Heikala

This exquisitely presented hardback art book showcases the finest works and helpful thoughts of popular Finnish artist, Heikala.

Works and Thoughts

The Art of Heikala

Heikala does an excellent job of showing the full thought process that goes into her illustrations — from something as complex as the watercolor process, to something as simple as how she pairs her characters with their setting.

Caroline Clutterbuck Kapulkin

The characters not only interact with their environment as a part of a story — thereby forming a connection with the viewer — they also tell a story with their appearance pose and clothes.

I decide if the setting will be the focus or not, as this determines how basic or complex I will make the character. If the scenery is the focus of the illustration then I want the character to take a minor part in the image, so I create a basic character.

I highly recommend looking up these illustrations online! I love how Heikala presents her thought process and gives specific examples throughout this book.

Just like a single illustration can tell a story — through the choices of elements such as backgrounds, a character's dress, and their proportion in relation to their environment — you can build even more of a narrative by repeating an object, character, or setting in separate and consecutively shared pieces.

I worked with this theme of "continuity between illustrations" for some of my Inktober 2018 works. For example: Meteor Shower, Crash Site, and Astrochemist were released over three separate days, and combined together to tell more of a story than each one presents on its own.

The Art of Heikala quotes

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