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    Mirka Hokkanen

    @MirkaH

    I'm a seasoned printmaker making the shift to illustrating. Animals and nature are my jam with a dash of quirky humor.

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    Website www.mirkah.com: Location texas

    MirkaH Follow

    Best posts made by MirkaH

    • RE: MAY CONTEST: MERMAY!

      I've been MIA a while, published my first book this year!!! Still have a lot to learn about working with digital, but these prompts are a good way to get back at it again. I love drawing, but worked for 3 days to get the colors so that I liked them. This is titled: First day of school.

      Name is Mirka Hokkanen, @mirkahokkanen on instagram and twitter, and @mirkah here at SVS forums.
      mermay.jpg

      posted in Announcements
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: JUNE CONTEST: A very different kind of prompt!

      This was so much fun to imagine and work on my digital art skills. It’s all done all in procreate. Love seeing everyone’s interpretations of the story.

      292C3A08-490C-4699-8E58-4D60B9A5D648.jpeg

      posted in Announcements
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: JUNE ILLUSTRATION CONTEST: TREEHOUSE

      Here is my submission. My info should be on the bottom correctly. *edit, i guess my full name doesn't show: Mirka Hokkanen

      0_1497539572969_treehouseweb.jpg

      posted in Announcements
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: GET YOUR WORK POSTED TO THE SVS HOMEPAGE!!

      I tried to post this yeasterday, but think it somehow got lost. This is my latest illustration, trying to practice doing a full illustration with complete background. Media is watercolor, pencil and digital tweaks at the end.

      0_1517389982408_valentines 72dpi.jpg

      posted in Announcements
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • Polar bear book, more illustrations

      Finished an illustration for my polar bear book. Ive revised my story quite a lot, and need to make a few new finished illustrations for it. ill paste below what the older one that I made looks like, that I was also going to keep for the dummy. 0_1488164812622_polarbear skippy small.jpg

      posted in Illustration
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: JULY ILLUSTRATION CONTEST: INDEPENDENT

      Here is my entry. The bird has lost his independence, and the mouse has decided to be brave and get him out. 0_1500494160208_IMG_0550.JPG

      posted in Announcements
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: FEBRUARY CONTEST: NIGHTFALL

      Here is my entry. A good time to work out those Procreate muscles! I look forwards to one day being as comfortable with digital as I am with traditional.

      C496D324-A65A-435A-AB06-7DC2F97EF203.jpeg

      posted in Announcements
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • Live YouTube Painting Demo

      I am doing my first ever YouTube live paint today. The demo will be how to paint magical light with watercolors. (I am going to be re-doing this same illustration.) link to event is: https://bit.ly/375mhXc If anyone is around, come and say hi. πŸ™‚

      Event deets:
      Friday 16th.
      4pm California time,
      7pm New York time,
      12am London time (Saturday).

      magic_star.jpg

      posted in General Discussion
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • Animal House Tree House, Critiques?

      Hi, I am traveling and only have my iPad pro to work with. I wanted to try Adobe Sketch for the first time, so I did a tree house for this month's prompt.
      Before I turn it in, does anyone have any opinions on how to improve. I don't have access to anything more than iPad and am used to using procreate normally.
      I wish there was a ready airbrush tool, so that I could get softer lights emanating from the tree and fireflies. and i thought it might be fun to have a shovel and rake leaning against the tree, but not sure if thats too much small details.
      As far as process, this is done only using the brushes that came with Adobe Sketch, I didn't download any extras as of yet. The original sketch I did with procreate, I haven't been able to figure out how to lasso areas and size them in Sketch yet.

      0_1497213917257_Treehouse finished.jpg

      posted in Illustration
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • Open Day at the Entomological Department

      They had an open day at the Tx A&M Entomology department. I went and sketched this beetle. Did part of it there, and then had to take some photos and finish it at home. πŸ™‚ Thought you guys would enjoy it. *edited to add this was all done in procreate with the pencil tool. 0_1483854567349_Untitled_Artwork-8.jpg

      posted in Sketchbook
      MirkaH
      MirkaH

    Latest posts made by MirkaH

    • RE: HELP!!!! How do I tell a Publisher that I HATE their cover design?

      @Nyrryl-Cadiz one thing I would check is if they used a CMYK file and posted that online. That will distort the colors, and a small publisher that I worked with didnt notice the garish colors either. It was a matter of asking them to make the image into rgb before posting online, and that problem was solved. So they might not have changed the colors, but posted in the wrong colorspace.

      posted in General Discussion
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: Live YouTube Painting Demo

      @Julia Yes, traditional watercolors. πŸ™‚

      posted in General Discussion
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: SCBWI Narrative Art Award- Critiques wanted

      They are cute pieces, but the theme for this year is silver lining. The definition pulled from search result: Use the term silver lining when you want to emphasize the hopeful side of a situation that might seem gloomy on the surface. The common expression "every cloud has a silver lining" means that even the worst events or situations have some positive aspect.

      The series of illustrations don't seem to fit in with the given assignment. I would rethink and try to come up with something that goes a bit more humorous, or grave. That would be my immediate reaction to what you have come up with. But if you want to stick with what you have, they are really cute illustrations.

      I think that there is a huge difference in how the two girls looking in through the pastry window are rendered. The top one that is a bit more sketchy feels more appropriate for a middle grade book, than the bottom one. The bottom one is more cute, like what you would see in a picture book category. So if you are going for middle grade, is it possible to draw all the folks to fit the sketch of the girl on the top?

      posted in Artwork
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: Questions regarding illustration contract

      @xin-li With previous contracts. I have gone over the contract step by step, and have asked if there is anything that I was not sure about. If my agent was not able to explain a clause to me, we would ask the publisher or the agency contract expert for clarification. Yes, your agent can negotiate for you, but you also have to be your own advocate and understand what you are signing. πŸ™‚

      posted in Questions & Comments
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • Live YouTube Painting Demo

      I am doing my first ever YouTube live paint today. The demo will be how to paint magical light with watercolors. (I am going to be re-doing this same illustration.) link to event is: https://bit.ly/375mhXc If anyone is around, come and say hi. πŸ™‚

      Event deets:
      Friday 16th.
      4pm California time,
      7pm New York time,
      12am London time (Saturday).

      magic_star.jpg

      posted in General Discussion
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: Inktober Book Plagerism Accusations

      I am so sorry that he has to deal with this. If anyone has been following you guys as long as I have, they'd know that Jake has more integrity than plagiarizing some one else's work. Wish I could snap my fingers and make it go away. Praying for strength for you!

      posted in Announcements
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: JUNE CONTEST: A very different kind of prompt!

      @Jinjer-Markley its around midway next month. you'll get an email for it, and itll also be on facebook live. There are so many good ones, I'm so glad I dont have to be whittling this down to the main contestants.

      posted in Announcements
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: WIP Nature Illustration - please crit

      Hi, I really like your line quality in this one, they feel organic and really liven up the image. I also like the light splotcheson the tree trunk, nice touch. I agree with the flying bird being on a tangent with the tree trunk, id shuffle things around there. Maybe move the tree to the right edge. Its a bit hard to critique if I dont know the end goal. If you are going for more realistic, the flying bird also has some anatomical issues on where the wings are attached on its body. They dont look like they are attached at the same spot, and the wing closer to us is coming out of the birds cheek. But it's an easy fix to move that down a bit. the back wing feels better located. Also the eye on the closest bird to us feels too high and its beak is sticking up from its skull. But if you are going for a more stylized look, then its no big deal. I assume you will be adding something to the ground, that is just fields of color? In general this is a really cute little drawing, and I would love to see more of them.

      posted in Sketchbook
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: Any last minute advice for Bongo and Clyde?

      @Kevin-Longueil Thank you, I've always loved your drawings, you have such great mark making skills.

      posted in Artwork
      MirkaH
      MirkaH
    • RE: Any last minute advice for Bongo and Clyde?

      The monkey and toucan are spot of. I love the little cheeky smile on the monkey.

      posted in Artwork
      MirkaH
      MirkaH