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Interview with Olli-Pekka Jauhiainen

Posted on 29. Sep, 2009 by Olson in Interviews

Hello Olli, thanks for taking time away to chat with us. Can you briefly give us a little insight into your background as an artist, and how it all started for you?

Hello everyone! My name is Olli-Pekka Jauhiainen and I’m 27 years old Graphic Designer/Illustrator from Finland. Currently I’m living in the capital city of Finland, Helsinki. Well I guess I have the same start as quite many other designers. I saw some cool forum banners in some game forums and wanted to be able to create something similar on my own. I’ve drew as long as I remember but it was around 2004 when I realized you can actually do something similar in a digital way. After couple long nights with Photoshop I was hooked.

Your work is pretty unique and full of creativity, where do all your ideas and inspirations come from? And why do you love creating them?

I can’t really say any particular place where the inspiration comes, all I can say is that most of the time the idea starts building in my head when I’m not sitting on my computer. It can just hit me when sitting in a bus, walking on the street etc… usually in a situation where you think completely opposite things. You just see something which gives you the idea.
And it doesn’t have to be anything special at all. The reason why I love creating these images is simply the joy of freedom to do whatever you want without any boundaries. That’s also the main reason why I like surrealistic style so much.

What are your major principles for doing a great photo manipulation?

First, thinking of good concept and what kind of elements I could use for it to achieve the best result. I don’t do sketching that often but I should, it helps alot. After having a good image on paper or in my head, comes searching good stock photos. This is very important part since these will be the main elements in the picture. After this, making the composition and rest is adjustmenting the stocks, adding effects and so on. But I think the most important thing in these all is patience. If you do everything as best as you from the start, you will be rewarded in the end. Don’t take the easiest way even if you could…

What is the most important lesson you have learned since you started designing?

Don’t rush things. As I said, patience is very important ability. When you think you’re finished with one of your work, leave it at least for few days and then have a look at it again. If you still think it’s ready, then it’s ready.  For me this is usually not the case because you kind of look the image with “fresh eyes” and you can spot the flaws much easier.

You are currently finishing your study’s at TAMK University, there’s a well known debate in the design community regarding the role of education in a designer’s work versus no design education, what do you think about this?

I think it’s always good to have an education/degree, whether it’s design education or not. I mean for example, I personally am a self-taught artist and don’t have any design education under my belt but I’m still working on as a Graphic Designer in an international multimedia company based in Germany (www.powerflasher.com). But on the other hand without my studies in digital media (in my school it’s mostly web based, multimedia stuff) I probably wouldn’t be where I am at the moment because it has taught me lot of valuable things you need in almost every job.

It’s true that usually it’s not which degree you have, it’s what you can actually do. But think of it this way, if you’re applying a job and there’s only 2 person left and you’re the other one. In employer’s eyes both of them are on the same line what comes to design skills etc. Only difference between you two would be the thing you don’t have the degree and other person has it. If you would be the employer which one you would choose?

What are your top 3 favorite graphic software’s, and why?

Well Adobe Photoshop is definitely number one. I’m using CS4 Extended and the reason is that approx. 85% of the stuff I make, I do in Photoshop. Adobe Illustrator is number two. If I do vector or print stuff this is the one to choose. First I thought of picking Adobe InDesign here since I work quite much in it when it comes to print layouting, but when it comes to my art I choose  Maxon Cinema 4D which is a 3D software I use for making the renders I use in my art.

Do you use any special techniques and tools, such as a tablet, or is it mainly the mouse doing all the work?

Nowadays I’m using more and more digital painting techniques in my art so tablet is a must. I use Wacom Intuos 4 Medium almost everything I do. It’s great tool, you hardly need to touch the mouse. But if I’m doing more web related stuff where pixels have to be just in right place I usually use mouse.

Of all of your artwork, which piece is your personal favorite and why?

This is hard one. Usually the latest ones are my favorites but I’ve one pretty old piece which I still like very much. It is called “Guardians of Revolution”.  It was my first piece I made for international artgroup, Evokeone (www.evokeone.com), after joining them.

It Wasn’t Me is my favorite image, can you tell us little more about on how you went to create this beautifully photo-manipulation?

I wanted to do a picture which combines lots of digital painting and photo and to see if I’m able to make a decent mix out of these two styles. I also wanted to make something with strong concept but in a way where viewer’s imagination has a big part. In technical way, I used a great photo of a woman and digipainted the rest on top of the image with my tablet.

Where do you plan to take your designing career in the future? And what do you hope to accomplish in the next couple of years?

As said before, I’m working as a graphic designer and I’m pretty happy with my situation at the moment. But ofcourse I want to learn more about the whole design scene and expand my skills more and more in every area, but especially in motion graphics. In the next couple years I hope to accomplish lots of successful client projects to add into my portfolio and ofcourse develop myself as a designer as well as a person.

How would your life change if you were no longer allowed to create art?
It would change dramatically. At the moment my life is surrounded by art/design. I work in the scene, I do it on my free time and even when going to sleep I usually think of some cool ideas I could produce next. So it’s a huge part of my life.

What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

If you’re new to e.g. Photoshop, first learn the basics by doing tutorials, then after you can handle the software’s start experimenting. Try different things to raise your skill level in different areas (photo-manipulation, vector, 3D, etc.) and then use all this knowledge to define your own style.

If you could invent your dream job, where would you work & what would be your job title?

I think it’s every designer’s dream to own his/her own design agency/studio where you could choose your clients and have the freedom to do whatever you think is the best way to do it. Job title doesn’t matter  if I could be the one also doing the graphics or art direction.

What are your hobbies and please describe your free time, if you have any?

I play football (or should I say soccer) and I’m a skateboarder as well. But unfortunately these days I don’t have as much time for these as I want. On my free time I usually just relax, watch movies or make some personal art. Making these non-client stuff gives me the freedom to produce anything I want,  express my feelings through art or just go and do some crazy freestyle. And that’s something I can’t live without.

And for the last question, Internet Explorer, Firefox, or something else?

I’ve been Firefox user as long as I remember. I’ve tried other browsers time to time but in my opinion none of them have been better than Firefox.

Well its been a great pleasure and thanks for taking the time out to talk with us.

Pleasure is all mine! Thank you for this interview opportunity.

For more info visit Olli’s portfolio:www.ouwenz.com

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