am forced to use more than the creator does. There are a couple of captions only, but the other little bits of writing, semi-hidden in multi-layered images, quietly add great depths to the story.
This then might look like, and might well be dismissed as, a picture book for adults. But there is a lot in here, from the full cycle of the story to the humour (and cuddly animals) that are there at first, and third, perusal. This might just be the work of a man who is becoming, if is not already, a master of the sequential art form.” The Bookbag.co.uk


• “Bristol-based Norwegian illustrator Oivind Hovland has produced this atmospheric tale of a fictional 19th century inventor called Jean Babtiste de Bomberaque and explores his search for the elusive secret of powered flight.
While the script is minimal, Oivind’s black and white illustrations, as if from another age, are memorably powerful. Oivind’s aeronautical tale of trial and error features long-shadowed, dreamlike landscapes, gothic castles and strangely unsettling characters. They show Jean Babtiste de Bomberaque’s lifelong obsession with flight- illustrating his childhood experiments with a hamster-carrying hydrogen balloon, culminating in his final glorious success with a biplane.
This evocative tour de force is a magnificent showcase for Oivind’s considerable skills. As an example of Oivind Hovland’s unique style this little gem is priceless. Bristol Review of Books, September 29th, 2008 /  Book Reviews Issue Number 7 Autumn 2008

  • • We’ve all heard it before: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Øivind Hovland, who lives and works in Bristol, England, gives readers his own eccentric, expressive take on the classic theme in Trial and Error: The Aviated Efforts of Jean Babtiste de Bomberaque. The book has almost no words, instead relying on the power of its art to hold our attention and tell us its story.

The fictional tale follows Jean Babtiste de Bomberaque, an Aix-en-Provence resident and nobleman who is absolutely determined to invent a flying machine. We learn very quickly that his attempts often fail, but he refuses to give up: Pictures of him in various flying contraptions—from hot air balloons to planes that rapidly fall apart—are interspersed with portraits of Bomberaque, at work furiously on plans at his desk or posing proudly with his family. Hovland also shows us Bomberaque’s friends and family and neighbors, whose faces range from awed or concerned to absolutely bored. It’s hard not to like the crazily determined man who pursues his life’s passion with boundless energy, and it’s hard not to be amused when he takes out his neighbor’s fence when he crashes (he snags another neighbor’s laundry line even when he succeeds). Hovland keeps the story fast-paced and fun.
Despite how quickly it moves in the read, Trial and Error is a labor-intensive creation. First drawing the pictures, Hovland then covered them all in black and white acrylic, cut and pasted pieces where needed, and finally, photographed the pages and edited them in Photoshop. The result is 36 quirky pages that are alternately funny, touching, and inspiring, filled with sweeping scenes of fictional French countryside and expressive shadows that give trees and airplanes and one determined man new dramatic life. The Dailycrosshatch.com, June 2008.