Krisitan Huitula

[ WWW.FINPOP.NET ]

THE FINNISH POP CULTURE PORTAL

Comics
Interview : Kristian Huitula

How did you decide to become a drawer / cartoonist?
That hasn't really ever been a strict decision for me. I have been drawing comics since very early childhood, before I could even read.
Being a comic book artist is more like an obsession and very much a way of life more than anything else.
So far I have felt the comics as a means of expression has been the closest to me considering it as a tool of creative expression.

Was it a difficult choice to make?
As mentioned previously, it hasn't been difficult at all..

Did you go to a school for drawers or cartoonists?
I have attended artistically oriented schools since very early on, and year 2000 I graduated as BA in Media. The period was very helpful and gave good opportunities to study different creative aspects needed in the comics field, including art lessons and script-writing. When it comes to creativity, you can never learn to much. It's always possible to move on and expand your expression and viewpoint how to look at things. It's more like a life-long journey.
And of course when it comes to comics, reading and studying them is like having a vast variety of the best teachers in the world.
I have also spent several months in Tokyo in an animation production company called Production I.G, where I studied animation. (known for Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor, Jin-roh, Blood...). To see the great masters work and having them reveal their magic before your own eyes was also an unbelievable experience. It taught me also a lot about working mentality.

How do people consider comic strip in Finland?
In the past it has been more like entertainment for kids. Recently it has been concidered also more as an art form and there has been more artist who possess a distinctive and strong visual style also. Comics has also been funded by cultural organisations, since the Finnish markets are way too small to make huge business, except some occasional success stories.

What comic strip/artists did have a major influence on your work?
There is a bunch. As a child I read Donald Duck, then in the early youth I moved to super heroes, and after that to the european adult comics.
At the moment I would say that I've got a lot of influence from, let's say, Duncan Fegredo, Jose Munoz, Bill Sienkiewicz.
But I would say the movies have influenced me a lot also, ecpecially people like Terry Gilliam, David Lynch, Tim Burton and Alex Proyas.

Do you still read comic strip? Which ones?
I sometimes read something, if I pick up something that really draws my attention.

How could you present your work to our readers?
Right at the moment the only way is to take a glimpse at my website at: www.huitula.com. Hopefully I will be able to give give the French audience the possibility to get into my comics in French as soon as possible. At my website there has been a lot of visitors from France, which I'm very very happy about. I really hope I'll have something to offer to them and I hope my visual style is to their liking.

Has your work been translated yet?
The russian translation of my Kalevala- comic book is in progress, other possebilities have been under negotiation. A comic booklet for a German record company that I made was published in English and disributed in about 30 countries. I have quite big expectations for my upcoming comic book release, which I feel represents my works highest standard so far.

What are your current and future projects?
Currently I'm working on a "graphic novel" project which is going to be out in autumn 2002. It's a 92-page psychological thriller about a ventriloquist and his dummy. Its production has been sponsored by cultural organisations in Finland. At the same time I have many different projects going on at the same time, in different stages. Most of them dealing with comics.

Do you think that internet is the future medium for comic strip?
Defenately no. It's of course part of the future, but not THE future. It's just another form of distribution. Artistically it doesn't really have much more to offer for comics as an art-form. Mostly it's just gimmicks. Including sound and movement. Maybe later on when the technology goes further. But I still believe the printed comic book will stay alive, there is that macigal something about it that you can really touch and be physically attached to..

Do you still work with a pencil and a paper or have you replaced them by a computer?
Mostly with just a brush and a bottle of ink. But I have used computer a lot for other things, like the graphic design of the covers, logos etc. And of course I have used computer for other kinds of visual design purposes. A computer is a very handy tool, if you just don't let it interfear with the creative process itself (that can happen quite easily). Then, what you CAN do with computer can start determin what you WILL do with it, and that is not good. When it comes to coloring, it can be very effective to use computer.
Interview by Vincent Lefrançois - 2002