Chatting with Mirka Hokkanen, early reader graphic novelist and picture book author

by Mike Rhode

Mirka Hokkanen is an early reader graphic novelist and picture book author who lives in Maryland, but grew up in Finland. Her works skews younger than I usually read, but I was glad to make her acquaintance, and will be reading Mossy and Tweedy soon. Mira quickly responded to our usual questions.

What type of comic work or cartooning do you do?

My work is for younger elementary school audiences, and I've completed two early reader graphic novels, and hoping to create some more in the future. 

 How do you do it? Traditional pen and ink, computer or a combination?

All my graphic novel work is digital. I usually start sketching in Procreate, and then ink and color in Clip Studio Paint. 

 When (within a decade is fine) and where were you born?

Late 70's kid here! 

 Why are you around DC now?  What neighborhood or area do you live in?

We are in Olney, and moved to Maryland for my husband's job in the military. 

 What is your training and/or education in cartooning?

I have an MFA in printmaking, which doesn't help much with graphic novels. I had no idea how to write a script, but thankfully a friend, Ken Lamug had a class on it and how to get started in Clip Studio Paint. 

 Who are your influences?

Since I create for younger audiences, I look for inspiration from work for that age group. I took a lot of inspiration from Pelle Fantti, and Maailman Vahvin Nalle, comic books that I grew up with. I also read an excessive amount of Donald Duck/Disney comics. But also from contemporary graphic novels and picture books, like Pea, Bee and Jay by Brian Smith, Beak and Ally by Norm Feuti, Hilda by Luke Pearson. I was also influenced by Looney Tunes and similar cartoons from my youth.    

 If you could, what in your career would you do-over or change?

I wish I would have had the tools to start earlier. I switched careers in picture book illustration about 8 years ago, but wish I would have jumped in much sooner. 

 What work are you best-known for?

My concept picture book series Kitty and Cat has been well accepted and won some awards, so it would probably be those ones. 

 What work are you most proud of?

It always feels hard to choose, because I like different aspects of different work. I'm proud of my Little Seasons books, because I really love the way they turned out, with fun colorful illustrations, humor, educational content, and good backmatter. In general, I create the kinds of books that I would want to read to my kids. 

 What would you like to do or work on in the future?

I'd love to continue my already existing books series, and continue to illustrate books in general. I also have a little dream of illustrating a fabric collection, doing more licensing. 

 What do you do when you're in a rut or have writer's block?

If I'm on a deadline, I will just keep showing up and start working, and inspiration follows. When in between projects, and need to work on new things, I try to schedule big enough blocks of time (like 1.5-2 weeks), where I can play, read, generate ideas, and have a looser brain, where there is room for ideas to germinate and grow. I have a notebook where I put ideas when I'm too busy to work on them, and then during the looser times, I'll come back to them and see if there is something there to work on. 

 What do you think will be the future of your field?

I'm really interested to see where this march with AI is going. I don't think AI can replace the human element of book creation, so in that way I feel confident that good books will continue to be created by people. There is always a pendulum swing of things, right now there is a huge growth and push for AI-related things, but I think eventually the dust will settle, and the pendulum swings the other way.  

What comic books do you read regularly or recommend? Do you have a local store?

During the summer, I normally read a lot of the comics from my youth when we visit Finland (= my parents house). We have the above mentioned ones, and we also have a big collection of Asterix and Obelix, Lucky Luke, and Calvin and Hobbes books. I love graphic novels too, and read a lot of them. One book that I fell head over heels for was Clyde by Jim Benton. The humor in the book was so unexpected and spot on for me, I think it's just as much for adults as it is for kids.  

I often order used books from eBay, or buy new from Amazon, or the book stores. We don't have a local store where we live unfortunately, the closest bookstore is 25min away. (Which is probably a good thing for my bank account.) 

 What's your favorite thing about DC?

There is a ton of stuff to see here! We moved here less than a year ago, and are still exploring all the things to do around here. 

 Least favorite?

I hate driving in traffic, and not being familiar with the area, so getting around always relies on having a navigator handy. 

 What monument or museum do you like to take visitors to?

So far we have been taking family to the Natural History museum, because the kids love it. 

 Do you have a website or blog?

Yes! You can find me at http://www.mirkah.com, or on social media at http://www.instagram.com/mirkadraws and http://www.twitter.com/mirkahokkanen  

 How has the COVID-19 outbreak affected you, personally and professionally?

It was hard to work during Covid with kids. My husband works in the medical field, and he was almost absent during that time, and I decided to homeschool our kids, so trying to keep everyone healthy and happy took a ton of energy, leaving much less of me for creative pursuits. We also moved to a different country (for military) towards the end of the outbreak, which was a nightmare. But it also was the time when everything I had been working on for writing and illustrating "clicked", and I ended up signing three book deals for six books in a very short amount of time. So I came out swinging, even if exhausted at the end.   

Moomin Exhibit at National Children’s Museum

 by Mike Rhode

Moomin Animations – Thrills and Cuddles, Minna Honkasalo, curator. Washington D.C.: National Children’s Museum on September 3, 2021-January 9, 2022. https://nationalchildrensmuseum.org/

In 1945, Finnish writer and illustrator Tove Jansson created her Mumintrolls for a children's book. The Moomins look like hippos crossed with the Pillsbury doughboy, but have proved popular enough to make her the Scandinavian equivalent of Walt Disney. She eventually wrote or drew 9 books about them. In 1947 she started a comic strip with the characters, which started appearing in English in 1954. Her brother Lars Jannson joined her on the strip from 1959-1961 and then he took the strip over until 1975 when it ended. Reprints have been published by Canada's Drawn & Quarterly. There have been multiple animated versions of her characters, and that is what this exhibit focused on.

The NCM has had some rough years, closing off and on while searching for new locations. In 2020, it finally wound up just off Pennsylvania Ave, NW in a plaza behind the Reagan building. They had to shut again almost immediately due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but reopened in September 2021 with the Moomin exhibit among others, and are aiming for an attendance of a half million people per year. Note that you have to visit with a child; unaccompanied visitors need to make an appointment, and throughout my tour of the exhibit, I was accompanied by a staff member. The museum is actually largely underground; one enters at ground level and then moves downward through an unfinished concrete warren. The guide is probably necessary for more than the main reason.

The Embassy of Finland has brought over a version of Honkasalo's original exhibit from the Moomin Museum that is completely composed of reproductions. It has several sections - a wall on Jansson's life, stills from various animations, 4 screens showing cartoons, and several activity areas for children. An average American viewer might have no knowledge about the Moomins, in spite of the fact that there have been so many adaptations. This exhibit focuses on animated versions and includes episodes from 1959 (West Germany), 1969 (Japan), 1977 (Poland), 1990 (Japan). Obviously, none of these would be particularly easy for an Anglophone to find, but the 1969 one in particular was surpressed by Jansson, as noted in the exhibit catalog - "She felt that Momin was too far removed from her stories' world and atmosphere. Elements foreign to Moominvalley had been inserted into the tales, including cars, money and weapons. For example, a few episodes show Snork driving around in a car, Moomintroll makes money by busking, and weapons feature in several episodes." "She did not want them to reach international distribution, so they have never been broadcast outside Japan. Today, they are hard to find even in Japan, on account of complicated copyright issues connected with the [1900s series]." The exhibit catalog is unfortunately not available, except for a few copies lying in the exhibit, but I recommend it highly if you can find it.

Jansson has been the focus of recent attention including a documentary, two biographies, and an edition of her letters. The wall on her life is written for children, but includes the basics necessary to have an idea about her as a person and as a creator. To the exhibit's credit, the segment on her life does not shy away from her love of another woman, even though it was socially unacceptable at the time. "A soul mate. Amid the hustle and buslte, Tove meets Tuulikki, the woman who will become her life partner for the rest of her life..." reads part of the panel.

The wall of stills would probably have been of more interest in the original exhibit, as it apparently included some actual artwork by her. Here, understandably, it's all reproductions and screen captures. A fan of the characters might be interested in seeing how they evolved in different animations. There are also some areas for children to draw, hang things on a tree, or take a picture with cardboard standups. There is also a small selection of gifts in the giftshop.

Also of interest from a cartoon perspective are a STEAM-centric exhibits about creating animations featuring SpongeBob and his cast, and another on Paw Patrol. Lastly, I'd like to apologize to the public affairs staff at the Museum for being so delayed in posting this review. They were true professionals who got me into the exhibit days after I wrote to them, and I just didn't get around to writing it for 6 weeks.

All the images, except for "Exhibition space 4" and "Tove Jansson," are courtesy of the Embassy of Finland in Washington, D.C. The two are courtesy of the NCM. The exhibit catalog cover is taken from the copy the staff gave to me. My photographs can be seen here. A version of this review will also appear in the International Journal of Comic Art and on its blog.