Fish Factory

Annika Kiiskilä is a visual artist and comic author based in Tampere, Finland. They graduated from Kankaanpää art school with a Bachelor of Arts in 2014, and have since worked as an independent artist, as well as a gallery assistant and printmaker in Gallery Himmelblau.

Annika has been drawing creatures, characters and comics since childhood, and during the last few years has finally followed their dream of doing it fulltime. They have self-published short and long comics both as webcomics and as printed zines, and now they are working on their first full-length graphic novel, which they hope to pitch to publishers in the near future.

While at the Fish Factory, Annika worked on concept art and finalising character concepts for their graphic novel. They also worked on several short comics for their next self-published zine, which will be an illustrated short story collection of sorts. Annika also took advantage of the Fish Factory’s printmaking studio and worked on lino cut for the first time since their graduation!

Nature, folklore and mythology have always been close to Annika’s heart, and she has always wanted to experience the magic of Iceland – a country so similar yet so different from Finland. Being able to come to Iceland and work on their art in a residency studio was a double dream come true to Annika.

Check out the interview here: