Frequently Asked

Society6 print shop & affiliate links

Print-on-demand company called Society6 manufactures various products with my art, and sells them at the Society6 store. I always get artist royalty from Society6 items that are illustrated by me.

Additionally, most of the Society6 store links here on my website (such as the ones below) are affiliate links, which means that if you visit the Society6 site through one of my links and then buy something, I may receive affiliate earnings from Society6. There’s a mention in every page on my website where affiliate links are placed. Using my affiliate links won’t add any costs to you, so no worries there! Thank you for supporting me and my art. ♥

List of all my products that are currently available on Society6:

• Browse all my Society6 items (all categories)
• Browse by artwork
• Art Prints
• Posters
• Wall Tapestries
• Throw Pillows
• Tote Bags
• Carry-All Pouches
• Notebooks
• Wrapping Paper
• Stationery Cards
• Jigsaw Puzzles
• Shower Curtains
• Desk Mats

Society6 only offers their own line of products, so you cannot buy my books or original works there. The available Society6 items may occasionally change, as I sometimes remove older or seasonal pieces from the store to make room for new ones. Unfortunately I cannot currently fulfill custom requests regarding specific prints or product categories.

Society6 is based in the US, but they have vendors around the world and shipping is available to many countries worldwide (some exceptions may apply). If you have any type of questions about shipping or ordering from the Society6 store, please contact the customer support on Society6. I’m not in charge of production, orders or shipping on Society6, so I may not have answers to your questions, and I don’t have any access to your customer information on Society6.

Art & Books shop

The other shop (Art & Books) is closed for the time being. Note that it is not the same as Society6 – these are two entirely different stores (and Society6 is still open as usual).

I used to have my own Art & Books online shop open a couple times each year for short pop-up sales, where I sold my original works and some self-published books and postcards, however in my current life situation I no longer have the time for running my own shop. So far I haven’t made any plans for reopening the Art & Books shop, but if the situation ever changes you will find that information right here on my website.

Alternative way to buy prints?

My art prints are only sold by Society6, and there is no other way to buy my artwork at the moment, sorry!

If you have any type of questions (general or case-specific) about shipping or ordering from the Society6 store, please always contact the customer support on Society6. I’m not personally in charge of production, orders or shipping on Society6 and may not have answers to your questions.

About my books

You can find my artwork in a lot of different books, of which some are my self-published artbooks, while others were illustration commissions for other publishers and authors.

My own self-published books (Woodlands, Tiny Black Fox, A Month of Ink and Dusk Magic) are sold out and not currently available for purchase, sorry! If I ever start selling any of my books again in the future, you will find that information right here on my own website. I don’t have such plans yet, but will update this page if the situation changes.

Books by other publishers: I have also illustrated some books as commission work, including the Nordic Tales (by Chronicle Books), a few Finnish children’s books by various publishers, and some cover artworks for various titles. I am not in charge of the sales or availability of any books that are not written or published by me personally, so unfortunately I can’t help with your questions concerning those books or their availability. Many of the books are sold in various bookstores. I recommend contacting the publisher or searching online bookstores if you have questions on a particular book’s availability.

Buying original art

Original drawings and paintings are not available for purchase at the moment. The next original art sale has not been planned or scheduled yet. If I start planning an original art sale in the future, I will announce it here on my website.

Image use, permissions, licensing

Please do not publish, repost or copy any of my images (or parts of them), unless I have personally given you written permission for the image use. All my artworks, illustrations, designs, photography and product photos are protected by copyright and may not be used for any purpose without my permission.

Publishing rights or other permissions are only given to commission clients and those who have paid a licensing fee to use the image. I am not currently available for discussion on new permission or licensing agreements, sorry. If you don’t already have my permission to use the image, just don’t use it.

Additional notes:
• You are welcome to share my social media posts by using the social media’s original share button. Please do not download, copy or screenshot my images in order to repost. If there is no sharing button on the original post, it means you are not allowed to share the content.
• If you buy a physical item (like a wall tapestry, print, etc), it’s usually OK to share your own photograph of the purchase on your social media.
• Books are protected by copyright too, so you should always ask the official publisher’s permission before sharing any of a book’s interior contents online.
• I don’t sell tattoo designs or tickets.
• I never sell my work as NFTs. If you ever see my art offered as NFTs, it’s a scam – meaning that they illegally stole my work.

Commissions, projects, etc

I am not currently available for new commissions, collaborations or any other projects or business discussions, sorry! Please do not send me inquiries on these topics. I will update this info page if my working situation changes.

Art tools and techniques

There’s no quick or easy answer to the question “which art medium do you use” – it depends on the piece. I have worked with many different techniques and styles, including (but not limited to) these:

– Calligraphy ink paintings
– Alcohol ink paintings
– Watercolour paintings
– Acrylic paintings
– Black & white ink drawings
– Pencil drawings
– Colour pencil drawings
– Mixed media paintings and drawings (traditional tools only)
– Mixed media paintings and drawings (combinations of traditional and digital tools)
– Sketchbook work with varied drawing and painting tools
– Animations using various different traditional drawing and painting tools and/or drawing tablet, with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Animate (previously Flash) and/or Premiere Pro

I like to modify my style, techniques and tools based on what is available or which style suits best with whatever idea or project I’m working on. Some of the techniques that are great for personal and more intuitive or experimental artwork, may not be suitable for commissions that require lots of pre-planning. I’m also often curious to try doing things a little differently than before to see where it leads me. Spontaneous experiments and variation keeps things alive and interesting!

These are some of the tools I’ve used recently:

Drawings: For black&white drawings I mostly use Micron pigment ink pens. For colour drawings I use various tools but most often Caran d’Ache Luminance 6901 colour pencils, coloured ink liners, and sometimes also alcohol markers. Lately I’ve also been using some gel pens for mixed media drawings (for example Sakura Gelly Roll series).

Watercolours: I haven’t done that much watercolour work lately (not as much as I used to in the past) but when I do I often use various Schmincke watercolour pans. I like to use masking fluid to create negative space or highlights. I prefer 300 gsm heavyweight, textured watercolour paper.

Ink paintings: I’ve made two types of ink paintings, using either calligraphy ink or alcohol ink. These two types of ink are very different from each other. Honestly, I do not recommend buying alcohol ink just for paintings, for various very good reasons. You will most likely be disappointed and find out that alcohol ink is very problematic and too expensive medium for paintings. I have written a long blog article about painting with alcohol inks and drawing with coloured pencils (including process video clips), because people kept asking and asking how I made those paintings. You can read the article here. Please note that I made that article and the process videos purely for entertainment purposes. They’re NOT meant as a tutorial. For ink painting I would genrally recommend trying some other types of ink.

For calligraphy ink paintings I use Zeichentusche ink bottles from Rohrer & Klingner with textured watercolour papers. R&K inks are also great for detailed painting with a paintbrush. They feel somewhat similar to watercolours, but the difference is that the ink will become permanent, and that you can get darker and more saturated colours than with watercolour.

I also typically use mixed traditional media with my ink paintings, drawing some details with colour pencils (Caran d’Ache Luminance 6901) or using other drawing tools like ink liners or Sakura Gelly Roll pens. Sometimes I even create illustrations using ink painting together with Photoshop.

Papers: I use a lot of different paper types, depending on the medium and size of the piece, or what I happen to have available at the time. It’s really impossible to name a single brand or type of paper because I change them so often. But generally speaking, for watercolour and calligraphy ink paintings I usually prefer natural white 100% cotton 300gsm rough textured watercolour paper, from brands like Sennelier or Fabriano, and sometimes I also use Hahnemühle Bamboo 265gsm paper, which is a more fragile paper type (don’t use this with masking fluid).

For my experimental paintings with Copic alcohol inks I use smooth drawing papers, around 200gsm, but beware that the alcohol ink will bleed through, stain everything and the process is super messy and impractical (which is why I don’t usually recommend this techique for anyone). :)

Sketchbook: If you are wondering about the little square sketchbook with rounded corners that I often use: I previously had Royal Talens Art Creation sketchbooks for several years, however I kept having recurring problems with the sketchbooks’ durability (the binding was weak and pages got loose), so I am now testing other brands and currently I’m using a very similar looking 12×12 cm sketchbook from Sakura, hoping that it will last longer than the other. What comes to tools that I use with sketchbook work – it varies a lot. From Micron ink pens, to opaque gel pens, alcohol markers, coloured pencils, watercolours or calligraphy inks, and different combinations of these tools.

Digital and mixed media: While a large portion of my work are entirely or mostly handmade drawings and paintings, I also do a ton of traditional+digital mixed media artwork. Often this means that I first draw a black & white illustration traditionally, then add colour to it digitally, sometimes using hand painted elements to add texture. However, I also sometimes create more painterly illustrations with “tradigital” technique, so that I paint and draw several separate pieces/elements traditionally, and then scan, combine and edit the layers digitally. I usually use Adobe Photoshop for digital editing.

My camera

I use Canon EOS 6D digital camera and two Sigma Art f/1.4 A DG HSM lenses: 24 mm and 50 mm. I especially love taking phots with wide aperture during the long hours of the northern dusk, just before and after sunset. I photograph with RAW image mode and usually edit my photos in Photoshop / Camera Raw. I’ve written some articles about photography in my blog, you can find them here.