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!

Happy Holidays!

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

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

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.

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.

Blind Spot Pictures 2010 – Movie Poster

A preproduction movie poster for a film I very much wanted to see finished. Unfortunately, the funding fell through and the project was buried.

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.