Well, who died and left YOU god, Mr. Claus?!

Oh wow it's Christmas soon! :D I've had so much on my mind lately that I haven't really fully realized it until quite recently. Luckily I have all my Christmas shopping done for this year, and so, with a purse that is remarkably lighter than it was until last week but a mind that's quite content, I ready myself for holidays. Today was the last day of school - I actually had an appointment with the doctor this morning, and by the time I arrived at school, our teacher was just wishing us all a very merry Christmas!

Still a lot to do before I can really kick back though - we ought to clean the kitchen cupboards and our fridge, though otherwise the apartment has been cleaned and we can leave it for Christmas so that it's nice to come back to... We also have a chunk of gingerbread cookie dough still unbaked in the fridge :)

Plus, the day after tomorrow my roommate celebrates her engagement at her fiancé's folks, and so me and my other roomie (we'll be maids of honour in the wedding!) head for Kauhajoki at 7:45 in the morning... and come back the same day. It takes roughly three hours by train from Tikkurila to Seinäjoki, and an hour by car to Kauhajoki from there. My folks will be picking me up from Koivukylä so I don't have to take the bus to Vihti after that, but still, we won't be at Vihti before midnight. And at the start of the week I'll have a couple of days of work and I'll have to do some Christmas cleaning and possibly baking at my parents'..! But it's all worth it, I'm so happy it's holidays at last.

The header is, by the way, from the great song Surabaya-Santa from Jason Robert Brown's musical Songs for a New World.

Now for some visuals ;)


Schoolwork - a typography poster presenting three typefaces. We had a number of quotes to pick from, I liked that one.


Magazine layout for a spread consisting of Bradbury Thompson's poem and a short text about him.


A tiny painting of two foxcubs I did sometime during the summer, I only found it when visiting my folks a couple of weeks back.

Merry, snowy and in all ways lovely Christmas to you all! ♥

Photography helps people to see.

I'm way too tired to write anything of real importance right now. But hey, I've practically got a day off from school tomorrow! Lllove it. I'm so going to sleep late.

We've been having a class on photography for the past week. It's like plunging into an endlessly deep abyss of cold water for me - a week ago I knew practically NOTHING about cameras. Sure I've played around with them before, but they were never this good or full of technical things that I should know before I start shooting..! I'm such a novice, but enjoying the camera and discovering new things. These photographs are nothing special, just experimenting, but I thought I'd show them anyway :)












I don't know if Tuppo was too delighted that I kept taking shots of him, but at least he didn't seem to mind too much. He's probably the easiest animal to photograph I know, yet I can't seem to get decent shots of him. My fail, there.

I should retouch a typography poster tomorrow, maybe I'll post it here along with some sketches once I get it done :)

If wisdom grew in trees, you would be a bush.

This sentence sums up my last couple of weeks - what I should have been doing was branding Finland for a class, but what I have been doing would be not much at all. So now I'll have to rush the presentation together tomorrow and the day after that.

Good things are coming, however, since I'm getting on a cruise to Stockholm on thursday <3 If I only get through these couple of days...

On with the sketches!


Some sketches for something that might or might not come to look like these at all. I bet you found that sentence very informative.


Aaand a sketchdump for things I've done lately. There would be a couple of foxes and a raven from the museum of natural history, then among more random sketches my entries for Dear Day's subject "Halloween" and Paper: Blank's subject "You are what the french call...".

Creative concepts

I'm currently having a class on marketing and communications. Despite my quite low expectations, the course is actually really interesting - especially the part where one of our lecturers said that by the end of this course we would quite easily be able to create new ideas and concepts in a relatively short time.

Of course there has to be some boring parts as well, and during them I make it easier for myself to stay awake by drawing.


Random doodles of dogs. I'm so out of practice.



A REALLY messy sketch of a horse/unicorn and quite possibly their last moments. Ignore the brat sobbing at their neck, I didn't have the patience to go any further with this.


I really love doing things the simple way. I ought to do it more.


I was told by a couple of my classmates that this picture has some serious erotic charge in it. It wasn't intended, maybe I have issues? Well, anyway, a werewolf being overly jealous over his dinner.

I'm going to the museum of natural history tomorrow to do some sketches! Hopefully I'll get something done that's worth publishing :)

We, therefore, need as many typefaces as we have voices.

So this is what came of the brochure that I made for school - one sheet printed on both sides, six pages when folded. Ignore the gray block on the first side, it had my name there in 6pt but due to some sort of brainfart on InDesign's part, it now is a... block. Of gray.



I got commended on this, then totally blew the test - ah well. We'll see if I passed. Some sketches later, perhaps.

"Typography makes language visible."

I've been struggling with a class on typography recently. I've been learning to tell typefaces apart (with no mentionable success) and I'm currently working on a brochure-ish thingie, from which the screenshot above. Deadline would be the day after tomorrow, as would be the exam for the course. I'm screwed, but ah, well.

Lately I've had so much on my mind! My social life is both great and a mess, school takes my time as do all sorts of other activities - I simply don't have the time nor inspiration for much. I did do this speedpaintish thing for Paper: Blank the other day, though. On the subject "Autumn."

Great deal of great things

All my babble of how I'm going to get a grip with drawing was obviously for nothing, so as you can see I'm postponing the start of my picture-a-day-project for now. I've had so much on my mind lately, that... it's really no excuse, I'll try to better myself. :I

For the past week and a half we've been doing some life drawing at school, we've had this really nice indian man posing for us :) My teacher was obsessed with drawing itself rather than drawing the model, which was actually very interesting and inspiring. He challenged us to do work that actually looks like it was done by individuals with different personalities, rather than just transferring the subject to the paper as it is. Currently all my more finished work is with the teacher since he'll need to grade it, but have some one minute croquis while you're here, though they aren't, surprisingly, that interesting. I have probably over a hundred of sketches like these in my sketchbook right now.


Otherwise I haven't drawn very much at all... But have this half-assed sketch of a pup :)