Shooting time-lapse photos of me painting

Setting up the "studio", before filming

Finished illustration!

Yesterday I was participating in the making of a short video based on Elsa and Lauri book series written by Kerttu Ruuska and illustrated by me. I made this little illustration of Elsa while a camera was looming behind me taking time-lapse photos. Kerttu and I talked about the books (and of great many other things) while I painted away. And my hand didn't shake, well done me!
Once the video is ready and published, I will post it in my blog.

Taking part in Lilla Rogers' GTS competition

Here is my entry for this year's Lilla Rogers' Global Talent Search. The brief was to design sneakers for a fictional character, Antoinette from Brooklyn. The assignment was really exciting with lots of clues to Antoinette's daily life and the things she enjoys. So even though I didn't make it to the next round, I thought the competition brief was really enjoyable and I would buy my feather-patterned sneakers any day!
I even managed to overcome my problematic relationship with a certain computer software to get the final piece to look the way I had imagined. Luckily I am working next door to a Photoshop wizard...

Watercolours, patterns, flowers!

Last week was the Night of the Arts in Helsinki, a yearly event with hundreds of happenings and performances spreading around the city. For me, it was an enjoyable evening painting watercolour cards to give away to the customers of Gudrun Sjödén store.
I had some lovely discussions with the customers and I kept myself busy painting almost 30 cards based on a few designs I had thought of in advance. All the cards were painted in the spirit of Gudrun Sjödén, one of my favourite colourists and pattern designers.

Back to school/Holiday mood

Elsa and Lauri, the main characters of the picture book (written by very talented Kerttu Ruuska) I recently finished illustrating, are going for a vacation. Meanwhile in real life, our son is back to school already! I don't know how this summer just flew by. I've managed to fill my calendar with many things big and small, but this weekend I will enjoy the sun, swim in the lake and pick some lovely blueberries in the forest!

Masterclass by Svjetlan Junaković

It's been a while since my last update. Yesterday I finished a picture book that I have been working on this summer. I have also been enjoying summer holidays, although this summer has been one of the coldest in 50 years!

In June I had a chance to participate in a two-day illustration masterclass taught by Croatian artist, illustrator and sculptor Svjetlan Junaković. He is one of my favourite artists, so being taught by him was a privilege. He is such an inspiring, enthusiastic teacher and a charismatic person and storyteller.

From one portrait to another, magic!

We painted with mixed media, using acrylics, gouache and whatever pencils and crayons we had in hand. I really enjoyed this technique and had lots of fun with it. Th theme for the workshop was "Portraited in Illustration". We interpreted well-known fairytale characters with our own stories behind them.

The fish on the left was painted by Svjetlan on top of many different faces.

My Princess with the Pea. She's had enough of the fuss and decides to get rid of it.

Princess is feeding the Pea to Little Red Riding Hood's Wolf.

Holiday!

Tomorrow I'll be leaving for a week's holiday. This is a good moment to show you the cover illustration for the third Elsa book, as it happens to be on the theme of travelling. Though now it's not just Elsa, but also her little brother Lauri, travelling abroad. Such a convenient holiday trip when it comes to looking for reference!

Workshop at school

This week I was teaching a workshop in my son's class. I told the children about illustrator's work and the process of making a picture book. I showed some sketches, original illustrations and books. Then they illustrated their own mini books. They had already written the text with their teacher. The title was "When I grow, I'm going to be...". 

The occupations included a few hairdressers, a teacher and a doctor, but also several artists and even one illustrator. An arctic researcher was the most unusual one, I think. Some wonderful little books they made in a very short time. Loved it!

 

 

 

Happy May Day!

Happy May Day! 

Iloista vappua!

Botanic garden sketches

Last weekend I participated on a two-day course drawing plants at Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden's glasshouses in Helsinki. Well, only the first day was sketching on the spot. On the second day of the course we were asked to paint anything we like based on our sketches from the previous day. I got the jungle fever of some kind with my oil pastels. It was really enjoyable to just draw what you feel and have enough time to do it. So definitely more of this soon, I hope.

Blank sheets of paper waiting to be filled

I'm starting to work on the next Elsa picture book this very week (finally!) after finishing another book project. Empty papers stare at me on my desk. Some other creative projects will follow on the side, that's for certain. Sometimes it's very difficult to focus on the one thing you're supposed to work on. Mind wanders to faraway places. Like today. Luckily I have a very hard working illustrator sharing the studio with me. It makes me not to want to be an idle dreamer all day...