la notte

 

anibar faces

I was invited to be in the jury in Anibar, Peja, Kosovo, from July 12th to 19th. It was hot, warm people, loads of feta cheese and rakia and roasted bell peppers, films in open air, and a lot of trash and street dogs and memories of the recent war. Best thing was a puppy dog up the river in the swimming place. I didn't meet any cows, despite the high expectations. There's nothing wrong with traveling except for all the flying and polluting and being an idiotic priviledged tourist who should have never left home. I send my hopes and prayers for that god damn long Rail Baltic project.

Me waiting for the Rail Baltic.

gli uccelli

Helinan tanssitunnilla...

Muistumia Päivi Hartzellin elokuvasta Lumikuningatar (1986)

Slovenialainen sitra.

 

reading the thesises

 

On the last weeks of May, I read 22 written thesises. It was a lot of reading, but also very inspiring: to read about other animation artists' practices, methods, backgrounds, struggles and revelations.

The project descriptions of the graduating students reminded me that same kind of struggles repeat in the film making processes throughout our careers. Be it in school, with a producer, on our own, with a team, and naturally all the personal situations included. For me, it always has been the case of tolerating uncertainty about the result and the feeling that I don't know what I'm doing or/and I'm not good enough. In that sense deadlines help a lot; you just have to let go at some point, despite the fear that you spent a long time on creating something that is meaningless. 

As I'm again stepping in the paddle of film making, I want to congratulate everyone who ever finished their work, and hope to join that group again, rather sooner than later!

 

itsevalaiseva haava

 

cover illustration for hea laps

 I made a cover illustration for May issue of Hea Laps magazine. Thanks Mette Mari Kaljas for asking!

Summer is just around those bushes

 

i could eat them for breakfast, boy would he be surprised

 

helenin synttärit

 

yellow kites over

 

i was born to be a stumbling man

 

 

I drew these after Helina's dance class, scanned the drawings and added some digital in-betweens. 

batman

 

Myself as Batman drawn with the non-dominant hand, and there was a time restriction that I forgot by now. Another Lynda Barry excercise.

animated thing from february

In February I made this 34-frames long animation on a "Disciplina" notebook bought from Portugal. 

I improvised the animation as I went and animated straight ahead, but the thin paper allowed me to see the previous drawing very well and made it easy to follow the movement.

I started this in the beginning of the month and ran out of ideas around page 15 (when the guy starts turning). In the end of the month I got the idea that one character could divide into two, and finished the book. 

This pace of ideas is one reason of why I finish one film in a decade. But I'm not ashamed of it!

 

 

menneiden melodraamojen museo

 

row, row, row your boat

 

Another tetrapack printing Sunday. I was told lately that bird is good for anything. There's not much possibility to get confused with the movement of the hair but it happened anyway. Oh, well!

thank you, lynda

 

The horrible human world and a wrenching commission work (that I happily accepted) balanced only by a drawing prompt (that I partly misread) by Lynda Barry. Special thanks to Vienna for Komplizenschaft! Here's the prompt:  

printing day at the studio

A couple of weeks ago we got a visitor from the pulsing art scene of Berlin and she asked: "When will we make a printing day in the studio?" Alas, our wooden printing press has hibernated under Liisi's table for more than a year, but for this request is needed to be dug out.

Here's my tetrapack prints on different papers, and the actual plate (third image). A heart was a reoccurring motif that day. 

Admiring the exhibited results from all four participants.

 

 Real life imitates art, because just two weeks later I bought way too big shoes to myself!

 

  

en vanlig dag på kontoret

 Just another not very manic Monday.

jennyn huoneessa animatekassa

 Hearing the morning rumours from Jenny in Animateka festival, last December.

cookaboody

Cooking is nice, but requires attention and octopus hands.

 

great argument

I was attending a class related to the use of AI in thesis writing in the uni where I teach. Asking about the energy usage of AI, in relation to the benefit it gives, I got this answer:

 I think it was a great argument. I think this is also a great argument:

Which leads me to this great argument:

 Yeah, bye!

existential warning

 It's not like I didn't draw anything during February. I for example, hand crafted these post-its to our studio toilet. It's a specific, melancholic feeling, when you've "done your thing" in the toilet, reach out to the toilet paper and there is none. A small, sudden existential moment in the middle of the day you thought was going to pass like any other. How do I continue from here?