Pictionarize it does
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In almost chronological order, newest the lowest
 

My scribblings of excremence

Other people's art of excellence

Miscellaneous visual entities

 

		First officialish sketch of Reiska. Those nifty developmental stage sketches exist not of Rei, I pretty much already knew how I want her to look (though at first I sucked at making her look like that). Pencil.
		First sketch of Kommakko. Of him I had an inkling, but the final concept wasn't born until on the paper, half accidentally. Hasn't changed a bit from this  first visual appearance, I'd say. Oh right, with a pencil.
		And of Merisarpio, too. Merpio was a considerably trickier case, and went through several painful attempts and experimentations before I figured out what he looks like. I'm not showing you the earlier ones. And I can never keep it in mind that his head is in fact that round. Flat it comes out every time. Damnable, indeed. Pen-pen.
		Mursantero our. He looked fairly much like himself from the beginning, but didn't have a beard until this picture here. So in that sense, this, too, is a first picture of the character featured in it. Guess what I drew it with.
		An oekaki of Kommakko. Doodled in Traumabunny, if my memory serves me right. Those are his colours, yes. I can't quite decide if I like the hoodie or overalls better, however. They're both mighty cute.
		Most of you have probably already seen this picture. If you haven't, you're either blind, no one I know, or in posession of a misfunctioning e-mail account. As this is the image I used for my 2003 Christmas Cards... and why, isn't that Reiska with an elf we have there. Watercolour and inking pens.
		This picture of Reiska I drew right before uploading the first pages. Bridgie and I were developing a fanart exchange, and as I happened to mention the otters while describing my own characters, and at the time there was nothing about them online, I did this as a reference picture. With watercolour and a black inking pen. Oh, and Bridgie I thank, by the way. Had she not asked so many questions, I wouldn't have had to think about a lot of SSOS-related things as thoroughly as I had to now. So thank you.
		A picture of Merisarpio, created originally out of the same reasons. I seem to like that pale greeny colour quite a lot, Kommakko is green, too, is he not. Watercolour, black inking pen, PaintShopPro7.
		Oeshit of Reiska and Orvi, and I suppose the first decent picture of Orvi ever drawn. So another milestone, this. And made in Oikukas Peruna.
		I was toying around with that brownish paper and it turned into a Merpio with Mursantero. Pencil, black and white marker.
		This combination was to be used on page 16, and a slice of that background did eventually make it in (I bet you didn't guess it'd be this iridescent. I had to spank those unused colour buttons again). Watercolour, a bit of white gel pen, and inking pen with a pencil.
		Moo. With a pen. While eating foxes.
		And now for some sketches in other words scraps. Decided to practice with Reiska and Orvi, armed with a pencil, red marker, black inking pen and watercolours, if my memory serves me left. I'm most proud of the bottom right corner. As you might have guessed.
		Reiska, trying on the Haradaya oekaki. Looks heaps like the layout I had in Ihmisen Rajaton Typeryys at the time.
		Vot, about time I drew someone other than the girlies. Pretty though they are. Så här have we Merisarpio, with a crossovery from another comic, which will most likely not include this character after all when it's finished. But they look rather alike. Maybe they're related.
		Markerage. Orvi is too short, but otherwise they're pretty much in proportion (note the pretty much). Did the same meanity to this as the comic pages, and greyscaled the bastard with PSP7, markers were pinky and greeny and I don't remember. And purply.
		Mursantero oekaki. Just to see what colour he might be. The lovely part of drawing greyscale comics is you don't have to decide it beforehand. :D
		How utterly predictable the results, when you set Kosmonauttihai loose upon Freehand vector drawing. There's got to be a Merisarpio included in her first assignment.
		As for more misuse of school time, I doodled stuff on my notebook during the first weeks a lot. Such villainity to not buy a non-graph notebook, though, I admit  (I was supposed to make notes instead of these you know), so now you'll get to marvel at the paramount achievements of the office supply graphic design as well - all the little squares are of the same size! Aint the world a wonderful place.
		A sketch of Reiska as a teenager, doesn't look very alike.
		Orvi agreed to be the labrat of my gouache experiment. Nothing too radical here. Her eyes are green, yellow as they may seem after scanning. Pshaw.
		Reiska found her way onto the brownish paper (or as I've just been informed, paperboard), with colour pencils, black inking pens and a white gel pen. I gave the original to Henkka, since she was nice enough to send me a card all the way from Germany. Cheers.
		Mursantero again. Black inking pen, watercolour, gel pens and the like. I also decided to be diligent and glued in some dry pressed leaves the and eyes clipped from magazines. Umbrella wasn't behind everything after all. Here it's in the foreground.
		I drew Juksas at school, and these I decided to send via IRC to my brother, to ask if it's sure now that this is what Hakulinen looks like. He said pretty much. Very important it was to get his approval, for Juksa the jukser is, in a way, the creation of both of us, older than this comic, and legend among many a fox. Ottery shall cover only a fragment of his adventures.
		I rather believe that this is the first picture of Tassukorva. Although, back then she wasn't Tassukorva at all - not a character, nor did she have a name, and least of all did I think I'd let her appear in Otteration. As you can see, this was a past layout of my site. Probably done with pens and pencil.
		And I guess this is the second. She still wasn't a character, and I started the picture from the girlie down there (it could be Orvi, but I doubt it is). I couldn't think of anything more to put there, so I thought why not include that naked creature with a face at the back of her head and slap some eyes around, so it looks hella pseudoprofound. Tassu didn't get any hair until her position as a nonrandom character was stabilized; it crossed my mind then, that in the comic I shall have to show her from various angles, and I didn't want to come up with another face for her. Watercolour, black inking pen and some shit, in April 2004.
		And finally Tassu has been made Tassu. With a Mursantero I drew her into my notebook (the very same square monstrosity) at school using pencils and pensies. And despite of Mursa's expression the two of them get along just fine. I squeezed in one extra sketch of Mursa, because it doesn't deserve a separate page, the doodly, the.
		Reiska and Tassukorva oekakifieded sometime before starting to upload the second chapter.
		And a coloured pickwick of Orvi, so that we'd see that she indeed is very, oh so very, blue right now. They said the kitty seems to be eating her head. Anti-lopes.
		A person called Sarah said nice things about the comic. And Merpio appreciates. Coloured pencil, some black inking pen again, and white gel pen.
		The first version of Tassukorva's comic debut. Back then I apparently had issues getting it through to myself that Tassu is a different character now and I shouldn't draw her anymore the way I've gotten used to (and, well, I also couldn't draw back then, so the upgrade was necessary anyway), so she doesn't look anything like she was supposed to. But not too bad. The colours, that is.
		Sketched them at school again. And there they are.
		Since Sarah was so orbed red underwing skipper she commented the stuff some more, I drew her another picture. So this is for her. And half of it's for Jason, I leave it for them to decide which half and how to divide it into halves.
		Some more miscellaneous sketchypicties, as if there weren't enough of them already. Only now there's a Kerttu involved!!!189 (And snailman)
		This came to mind while drawing page 59. Yes, Orvi is supposed to be waving her hand there so subtly no one'd notice and be confused, but well. No one can see Tassu, after all.
		This here is the lovely main assignment of our comic course, the making of which I enjoyed horselessly. So, the deal was to make a comic that's in some way based on something classified as music. The music is The Beatles' March of the Meanies from Yellow Submarine, and much recommended to be listened while reading this, it'll make more sense then. And yes, that's Juksa. This wouldn't be here otherwise. And made with the same copics the Otters are.
		Tipsu markerated, and colourpencilified as well. That he did. And quite prettily, too.
		Tassukorva wearing Orvi's hat.
		Since Jason was also very much an orbed red underwing skipper, and advertized us on his own initiative at A-Kon, a picture for him. Yay, my first time of using this pro watercolour paper. Yay, I can't use it at all. Yay.
		And so I've been told, that Merpio gets hugged far too seldom. Now it's at least once then.
		"I think this phrase here is particularly clever". Juksa and Mursantero going over some of Juksa's scribblings, and Juksa does indeed have red hair. Not quite as accursedly orange as seen here, though, as I had a limited selection of colour pencils at my disposal.
		Rei.
		I played around with blacks and whites and maple leaves and inks again, and it resulted in a very amusing Mursantero.
		I coloured something on the computer. A groupshot of the horse spirits.
		I coloured something more on the computer. For some reason I like to leave the clothes unshaded. Though this is just a sketch, too, so I guess I'd shade them if I did something decent. I like making those folds and wrinkles with pens and watercolours, after all. Orvi grouches. Arr.
		I never did remember to add this here, did I? My christmas card from the year 2004. Made with watercolour, ink and white gel pen it is.
		Reiska is a teenager and Reiska is crying. Well isn't that cute. Watercolour on a paper that doesn't like watercolour.
		In the series of unorganized sketchcollages, we have a cheerful Rei wearing her lovely new skirt, the very first sketch of Sointu Myötäjättiläinen, an elf, a doodleversion of page 72 done on cross-ruled paper, a couple of Orvis, Mursantero in colour, Marko, and Rei being all scruffy and longhaired and accompanied by Merisarpio. Brakkaba-boom.
		"The official" Susikkisketch, in markers. Sure I've drawn plenty of pictures of her before, but she looks about the same in all of them anyway.
		I hadn't drawn crows in a while again, so this here is something of a warmup for the crowscene in chapter 3. And I suppose it'd been a tick since I'd drawn eyes, too. Guessably, it's in markers - these are pretty much all done in markers, if you look at the pictures around this.
		A tiny markerous selection of different types of elves, these most certainly aren't all there is.
		Outi and Susikki, as if in a "best pals" shot for the school's class photo day. That I gave them mirroring eye- and shirt colours was a complete accident. Here Sus looks possibly most like herself, more than in the official sketch, even. A smidge like her sister, but still completely different.
		Bit of a PR-posing from Reiska and Kommakko (yes, this is markers, too, and also white pencil). My classmates thought that's me in the picture with some random spook, because I have a red scarf and striped socks. Goo them.
		I finally decided to make an Orvi version of that symbol-like Crowrei.
		A size comparison of the characters. I'll add people to the picture when more of them pop up in the comic, here are those I've so far classified as characters. Marko hasn't been coloured except for his skin, because we don't know about his colours as Orvi can't remember them. There's also a reason for Tassukorva's absence (but she does have a height, she's 168cm, as tall as Sointu. And me).
		Anulouna Hillevi Pälkähä. Sketched with markers for, among other things, page 123.
		In April 2005 my mother bought me an awesome sketchbook, which turned out to be made of marker-friendly paper and had pocketsies for these little bits of paper I carry around tons of due to spontaneous memory outages. The first picture I drew into it was this. I didn't change much when drawing page 139, just added four elves and horrified Orvi's expression further.
		I have a notebook at school again. And I'm still making the same percentage of notes compared to doodles. Kommakko and Rei are saying in the lower picture that I have package design for the next two weeks and that packages are good for kindling fires.
		Xara, whom Fortune chose to win the Tassukorva contest, mentioned crowflocks and red and black while describing her prize picture, and although I kind of left out black, crows and red do make an appearance in my interpretation. Had to show this to you others, too, Xara's already got a version twice as big and the original.
		I was so bored one day, having no computer or Hoo around and the public transportation being dead, that I painted a picture of Orvi and Reiska. It looked a bit coverish.
		At school, I was supposed to paint something abstractish with watercolours, and I painted something Merisarpioish. My teacher would have wanted me to glue an orange comic strip at the bottom of the picture.
		In May 2003 I created the Tusvakahlaajas, later to be translated as Wispyre Waders, and this is the first picture ever of them. And there haven't been all that many since. Watercolour.
		A sketch of Orvi marveling at the interiors of the wispyre wader. Cute.
		Sointu Myötäjättiläinen also deserves a portrait picture. Markerated.
		While warming up for the pages 156-161 I made, among other stuff, two rather tolerable-looking portraits of Orvi. And why not show them here. Brushed with liquid ink they are, like the pages.
		Winner of the name contest was Naarmu, and her prizepicture request consisted of hares, Kommakko and brown colour scheme spiced with a striking spot colour. That's what it is. And coloured mostly with markers, the grass is watercolour. Kommakko's wing was made with white gouache.
		Sketches of Hupa from the year 2005. His translation into horse spirit form was a lenghty process. As for his colours, I thought I'd give him the colour scheme I call "kukertava". It's a Finnish word for a colour that isn't of any particular colour, I think. But based on how the word itself sounds, I've become to think this is what kukertava looks like.
		A pencil/pen sketch of Hupa, Reiska and Kommakko.
		Tonttu and Lintupölliäinen, sketched onto a paper with those cute little squares again. Tonttu doesn't quite look like itself yet. As for colours, Tonttu's cap is of course red, and their bathrobes are the same colour as Erkki's. I'll probably draw a separate coloured picture of Lintupölliäinen's face later, it can't be described with words.
		Erkki Pulliainen, quickly coloured and uncoloured. I made this for getting the character's real owner's acceptance for my version of Erkki.
		I'm making these again. This could be the comic's cover if it had a cover.
		The contest prize picture of Phalaenopsis, featuring a brushinked Reiska. Why is it, by the way, that out of the four contest winners we've had so far three have asked for a picture of someting SsOS-related? You guys do know that's not all I can draw, right?
		A watercoloured and brushinklinearted picture of Rei as a 16-year-old on her second christmas with the horse spirits, in Snöreby. She's managed to crop her mess of a long hair into two relatively cute short pigtails.
		For my own notes, I've made this little graph of the seating order and the changes in it in Orvi's class, the Kyrönkärjenniemi 5-6 (that'd be ages 11-12). Figured I should show it to you, too. There are two students who have names although they're not mentioned in the comic: this is because Lea Harriesakarjalainen is a character from an old comic of mine, and Sanna looked very much like my friend from junior high school in the first picture she appeared in (at least I think so). "Ope" is short for "opettaja", teacher.
		A Furktus drawn in Paint by my brother. So these are the colours (yes, this is what rotten egg yellow looks like). Actually it seems to vary with both his Furktuses and mine which ear has the spikes and which has the earring, although this picture has it the same as the comic. During the time when we only had one computer, we had a habit of changing the desktop wallpaper into a picture drawn in some <5 minutes before leaving it for the next user, and his pictures usually featured Furktuses. Mine had crows. I guess that stuck, as my crows were always very mean.
		A Furktus I left on the blackboard of an empty classroom before leaving school. Doesn't look entirely perfectly furktusy, but I'm sure it was a fun surprise for the cleaning-people anyway. Furktus has found its way into quite a lot of different places, including the music class presentation of its creator. That's the kind of decorative critter it is.
		Well if Furktus has pictures of itself enough to make me lose count before I even start, of Römökaattus there hasn't been a single one (that I know of) before this sketch! Even though both gatekeepers have existed as characters for... well, probably almost ten years already. I wouldn't know, I didn't create them.
		One of my attempts for the poster Phalaenopsis requested as her contest prize. This is a failed one, but I decided it's actually pretty nice after all. It's photographed instead of scanned, since it was an A3 and my scanner is A4 and I didn't feel like fiddling with it in PSP7 too much. The redness is an accident, but I liked it, so I left it like that. Yes, the paper is white, that's just some lighting crap.
		This one's old news already, but I guess I should just upload it for people to see again since I found it on my computer. It's my 2005 christmas card. In the year 2006 I didn't even have a christmas card. Aren't I a villain!
		The top picture of Xma's & Xpa's, my 2006 christmas calendar. Well, there are elves in it.
		A posterlike group picture of the comic's characters (minus the Pytteli couple because I couldn't fit them anywhere... oh and the wispyre wader isn't exactly a character, but do you care? I don't), digitally coloured.
		Sketches of Rei as a 16-year-old. In her phase of cuteness between two of ugliness.
		And I've completely forgotten to upload this, too. I think I was probably either practicing how to colour shittily digitally or too tired to colour it by hand, but at least it's clear I wanted to draw nifty little portraits of my human(ish) characters. There were others in the picture, too (for example Tuikku Hammasvänrikki, the similar picture of whom has already been accessible for quite some time), but I'll not say more about them yet. Their pictures will be published when their comic is published.
		To kill some time, I scribbled a picture of Reiska and Juksa in the spring of the year the early winter of which this comic is set in (and I could have found an even more difficult way to say that, yes indeed). During the year Rei and the horse spirits spent with Juksa, Rei and Juksa talked a lot. Or, Juksa talked a lot and Rei was buried in her own thoughts trying not-so-skillfully to look like she's listening. Well, Juksa just talked a lot in general, even though I'm not letting him say a single word in the comic itself.
		Aprikoosi venting some angst with a cheese slicer. Something Karo wanted to see.
		And something Sarah wanted to see. Her description of what kind of a picture she'd like to have as the prize of the contest she won was "Kommakko and green", with whack-an-elf and wings mentioned on the side. That I made.
		Spontaneous crowkilling sprees.
		A picture I drew at a bus station after a trip (which due to a conspiracy all circumstances apparently had against me lasted for eight hours) to a an interview of fifteen minutes (but which eventually didn't even take place). Rei and Orvi there are saying that libraries that are always closed, schedules made by retards, buses, interviews, waiting at bus stations, cold weather and the employment agency's shitty computers that don't have internet all suck, but ball-point pens don't. So not everything sucks (some things blow).
		The nine of Hupa's horse spirit companions we get to see from close up on pages 226-227, along with their names and a note of what plant's leaf they have for a wing (in Finnish and English). To see how their names are pronounced and what they mean, head to the FYI. A word of warning to those with slower connections: the picture is huge.
		Tigerty/Tiger/Kaisa's, whatever she wishes to be called, prizepicture from a contest I had. She wanted a Merisarpio with a waterfall in the background. I'm actually not quite at all fond of drawing or painting waterfalls, but you may notice what part of the picture I had a bit too much fun with.
		The horse spirit duo as seen on TV page 238, in full colour, with wings and names. Credits for the name of one of them go to Moonie, who wanted me to make some creature called Mörköröykkiö.
		Just a regular quiet night at home in the fanfiction where Susikki never died but for some undoubtedly inconceivably stupid reason Rei and Orvi became friends all the same. Oh sepia, whyst must Ist lovest thou so.
		At Deviantart I ran into these things called art memes that everybody seems to be doing all the time, and I picked for experimentation three that had to do with fictional characters. Big pictures. You've been warned.
		The horse spirit Voiksitsgytriö, in colour.
		And Orvi and Sointu in colour, too. Though this one was originally not supposed to be coloured, which is why Orvi's hair is black. It should be brown.
		For those of you who were disappointed to find the epiloguesque last chapter didn't take place 19 years into the future and feature Orvi's nice husband and their twins Susanu and Reimark, here's a little drawing I made for my own amusement, of Orvi as an adult, or at least older than twelve. Everybody else's allowed to look too, of course.
		Seeing as I finished the comic right before April Fools' Day, how could I resist it? The covers of the following Disney's animated sequels were kind enough to model for me: The Little Mermaid II, Mulan II, Cinderella III, The Return of Jafar, Pocahontas II and Belle's Magical World. Compare if you dare.
		Sketches of Rei at different ages. The baby is Susikki.
		And of Orvi. They stop at twelve because the comic ends when she's twelve, of course. The other little girl is Anulouna.
		The old last panel of page 42.

Special guest stars
No, Questar, not you. Go back to Valoria.
 

		Sieneko remembered my birthday and drew me a Reiska. This would appear to be our first piece of fanart no less. Delight.
		Orvi got oekakied by our dear Katja. Ruokoäkämäkärpäset maistuu mansikoilta.
		Sierra drew me a Kommakko. And as if that wasn't enough already, scary big eyes and a bloody bunny, too. A prodigious throw, Sierain!
		Dolphingirl was silvery and velvety and drew five of them! Thohoo! And who says green merisarpios aren't cute? Come and see, my ladies and gentlemen: yes they are!
		And guess was Sarah orbed red underwing skipper enough to draw me some fanart too! So, what if they were carefree mortalcommoners with time, possibilities and interest for hanging out on a beach together? Might look like this.
		A mystical Merisarpio from rococo. I am Maurice Ravel.
		In honor of Jenshin's Fanart Day, Jenshin-person drew me Orvi. I like making thumbnails of eyes.
		And another one did Katja draw. This one with some Reiska flavour thrown in as well, and an autumn storm pretty enough to eat. Did you know I love sludgy autumnal drenchers? You do now.
		Jason offers his theory on the enigmatic feline headdress in the form of three comic strips. Our very first guest comic, complete with a whole new semifinnish word.
		Jenshin drew a Reiska, too. I told her Rei looks cute in an I-was-raised-by-wolves fashion here. Marvel away, at how some people can use dirty grey-y browny colours without messing them up into a muddy puddle!
		Another one from Sarah, this time it's what if this were a sentai series instead of what it is. Yep. Such.
		A Merisarpio in two different colour choices from Jacob. And look what adorable ears and crumply creased clothes.
		Phalaenopsis drew me applaudably Tassukorva, and for once she's all by herself and alone instead of as the others' additive ingredient or company, which suits Tassu like ketchup suits rye crisps, considering the company in which she most often is anyway, is just herself, all alone.
		The question what lies beneath Tassukorva's drapey hair is answered by Xara. How cute.
		And also by Phalaenopsis. Maintaining two separate faces is such a waste of resources when all you really need is one, don't you think?
		Jason made a colourful comic out of the mystery of Tassu's face. Details got lost in resizing, so I'll just mention here, that the piece of paper on the wall in the first panel says Veera, missäs sitä on oltu, kun ei ole näkynyt? (Veera, I haven't seen you around, where have you been?)
		Releasing your inner elf. Well that would indeed be some disguise! From Sarah is this.
		Unikeko drew me a picture of Tiina the elf. Tiina is one of Tipsu's little buddies who trod around with it, and can be located on pages 139 and 140. There's a crow in there too.
		The view on Tassukorva of Jenshin Jennfire Itämies. Pretty as a frostflower.
		Tillie-san's swirly paintydrawing of a horse spirit character of her own invention that has an aspen leaf as its wing. I already told her, but I'll tell you too, that to me it seems the horsie is floating in a cavern, and those swirls either stalactite and stalagmite around by themselves, or are alive and are trying to grab the mighty cute equinespectre. Lovely, this.
		A picture more groupy than my group picture of the horse spirit trio ever was. By Tero.
		Fitting to the comic's personality, KJ presents us a black and white Orvi. She looks quite to the point, doesn't she, and to the point is also the short character description our artistess included in her comments on the version you can see at Deviantart. You should see that too. This is one pointy woman we're dealing with here.
		KJ drew another one, this time Orvi is in the company (or on the back, actually) of Kommakko.
		Reiska turned up unexpectedly in one of Moonie's doodles, and she was kind enough to let me see her.
		Jason presents us the horse spirit Lumelemu, whose wings are oxeye daisies.
		As does Moonie, with socks as a brilliant alternative for paws as ears. I won't translate all of the text, but Lumelemu has a fake cigarette, detachable withered pouchflowers, and eyemakeup.
		Phalaenopsis takes part in the stench delusion illustration, with a slightly mammallesser Lumelemu, whose six limbs are suitable for wall- and ceiling climbing. The wings are nasturtiums.
		Sarah's Lumelemu has more wings to show off than most of us combined. But be wary, that could be a trick.
		By the powers of Taru and photomanipulation combined, this is Lumelemu.
		Unikeko's Lumelemu is a tiny purply turnipcavy, who luminizes. That being my description, because I think it's a turnipcavy. Adorable, too.

And now for something completely different
And thank Greitzhok this is the exception and not the other way around

Pixeldolls on others' bases and mine

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