Q.: How’s kitty doing? =^.^=
A. (0:30:32): She’s sleeping, as usual, this is the time when she’s usually sleeping. She’ll probably wake up within a couple hours and come ask for food.
Q.: Do we talk too much, Minna?
A. (0:36:18): No, no! Talk as much you like! I’m just really bad at using the chat. I think it’s supposed to like, if you scroll up and then click somewhere, it’s supposed to stop scrolling, so you can read. But I don’t know if my browser is broken or something, but it doesn’t stop scrolling. So you kind of have to finick around with it and keep scrolling up while reading. I think I’ll have to test visiting some other person’s stream, someone who has lot of chat going on, and see if I can figure out what exactly my problem is, test different ways to stop the chat.
Q.: Usually mine just has “more messages below” when I scroll up so that’s odd.
A. (0:38:35): Yeah, I also get that “more messages below” but for some reason it keeps still going down even though it’s showing that message. So I think maybe I have to start using another browser, maybe?
Q.: What browser are you using?
A. (0:40:47): To view the chat, it’s Firefox apparently. It could be out of date maybe, I’m using it on my laptop, which I never use for anything else, so it’s probably a problem on my end.
Q.: Ever thought of making merch clothes? Like a Tee with the flower/snowflake logo on it?
A. (1:18:54): Yes, t-shirts, at least maybe hoodies, will be possible. But, at least t-shirts are on my “to-do next merch-wise” list. I’m going to try to have something done in good time before Christmas this year, like in the next maybe three months or something. I’m going to wait until all the books have shipped out for the Kickstarter before I start working on any new items for the store. I’m thinking maybe like October/November I would have something, t-shirt designs at least, added to the store. I’ve just, you know, worked with print-on-demand t-shirt place, so it wouldn’t be difficult, I’d just have to get around to designing a few. I’ll have to ask them for some guidelines since I’ve never done any t-shirt designs, so I don’t actually know; are there like colour restrictions or something? There used to be, back like 15 years ago or something, some sort of restrictions, like if you used this many colours it’s super expensive, and if you print on black it’s extra expensive because you have to print a white base first and stuff like that. But it’s probably changed a lot since then, since I see everyone making t-shirts all the time so it’s got to be pretty easy.
Q.: What are some of your favorite games that you've played in the past? Any specific genres you enjoy?
A. (1:20:48): Well, my favourite genre is roguelikes (or … rogue likes?). You know, some sort of randomised map and you have to survive; survival and base building elements are nice also. But my favourite games of the past? I really like Final Fantasy VIII, IX and XII? VIII and IX were my favourites because they were the first two that I played; those were really important to me. And, the Pokemon series for Gameboy would be another all-time favourite. And, as a kid, I really liked Spyro, it was also one of my most favourite games. I don’t like platformers anymore, but as a child that was the greatest thing in the world, and it’s one of the very few games that I’ve, like, 100%-ed; both Spyro 2 and 3. Oh, and, what was that game, Age of Mythology. That was my first proper PC game, so it’s really important to my development as a- I don’t know if “gamer” would be the right word since I, you know, try to avoid playing games since I have a, you know, I tend to become addicted and you know, waste too much time. So I avoid playing games these days, but yeah, it was really important to me, that game.
Q.: Well, just a plain logo sounds like it'd definitely be a possibility if I remember the escapades our class had correctly.
A. (1:22:57): Yeah, I think making multicolor cool t-shirt is really cheap these days, because I’ve seen what other people have done for their stores with Hiveworks, and some of them just printed full-color illustrations, and if that works I’m sure I can do a really cool pattern design, whichever colors, and not have it be, like, $50. But yeah, I have some pretty cool ideas that I think people will like. I think I’ll do three different to begin with; it’ll not overwhelm people with too many choices in the beginning, and if they do well maybe next year I’ll do a couple more. You know, maybe every year adds a little bit in a couple of extra designs, if people want some new stuff for their wardrobe.
Q: Did you hear about the recent crossover with FF14 and Monster Hunter World?
A. (1:24:22): Is FF14 the multiplayer version, like, the online one? Or was that the new single-player one. I haven’t played any of the newest FFs. And also I have never played Monster Hunter, so no, I have not heard about that. These days, if I do play a video game it has to be basically a base builder or survival or mix of those, like Dream World, Factorio, Don’t Starve, those kind of games.
Q.: Will the stickers of the SSSS crew ever come back into stock? I only found your comic earlier this year and I've been really hoping that they'd eventually come back on sale eventually.
A. (1:26:42): Yes, I thought they would already kind of be in the process of being back. I’ll have to ask Hiveworks, because I already told them they are out of stock and they said they would reorder it. They might have forgotten, because that was like, a month ago. So yeah, they should be in stock. Yeah, I’ll ask about them. But yes, I do want them back in stock.
Q.: I would sell my soul for an actual "Sigrun Eide: How hard can it be?" T-shirt.
A. (1:27:35): Ah- [laughs] I have to see if I make any, like, slogan-like t-shirts. I kind of lean more on the visual side - like cool designs that don’t really have a lot of text on them.
Q.: I would wear a shirt with the SSSS logo on it, the six pointed star.
A. (1:29:18): Yes, I’ll definitely make one that is centered around the logo. I think I’m gonna add some more ornamental elements around it, make it a little bit more cool. It’s a little bit lonely if it’s just the logo, I feel like. Kinda like I’ve done with the plush—it comes with a little tag which has a star logo but it also has the stuff around it, I’m gonna do something kinda similar to that, maybe have some kind of ornaments you would have on a typical Nordic shirt accompanying the star pattern.
Q.: Lol if there were a Reynir tee that's just a long braid down the back and nothing else.
A. (1:31:12): [laughs] I mean, it’s possible; I’ll definitely take, you know, suggestions down the road. I’ll, you know, start off with something simple, easy-to-digest and just pretty designs, and you know, something maybe slightly humorous. And you know, then we’ll see. If people like them, I’ll expand to more ideas. I don’t know if there’s like, a limit where it’s too many designs, you know, oversaturate the supply? But, I’ll look more into the t-shirt market; what’s best practices for people to do and then sell.
Q.: Do you ever listen to nordic metal?(not complaining about this music, its new and interesting, the parts i understand haha).
A. (1:32:20): Yeah, I do. Nordic folk metal, I listen to. Regular metal, not really? The only conventional metal band I listen to (but it’s not really conventional) would be Apocalyptica. They do metal with, like (what’s that instrument?) cellos! So it’s, not like exactly normal metal, but it’s not folk metal. I honestly normally don’t listen to a lot of music, like, at all. Like, when I draw normally outside of the the stream I just listen to Youtube videos or other people streaming, other than music. And I only listen to music when I need inspiration, which is why I listen to folksy stuff, since, you know, it’s kind of seen with the theme of the comic.
Q.: I'm not sure if this is a tradition in any Nordic countries, but would the rest of the team have considered taking some of Tuuri's ashes with them? Like as a reminder of her?
A. (1:34:06): I don’t know if it has been the tradition before, like, nowadays cremation and ashes is a normal thing, it’s cheaper to bury an urn rather than the whole person, and also some people want to do, like, “sprinkle my ashes there and there” stuff. I think it’s kinda restricted in the Nordic countries, like, you can’t just sprinkle someone’s ashes somewhere. I guess it’s considered a health risk for some reason, you know, you can’t just sprinkle someone’s ashes in a river or something, haha. But I don’t know in the past, I don’t know if doing things with people’s ashes and keeping them in urns and stuff has been much of a thing in the Nordic countries, at least not in Finland or Sweden, where I’ve lived. I’ve never really come across that the same way that you see it in, like, Swedish media, people wanting to keep someone’s ashes. But maybe somewhere it’s known better, it’s just not something that’s been done I guess in my family or people I have heard of. [note: it doesn’t say anything about the crew to list it in Characters category]
Q.: (following the previous question) I know it's a tradition in my culture to keep someone's ashes once you cremate them, I've always found it kinda weird myself XD
A. (1:36:02): Yeah, that’s the thing. If people are cremated, you usually don’t keep the ashes, the point is that you bury the ashes, bring them to, like, their childhood home or farm or something where they liked to spend time, because they didn’t want to be buried in the graveyards. Like I guess animal ashes are more common, you know, pets are cremated pretty commonly, but even then cremated ashes are usually buried, people don’t keep their pet’s ashes in an urn either.
Q.: I just bought Book 1, I really appreciate all the extra stuff you've put into it. The quality of the book entirely is really good too. Can't wait for your next books.
A. (1:51:40): Well, thank you a lot, and I really happy that you enjoyed the quality. I also like books that are really good quality both on the inside and cover-wise, so I did put a lot of, you know, thought into design and material choices. I specifically wanted a cover with a texture so that it would be a little bit different.
Q.: I think the ARTD book material choice was perfect.
A. (1:53:50): I think that’s nice too, because I didn’t actually make really any choices there, I just kinda told the printer kinda like, what they needed, I just wanted it to be a matte cover, not glossy, and I wanted the pages to show color really well and they made the material choices for me. So it’s good that you like them.
Q.: I recall that you like Dead Space so I was wondering did you play all 3 games?
A. (1:54:33): No, I only played the first one myself and I watched lets plays of the second one. After that, I was kind of done with the series, like I felt I wasn’t that scared anymore, because the story had gone so much into the mythos, the creatures and the weird cult-things. So yeah, I haven’t watched anything about the third one.
Q.: What sort of extras would you think of adding to Book 2? Slice of life from Onni’s adventures in babysitting?
A. (1:57:02): Well Book 2 is already done, so it has its extras, it has a bonus comic about arm wrestling and I also have a series of pages where people were allowed to submit questions to the characters and I answered them in like the characters voices so people really like those, those were like my main extras. I think I had a couple of like illustrations in there also and the bonus comic and the character question pages were the main attraction. Book 2 is currently being shipped out to the backers of the kickstarter and it will be in the store probably like, well it’ll probably be a month before everyone’s things are shipped out and then it will be in the store for everyone to buy. So it’s coming soon-ish. Don’t know what date yet.
Q.: So you said you like Spyro, what do you think about the remake that they are making?
A. (1:58:23): I didn’t know they’re making a remake, but I tried one of the earliest remakes; the ones were after the Activision original trilogy and then they sold it off to some company, and they made Spyro 4 or something. It just didn’t feel the same. Maybe at that point I had already grown old enough that I wasn’t into platformers anymore, but it also felt that it was lacking something, you know, like the soul of the Spyro genre was not there. So after that I haven’t cared about remakes, I kinda just decided that the series was over for myself. So yeah, it was important for my childhood, but it’s not the kind of a game that I’m interested in anymore.
Q.: Have you seen any lets plays of Last of Us? If so, did you like it?
A. (2:03:04): No. Is Last of Us the one where monsters have mushrooms and stuff growing out of their head? If so, then I kinda know about the game, but I haven’t cared enough to watch it. I’m not really been interested in a lot of these kind of new games that are first-person action games and story games. For some reason, Fallout 3 was the last one that I kinda enjoyed and was interested in. After that I’ve only been interested in—even for lets plays—strategy kind of games.
Q.: If you were born after the Rash a) where would you prefer to live? b) what your occupation/job would be? c) what grade would your Kitty have?
A. (2:06:18): Where would I prefer to live... Hm...I guess Finland, because I know the nature and stuff around here, so I will know how to get around fairly well. Like, in Iceland I would die just because I would get lost in a storm and not know what to do or where to go. And what my occupation would be.. Maybe like a farmer of some kind. I’m pretty weak, so I don’t know how good I would be as a farmer, but I can farm flowers. That would not exactly be useful. And my kitty would be... she’s pretty good at hunting, but that’s it, so I guess she would be grade B.
Q.: If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
A. (2:07:55): Honestly, I keep wanting to go back to Iceland. I’ve been there twice and I want to go hike in more places there. I just really like the nature and the climate and the fact that there’s almost no bugs. Like, the only bugs we encountered were super-small flies around a lake where there was a lot of grassland and people’s fields; they had clouds of those tiny flies just rising out of the grass. The moment the wind would stop, you’d see this mist of flies rising from the grass. And we were walking through it and we would look at the ground and flies would be sitting. Like, the ground was grey from the flies and you would just walk on top of them. Oh, it was horrible. You know, they go into your eyes and your clothes and you had to get to the car, basically try to get them off our jackets in a way that wouldn’t have the car full of flies, too. Yeah, I guess I want to go back to Iceland again. I kinda also want to visit the Great Wall of China for some reason, I really want to go on, like, a hike walk the length of it. I’m sure there are hiking tours that you can buy and join a hike like that. I’m thinking that’s what I’d like to do some time.
Q.: Well you seem to like vacations so I hope you get to go all over the world when you retire from comic drawing.
A. (2:11:11): I think when I retire from comic drawing I’m going to be really old and might just want to go hiking in the woods nearby. I don’t really enjoy airplane flights, so I don’t like that aspect of travelling, I just really like hiking. But yeah, I definitely want to go to different places. And I do have enough of the income that I can save up money, so I’ve been going somewhere with my mother to hike outside of Finland every three years or something and that’s pretty nice. Like, we’ve gone to Iceland twice now, in the last 6 years I think, and I’m definitely going back, and that’s super-expensive. It costs, like, a 1,000 euros to just to fly there when it costs 50 euros to fly to Sweden. It’s like—aaargh. So yeah, that’s definitely the kind of trip that you really have to save up money for for several years.
Q.: Do you ever sometimes just browse some the fanart people have made for your webcomics? If so, do you have any favorite pieces or artists in particular?
A. (2:13:34): No, I tend to see the fanart that people send to me on twitter, I don’t browse the places where people post fanart. I don’t even know where people post fanart. If it’s on the forum then no, because I don’t go there. I leave that place for you guys. Same with the fanfiction places, I won’t bother you people, I will leave you to your creative whims without me hovering and being judgmental, heh. But yeah, I don’t really browse for the fanart, I only look at it when people present it to me, both because I don’t really have time to browse different places even for other stuff, and I also feel like, if people are drawing fanart that is weird and stuff (which people sometimes do) I feel like I’m... I don’t know if the people who draw that want me to see it, if they will feel, like, weird about it, so I don’t go looking for it.
Q.: Favorite Disney movie (if any)?
A. (2:17:22): Maybe the Lion King. I really like the old, hand-animated Disney movies. I’ve kinda gotten really bored of the Pixar animation, like, I liked a lot of them, but yeah, I’m tired of the 3D animation or such. I haven’t watched any of the new ones that are super-popular. I haven’t even seen Frozen, because I saw promotional posters for it and I was like “I have no interest in this.”
Q.: Favorite actor/actress?
A. (2:19:50): I don’t really know any actors or actresses. I’m trying to think of any that I can even remember the name of, that would probably make them my favourite just by default. I remember the name of Tom Cruise, so I guess he’s my favourite. And Brad Pitt, I remember those names. Like, when I watch movies, I don’t care at all who is the person acting.
Q.: What type/how much media do you even consume? You seem pretty busy but is there any sort of media to try to make time for?
A. (2:21:56): No, there is no media that I try to make time for, I only consume stuff that I can enjoy while I’m drawing, so it’s mostly things I can listen to, which means podcasts, other people streaming (who talk a lot) and lets plays where someone is explaining what they’re doing while they’re playing, which is why I like strategy games, because usually the person is talking, explaining their moves and stuff. Audiobooks are sometimes okay and sometimes I also watch sitcoms and things, where I can listen to the jokes and stuff and not have to look at the actual screen. It’s really the most that I consume these days.
Q.: Is there anything of SSSS that you're particularly proud of?
A. (2:23:18): I don’t know like particularly proud of, I’m just kinda proud of like the whole “that I’m being able to be consistent with it”. I guess I’m proud of that [laughs]. Since you know, so many webcomics kinda take like super long hiatuses and stuff, so yeah I’m happy that it’s been going well for so long and I guess I’m proud of actually getting books out of it.
Q.: What sort of podcasts and audiobooks?
A. (2:24:35): Really anything that I happen to be interested in. Sometimes I listen to news and podcasts, sometimes I listen to podcasts about comics, podcasts about video games, podcasts about internet drama, whatever I happen to be in the mood for and audiobooks… there is nothing specific, sometimes there are some really bad post-apocalyptic stories, sometimes I listen to like historical books and sometimes I listen to, like the last one I listened to, was some sort of exorcism story book about “true exorcism recountings” and stuff like that. So really, anything that I happen to be feeling likely to listen to. Mostly I listen to stuff on youtube, that’s really my go-to place.
Q.: I think Makoto Shinkai animated Kimi no na wa (called ‘Your Name’ in English). [someone proposed Minna to look up Makoto Shinkai before]
A. (2:25:40): Alright, I’m actually going to Google that right now. Kimi no na wa. Alright, looks pretty cool. Have not seen that before. Haven’t watched any anime stuff in really long, exactly because I need stuff I can listen to and not watch, and I don’t like dubbed anime.
Q.: Any guilty pleasure movies? Like "bad" comedies or something?
A. (2:27:35): I like all comedies. Like if a comedy movie has got a rating of about six on IMDb I’m probably going to enjoy it, my taste isn’t sophisticated. But I don’t have any movies that I watch over and over again.
Q.: Do you realise that you've made Keuruu a tourist place?
A. (2:37:05): [laughs] I know at least two groups of people who came there just because of SSSS, even though there’s not much to see [laughs]. Well, that’s cool. Yeah, it’s not exactly a normal tourist place, but it is pretty. It has the wooden church, and also if you drive around it then the nature around is pretty desolate, and there are pretty farms and hills and little lakes around there. [laughs] And that’s cool.
Q.: If music were to be made to accompany SSSS, what type of music would you think could fit SSSS the best?
A. (2:37:59): Honestly the music that I get most inspired by to make SSSS is the stuff by Hedningarna, like the one that’s playing right now [Höglorfen - Hedningarna], that band. They make a lot of slightly weird tunes, very Nordic sounding, and it usually has some kind of flair to it. Gets me a little bit pumped up. I don’t know more specifically than that what kind of music, but that’s the music that inspires me most.
Q.: Do you like the rigs from Dead Space?
A. (2:52:58): Do you mean the body armor suit thing? Yes, I did like that. I especially liked health bar on your spine thing, that was really cool. I don’t remember more specific, what else they look like, but I remember that I wasn’t strictly bothered by them and I think I enjoyed them. So I’m going to say yes, even though I only remember the spine thing and the weapon, the laser cutter, that was also really neat design.
Q.: Really random question but did you happen to play mulle meck when you were younger? // Mulle Meck is a Swedish children's book figure created by George Johansson and Jens Ahlbom. Mulle Meck is called Gary Gadget in English and Masa Mainio in Finnish.
A. (2:54:55): Unless it’s something that I know by another name, then no, I have no idea what that is. Mulle Meck. Word’s that tell me nothing. Now I’m really curious, so please tell me what it is.// Alright, well I have never read any of those in any of those languages and haven’t heard about it before. So it’s a new... discovery is the word I’m looking for? Yes. A new acquaintance.
Q.: Will the 'City of Hunger' eventually get music to accompany it? What kind of music will you be looking for for that?
A. (2:55:33): Yes, it’s definitely gonna have music but I currently have no idea what I even want for it, so it’s gonna be the last thing I add before the next test version is ready.
Q.: Have you played TES V: Skyrim (or watched lets plays)? If yes, what do you think about it?
A. (2:56:52): I haven’t played it, I tried one Elder Scrolls game once and found it very boring. I think I watched a couple of episodes of Skyrim lets plays just to see what all hype is about, but... I’m kinda over those kinds of open-world, explore-on-your-own kind of games and, you know, do quests, I need games to either have some sort of strategic aspect and it also needs to be kinda difficult for me to be interested these days. Not difficult in the sense that you have to click really fast and hit your enemies and stuff like that, I like turn-based things. Don’t need to crack my brain or my fingers.
Q.: How long of a break are you going to take between the first and second adventure?
A. (2:59:01): Hmm, probably like three weeks or something. It’s not gonna be too long, because the scripting part is kinda in a good spot, I’m not gonna take a month to finalise the script or anything and I still have a pretty good buffer of three pages right now, so I’m also not gonna have to take a really long time to build a page buffer. So yeah, maybe three weeks is going to be enough time. I’m really going to need time to rest out a bit, for a week, and fix the website, so I can accommodate some adventure stuff of the comic, without being weird or super messy, I’m going to simplify some things. That’s it. It’s not going to be a long break. The regular chapter break plus one week.
Q.: I see you've been confused by a cat as well haha.
A. (3:12:22): Yes, unfortunately she has a bad habit. First of all, when she sits at the door I will get up, and sometimes when she ran off with a food bowl and I will give her something, because maybe she’s hungry a little bit. Obviously she immediately learned that if she wants food she just go sit by that back door. So I’m trying to anti-learn her that.
Q.: How long are your normal workdays?
A. (3:45:02): I get up at twelve, I start working around one, and I go to bed at four, but I do take breaks and go for walks during the day. I feel like my work days are about twelve hours. I would actually have to properly time it, my breaks and stops in-between, because I technically start working at one and stop working at four and go to bed, so that’s a really long time. Lots of breaks, and I also don’t work while I eat. So that’s an hour when I don’t do any work, and I take one hour to exercise every day, usually by going for a walk. I do work most of the day. I don’t really have a time when I “get off work” so to say and do something, I try to work as much as I can, because I enjoy it.
Q.: Do you crack your knuckles while stretching?
A. (4:11:12): No, I’ve heard that’s not actually a good thing to do. It can slowly wear down the joints in your fingers, or loosen them somehow. I never crack my knuckles, I’m very scared of doing that. I only stretch my fingers as much as I can in different directions and my wrists and the back of my hand and try to open my palm as much as possible.
Q.: I love playing Don't Starve so I was thinking do you have any preference which character you play as? I mostly play as the old lady/librarian or the scientist guy.
A. (4:12:44): I usually just play the default, what’s his name, Wilson, so he’s, I guess, the scientist guy. I also like the librarian, but I actually kind of see her as too powerful, because she had the whole thing with the books and stuff. And her only drawback was that she can’t sleep during insanity, and I never use the sleeping, like tents and straw strolls, so I had no downsides and only super powerful upsides with using her, so I stopped using her for that. The basic Wilson guy is the most balanced. In the Shipwrecked DLC I also liked the serpent girl just because her voice, whatever instrument it is, sounds cool and also she’s supposed to be super lazy [] but doing things, I find it really amusing. She’s complains about everything she has to do, like, if she has to pick up a rock she’s like “What am I, a pack mule?” I don’t have the most sophisticated sense of humour, I will find everything funny. I’m easily amused.
Q.: Honestly I was really getting tired of post apocalyptic stories until I found your comic and the Metro series and I think it’s because how different they are from your normal apocalyptic setting.
A. (4:25:07): I think most people tend to tire of apocalyptic settings when they’re the exact same as everything else—basic zombies, dystopia, trying to survive in some hole somewhere, trying to travel to a safe city. You only really need to mix something different in there, and it becomes new. It’s the same with basic fantasy and stuff that’s done a lot. It’s really easy to make something fresh just by mixing in something else.
Q.: Since you mentioned you like weird comedy, do you like Venture Bros? // It’s an animated, odd comedy tv series, it’s definitely in a category of its own.
A. (4:40:25): I don’t think I’ve heard of that. Let me know if it’s like, a new TV series, or is it a movie? Is it an old thing? Let me know. I tend to forget the names of everything, so it very well could be something that I have watched but I’ve forgotten. // Alright, then I’ve definitely not seen it. I think all of the animated comedy series I’ve watched are popular American things like South Park, The Simpsons, Family Guy, American Dad, BoJack Horseman.
Q.: Besides French, are there plans (or conspirings) to publish the books in other languages?
A. (5:01:16): Not right now. I’ve kind of been hesitant to go into the book translation stuff, since I’m kind of scared of accidentally losing my rights to the comic or something like that. I finally agreed to it because this company contacted Hiveworks to ask if they could publish it in French, and Hiveworks had to kind of talk me into it, like tell me that it’s a good deal and they’d do the lawyer stuff for me so that I don’t have to worry about losing any rights. So this is the first one, and there isn’t a big plan to do a lot of others, but it’s been going well, so if there’s future opportunities to have it translated, I’m more open to it/less scared about it now. So, no plans right now, but it’s very possible that there will be other translations. [brief silence] The physical comics industry I think is a little bit in trouble right now. In a lot of countries it’s risky to publish new comics that aren’t old classics, because people just don’t read comics much outside the internet anymore. French is one of the few languages where publishing comics like graphic novels is still profitable, because it’s a part of French culture to read graphic novels. So there’s probably also a limit to what languages are possible to get translations for, because for a lot of languages there’s not a big enough market that a company will take the risk to translate a comic.
Q.: Just wondering, do you need glasses from doing digital art for so many hours of the day? Y’know what adults say about how computers make your eyes weak?
A. (5:09:03): No. I can’t see far away well, so I’ve needed regular glasses since I was a teenager. But I don’t use glasses when I draw, and not when I’m inside, because everything is close enough that I can see well. I do need glasses when I go outside so I can read signs and see people’s faces without having to be like one meter away from them [laughs]. No, I don’t think that has anything to do with me drawing digitally since I needed glasses before any of that became a thing, before I even had my own computer. Staring at the screen all day hasn’t given me any problems. It could be that the Cintiq screens are calibrated to suit the artist that has to look at it for a long time, so I don’t know if a bad screen could cause something. I know some people have to use those protective glasses to filter out something from screens or they get migraines, but I haven’t had a problem, I can keep staring at the screen for ten hours a day no problem.
Q.: Would you eat Mikkel's soup?
A. (5:19:51): The candle soup? Ehh...no. I am very picky with what I eat and I would be completely incapable of eating something that has a weird texture to it, or consistancy to it, or a weird taste. I will just not be able to swallow any of it, chew it, I will just spit it out immediately.
Q.: Just curious, does your cat tend to walk all over your keyboard/tablet/computer?
A. (5:56:55): No, because my keyboard and computer are kind of packed away in a weird box-like corner, so she can’t get to them, but she will walk on my tablet sometimes when she wants to get into my lap. It’s kind of a steep angle, so she steps on the tablet, slide right off, and then settles where she lands.
Q.: Have people asked you for interviews before?
A. (6:07:03): Yes, sometimes, I think I’ve done a couple of interviews ages ago, I kinda stopped doing any of them because I got super stressed out at some point. I tend to not even look at my email unless I’m expecting a message from someone, so if I have gotten any interview requests since then, they’ve gone completely unnoticed. I think the time people wanted interview requests was when the first book of SSSS came out, and when I won some award I think, but other than that, not so much.
Q.: What type of mage would you prefer to be?
A. (6:15:23): I don’t really know. I guess the kind that lives at home so I guess an Icelandic mage and I am going to be “make the sheep bear more healthy little sheeplings” kind of mage. I wouldn't want to be out in the field.
Q.: Did you see the new Unknown Soldier remake that came last year?
A. (6:30:16): No, I did not. I am not interested in war movies at all. I’ve seen the original Unknown Soldier movie in school, in class, because it’s one of those movies you are supposed to see. I don’t remember a lot about it but it was good, one of the few movies in black and white that I’ve enjoyed, but I don’t like war movies so I wasn’t interested in a remake.
Drawing: Inspirations, Techniques, Process
Q.: Any more thoughts on what you'd like to draw for future streams?
A. (0:56:51): Yeah, I have a lot of ideas that I would like to draw, because, you know, I have a lot of bottled-up ideas that I’ve wanted to draw for the past year or so. I’ve had the time but I haven’t had the motivation to drawn outside of the comic, so I have a lot of ideas that I want to finally get to doing. I won’t say anything specific because I always change my mind, so I won’t get you hyped up for anything specific. One thing I did promise was that I would draw Reynir with his hair not in a braid, so I need to come up with some cool composition to work on; some week, don’t know when yet.
Q.: A little trivial question; what hand do you draw/write with?
A. (1:02:32): I’m right-handed, but I can colour sometimes with my left hand, which I do for the comic. I need time to rest my right hand a little bit, since I have, like almost every artist, joint and tendon problems, so I can switch to the left hand and keep doing this, just a bit slower. So yeah, colouring with my left hand is no problem. Switching back to my right hand right now. And that’s why I love my current Wacom tablet; it’s the Wacom Cintiq 12WX; it’s super-old and it’s super-small, but it has the hotkeys on both sides so you can use your left and right hand interchangeably, it doesn’t matter which hand you use. Well, I looked at the newer ones, and they only have the sleeker [striper?] ones, you have to turn it over if you want to be left-handed. I guess the assumption is that most people only use one hand and don’t need to turn it over that often. So yeah, I kind of need that both-handed capacity.
Q.:How do you draw urban/suburban backgrounds for panels/artworks?
A. (1:08:04): The same way I would draw nature backgrounds? There really isn’t a different kind of process to it. I use an exact type of lineart and colouring style. Or at least I try to? Maybe it looks different for some reason? But yeah, I usually look up some reference for the kind of buildings that I want and use those as a guide, just as I would do with nature scenes. I would look up the kind of nature I want to draw, and use that as a guide. I’ll probably, at some point, start doing additional livestreams where I just draw the comic pages the way I would regularly do, maybe cover up spoilery panels and stuff so you guys could see my process for those. Since it’s kind of difficult to describe how you draw a comic, especially when it comes to style questions.
Q.: Seeing you draw a comic page would be very interesting! (from Elleth)
A. (1:11:30): Okay, good. I will start doing that at some point, obviously I can’t right now since the, every page and every panel will kinda spoil what will happen next so I have to wait until we’re back to scenes where there’s more talking and stuff so that you can’t tell exactly what’s happening just from the artwork.
Q.: How do you make backgrounds?
A. (1:12:32): You mean for the comic? It’s kind of a mix of lineart and kind of painting below the lineart. I kinda do it the same way I would paint if I were to do it with watercolors, where I will first draw light line art with ink, and then paint with watercolors on top. I kinda do that same process digitally, but you know, it’s one of those things that’s really difficult to kind of describe. So yeah, I would have to show it on a livestream in the future.
Q.: Do you do commissions?
A. (1:47:51): No, I do not. I haven’t done commissions, well since I got to a point where I was able to support myself just by doing comics. Since I don’t really enjoy doing commissions, so I don’t want to do that unless I have to. [laughs] I did appreciate everyone who did commission me back then when I did take them, but yeah, it’s not something I really want to do if I have a choice.
Q.: Do you enjoy drawing landscapes more, or characters?
A. (1:48:33): I think single-character or two-character scenes where they are the focal points are usually more enjoyable because it’s kinda easy to make something, you know, impressive and tell a little bit of character story just by that and make something that’s easy to make and people will enjoy. Landscapes without characters in them can be a little be boring to make and to look at. But they are fun, though. What I don’t like is scenes with a lot of characters, so that you have to do a lot of detail on a lot of people. This is fun, though, because they are pretty small, and I know I’m not going to have to spend 50-hours drawing everyone [talking about the current drawing]. But if it’s, like, the crowd scene and I set the goal that it’s gonna be really detailed, then those are the scenes that I hate to draw the most. For some reason I thought the answer was what do I hate drawing the most when the question was what do I like drawing the most. [laughs] I guess character portraits, well, not portraits but situation pieces are the most fun.
Q.: I am absolutely in awe of your color shading. You make something that's so hard seem so easy.
A. (3:06:45): Well thank you,it used to be really hard to do this kind of shading, just paint, without layers and constant adjusting the settings. You really have to learn what colours go together, but you also have to learn to not be afraid of mistakes as you paint.
Q: I've grown up shading and drawing with pencil only so it's been hard to transition from B&W to color.
A. (3:10:34): Yes, I can understand that. I think I’ve always done colour on some level, even back then when I was a kid I used crayons. But if you work digitally, there’s actually a lot of ways where you can paint in B&W and kinda add colour afterwards, with different effect layers, with soft light, hard light, with different colour filters. People do it a lot, I heard it’s a great time-saver to paint in B&W only, and once that looks good you just add colours with filters. If you do digital art, look into that, if you have a hard time getting into colours, if you learned to do only B&W stuff.
Q.: Do you have any artist quirks?
A. (3:53:24): I do that thing that a lot of artists do, where if you draw someone’s expression, you make that expression while you’re drawing, without thinking about it. It often results in me having headaches because I’ll sit for one hour with some sort of horrible grin or scowl on my face. I don’t know if I have any other “quirks”, per se, but that’s a common one that I also have.
Q.: Have you ever experienced lack of self confidence when it comes to your work (or impostor syndrome)? If yes, how did you get over it?
A. (3:56:31): I don’t know if I have “imposter syndrome”. I’m not really sure what the definition for that is, but I see sometimes people talk about it, in passing other artists, and I’ve never really felt that I have that—whatever you’re talking about—but definitely self-confidence issues happen sometimes, like I might feel that my style is not good enough. I’ll look at other people’s work and be “Oh, I wish I could be drawing in that kind of style”, and my style is stupid and ineffective, and not expressive or pretty enough. Then my work might be messed up, because I start trying something else, but I also try to do my own style, and it looks ugly and stuff. The way I center myself back into the style that I have determined that I actually like—because I do like my own style. I have a folder with a lot of art from different people that kind of have elements of my style, that I know I like. I look at those art pieces when I feel directionless, and remind myself why I like those art styles, and why I try to aspire to be like them and not whatever random artist I happen to see and be like “wow, so much better than me”. Basically I have an inspiration folder that has art that’s kinda reminds me of my art but that isn’t my own art. Because if I do look at my own art when I feel like it, I will feel like it’s not great, so I need to look at other people’s art to remind myself where I’m going.
Q.: Any other artists you could mention as inspiration? I think your style looks a lot like Jean Giraud. I read a lot of his westerns as a kid.
A. (4:00:58): That’s the greatest praise you could give, because Jean Giraud aka Moebius is my greatest art inspiration. That folder I mentioned is 50% Jean Giraud art. So thank you a lot. That western comic that you mentioned, I don’t remember the name of it, but the style is the greatest and I guess ‘The Incal’, I think it’s called, is the other work that has a super great art style. He has a lot of different art styles and some of them are styles that I don’t try to copy, well, not copy, but be inspired by that much, like the surreal stuff he does, but his comic stuff is phenomenal. His linework and composition is what inspires me the most. I’m really happy that my work reminds you of his art style.
Q.: Did any real life places inspire this kind of forest settings?
A. (4:33:08): Yes, I’m trying to emulate the kind of shoreland that happens in the Finnish kind of räme/suo type of wetlands, or what are they called in English, bogs, marshlands, when you have a river flowing through, you usually have a really soft moss growing into the water, like the water beneath it but you can stand on the moss outgrowing, and eventually it’s grown thick enough so trees can start growing on it. Out here would be where there’s actually ground beneath it, that is moss that has been growing for thousands of years, it takes a long time to grow. So yes, those kinds of places and that kind of water. I actually look close when I visit these kinds of wetland areas for hikes. It’s definitely that kind of area where if you would walk in modern times, you would want to have planks to walk on it, because it’s dangerous to walk on it because you don’t know if the moss is thick enough to hold you and you can fall through, and then you’re trapped beneath this mess and you might not be able to get out, and you’d drown. This kind of thing is called a ‘suonsilmä’, meaning Eye of the Bog, and it will swallow you, and you will drown. This used to happen a lot, when people would go berry-picking a lot, without company and without cell phones, they would just vanish into the bog.
Writing: Character-creation, Pacing
Q.: I'm writing my own story based off of Finnish mythology. Do you have any resources for it, or did you get your ideas from growing up there?
A. (1:59:28): There are resources for it, but they’re mostly in Finnish, like what I’ve seen is that Finnish mythology isn’t really something that’s been super popular internationally, so there’s not a lot of translated works. I have a really big book about Finnish mythology, which is called “Suomalainen kansanusko”, with, like, a lot of information but it only exists in Finnish, so if you don’t speak Finnish it’s not going to help you. And other books on Finnish spells and stuff are only in Finnish, you can’t get them translated. The one thing that might be helpful is getting a translated Kalevala, which is the big national epos of Finnish mythology. There’s different versions of it translated, like, some are translated literally, some are translated trying to keep the poem structure, since it’s written in the Finnish runo poem style. So yeah, maybe try looking into one of those, maybe the one where you have the Finnish original and the translation in the same book, maybe that could help? Other than that, there’s not a lot of Finnish mythology stuff what I’ve seen in English. Like in contrast you can get a lot of Norse mythology stuff, because people know about vikings and things, so that sells; nobody knows about the Finnish mythology.
Q.: I too like the consistency of the story, but have there been any moments where you had to change your planned script of the story in the past?
A. (2:36:15): There are times when I adjust the script a little bit if I come up with a better idea and there are also times when I’ll write the script and there are places where I’m not exactly sure what I want to do and I just write a placeholder part to get the story to move past that space and then I see if I can come up with something better before I get to that place, and if I’m successful I will replace it with this new thing that I came up with. But I haven’t really changed huge parts after I decided what the story is gonna be.
Q.: I love your onomatopoeia. Do you spend a lot of time on them or do they just come naturally (because you are a genius)?
A. (2:39:45): [self-deprecating noise] Yes, because I have 200 IQ. No, they kind of come naturally. I see the scene and I try to...not really make the sound, but think of the sound in my head, how it would sound, and then I write down that sound. That’s how it comes. So I guess I’m able to kind of hear what’s happening if I try to envision it, or whatever the sound version of envisioning is.
Q.: Do you set aside days just for writing the storyline?
A. (3:48:07): Yes, that’s what I do during the chapter breaks. I have one week where I prepare the next chapter more carefully, and do a couple of buffer pages if I run out. That’s when I do most of the scripting—almost all of it. And then I do a big outline of the whole story before I start it. Now—the next adventure—I’ve already done the outline script so that I only need to focus more on polishing the individual chapters during breaks. Other than that, I do a lot of work in my head, like if I’m just going to bed, trying to relax, I might think about the story details for the future. A lot of the scripting is done by the time I sit down and finalize it.
Q.: Do you ever change the story once it's scripted?
A. (3:51:20): I change little parts, usually just by improving specific things if I come up with something better. I haven’t really changed anything major, that would take the plot in a different direction. When I’m in the stage where I’m thinking about major plot decisions, that’s the part where I’m changing things and removing things that don’t work out, and completely deciding to take things in a different direction. Especially when I start drawing something related to the plot point, I usually don’t change a lot.
Q.: What are your thoughts on using cliffhangers as a storytelling device?
A. (5:20:28): I don’t really have any specific thoughts on that. Unfortunately, I think that happens a lot with comics, because obviously you have to stop at every page. Scenes that wouldn’t normally be cliffhangers because they would be over in a few minutes because you just read them, become cliffhangers, but they can be really good if you end a chapter or even a book on a cliffhanger. It can make a person have to buy the next one to find out what happens. I’ve definitely read enough mangas and other comics like that in which you have to buy the next one because you don’t know if the main character is going to survive. Of course they’re going to, but you know.
