Bamse and his friends are very clear and admirable about their values – strongly opposed to racism, bullying and violence. Bamse is often seen helping those in needs and his slogan is

Beating up makes no one a better person.

Kukaan ei tule paremmaksi lyömällä.

Bamse (Maailman Vahvin Nalle) and his mates Lille Skutt (Pomppi) and Skalman (Kilpinen).

Epilogue

Venlala has left the Love Boat and returned to the shore.

Many of my work colleagues are talented artists. The Love Float was intended to be published in our collaborative comic book project. Little did we know back then that 2009 would bring unexpected and difficult changes that would eventually affect all the people involved in the project.The book never happened, but this story survived.

It all began a year ago, when I received a one-liner email from my friend Cathy: “This wasn’t your doing, was it?”

The mysterious Brighton Lego Man was all over the news: BBC, Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Sun, Flickr and Youtube:

The story of the lonely floating Lego man started to live in my head. It had to be told, it had to be drawn. I dedicate it to:

Cathy: You asked – this is what happened the night before.

My Sulake colleagues – especially Juha, who only has three days left: What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

Thank You!

Luckily, next Sunday I might get my revenge and pass the bug on, when my god-daughter Kaisa also turns seven. I asked her mum what I should get as a present. Katariina (my cousin) replied:

Do NOT under any circumstances bring any small animal toys, anything to do with princesses, any pink items or cute fluffy toys.

I guess raising three daughters leads to a parental pink overdose.

Anyone who has experience with working with a designer knows that they tend to be moody, oversensitive, egoistic and unorganised people with absolutely no concept of deadlines . If project managers didn’t have to spend all their time whipping their backs, nothing would ever get delivered. Ever.

And this project had no manager.

Neil Gaiman once visited Helsinki Comic Festival and told the audience one of the wisest pieces of advice I have ever been given:

How does one get published?

How do you do it? You do it.

You write.

You finish what you write.

I don’t think this comic book will see the daylight, so I am going to publish my own story page by page every Monday. Print is overrated anyway

So, Here is the first page of The Love Float. I will tell more about it after the last page, I won’t spoil the plot for you. Starring Venlala, hope you will enjoy it.

Receiving a eggplant from Leena, a representative of the jury.

My kitchen has been under construction since Christmas and only consists of microwave, toaster and kettle. Being a lousy chef, I had no idea what to do with my prize, so I asked my workmates for cooking tips.

Afterwards I found myself suppressing the eggplant in Kaltsu’s comic blog. Gordon Ramsay beware!

Venla Cooking

Venla: Bad eggplant! Bad eggplant!

…

Venla: I have been adviced that one has to make eggplant cry before cooking it.

Kaltsu: I understand.

Turns out my method wasn’t quite what they had in mind. (Tip for other noobs: I now know that making eggplant cry means salting, drawing out the moisture, so that the end cooked product is denser.)