Quarter of

Started as a professional in 1992 with B.E.M. number 1 which means that this fall I've been doing my thing for 25 years. So there.

Moment

With each issue there's the moment when I feel this will never be finished. My mind moving on to the next issue or other projects. But once more an issue is finished and it's time to pack it all up and move along.
Here 1 picture that got scrapped from the book.

Confirmed

I'm going to start a comic page in a bi-monthly paper starting January 2018. This is going to be a Läskimooses tied story called Suomaan Kansan Muinaisusko. Pretty similar storytelling as in the main book. In colour and done in the spirit of the old newspaper comics I so much look up to. You'll find out more soon. Nuff said!

Now

As I do from time to time I planned out the future issues. Story goes until issue 54 or so it seems. This year it has been quite straight forward narrative following the life of Agner Mang. After issue 37 things will muddle up a bit until at least issue 41 which will conclude more or less the Agner Mang storyline. After that most of the secrets of Läskimooses have been revealed. Most but not all. And what remains is the story of the two main characters the narrator and the ape man. Also the Mars storyline will be concluded in 4 issues and tied into the main story (did you see that coming?).  And then...it's not over. Many snippets and strange info remain. I expect to be done with this in 2022, 10 years after beginning. A cool ride.

Riding a bicycle

Drawing certainly doesn't feel like driwing a bicyckle. Every spring when I take out my bicyckle there is a strong possibility that riding it comes naturally. No falling over or bumping into obstacles. With drawing it's like learning it all over again after even a week's break. Sometimes you don't even need a break. It's this never ending struggle. Not much enjoyment there. And same goes with writing.
And when things sometimes go right then it happens like in a blink of an eye. I'm never there when it happens and I never learn.

Thursday

I will return to work on thursday, first working on issue 37 and then on this new Secret Project that I've been mulling over in my head for some time now.
It's the first fall since 1998 that I don't have a comics class in Aalto (in open university I have) and this'll leave me with less money and more time. The Secret Project will however complicate things. If things go good I will be able to continue Läskimooses pretty much like I have so far. Issues 37 to 40 concluded this year and 41 to 46 or 47 the next year. But I don't know for sure. If this plan holds I will be over and done with the main story in 2019 and could start the editing work (whatever that is...mostly finetuning some texts. Maybe some larger changes too in that area)and some little addition and or change in the art. Then I will have been working on the book for 8 years and the planned book of "notes" will push this project to 10 years making it my most time consuming piece but also, with 1500 pages, the longest.
Now this all is ofcourse uncertain and greatly depends on the grants that I will or won't get. However the Secret Project might change it all, we'll see.
Meanwhile: Läskimooses still has only 100 subscribers. Ten times more would guarantee a basic income for me and my publisher. When I started the project I was hoping we'd get the 1000 subscribers by issue 5. This didn't happen. Now that the story is well over 900 pages it has probably become very difficult to approach. I wouldn't know. One thing though, the project is planned to be issued in comic book format and there are many things that will not translate to any collected/edited piece if there ever will be one.

Meanwhile

Won't get back to work before 10th so meanwhile I'm doing this:
 -writing all sort of loose sentences and plot summaries
-sketching one new character and her pals
-writing dialogue

In my stories there is seldom any true dialogue, so I find the last one on the list bit of a challenge. What makes it even more of a challenge is none of the characters here are exactly human with human needs and human minds. I really need to fill them with history and philosophy like empty vessels. First of these scenes is coming out in issue 37.

Thinking of dialogue: the guy who interrupts the main story the one I call Keskeyttäjä in Finnish. The story of this guy has silently and secretly grown into much more that I expected. He now has a true background and personal history that'll influence all his ponderings, past and future. The way he's coming out, I find it intriguing.