blog archives

27th Oct 2017, 6:10 PM


Panel borders and how I do them?

Okay so, I know programs like Clip Stodio Paint make this so much easier for people, but I don't use Clip Studio Paint, because I draw everything by hand and Photoshop is better for editing scanned artwork. Clip Studio is AWESOME if you ink everything on the computer, but I just don't do that. I do my artworks on paper and then add stuff on them, like lettering or panel borders on Photoshop.

So here's how I do it on Photoshop! I wanna show you, so maybe someone can benefit from this info!

First of all, you need a completely new layer for your panels:

Then you do a square with the tool you see in the picture, that square looking one. You can just drag and drop to get the kind of a square you want, you can even put two squares on top of each other so that they ovelap a bit to get a weir shaped square. This same thing works on other shapes as well, like circles and so on.

Then you just go to Edit -> Stroke

And you choose the width and color of your panel border! As easy as that!

And click OK and you have a panel with borders!

Then you can just put a new layer on top of this one and start drawing on that one. It'll look great! Or if you, like me, use scanned panels, just put it on top of it and make the artwork layer mode "Multiply" so it's see through! Cool beans!

Anyways, I hope this helps! Here's one preview panel I've done like this:

This panel is from my upcoming webcomic Life Outside the Circle. It's a story about the dark haired guy Sami who moves from Helsinki, the biggest city of Finland, to the countryside and he finds the love of his life... you can see the lover in the picture, it's that weird hillbilly guy... It's going to be hilarious and romantic and awesome!

Meanwhile, if you want to support me, I have a Ko-fi account here:

Everyone who buys me a Ko-fi will get to read 36 pages of comics that haven't been published online before! Think about that! They're so GOOD!

I'll hear from you again soon! Next up, I'm going to make some more promo posts of the people who applied!!! It's gonna be great!

- H-P Lehkonen


23rd Oct 2017, 9:53 PM


Promo time for Jaya!

I have sad news. One of the artists I really wanted for the guest thing couldn't do it after all, they have too much other work... But hey! That's actually great! They have so much work they have no time for this project! They must be super awesome!

I want to show you some of their work now! This artist is Jaya and you can find their twitter here: LINK

Jaya is a biracial filipinx living in tx. They love video games and comics! Their arty is very expressive and their use of colors is something that got me interested in their work. I first found them in the #drawingwhileblack hashtag in twitter and I have been a follower ever since! Hashtags for creators of different backgrounds are really great! I'm so happy I found Jaya's work!

I really hope I get to work together with Jaya some other time when they have less work on their own. I mean look at this piece! They would have drawn Trash Lord's sick abs so well! More art by Jaya in their tumblr as well: LINK

All the pictures on this blog post belong to Jaya, do not take them and repost them anywhere. If you want to share them, here's a direct link to a tweet by Jaya you can retweet: LINK


Buy Jaya a Ko-fi here: LINK to KO-FI

15th Oct 2017, 6:23 PM


Best on the Market and what else?

So you all know I'm doing this comic as we speak... but this is going... quite slowly, don't you think?

We'll here's an explanation. You may have noticed I have ended my webcomic Immortal Nerd. It's a finished product now, so if you want to binge read a finished series, here's a LINK FOR YOU!

But hey, I'm not going to stop working for webtoons. I am currently working on another series, and here's some sneak peeks!

Hmm, I wonder where is this comic situated in...?

No wait, that doesn't look like Helsinki anymore...

Why is this hipster so angry? What's going on even?

This comic is called Life Outside the Circle, and it's a story of a city dweller Sami, who moves to the countryside and falls in love with his neighbor who owns a tractor! I get to draw tractors... I'm not sure if I should be sad or happy. They're not the easiest thing to draw to be honest.

Here's a tractor I drew that's not completely edited yet...

I'm pretty proud of it.

So yeah, this is taking a lot of my time. Besides, it's not the only thing I'm working on! There's also Silly Ghost!

I'm working on Silly Ghost together with Arvi Tammi! Arvi does the art and I do the writing. Here's a sneak peek:

Oops, it's a pitch, you can't see the details! Sorry loves, I can't show it to you yet. Let's just hope for the best that we find someone to publish this piece of art for us!

Anyways, I'd like to inform you that if you want the BEST information about everything I do, JOIN MY MAILING LIST! It's a great place to see what's up. I only email about once every 3 weeks, so no fear for spam!

Link to join the list: LINK!

- H-P Lehkonen

11th Oct 2017, 4:12 PM


Cover WIP again!







And then... Here's where I'm at now!



- H-P Lehkonen

8th Oct 2017, 5:08 PM


More promos for artists!







Find my work in: LINK



Alakotila makes queer sci-fi fantasy art and comics.
You can find their work at their website: LINK
and patreon: LINK




- H-P Lehkonen
