Mirka Hokkanen’s Wood Engravings Bring Color & Whimsy to New Picture Book

WEN member, Mirka Hokkanen illustrated Four Otters Toboggan: An Animal Counting Book, written by Vivian Kirkfield — available as of March 15th, 2019!

I am really excited for this book to be finally out, it was a huge amount of work, and a true labor of love. The prints were engraved in HIPS, and printed on a Korrex proofing press in my studio in Honolulu, HI. — Mirka Hokkanen

“Four Otters Toboggan: An Animal Counting Book celebrates wild beauty, encouraging readers of all ages to preserve and cherish our planet. As kids count, the day turns from dawn to dusk. Animals sing, leap, tiptoe, toboggan, hoot, hunt, flit, flutter, and hover. They ride out a storm, bask in waning rays, and tuck in under the silver moon.” 

 

Hokkanen says: “This book was so much fun to illustrate. I engraved reduction prints for each spread, that I printed with black, and then scanned, layered and colored digitally in Photoshop.”

Hokkanen has great process details on her blog, including videos:

https://mirka-h.blogspot.com/2018/12/illustrating-otters-part-1.html

https://mirka-h.blogspot.com/2018/12/illustrating-otters-part-2.html

https://mirka-h.blogspot.com/2018/12/engraving-illustrations-for-otters-part.html

http://mirka-h.blogspot.com/2018/12/digitally-editing-wood-engravings-into.html

 

Four Otters Toboggan is available to purchase online at http://www.pomegranate.com in the US and in Europe from https://www.pomegranate.com/poeult.html or Wordery.com. Signed books and original prints of the illustrations available in Hokkanen’s shop at PicaDoodlePress.com.