Raymond Karsten

About / 01

I build worlds.

I'm Raymond Karsten — a storyteller who works as a Creative Director and storyboard artist. Three decades of moving pictures, advertising, comics and now AI. Human imagination, amplified.

RK

Raymond Karsten · Creative Director

Intro / 02

I've spent my life around stories — reading them in comics, watching them on Super 8, drawing them on storyboards, and shaping them as an Art Director and director.

The agency is named Starburst Stories. The artist name is Raymond Karsten — distinct from Raymond Karsten Johansen, a well-known name in Norwegian politics. Same person, different universe. The work spans traditional advertising and modern content marketing, with detours through television, music video, comics publishing, app games, oil painting, VR pitches, and — most recently — visual development with AI as a tool.

I keep a working document called the Toolbox — notes, sketches, quotes and references from everything I read about creativity, filmmakers, conquerors, DNA, history, art, science and space exploration. It feeds every project. This page is a short version of that document.

Career / 03

Reels of a working life

  1. REEL 01 / ORIGIN1968 — 1989

    Høybråten, Super 8 and Fangoria

    Grew up in Groruddalen, Oslo. Made comics for fun, shot films on Super 8, published fanzines about Kiss and Star Wars. Talked his way into cinema distributors to score stills and posters from the sci-fi films that hit Norway in the '80s. Trained as a carpenter, finished the certificate in 1989, and left for military service three weeks later. The brochure that changed everything was found in an army training office — Westerdals, Art Direction.

    Commodore 64 bought with confirmation money.

    01/10
  2. REEL 02 / SCHOOL1990 — 1995

    Westerdals, and a storyboard for the Olympics

    Studied advertising and graphic design at Merkantilt Institutt, then earned a seat at Westerdals. During school, debuted as a storyboard artist for the opening ceremony of the Lillehammer '94 Olympics, assisting Bruce Parramore. Graduated with a Gold pencil and a diploma in Gullblyanten — Norway's advertising 'Oscars'.

    Bruce needed a hand. Comics kid said yes.

    02/10
  3. REEL 03 / AGENCIES1995 — 2000

    D'Arcy, La Familia, Stockholm

    Art Director at D'Arcy (DMB&B). Clients: TVN, SOLO, Farris, Imsdal, Gjensidige. Finalist and winner across Reklame For Alvor and Månedens Spot. Joined La Familia (Grey) on Tuborg and Oslo City. In Stockholm at Hjärtsjö he learned brand storytelling — the discipline of fusing narrative with brand building. That stuck.

    03/10
  4. REEL 04 / TRIBALNOIZ2000 — 2005

    Digital video, before the world was ready

    Founded Tribalnoiz. Bought one of the first Canon DV cameras and a fresh copy of Final Cut. First job: filming Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg in his own office and streaming the speech. Built Macromedia Flash intros, motion design, brand work for TV2, Telenor, Fondsfinans and Fujitsu. Won the City of Oslo's training prize for 'Det lille ekstra'.

    Streaming before people had bandwidth to watch it.

    04/10
  5. REEL 05 / WESTWIND2003 — 2007

    Comics, Varg Veum and Liquid Bullet

    Co-owner of Westwind comics publishing. Editor, designer, and author. Published Liquid Bullet across two issues of Baddis. Comics never left him — they keep showing up in the way he frames a shot.

    05/10
  6. REEL 06 / 300 BOARDS2005 — 2015

    300+ commercials, three features, one James Bond director

    Storyboarded over 300 commercials, plus shorts, music videos, motion design, apps, games and VR. Boards on three Norwegian features: Titanics ti liv (Grethe Bøe), Ulvenatten (Kjell Sundvall), and De Usynlige (Erik Poppe). In 2012, worked three projects with Casino Royale director Martin Campbell — Hitachi, Lenovo in Kiev/Odessa, and Ford. Also boards for Nils Gaup's NRK series Hjerterått and Erik Poppe's Tusen ganger godnatt.

    Kiev. A hotel room. Martin sketching on a napkin.

    06/10
  7. REEL 07 / LIVE TV2010 — 2014

    Eurovision, NRK and the Folkofonen

    Worked the NRK team developing the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest broadcast from Telenor Arena — that year's biggest live TV event on the planet, larger than the Super Bowl. Collaborated with Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg (Max Manus, Kon-Tiki, Pirates of the Caribbean). In 2011, helped develop Folkofonen for NRK's New Year's broadcast with Ole Hamre and Kirsti Poppe.

    07/10
  8. REEL 08 / MGM2015 — 2019

    Accenture, Karpe and Child's Play

    Contracted through Accurro to Accenture's Nordic creative team at Fornebu, 2015–2020. Storyboards and concept illustration for Karpe's 'Lett å være rebell i kjellerleiligheten din' — winner of YouTube's Music Video of the Decade in 2019. Final feature board: Child's Play for MGM, directed by Lars Klevberg, starring Mark Hamill.

    Lukes voice on a Chucky pitch. Norway, somehow.

    08/10
  9. REEL 09 / STARBURST2019 — NOW

    Hero's journey meets user journey

    Renamed the agency Starburst Stories to focus on storytelling and film for content marketing, advertising and entertainment. The working philosophy: fuse the hero's journey from film dramaturgy with the user journey from UX. Build simple, targeted film concepts. Make stories that work alone on every channel but become richer when seen together — Super-Stories, transmedia, designed for where audiences actually are.

    09/10
  10. REEL 10 / RK2024 →

    Raymond Karsten — analog intelligence + AI

    The current chapter. AI as a tool, not a replacement. Visual development, worldbuilding, and storyboards augmented by — never authored by — machines. Human first. Same person. Different universe.

    10/10

Credits / 04

Projects and people I've worked with

Director

  • Martin Campbell
  • Erik Poppe
  • Nils Gaup
  • Lars Klevberg
  • Kjell Sundvall
  • Grethe Bøe
  • Øistein Borge
  • RoenBerg — Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg

Productions

  • MGM
  • Netflix
  • Paramount
  • Discovery Channel
  • Nordisk Film
  • Saville Productions
  • McCann New York
  • NRK
  • Accenture
  • Loop Film

Brand

  • Harry Hole
  • Olympic Games
  • Lenovo
  • Ford
  • Hitachi
  • Tuborg
  • Farris
  • Telenor
  • TV2
  • Statkraft
  • Wilfa

Music

  • Eurovision
  • Alan Walker
  • Karpe Diem
  • Nico & Vinz
  • Tungtvann
  • Folk & Røvere
  • Salem Ilese

Public sector

  • Akershus Fylkeskommune
  • Oslo Kommune
  • Lillestrøm Kommune
Raymond Karsten in a storyboard session with director Martin Campbell for Lenovo, 2012

LENOVO · KIEV 2012

Storyboard session with director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale). Lenovo, 2012.

Karpe — Rebell concept board by Raymond Karsten

KARPE — REBELL

YouTube Music Video of the Decade · 2019 · dir. Kavar Singh

CHILD'S PLAY

CHILD'S PLAY

MGM · dir. Lars Klevberg · Mark Hamill

De Usynlige storyboards by Raymond Karsten for Erik Poppe

DE USYNLIGE

Erik Poppe — boards & visual development

Raymond Karsten with Shannon Tindle at THU, Portugal

THU · PORTUGAL

THU, Portugal — with Shannon Tindle, creator of Kubo and the Two Strings and director of Ultraman: Rising. Ten minutes of gold.

Teaching / 05

Lectures, workshops, keynotes and courses

Teaching has always run alongside the work — guest lectures at schools, festival keynotes, workshops, and courses in storytelling through comics.

  • ▸Norges Kreative Høyskole — XD, content marketing, SEO, storyboard (2010–16)
  • ▸Steinerskolen Oslo by — Film & storyboard (2012)
  • ▸Westerdals — Art Direction, annual guest lecturer (2016 - 2025)
  • ▸Raptus Tegneseriefestival, Bergen — Seminars
  • ▸Sommer-Melbu 2012 — Workshops
  • ▸THU 'Trojan Horse Was a Unicorn', Malta — Co-Lab, VR pitch (2018)
  • ▸Kristiania University College — Mentoring & lectures
  • ▸Kulturhubben — Creative Breakfast: AI & creativity
  • ▸Lillestrøm Library — Harry Hole storyboard talk
  • ▸Kunnskapsbyen — Keynote on social media
  • ▸Norges Vel — Storytelling workshop
  • ▸NP Bygg — Vision workshop
  • ▸Akershus County Council — Vision & storytelling workshop

Toolbox / 06

I never stop learning

Books, magazines, documentaries, lectures — on creativity, communication, filmmakers, conquerors, DNA, history, art, science, space exploration. Notes get distilled into a working document called the Toolbox. It's the compost layer under every concept that leaves the desk.

  • Filmmaker bios
  • Space exploration
  • Comics
  • Brand stories
  • DNA & history
  • Worldbuilding
  • Photography
  • Travel

Notes become
the next world.

Raymond Karsten — profile
RK · PRACTICE · 24FPS

Manifesto / 07

Hero's journey
meets user journey.

Combine film dramaturgy with UX. Build simple, targeted film concepts that work alone on every channel, and become richer when seen together. Super-Stories. Transmedia. Designed for where audiences actually are.

— Working philosophy, Starburst Stories

Raymond Karsten — colour separation
FARGESEP · 03

What comes next / 08

What comes next

From here, I'm making my own productions with AI as the tool: short films first, then music videos, then short-episode streaming series. Each one will be published here, one by one, as it's finished — so you can watch the work and, inside AI-AI Kreativ Film Lab, learn exactly how it was made.

This page grows as the work grows. That's a promise, not a plan.

Join the Film Lab →LinkedIn ↗raymond@starburststories.com

Not for you if you're happy with AI slop. Here, you use AI to tell your story, in your style — so people feel your touch, not the tool.