How did you decide to become a drawer/cartoonist?
I have drawn since I was a kid. During schooltime I drew all the pages full of all kinds of funny stuff. In the meantime, I also destroyed all the possibilities for a good grades and good occupation. As an unemployed car mechanic I drew most of my time and I sent my works around. Slowly I was able to sell my pictures here and there. Funny hobby changed into full time job two years ago.

Was it a difficult choice to make? Why?
Not really. Car mechanics wasn’t my cup of tea at all – and I didn’t want to go back to school. Thus, the circumstances drove me to cartoonist. I knew that not many in Finland are able to make their living by doing cartoons and other pictures. The money matters scared me a bit, then. Up till now however, I have had almost more work than I am able to do..

Did you go to a school for drawers or cartoonists or did you learn by yourself?
I’m fully self trained. I haven’t been to any school regarding drawing.

How do people consider comic strip in Finland?
I think that the Finns consider cartoons a bit as kids’ stuff. Donald Duck is a kind of a synonym for cartoon. Esteem is not very high here. If you for example tell someone that does not know you that you are a cartoonist, that you are one, they would consider you a bit odd. “Why won’t he go to a real job..?”

Do you think the term “Graphical litterature” is better than “Cartoons”?
Graphical literature is grand term. Maybe even too grand for me. I think that I still do cartoons. But I don’t care what people call my work, be it cartoons or graphical literature…

What comic strip/artists did have a major influence on your work?
My biggest favourite is Asterix (Underzo and Goscinny). Then come the others such as Bill Waterson and Larson that are cool too. And of course Carl Barks.

Do you still read comic strip? Which ones?
I read through the Asterix books every couple of years. Others very occasionally. On the whole, I don’t read very much cartoons. As a matter of fact, I kind of view more of them than I actually read. In my shelf there are tens of cartoons that I have never read – just viewed.

Could you present your work to our readers?
On my homapege http://personal.inet.fi/koti/jarkko.vehniainen/ you can obtain quite a good view on my work. I’m working on translating my pages into English as well during spring. Caricatures are already in English. You can access that from http://www.julkimot.cjb.net

Has your work been translated yet?
At least in English, Swedish, Russian and Estonian.

Do you think that internet is the future medium for comic strip?
I guess it is. But I doubt that Internet would ever fully replace paper versions. At least I read cartoons preferably from newspapers and albums. But I really think it is worthwhile to put effort on web pages. I have had work through my web pages as much as I am able to handle.

Do you still work with a pencil and a paper or have you replaced them by a computer?
I draw everything in the old fashioned way – by brush. I think that is the best way to do it fast and to get best result. I do the coloring on computer or by hand. I send the images to customers via e-mail.

What are your current and future projects?
“Sateet tulevat” (“The rains are coming”) cartoon/caricature booklet publication during spring, maybe even in February. In the future I would like to do an adventure-like album on Bible lands (The New Testament and especially the acts of the apostles) – maybe a bit in the spirit of Asterix