Ice hockey cheerleader 1/14 - SaiPa

I'm not a hardcore hockey fan, but I follow the sport enough to have a favorite team (in finnish hockey league). That team is the mighty SaiPa from Lappeenranta. Well, to be honest that "mighty" depends a little bit from viewer's point of view... usually when a season ends SaiPa can be found from some of the lower rows of standings, and its role is merely to be the pain in the bigger teams' asses than to fight in the finals. As SaiPa's succes can't be taken for granted, every victory has normally been happy news.

Therefor the start of on the going season (2012-2013) has so far been too good to be true for a SaiPa fan - 4 wins in 5 games and SaiPa is holding the first place in standings. I know that it's too early to start any fireworks, but at least the flying start lets us expect an interesting season.

Being happy for my favorite team's nice effort I drew this cheerleader for SaiPa. Let's hope it gives the team a little bit extra boost for the rest of the season. That may be needed when kicking other teams' butts.

As there is a satellite in SaiPa's logo and its nickname is "Sputnik", it was pretty obvious to include space related thematics in the image.

Drawing this was so much fun, that I set myself a goal to draw a cheerleader for every team of the finnish hockey league. I hope to have that extra time during the on going season... I'll always pick the team which is highest in the standings at the time. Well, isn't that something to fight for? :)

EDIT (7.12.2013)
Now available as shirt. The text is customizable.

Some croquis after a little while

I had to persuade myself to go drawing croquis, but I'm glad I did, because it was fun... as it always is. Thank you Kunsthalle Helsinki for arranging these drawing sessions.

Reino slippers - spot illustration

This week I was honoured to illustrate the true classic of finnish slipper design - Reino slippers - "Reinot" or "Reiskat" as they are called in finnish. Well... actually I wasn't asked to illustrate them... it was merely my own decision. I did an illustration for an article about care of memory disorder patients. As that's more or less senior citizen stuff I used an odd pair of Reino slippers to refer them.

Yes, I'm aware that some teenagers use Reino slippers as well, 'cause they think that's pretty cool.

How to protect yourself against dropbear koalas

Illustrating, like so many other things, is constant learning. Not just learning things concerning illustrating itself, but also vitally important knowledge.

An illustration project I'm working on at the moment increased my knowledge of animals with a highly important bit. I knew that there are bears called koalas - lazy, slow, harmless bears sitting in treetops eating eucalyptus leaves. What I didn't know before, is that there is a certain subspecies of koalas called dropbear. Dropbears are much bigger and they are lurking in trees waiting for a catch to drift under them... and then... oh yes, they drop down... Everyone can guess what happens when a creature with sharp teeth and claws attacks from above onto one's head. And by the way, they eat meat.

Luckily there is a way to protect yourself against dropbears: rub toothpaste behind your ears and you'll be safe.

Here's an image I drew to illustrate the story of dropbears. Unfortunately it was rejected by publisher. They wanted the dropbear instead of a person projecting himself agains dropbears.

Captain Australia sketches

Here's some sketches for a super hero character Captain Australia and his sidekick, that I just did as a tiny part of a bigger project. There had to be slightly funny and ironic touch... for example Captain Australia has a sidekick only to laugh at his bad jokes.

When Captain Australia's cape was described to be totally impractical, but looking cool, it was quite an obvious decision to place the sidekick standing on the cape.

Some final polishing in poses...