Collaboration with Napa Agency

From now on, Napa Agency will be my representative in illustration. Hiring me is as simple as sending an email to or calling Marjo (marjo at napa-agency.fi) or Maria (maria at napa-agency.fi) at Napa Agency and they will take care of all practical matters while we can concentrate on making the best illustration to suit your needs.

This is a great opportunity for me to really focus on creating better images and not spend so much time running a business!

"The Butcher" digital painting

"The Butcher"

I had a self portrait go slightly wrong and it spiralled into this exploration into darker subject matter.

Happy Holidays!

Kuluttaja Magazine illustration process

Final image: runaway stork feather vest, Clip Studio Paint inks with Photoshop colour

First round of thumbnail sketches based on a preliminary idea

Second round of thumbnails after refining idea

Line sketch (left), Finished inks (right)

Happy Easter!

And good luck in the egg hunt!

Uncle at last

A couple weeks ago I became an uncle, thus fulfilling the prophecy of countless elementary school yard wisecracks.

Welcome, Orson. You have been expected.

Love,
Your Uncle Sam

Digital ink vs. the real thing

Kuluttaja magazine 1/2015 – Manga Studio 4 EX and Photoshop CC

Is it possible to ink in digital like you would on a dip pen or a brush and actual ink?

Cutting out the scanning and printing phases does save a lot of time, but is the quality there? Which computer hardware and software equals or even surpasses traditional media?

On the input side, there is little choice: Wacom is beginning to have some competition, but the competitors I know of, have problems with software integration. Wacom's Companion tablet has production quality issues and the various tablets (iPad, Surface pro 3) have inferior digitizers, which seriously affects line quality and accuracy. Basically, you still have two to choose from Wacom: an Intuos tablet or a Cintiq screen.

The Cintiq is much more intuitive and does not require much practise to master, but suffers from accuracy problems due to the interference the screen's own magnetic field causes on the pen digitizer. You can test this by drawing straight lines with a physical ruler. The lines will undulate quite a bit.

On this front, the Intuos tablet seems like the better choice, and it is much more accurate. But then you have to take into account the disconnection of hand from line: you are drawing on a tablet and looking at a screen. This takes a long time to get used to. I never did despite trying for four years and I still can't produce an acceptable drawing on an intuos. Some people even prefer this working method and it might be a good alternative if you suffer from back or neck problems.

Of the several pieces of Mac software I have tried, three show promise.

1. Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop is the industry standard for a good reason. The versatility of Photoshop is unmatched: from vaguely oilpaint-like painting to extreme image manipulations and elementary 3D graphics. Photoshop has amassed an impressive feature list in its decades of history. But there are drawbacks to this breadth – parts of PS have remained unchanged for a very long time.

The brush engine in Photoshop has not changed significally since Photoshop 6 in the previous millennium. Some bells and whistles have been added but the core is still the same. This is a problem because the engine does a very poor job of smoothing out the wobbly line the Wacoms produce. It also handles pen pressure comparatively badly, especially if you have a light touch. For painting, it's not bad, although slower than it should be, but trying to get a silky smooth line quality out of it is like trying to wash a cat with lemon juice.

Pros: 
+ Very versatile
+ You already have it
+ Mostly bug-free.

Cons:
- Very old and bad brush engine
- Super expensive to get if you don't already have it
- Doesn't have ruler guides (guides that allow freehand drawing but locked to a perfect curve or a straight line)

2. Autodesk Sketchbook Pro 6 / 7

Sketchbook Pro is a lightweight, cheap drawing app that just happens to have a very good brush engine specifically for smooth lines. It doesn't have a lot of features but the ones it comes with are all business (except for those product placement copic markers, what's up with that?): on top of the brush engine, SBP comes with extremely useful ruler guides for straight lines, ovals (no snap to a perfect circle *see below), french curves and a perspective grid in version 7. All the guides are easy to manipulate and work like their physical counterparts do, except you can use the full line width variance of your brush. This is enough reason alone to get this app.

Where it falls down is handling bigger files. If you're working at 1200 ppi on an A3 size canvas, you are going to have problems. Otherwise, version 6 is very stable and 7 is getting there.

As the name suggests, SBP is aimed at sketching rather than finishing drawings, and is unparalleled for this, but inking on it is pretty good too.

* Sketchbook Pro does have perfect circle guides after all! The manual is incredibly vague on this but I stumbled on it today by accident. Double-click the width-modifier of the oval guide to snap it to a perfect circle. I haven't seen this in any tutorial yet but that just goes to show that I haven't watched enough of them.

Pros:
+ Cheap!
+ Quick to use
+ Pretty good brush engine
+ Best ruler guides in the business
+ Stable
+ Opens and saves basic Photoshop files

Cons:
- Not a lot of features
- Can't handle big files, so no super res B&W line-art prints
- Also doesn't do colour profiles

3. Corel Painter (any version)

Is a buggy mess. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

Pros:
+ Incredibly detailed oil and pastel simulations

Cons:
- Will crash at the drop of a hat and destroy all your work
- Has generations of unfixed show-stopper bugs that are unlikely to ever receive attention 

4. Manga Studio / Clip Art Studio Clip Studio Paint EX

This puppy with two equally unfortunate names, has been designed by listening to artists and what is important to them. The brush engine is gorgeous. I have MS 4 EX, which is the previous version and the current one should be even better. It has controls to taper the line at the beginning and end, or not if you prefer to use pen pressure to taper them yourself, easily adjustable line smoothing, which is very effective, and handles big sizes like a charm.

For comic artists, there is the added bonus of being able to do the complete work within MS / CAS. You can do layouts for a full book, and title them as well. The balloon generation system is pretty good, comparing to all competitors which don't have anything like it.

On the other hand, the UI can be a bit overwhelming, the ruler guides, which it does have, are very hard to use quickly and effectively and you need to export your image if you want to use it in another app. I wouldn't recommend importing back from another app if you are not very experienced with computers.

Update 9.5.2015: I have since upgraded to Manga Studio 5 EX / Clip Studio Paint EX which corrected most of these problems, specifically the ease of importing and exporting. Guides are slightly less cumbersome to work with and the UI is generally much easier to grasp. It is still easily the most cryptic of these apps, but getting better. The brush engine is droolworthy. Custom brushes elevate this app into its own category. Seriously, if you do line work on a computer, this is the app.

Pros:
+ Best brush engine in the business
+ Useful and easy controls to adjust the brush
+ Additional features for comic artists
+ Mostly stable (and saves your work if it crashes)

Cons:
- Convoluted UI (slightly better in MS5 / CSP)
- Ruler guides are cumbersome (slightly better in MS5 / CSP)
- Need to export to continue work in another app
- Import is flawed (fixed in MS5 / CSP)

Summary

So, there are a couple of good options for inking on the computer. How do they compare to an actual pen or brush and paper?

Well, a brush does exactly what your hand tells it to do and if you have good paper, that's about it. It depends completely on your skill with a brush if that's better or worse than a stylus and Manga Studio. You can get perfectly smooth lines in MS without really trying, but you can't get the slight nuances of traditional brushwork on any computer app – the Wacoms just aren't accurate enough. So you inevitably lose some of the signature quality of your work. But whether it's enough to offset having undo, layers and freedom from scanning (and cleanup), and potential ink stains, is up to you.

On the speed difference: I have seen comments by professional comic artists like Sean Phillips, who are extremely fast with traditional inks, but also from new school artists who are equally fast on the computer. It takes about as long on each for me, but I save drying and scanning time by working digitally. Speed seems to be far more dependent on the artist than their equipment.

Brush and India Ink

Pros:
+ Does exactly what you tell it to do
+ Incredibly versatile and quick medium
+ Surprisingly forgiving on paper
+ A lot of fun in a scary way

Cons:
- Does exactly what you tell it to do
- aaaAAA! Ink blot!
- No undo
- Surprisingly unforgiving on brushes
- Very dependent on brush quality
- That scanning

The following four images show the same head inked in the four methods discussed here. You can click on them to open a larger version.

The original is the real ink version, which is a crop of an A4 full shot. The crop measures about 5 cm high.

I reproduced the inking on a Cintiq 21" in the three apps discussed above. You can get a good idea of the accuracy difference if I tell you that my working size on those is to fill the monitor with whatever I'm doing.

As you can see, the differences are not very noticeable at this size, but the feel of drawing with these apps is completely different. My hand relaxes when I use Manga Studio compared to Photoshop, because I can trust the line to look good. The lines are cleaner than my traditional inks, but I do feel like I lose some "character" from the line.

Photoshop CC

Sketchbook Pro 6

Manga Studio 4 EX

Real Ink

Akava Camp 2011 – Ink & Photoshop Colour

LakiWoman comic strip 2009 – 2013

1: "This comic is exactly like my life!"
2: "Do you really still read magazines? That's so 2000's..." "Their webpages are much ahead of the print version. I'll prove it."
3: "It's not about speed." "What?" "How do you know what I'm about to say?"
4: "Stop it!" "Stop it right now!" "That does it…"
5: "'…no Playstation for a week and dish washin–' But mom!" "You said it."
6: "Well, you were right, this is better."

I had a comic strip in Akavalainen magazine, that started in 2009. It was about a trade union lawyer and the strange problems she had to face at work and at home.

Right before it ended last year I was presented with a very fun opportunity. The magazine made a transformation from print to web and somehow this had to be reflected in the comic. So, I made two strips that communicate with each other. This was the first time I broke the fourth wall in the strip.

The top strip is the first webcomic, which actually came out slightly before the bottom strip, which is the last print version.

1: "Have you noticed?! You are online!" "What? Let me see…"
2: "But that doesn't look at all like me! Just look at the hair." "That's just a digital representation. In reality, your hair is much more three-dimensional." "And look at that. What's that supposed to be?"
3: "That's your son… He is just not fully loaded." "Oh, I guess that's his normal state."
4: "But wait, if I am online, does everyone see everything I do? The whole world?!" "Um… have you actually never looked that way?"
5: "That w-"

I will post highlights from the four years of strips in the near future.

10 years, a look back

It has been 10 years since I did my first commissioned magazine illustration. I thought it would be fitting to compare progress… to my work as a ten-year-old. I had some time on vacation, so I revisited some early subjects.

I was quite a fanboy when I was little. Definitely not a fan of Wolverine, though.

That's the way it was actually spelled in the eighties. For some reason I don't remember getting into trouble for swearing.  
HB pencil vs. Procreate on the iPad

But the Hoff had a huge impact back then. I used to draw complete comic books with Knight Rider stories in them. Then I sold them to my parents for a premium, so that I could buy more actual comic books. Afterwards, I took the comics back because my parents didn't read them enough and I liked them.

That's his nose, all right? Nose.  
Cheap markers vs. Watercolour with white and yellow gouache

That's actually Garthe Knight in the 2014 image. Michael Long's (Michael Knight's pre-fake death persona) plastic surgery operation was modeled after the evil Garthe, so that he and Michael Knight ended up identical… except for the inevitable moustache and goatee. Garthe drove K.A.R.R. – K.I.T.T.'s evil predecessor who was not programmed to protect human life. Duh, the scientists should have read their Asimov.

So, what's changed?

At least some of the delightful punk attitude has gone and turned into gentle fun-poking. I still describe hair the same way. I'm more squeamish about swearing in print and less while working.

Compared to the speed I worked with in 1987, I'm like a sleep-deprived snail who forgot the handbrake on. It took an hour and a half to draw / paint a single picture of Knight Rider while back then, I would have had a complete story done. Cost-effectiveness has taken a steep down-turn.

I now have way better equipment, which is a big relief.

I still love it, but a whole lot more than as a ten-year-old.

Illustrating disputes

Kuluttaja magazine commissioned me to illustrate a continuing section of the magazine called "Ratkaisuja riitoihin" (Resolutions to disputes). The section lists the most interesting and funny consumer disputes lately and their resolutions by the Consumer Disputes Board (Kuluttajariitalautakunta). It's very popular among the readers. I draw two illustrations for every spread and it has been a blast! I loved the section even before I was asked to take over the illustration.

Here are some of the illustrations so far:

"AGONY" – There is an annual heavy metal festival in Helsinki called Tuska ("Agony"). The main performer of one festival day was arrested, could not perform and was replaced with a Finnish band. A fan was so disappointed that he demanded a partial refund for his ticket.

An adult bought a season card to a riding school with the intention of joining an adult beginner class. Since there was none, she was put in an advanced children's class. Not a great solution.

The riders image was the first one and I actually got a nice email from a reader who had really liked it. It's not very often that happens and it definitely made my day.

A bathroom renovation took over a month and the tenant asked for a reduction in rent for the duration. The landlord did not think there was cause.

This one hit particularly close to home – we've had an upstairs neighbour who has had two cases of water damage within half a year. Buckets of water came down on both occasions and the illustration is fairly descriptive of the aftermath. 

Enterprising mechanics took it upon themselves to make extensive repairs to a car well into its twenties without consulting the customer (the word on the piece of paper is "Invoice").

This is from the latest issue, which is hitting the stores as I'm writing this.

Protectors of the Realm 2 – Naga

Personal – Naga

I was inspired by the Harajuku Girls dance crew who toured with Gwen Stefani a few years ago and wanted to create a character who was cool and strong at the same time. That fit well into my Protectors of the Realm series.

I did the preliminary work on the iPad right up to the point I started to run into problems with the low resolution (about A5 at 300ppi). I then moved to Photoshop for the finish. Recently, I extended the image just a bit to make it more postcard-friendly and added the tattoos. I had planned to add tattoos from the beginning but left them out of the original version because the crop didn't leave much of them visible. The extended version has a lot more room, so I put them back in.

Naga – Work process

Towards Freedom

Maailman Kuvalehti – Vapaaksi

Maailman Kuvalehti gave me the task of illustrating an article about the struggle of Isoke Aikpitanyi out of forced prostitution for their 5th issue of 2013. She was smuggled from Nigeria to Europe with false promises of easy work. After two years she found a way out and became a fierce anti human trafficking activist. She is still helping people in the same situation she used to be in.

Because the article was very narrative, I approached it as I were illustrating a short story. The three images were a "cover" and two key moments in the story. The images were painted entirely in Photoshop.

You can find the original article on Maailman Kuvalehti's webpage (in Finnish).

Maailman Kuvalehti – Vapaaksi

Lady Sovereign

Personal – Lady Sovereign

This was basically an excercise in depicting aged skin. The iPad and its low resolution do show a bit but I'm pretty happy in it as a 3,5 h study.

I love texture and especially working it into the image by hand, not just by loading up a photo, warping it and setting it to soft light. I do use that technique too, but it's not as enjoyable as just painting it in, bit by bit.

Protectors of the Realm 1 – La Bruja

Personal – La Bruja

I wanted to create a character who was in charge and still open in some way. I don't like the word "vulnerable" in this context because it also comes with other connotations such as "weak" and "defenseless". That was not what I wanted.

So, I came up with a series of fantasy genre paintings, which depict protectors of different realms. I always like bringing fantasy elements into the modern age because there is more contrast between the magical elements and the surrounding very secular world. I do enjoy fantasy middle ages like in the Game of Thrones series, but personally I find that mixing fantasy with our familiar world intrigues me more as an artist.

I started on the iPad and took it as far as I could. This was the first time I came up against the resolution limit. The iPad's 2048 x 1536 px do not allow much in the way of small detail in a full shot of a character, not to mention the background. After I had struggled with the limitations for way too long, I switched to Photoshop and suddenly everything was smooth and easy.

The background research I did was pretty interesting, for example, I did not know dried llama heads were a magical item in parts of South America.

Human Rights and Election Promises

My aim was to create an editorial piece and refine my new digital illustration technique at the same time. The illegal prison at Guantanamo is still not closed even though it was one of the major election promises of president Obama for his first term. That is scandalous but rarely mentioned anymore. It is justified, in my opinion, to expect more from a leader of a democratic and civilized country.

Tekstitaituri text book series for ages 12 – 15

Sanoma Pro – Tekstitaituri school book series interior illustration

A couple of illustrations from the biggest project I have ever been involved in – a Finnish language textbook series for children ages 12 – 15. The series consists of 12 books so far including the textbook, excercise book, teacher's book and Finnish as a second language excercise book for each class level. According to my calculations I have produced somewhere around 500 illustrations for the series.

Thankfully, it has been well received and sales are good.

I also produced covers for all three textbooks which were finished but in the end, passed over for a more graphical cover design. I like how they turned out but the publisher had very valid arguments for the choice they made. I'm still glad I got to take the characters into these situations.

Sanoma Pro – Tekstitaituri 7 cover (unused)

Sanoma Pro – Tekstitaituri 9 cover (unused)

Personal – Welcome Home! -iPad painting

My first full-scale iPad painting. I used an app called Sketch Club which is a very agile little thing with a pretty powerful brush engine.

I recorded the process as a timelapse and split it into three parts because of technical limitations. Here they are:

Akava – Vanheneeko osaamisesi? -brochure

I designed and illustrated a brochure about lifelong learning for Akava and in the process developed a new illustration style, which I am going to explore further. It is my first completely digital technique.

Seura 2008 – Doping

"What can you do by tomorrow?" was the pitch the client gave me one morning. I loved the concept and since my schedule for the day was clear, I worked a bit into the small hours to produce this.

I combined a pencil drawing with watercolour texture and photoshop painting for the most speed.

Akava – Rollup for Akava's Students

Over the years I have done many large scale images for Akava's Students to use as backgrounds and decoration on their publicity tours. They have been very well received, one stand was even voted the best in a competition it wasn't taking part in, which was nice. They are also a lot of fun to produce.