Writing is a bodily function

Teaching comics

Some days back I built up this list as a sort of a guideline for myself and also something I could tell my students when they start my class. These are the things I base my teaching:

-craft/tradition
-material
-observation/awareness

The knowledge of the craft of making comics and the tradition of. Also the history of the art form. Things don't just appear from nowhere and a student of comics should be interested and aware of the rich history of the art form. This includes the knowledge of how comics have been made and why certain material has been favored.

Material is one of the most important factors in making any art. It can only be learned by using a material. The material of computer software is unclear to me and, to my experience, to my students. In a material world the feel of a pen on paper is essential in order to learn a material.

Most of my assignments require observation from the students. Observation is essential in writing and making comics. It's essential at all stages of the work. What makes a character act as he/she does? Be observant.

And as I say to my students: you have to have something to say. You don't have to know what it is, but you have to have it.

Something nasty

Something nasty for the backcover of 24. Or if I don't change my mind.
The issue was supposed to be finished today. Now I'm hoping for end of next week. This is only the second issue of the year and I'm supposed to do 7. Damn! But if I would at least finish issue 25 before summer. It's possible.

20 yrs

Been cleaning up and re-arranging the studio so the work hasn't really moved on in the last few days.
Today I'm returning to it. And this is good.
But what I'm really thinking is this: I have 20 years (if lucky) time to finnish my work (in the wider sense of the word) , 30 if I'm very lucky.
There are plans. Books I'd like to do. First I need to get this one done, though.

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Drawing muscular men

After 12 issues or so I began to feel there should be this " adventure comic" episode in the book. A wrestle scene. And so the Suomaa people entered the story. After so many years of using my old style I was a bit rusty at first and you can notice this from issue 21. Now after 2 issues I start to get it again. 22 was already a lot better and 23. Now with 24 I'm really enjoying it. It's quite rewarding.  I use some references at this stage ofcourse, but my smart phone camera has proven the most useful. And I think it's good to use references even for the simplest postures. In most cases I could solve a certain posture just by using my imagination, but it's quite easy to fall for all the same solutions over and over again. Anyways, it's been fun and soon it's ending. Issue 24 should be the last one of this period of realistic drawing. But do not despair true believer! I have a twin issue planned that should dig even deeper to the superhero genre. In ...12(?)...issues.

Miracles

Miracles will be needed if I want to finish this issue before first of may. Cover undone, back cover undone, club page... Five or so pages.

Other things

Maybe I need to get this book finished since I have other things I'd like to do. Some 4 or 5 books in different stages of almost done.
But there are 600 pages before I can move to something different. 600 pages and then editing|re-doing|adding for a year maybe. It'll go faster if you subsribe.

Rurik taking the Jezus faith

Slowness

The slowness of this project is agonizing. However I have now 600 pages under my belt and that's not so bad.
It's hard to get any feedback on the story. Sometimes. There have been 4 or 5 reviews. Of the 5 two were actually my favorite reviews ever. The kind that you actually learn something from.
But now issue 24 is going slow and I hope all would be just a bit better written with less mistakes of the grammatical kind.
And who is reading this anyway. Maybe I use it for a project later.

Finished

 

The story is reaching the midpoint. Been reading some of the past issues. The text is sometimes better sometimes not.  I'm waiting to get the story finished so that I could start to go through it with a comb. There are spots that I really really like and I would prefer to get the whole thing to that level. And I think I could. And part of me would like to get to that part of the project right away. But that's not the spirit of the project. There needs to be pieces that are...unnecessary...unfinished...ill-motivated. Mistakes that I might smooth over a bit, but not make disappear completely.
We'll see.

King Ommot travels south

Ideas

You don't get far with ideas.

The week

The week left me satisfied. Got three bigger ideas I would maybe like to do someday. Ideas...

Back in the Art school

Back in the art school (UiaH) I used to work a lot with charcoal. For a very long time it was my favorite material. Normally I would start by blackening the whole paper, then doing the drawing on top of the blackened paper and then starting to open up the light areas. Now with markers I notice I use the same idea in many panels. This is perhaps most obvious in some of the back covers. This manner of working seems to suit me especially well. Sometimes working with markers and scraper board this is a bit risky, there is a limit to the punishment the board can take, but it pays off.

For the first time

As far as I know, today for the first time there have been more visitors from France and Russia than from Finland.

Going on

There remain 10 pages or so of issue 24 to do. Again I started adding them. Don't know if all the added pages are that important.
Well, in issue 24 first real female character, not counting Ämmä, Ohto's mother. Ah, plenty of stories I could tell of the youth of Ohto, passing of Ämmä, Atti and Appo... But soon it's time to move on and bring some new info of Fu to the light.

Pics

Pic

Bad

The week has been bad, but the issue proceeds, one panel at the time. Meanwhile issue 23 is almost ready for the printer.
Thinking back: remember that when I started the project there was only 2 panels on a page. Now there's four. I can imagine there could be issues with an average panel count of five or six panels in a page in the future. Maybe.

Old

Went through some of my mysterious boxes today. Less of the nice illustration originals left than I remembered. Haven't kept track of what I've sold and where. I never did that many illustrations anyways. In the process I came across some of the half finished pages of the book I started after Silvia Regina (from 2011) and there were a couple of gems there. All and all material enough for a 24 page book or something like that. Maybe after 2019 maybe I'll return to those maybe...

11 pages

11 pages to do for issue 24. The downfall of Suomaa people, Oula and his sister Päivätär, king Ommot... Suomaa people grow disgusting and stay that way.

Evolution

News

Very exciting Läskimooses news coming along, can't wait to break it to you.

Mistakes

All the books before Holmenkollen were mistakes and it too was a mistake, but to a lesser degree than Kekkonen, which was my biggest bloody mistake. Now Läskimooses so far is only a minor mistake, but that'll change. Make no mistake about it.

Occasionally

Occasionally I feel this blog is somewhat fun to do, but most often i know it's useless waste of time, like everything in the so called "internet". Don't come back.

More

Working on Oula

Starting

Starting issue 24 has been too slow. I only just have three finished pages. It's fun enough issue to do, but working days have been too short for a week now.   Pretty tired of the whole thing today. Maybe I'll post some photos later on.

Planning ahead

Oula

Good old Rurik Naulastus

Rough estimates

Rough estimate is that I've done four pages of issue 24, which would mean more or less 14 pages undone. Another rough estimate is I'll need three weeks to conclude the issue. Well, it'll probably be four in the end.
It's the season for grant applications and I had to go through my schedule with Läskimooses. I'll be very lucky if I manage  to get it all done before 2019. I don't seem to be getting much faster (nor slower for that matter) and the synopsis seems to point closer and closer of issue 50. Well, too early to tell. Still I'm hoping to finish at least the so called TURBO-KALEVALA part before the centennial of the Finnish independence. All this...we'll be wiser in 2016 and wiser still in 2017.

Getting there

Lähetetty Windows Phonesta

First page

Yes, first page is done and some random panels. I've been having some trouble trying to figure out how to draw this issue. Last issue was relatively easy since it was pretty strictly going for realism, but this one is different apparently. Some kind of a mix.
Meanwhile I've come up with several really nice plot elements that I will use in the forthcoming issues. Seems I'm really moving into the fourth part of the story. But there's still four or five issues in between.

Rurik 2.0

Reading

I read a piece from one previous issue and it wasn't bad. I liked what took place in the text. But it was also a reminder that I should read the whole thing from the beginning. But not today. Today I'll just check issues 11 and 12.

Suicide mission

Is Läskimooses a suicide mission?

Waiting for pizza

I think it's hard to keep this one from going til issue 50

Suddenly

the best ideas just come. Things go bump and something comes out of that. For a moment I've felt that maybe the story is a bit boring (maybe) and that I've already fit all the pieces in place. And then two pretty nice concepts for future issues come. And I obviously can't tell what they are. The one deals with rays and particles and the other deals with animals. Later then.

Panel two upside down, thanks windows phone

Panel one issue twenty four

Start

Everytime or most everytime starting an issue is like i never did this before. No exception with this one. There is this certain sketchiness that I'm going for, but it's rather hard to describe. What seems to work is using a reference photo or drawing, sometimes a snapshot of myself. Sometimes using a very generic kind of cartoony approach does the trick. Sometimes doing something quite abstract... The main thing is getting started, getting those first lines and dots on paper.
I did some sketches of king Rurik and I felt that, yes, I've got it, or I almost got it. But seems I didn't. It's not coming out as it should, something in the approach is wrong. It has something to do with representation. Can't quite put it into words. Indtead of drawing a drawing I'm focusing on an...what... Likeness of sorts. Must find the right description.

Best laid plans

And now it seems I will split issue 24 to 2. This ways issues 25 and 26 might both turn out to be 16pgrs. Mmm...

Fireball

Happened to glance eastward last night at 21 in Arabia and saw a greenish fire ball crossing the sky from south to north more or less.

Forthcoming

This seems certain:
In issue 23 the story of Ohto Äijönpoika reaches its conclusion and some new info on the religion of Suomaa people
In issue 24 lamentation of the poor spirit of the Suomaa people,  their last great king Rurik and his wife Päivätär, the betrayal of king Ommot and the fall of Suomaa people, birth of Adorno Naulastus, Adorno's dream, the Elite contact Adorno, the Narrator starts to write. Nuff said

Rurik

Or maybe