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

Rurik Suuri (Naulastus)

Pages

Script version 2 finished. I might be able to make it a bit tighter BUT it looks like the issue will have 22 comics pages. Ooups, that won't give me much room to move around if I want to have any club page at all. Better do some squeezing. And I would't mind one or two 16-page issues from time to time. Boy...

Sketching

Model

Lähetetty Windows Phonesta

Private students

I have experience of teaching comics since 1998 on university level. During the years I've taught students working on various forms and genres. Apart from working with Aalto University I take private students too. The fee is 40€ for one hour tutoring. If you feel you might benefit from this contact me in mattihagelberg(at)hotmail.com
For the moment I only teach person to person.
Cheers

Adorno Naulastus

Today, tomorrow and onwards

Last weekend I sent issue 23 forward. Today I aim to finish the remaining two titles for the French edition of Silvia Regina. If everything goes according to the plan I will be starting issue 24 for real tomorrow. It's supposed to be a bit shorter than issue 23, but time will tell. This is also the month I have to do the first grant application of the year. Since Läskimooses will take at least until the end of 2017 (most likely mid 2018) I feel I really really need the grant. And I do. Unfortunately I don't have much other income, nor time for another work. But things change and if they change a lot I'll adjust. Sometimes I wonder why I put so much effort to this crazy book. 600 pages so far and plans for another 600 and all the spin offs on top of that. Sometimes.

Two of these undone

Competitions

A comic book needs to have competitions. Since 2012 Läskimooses has had a few. My favorites ofcourse were: get your picture with your B.E.M.collection to the backcover of Läskimooses & the supersize poster competition. Now this year i sense that there's a third big one coming along. Call me weird, but I think this one'll be to your liking.
Remember to keep those REAL LETTERS coming: Läskimooses-lehti, Kaapelitehdas, Tallberginkatu 1C/lokero 6, 00180 Helsinki, Finland.
This e-mail thing, you know, it's a fad. Like pet rocks.

Hmm...

Issue 24

Essdee scraper board (white)

It seems I have enough material til issue 39, which means I need to get scraper board for at least 7 more issues. That means 2 full packages of 70x50 cm boards.

All set for issue 24

Pretty much

the last day of issue 23. Already going through issue 24 in my head. Today I still need to do the colors for the cover & check the club page. Then, that's it.
I'm not able to start with the next issue quite yet since I need to do some titles and such for the French edition of Silvia Regina. Not too many, but might take three days. Issue 24 will feature some more info of the history of the Suomaa people and especially of their downfall. In issue 25 then I will give hard evidence of all the facts presented in previous issues. But that'll be closer to summer then.

Lähetetty Windows Phonesta

Mmm...

Plans for the next book

Läskimooses is too slow to draw and write. What I would really like to do next is a 150 page book in 30 days or less. It would need to be some kind of action piece, maybe drawn in "realistic" manner. I have 2 years to decide.

For some idiot reason...

...it looks like I want to do one addtional page for this issue. That'll then be additional page number 6. Ok, fine.
I call this stage "filling in the gaps" and it's my least favorite stage. While doing the issue I've left some text and pictures undecided and now I need to go through it all and (you guessed) fill in the gaps. And some gaps are unpleasent to fill. This is also the stage that seems to drag on for forever. The issue has been almost done for at least 2 weeks and here I still am. Well, couple of more days...

Funding

The idea was to fund the book by subscribers, but so far it hasn't really worked out. I'm as dependant on grants as I ever was. And actually what I'd like to do is start an entire line of comic books. This however would require even more funding than I already have. I will try to sell some pieces. Not give away, I'm afraid. There really isn't a market for comics originals here in Finland, at least not a sensible market. People seem to be selling their art quite cheap. When I was doing those "total" scraper board pieces it sometimes took me over a week to finish one page. You can do the math yourself. If I need to pay studio rent, buy supplies, rent, clothes... And maybe put something on the side for old age.  Now I'm in need of fresh ideas. Maybe a comic in some magazine? That would probably put Läskimooses on hold for some time. Or maybe just slow it down...

Theory

I have this theory that close to 60 people are reading Läskimooses, but I can't prove it.

Panels

Eight panels left to do of issue 23 and three days left of the week. BUT because there remain some little this and that here and there undone AND because I haven't even started the club pages AND the cover is half done (and the original who knows where) I'd say I'm lucky if this thing is finished before next wednesday.

Looks a bit grim if the plan is to finish seven issues in a year. With any luck I will finish issue 25 before summer, but that's not good enough.

Some issues

I have 4 or 5 issues to go before I can get back to planet FU and its greatest hero Agner Mang. What actually took place before and after the Fu arrived to Earth? What were the main political parties of the planet and what actually happened to the Fu remaining on Earth after the cataclysm.  These questions will be answered in the fourth part of the Läskimooses book.

Craziness

I was crazy and overly optimistic when I started this project.  For myself it worked like a charm. I was more than fortunste with grants and artistically I felt I was really moving ahead. Unfortunately we didn't manage to get subscribers as many as I had imagined and this has caused the project to loose money. My grants have made it possible for me to work during these years, but it's not enough for anything else, like the scanning, printing etc. When we started this I figured we'd  eventually get 500-1000 subscribers based on how many copies my books have normally sold (1500-2500). This has not happened. So I'm not too optimistic for the future. For myself I have funding until issue 29, maybe 35 if I manage to put something to the side. And there's always a chance for a new grant. But that doesn't solve the printing costs and all that.  I would like to have things a bit more solid and as far as I see the only way is to get more subscribers. A lot more. And if you want to support this craziness then subscribe Läskimooses today. The few subscribers we have seem to enjoy it for whatever reason.