A rare print

I'm selling a couple of these. My first woodcut.

Succesful

I don't think the day was succesful. After a weeks break this is usually how it goes. Still, I managed to finish 3 panels and I'm a bit closer to the end. Maybe that is good then.

Haha

With every second finished issue I come up with an unplanned extra one. So tell me, when will this book be finished. Haha.

Way

I'd like to find a way to make me less dependant of grants. For this purpose I'm making an effort to sell some older pieces. I'm not holding my breath.

Well one solution would be to get more subscriptions...5000 more. Not likely. Even 500 seems impossible.

I wouldn't want to take a break from Läskimooses, but...I don't know. Ah, now there's not much I can do. Maybe something will come up as it usually does.

Really really funny

What is really funny is that every second month or maybe every third I come up with something  meaningful that I want to add to the story, and in most cases I do. The downside is that with every twist and turn I have to add ...an issue or half of an issue. And this will lead to 1500 pages. No. I'd like to keep this below 1200. And for many reasons. One is that in order to go to 1500 I would need a lot more subscribers OR a BIG grant.

Interest

What interests me is to maybe finish this book and then finalize it. Three years remaining of the project and every time I take a break it's always time wasted.
So far it has been a year of promises and that's all. Wouldn't mind something actually happening.

Despair

One day this project will be finished, but then it'll be over 1000 pages. And for what purpose? I hope it'll be revealed to me before the end.

Handed

Just handed over the two finished issues to my publisher. Now what i'd like to do is to letter the next issue AND draw maybe three maybe five before summer holidays.
I also got a handful of collages part of which I had totally forgotten. And just about the right moment since two of them fit exactly to the fortcoming issues. I tend to do the collages several at the same time and then what happens i'm in danger of forgetting what exactly I have already done.
Also with one of my friends I had a good conversation of among other things landscape, Beckett and writing.

Yes

Only the corrections to the texts remain and the issues 24 & 25 are done. Mmm...not bad. Will go through the script of issue 26 tonight and if everything goes alright I will letter it tomorrow. After that a break for the summer... More or less. Some occasional days at the studio. And

Yikes

Tomorrow I should get Silvia Regina by UPS...

Ok, so...

Struggling to get issue 25 finished in 2 days. Woke up at 2 am partly because this feel that i need to do something to the text. Now that i'm moving along to part four would the writing require some extra...thing. More power...
But part three still needs 3 more issues so there's no actual rush, yet.

S.R.

https://m.facebook.com/lhydrelasso/photos/a.139648876152977.27351.131083730342825/756272644490594/?type=1&source=46&refid=17

Ambitions

One of my bigger ambitions is starting a school of comics. I don't think this will actually ever happen, but already twice I've made plans for a curriculum. Lots of basic drawing and writing, an in house offset printing machine...
Wpuld be fun though.

Adorno 2.0

Issue 25 spread out

And it looks like 5 pages still to do

Note to oneself

Absraction is probably the thing I'm going for in this book. Define abstraction.

Getting there

Issue 25 is in a pretty good shape. 7 pages I need to do and then work on the text just a bit and then it's done. Oh, except for the cover. Still, there's a good chance this baby is all done before 6th of June. It has been good to do this kind of an issue for a change... What kind? Sort of...abstract...or... You'll see.

Adorno

Lately

Haven't been publishing too many photos lately. Partly because what I've been up to hasn't been all that interesting. Or maybe it has...who knows. Anyways, after some calculations it seems that I have 7 full pages left to finish. Today I was mostly lettering these babies. I'm keeping it in 16 pgs although it means I will have to place one page in the back cover. Mmm...what is a bit alarming is that I have the inside covers of issue 24 undone because the pages are with my publisher. It's not a lot of work, but since June is a bit chaotic I would rather finish these as soon as I can.

Rule one

Listen to the story it knows where to go.

What what

Back to work after an extended weekend and it looks like I have 5 pages finished of issue 25 (titled VÄHENEVÄSSÄ VALOSSA ). This is an issue that feels sort of light to do, or at least it felt light before I started for real... But, it's very different from previous issues and that's always good. Yeah.

Family tree

Stand

Yes well... Always the new issue gives me pain. Learning to draw for two days now. But getting there, I presume.
Looking at the calender I notice I should have 4 issues done beginning of september. Oh. Even though these forthcoming issues (including the one I just started) should be 16 pgrs, it might be tricky to keep this schedule. Time will tell eventually.

Page 1 issue 25

This week

It's a short one. Issue 25 started out nicely. Club page of issue 24 still undone, though. Can't wait to get to part four of the book. Back to Fu people, and how come? They all died, right? I mean except the few who stayed on Earth. Well, there are things in their history that can now be revealed and those shall be revealed. And quite soon after that we will finally set our feet on LÄSKIMOOSES and learn the deepest secrets of that planet. Excelsior!

Plans

All the plans of mice and men... I had the plan to make next 3 issues 16 pagers, but then all sorts of stuff started to turn up and here I am, once again. BUT just a minute ago I altered my plans slightly and decided to divide issue 25 to two AND now the plan is to make the next FOUR issues 16 pagers. Wonder how this'll go...

Closer

Surprisingly I moved along quite a bit. Now all I really need to do is the changes to the texts, which is quite time consuming, but... Yes, and then the club page. So, it looks like I could move to issue 25 on friday. And that would be swell.
I've divided this book into parts. Part one ran from issues one to six (?) if my memory serves me right, part two ran from 7 to 14 and now I'm working on part three. And the last issue of part 3 should be issue 27. So, three issues remainig. All and all there are six parts (probably). Part 5 is bit of a special case since it should be all ablut the finnish national epic Kalevala.

Craziness

Close but

One page remaining but what really pains me is the various changes the text requires. Hard to estimate how long that type of work takes. This is the spot when everything seems to be breaking apart, the good drawing and the good writing is scarce, all that I can see is the mistakes. And mistakes are plenty.

Back story

This one character in the book, the one who talks about apes, I've been wondering where he came from. From the start I knew something: he probably was a sailor. During the process I've come to know him a bit more. But yesterday I found out a nice fat piece of new information that I would love to break to you, but it'll have to wait 20 issues.  Let me tell you, I was thrilled when I realized where the scar in his forehead came from. Nuff said

Memories

Yes, went through the pdf of Silvia Regina. That certainly brought back some memories. The book must've been the most demanding I've ever done, at least as far as scanning and that sort of stuff goes. Hans really came through with that one.
Anyways, there's still stuff to do and things to check. Haven't seen the cover yet. And the thing is going to the printer next week. Gee whiz!

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