When it came time to give out comments and feedback, the participants had a lot of things to say about the Helsinki camp, sounding all enthusiastic and happy. The expectations had been high, people had anticipated digging right into the world of comics and working hard. For a majority of the campers the best thing about the week seems to have been socializing. Meeting new people, getting feedback, getting to know fellow creative nerds, seeing other people’s work, the feeling of togetherness and sharing opinions – you name it. Being able to concentrate 100 % on creating comic art had beenjust as great.

Team spirit thrived and the feedback sessions were deemed very helpful.

Campers were asked for warm memories they might have from the camp. The camp’s chef Aliisa was praised for the delicious vegan food and her adorable pet dog Majuri warmed many hearts. A few of the campers mentioned attending to an exhibition’s opening and drawing each others in the summery park as specially fond memories. Participants had felt the general atmosphere to be accepting and warm and therefore many had difficult time naming one single memory, since the camp had been constant fun for them.

The campers drew a birthday card for Aliisa.

Camp mascot Majuri got himself a couple of new fans.

The camper’s are looking forward to the next part held in Tallinn. They are eager to meet the group again, learning more about comics and creating art. Part two will be somewhat more action-packed – shorter comics on a daily basis and a plenty of exercises.

This is what the campers had to say, in their own words:
“fun Fun FUN!”
“A rather balanced mix of hard work and laughs”
“The warm team spirit was wonderful”
“The week could have easily been longer”
“Everyone put their souls out there and really did their best :)”
“Oh man, the jokes just kept coming”
“Everything was as close to perfection as possible”
“Intense! Super busy but very rewarding”

Text and images: Johanna Hakanen

Fifth day was full of energy as people were trying to finish their comics, but also a bit wistful, since it was the last day of the camp in Helsinki. The campers were concentrating intensively and one could see the joy, when some of the campers got their comics finished and everyone gathered around to take a look and comment. The camp and the course are not over yet though – the fun will continue in Tallin November!

Check out the stuff from the final day in Helsinki:

The campers had a task to draw stick figures representing either their characters or themselves.

The campers are reviewing their 10-page comics, each brought one page on the table for comments.

One page from each of the camper’s 10-page comic as it was on day five.

An ice cream mountain to celebrate a succesful course part 1.

Farewell, see you in November (dates tba)!

This blog will be updated between the camps as well, with the participants’ work taking spotlight. Keep posted next week, since there will be a piece focusing on comments from campers: what did they enjoy the most, good memories from the week and so on!

The work stages of transforming ideas into sketches and sketches into a finished comic were interesting to follow. The images on this post concentrate on how the ideas turn into sketches, sketches are then formed into clean-cut outlines until eventually a final comic page comes out. Without further parley, here are some fine examples from the campers’ progress:

Maari Soekov – sketches unfolding into elaborate outlines.

Leene Künnap – versatile ideas turning into sketches.

Eva Parel – a plenty of sketching and creative brainstorming.

Chloé Feller – a ready cover and two sketch pages.

Aino Lehtola – finding the perfect composition.

Annika Pepita – from the original sketches into a ready artwork.

Annika Pepita – 10-page comic fresh out of oven!

Friday – the last camp day in Helsinki – illustrated by campers:Upcoming: pictures of done comics, sketches vs. finished product, comments from campers… Keep listening – further updates are on their way!

Today the campers worked heavily on their 10-page comic and the sketches started to form into ready-to-go pages.

Each camper had their own personal style regarding workspace and working positions.

Without further ado, here are some three samples of the progressing artwork:

Flowy artwork by Katariina Hirvonen.

Lahja Siikarla’s work has fine detailing.

Hannah Harkes’ very distinctive drawing style.

On Thursday the campers focused intensely on their main 10-page comic story and went through a great deal of different key elements of comic design:

Wednesday was a rather versatile day, with the day’s topic being composition in comics. Here’s how the participants themselves depict day 3 of the camp:

You can now take a sneak peek at the main task our campers are working on this week. Each of them is designing and drawing a 10-page comic and from the looks of it, the artwork is progressing very nicely! The comics are drawn during the camp from scratch.

Creativity takes shape.

Here for you to enjoy are samples from two artists, Ina Rosberg and Matilda Gauffin:

Ina Rosberg illustrates whales beautifully.

Matilda Gauffin pays attention to details.

On Wednesday there were plenty of different exercises stretching out imagination and creativity. The camp had a guest teacher Hanna-Pirita Lehkonen who gave an interesting assignment in which two persons both drew a similar comic character. However, the catch was in how this was to be accomplished: they could not see what the other one was doing. Instead, one would describe their drawing out loud and the other one would draw according to those instructions.

This resulted in some great pieces of work! Check it out:

Artwork by Annika Pepita (right) and Maari Soekov (left).

Artwork by Annika Pepita (right) and Maari Soekov (left).

Text and images: Johanna Hakanen

Artwork by Annika Pepita and Katariina Hirvonen.

On Tuesday the campers explored topics such as character design and animals in character design: