I graduated as a visual artisan in 2011.
After that I´v done all kinds of different things.
Studied to become and art and craft teacher.
Been working and done non art related things and art related things.
At one point in life
I got this strong feeling that I need to tho the things that I love (follow my heart).
Ever since I was a child I wanted either to be children´s book illustrator
or an animator.
In Finland there are few places where one can study animation.
Back in art school I did try animation.
You need acceptional drawing skills for that.
Well...there is doll and mixed media animation and all that.
But I love 2D animation as an art form.
But my biggest problem is that I can not draw.
Well..I can draw but not the way animator needs to be able to draw.
Make sketches just like that.
I am a watercolorist.
I realized I´m not meant for animation
and I started to work on being a children´s book illustrator.
When I was 14 I saw an exhibition in Helsinki
in Design Museum about Finnish book illustration through times.
Which blew my mind.
Unfortunately in Finland
art scenes are rather small.
First thing that our (current) government makes cuts is art, education and culture.
Funds are taken away from schools and universities.
At least at the moment in Finland it is challenging
to study art.
There are few schools where one can study fine arts and graphic design.
But there is less and less art schools.
So I started to think that it might be a good move to study abroad.
I started to research
different universities and schools.
I applied to three universities in Scotland to study illustration.
Then I applied to this university in Wales where I study at the moment.
This welsh university which
by the way is ranked to be one of the best universities to study art in Europe.
Hah. University itself in fact isn´t that good. But the art school
is ranked to be one of the best in Europe by the students.
This welsh university was the first one that
sent me the confirmation that I got in and that
my portfolio was so good that I didn´t even need to go into skype interview.
I didn´t even bother to found out if I got in to the Scottish art schools.
Since I got into the welsh art school.
It was perfect for me because the whole course
is mainly focused on children´s books and graphic novels
Especially to children book illustration.
In many art schools in Finland if one wants to study illustration
only option is course on graphic design
and in some courses it is possible to study children book illustration as a side subject.
I wanted to do that full time because I´v never been very good in digital design.
Neither I´v never wanted to work as an editorial magazine illustrator.
Which tends to be the only "real" illustration jobs you can get from Finland.
We don´t even have many publishing houses left in Finland because the economical crisis hit publishing industry pretty hard.
It is bit of a vicious circle what it comes to art.
That is why I moved to Wales to study children´s book illustration
to the university.
It is quite different to study in a British university
compared to the Finnish art schools I´v been.
Maybe I feel that way because it wasn´t exactly what I wanted to do.
When I studied to become an artesan I was focused
on print making.
I do like it but it´s not 100% what I want to do.
In this welsh university
we get lots of personal feedback from the tutors how to develop ourselves as artists and illustrators.
That is very important to me.
Like in my case I am a watercolorist. They want me to paint all the time with watercolors
and become better at it.
Study everything there is to know about children´s book publishing
and publishing and who are other people
working in the same area.
How can I develop my painting techniques
and so on.
Teaching is customized for each student.
I don´t know if it´s the same in the other British art universities
but that is the case in the uni I am in.
Another classamate who is more into graphic novels
they get feedback from comic artist and they can focus to do the things they do best.
To my personal experience in Finland
teaching isn´t that customized.
It is more of a mishmash.
That is why I moved here few years ago.
At the moment it is very difficult to study in Britain because of Brexshit.
I am not even 100% shore if I can finish my degree because of the current politics.
Racism has increase a lot since I moved here.
I´v been shouted while I´v been speaking Finnish on a phone.
When I moved Britain used to be number
one country for Finnish students
to study abroad but at the moment
Britain is not even on the list anymore. Young Finns move to
Sweden or Germany or to France or somewhere where they are treated like human beings.
USA has also become less popular among Finnish students
but that is easily explained.
Ever since Finland became independent equality has been a main goal.
Equality among men and women (gender is quite fluid what it comes to Finland and any other nordic countries)
What can I say from my own experience.
Trump is seen in Finland more as a joke.
It is interesting how much one country´s reputation
effects the way people in other countries feel about them.
It is quite hard as a Finn to study in Britain at the moment because
it is harder to get any grants from Finland if you study in Britain
because Britain has such bad reputaton globally at the moment.
There is elections going on here now.
Hopefully things change.
May´s government is very totalitarian.
Partially because of that I first applied to universities in Scotland.
Because politics in Scotland is more liberal
and more closer to the politics in Scandinavia compared to England.
England is more conservative.
Wales is from somewhere between.
There are people here who would like to become independent in the future.
Then there are people who would like to stick more with England.
Some just want to live in a racist bubble.
It is a very complex situation.
At the moment those who study in universities in England
British or not their school fees are risen.
In Wales fees remain the same at least for the next year.
So I can still hang around next year... I think.
In Scotland there are no fees rising for the next two years.
Till 2019.
But what I have followed news from Scotland they are planning
second referendum about the independence within next few years.
Must say when I was in Scotland last time. There are bunch of people who get offended if you call them British.
You could say that this current government has certain
type ethnic cleaning going on.
For example if you apply Finnish nationality
or Swedish nationality.
It is about 300 euros.
I have few friends who are planning to move to Finland.
Who speak Finnish and want to work in Finland.
When I moved cost of British nationality if I remember right
was 1000 euros..about 700 pounds.
Well I doubt if I want to become British citizen (no offence to anyone)
At the moment Finnish passport is way stronger.
Oh my when I first moved here I thought about moving to London
because all the publishing houses are there.
At the moment if you apply British nationality the cost of it is about 2000 euros so the price has doubled.
I think that´s about 1700 pounds.
It goes along with May´s politics.
She wants to turn Britain a tax heaven for the wealthy.
That doesn´t have anything to do with the nationality.
If you have enough money you´re welcome to stay.
It is really difficult to understand the ignorance people have.
If we think about the EU referendum from last year
about 30% off all eligible voters voted.
17 million voted out and
16 million voted for remain.
48 million people who had right to vote didn´t vote at all.
I just can´t get it.
If we compare that for the last Finnish county elections.
57% of all eligible voters went voting
and there is 5,5 million people in Finland.
It is quite a big difference
but British early education system is very bad compared to Finland.
When in Finland school is free and mandatory. Here you have to pay for everything.
If you study in a university in Enland it´s about 10 000 euros for a year.
If you study in Wales it´s about a third from that.
I´v already paid one student loan back when I was younger but it will take bit longer with this one.
If you study in Scotland it is about the third what it costs in Wales.
That is why so many Finns have moved to Scotlan to study
because it is way cheaper.
Some animals that do pretty fine in Finland.
Like hedgehog and red squirrel here they are almost extincted.
Prime minister wants to legalize fox hunting again.
Crazy behavior.
Sad when there are people in power who couldn´t care less about environment or well being of others.
Unfortunately our current Finnish government is a bit similar
but in Finland people in general are more aware and interested
of the things that happen in our own country and abroad.
Definitely not all Brits are racist
or hateful people.
There is millions and millions people who don´t approve the current system.
I really do hope that things get better here.
At least here in North Wales
people are mostly green/labor.
What I´v seen many people here do follow politics
and are interested.
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