Contact: aino.sutinen @ gmail.com
- I work freelance. Focus on visualising information, societal themes and non-fiction comics.
See my full freelance work portfolio here (in Finnish). Sample images in English below. - I’ve published the books Sörnäisten tyttö (with Leena Virtanen, 2022) Mountain Wife – Backpacking Comics from the South Caucasus (Neon Tunisia, 2015, with translations, read more here) and Taxi to Kurdistan – Backpacking Comics from the Middle East (with translation, Asema, 2009), zines, comics anthology entries, comics for magazines etc. See my comics here. Most books and zines contain English subtitles!
- I work as editor in chief of Sarjainfo, Finland’s only comics culture magazine and press officer at Finnish Comics Society
- Freelance clients: Accenture, Artova Film Festival, Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Blue Ribbon Foundation, Central Union for Child Welfare, Diak, European Youth Forum, Ekvalita, Empirix.no, City of Espoo, Felm, Fingo, Finnish Illustration Association, Finnish Institute in London, Finnish Language Teachers’ Union, Finnish National Agency for Education, Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation, Finnish Real Estate Federation, Finnish Sauna Society, Goethe-Institut, Gofore, Great Place to Work, Guarantee Foundation, Helsinki-info, Helsinki City Museum, City of Helsinki, Helsingin Sanomat Foundation, Helsinki University, Huawei, Innofactor, Iso Numero, Journalist Support Fund, City of Järvenpää, Jyväskylä University, Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences, Kansan Uutiset, Karelia University of Applied Sciences, Kehys, Kultti, Kuohu, LUT University, The Martha Association, Miltton, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, MTV News,News Media Finland, Non-discrimination ombudsman, Nursing Research Foundation, People’s Archives, Police University College, Pores, Preventiimi, React Finland, Roche, Sign Salad, Stadin AO, Unicef Finland, Statistics Finland, Taaleri, City of Tampere, Tampere University, Tapaus, Turku University of Applied Sciences, UN Women, City of Vantaa, Visit Finland, WeAll, WSOY, Yhteishyvä, Yliopisto magazine, private persons.
Background & more
- I was born in 1983 and live in Helsinki, Finland
- I studied Sociology & Development Studies at Sussex University, Brighton, UK (Bachelor of Arts, Honours, degree: 1st, 2006)
- Memberships include Finnish Comics Professionals (board member), Kutikuti (contemporary comics collective), The Finnish Illustration Association, Mensa Finland
- In my free time I do sports, cycling, travelling, reading and I study Russian for fun
Instagram account of my work in English: @ainosutinen
Photo: Kosti Keistinen / Prime Minister’s Office, Creative Commons BY 2.0
Need a live illustrator for your event? I take fast visual sketchnotes with clarity and humour. I work digitally or on paper, the format is quite flexible and you can use the illustrations later on social media, publications etc. as negotiated.
Samples of some recent works in English:
Illustrations for the sociology of care research article book Care Loops and Mobilities in Nordic, Central, and Eastern European Welfare States (University of Helsinki, Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).
Digital webinar sketchnotes for the Nordic Arts & Health Research network (2021).
Digital webinar sketchnotes for a network of virtual rehabilitation work (Tampere University, 2021).
Power, population, sex and history: an ongoing research and comics art project with Helsinki University researchers. We are working on a book on the topics of sex, reproduction, abortion, population policy, queer history etc. in post-war Finnish history. More info here and Instagram account here.
Sketchnotes for a Jyväskylä University Business School seminar: Gender in Male-dominated Organisations (2019). Read them on Instagram: here and here.
”Indicators for an economy fit for the planet” – illustrated video of GDP measurement problems, ecological sustainability and corporate responsibility here.
A series of informative and cover illustrations for the European EduMAP research project on adult education and vulnerable people (2019). See the pictures here, here and here.
Sketchnotes of academic lectures athe a semiar of the Centre for Ethnic Relations and Nationalism at Helsinki University (2018). See the sketchnotes here.
Sketchnotes for a European seminar of LGBT rights (2018).
Sketchnotes for a seminar on Africa–EU relations for Kehys ry NGO (2018).
Series of informative illustrations for Tampere University EduMAP research project.
Reportage of Raptus comics festival in Bergen, for Norwegian comics culture online magazine Empirix.no (2018). Read it here.
The Stopped – research project, multimedia, long webcomic, sketchnotes for events and an illustrated video about ethnic profiling in Finland (2018). You can see it all here in English.
Sketchnotes for a seminar on Africa–Eu relations, business and development, Kehys ry (2018).
Sketchnotes for Lappeenranta University of Technology, European Robotics Forum (2018).
A comic reportage about Tatarstan in Russia (2017)
Comics of European far-right populist movements in the Picture Politics project (Goethe-Institut, 2017). Read them here.
Live illustrations at Diversity in Adult Education conference in Helsinki (2017).
Info comics about the Finnish sauna for Sauna Society (2016).
”The Thief” – large serigraphy print for the Tempora Mutantur international exhibition of Kutikuti contemporary comics association (2016). Buy it from me or at Tabulaland.
Info comics of young asylum seekers for European Youth Forum (2016). Read it here.