B L O G

Viimeinen Uuno 2: Paluu maalta

Aug 28 2025 - Mash-up of two Commodore 64 games, with a twist.

I had fun with this mock up of a screenshot of two games that are very well known in the Finnish Commodore community: Last Ninja 2 - Back With a Vengeance and Uuno Turhapuro muuttaa maalle. The latter is a notoriously difficult game based on an old series of comedy movies starring a bumbling character.

I replaced the New York City landscape and Statue of Liberty with landmarks from Helsinki, Finland and translated the English on-screen texts. The title of imaginary game is also a combination of the two games, in English it means "The Last Uuno 2: Returing From The Countryside".

I posted it to a (what I assume is the most active) Finnish online C64 community page on Facebook and it got a ton of likes.

🥇 1st Place at Xenium 2025 – Freestyle Graphics Competition 🎪

Aug 24 2025 - My latest 🥇 result is when my entry won the Freestyle Graphics competition.

The event's theme, “Fables for Robots”, inspired me to build a dark yet poetic scene: a biomechanical mother snake in her swamp, surrounded by hatchlings. It's a picture about protection and tenderness on the inside, and menace to all who draw too close. Being chosen to close the competition show and then taking the audience's top vote was a moment of both recognition and validation.

Each success this year in international graphics competitions has been a reminder that atmosphere and storytelling matter as much as technical execution. I couldn't be happier to see these elements resonate so strongly in competitions around the world.

I'm excited to carry this momentum forward.

🎪 3rd Place at Assembly Summer 2025 – Photo Competition 🥉

Aug 3 2025 - I'm happy to share that my photograph "Never Forget" placed 3rd in the Photo Competition at Assembly Summer 2025, one of the world's most iconic demoscene events.

My goal was to tell a simple and clear, emotionally driven story in a photo that anyone can relate to. The piece was made using practical props: a VHS tape, a floppy disk and a cassette tape. I brought them to life with 3D printed arms and legs I designed in Blender 3D. It's a tribute to obsolete media formats and the memories saved, replayed and reloaded.

Out of 265 total competition entries across all categories, this image received the 21st highest score overall. This shows that even in a setting known for technical spectacle and audiovisual complexity, a concept like this can stand out.

The image was captured using a Sony NEX-3 camera and a film-era Pentax 1:1.4 50mm lens. As per the rules, the photo is a single exposure with very little post-processing.

🎪 2nd Place at Nordlicht 2025 – New School Graphics Competition 🥈

Jul 27 2025 - I'm incredibly excited to share that my entry, "Bead Uprising" placed 2nd with 201 points in the Nordlicht New School graphics competition at the Nordlicht 2025 demoparty held in Bremen, Germany ! It was a close one, just 7 points behind the winner.

The piece was a tongue-in-cheek take on the tradition of melting beads. I used Blender's powerful Geometry Nodes tool to distribute beads, replacing the skull's volume. "Bead Uprising" depicts a sentient form, rebelling against its conventional use. It's a project that took me about one working day to complete and I'm quite happy with the result.

A huge thank you to the Nordlicht organizers for hosting such a fantastic event and for the opportunity to explore new creative ground. It's always a pleasure to push boundaries and see what's possible with digital tools. 🎉

🎪 1st Place at Edison 2025 – Old School Graphics Competition 🥇

Jul 20 2025 - My Commodore 64 pixel art piece “Get Up, You Lunatics!” took first place at the Edison 2025 demoparty held in Stockholm, Sweden (on a boat!).

This was my first time creating a full-resolution C64 artwork using the online tool McDraw (mcdraw.xyz for those who want to try it for themselves), which exports both image and executable formats for the real hardware. The real challenge? Working under the constraints of the Commodore 64, that is a 40-year-old system with a surprisingly unforgiving graphics pipeline. Designing around those constraints was both creatively rewarding and humbling. Every detail like how many colors appear in an 8x8 color cell matters more than you'd expect.

I'm especially happy about how readable and expressive it turned out despite the limitations. The final image was a playful take on the undead theme, which was received by cheers and applause by the audience. Thank you to everyone who voted and to Edison organizers for keeping the old school scene alive and well.

📷 The picture attached is (more or less accurately) edited to match the experience of seeing the image on an old CRT monitor of the day.

🎪 2nd Place at Black Valley 2025 – New School Graphics Competition 🥈

Jul 13 2025 - I'm happy to share that my image titled “BRAIN.EXE” placed second in the New School Graphics competition at Black Valley 2025, a demoscene event held in Norway.

The piece was created in the event's theme: “The demoscene is undead!” I drew inspiration directly from the party's website and branding, which featured bold colors and a distinctive retro-horror tone. I wanted to reflect that energy and style in the artwork that felt both playful and unsettling with clear visual ties to classic digital media.

The entire image was made in Blender and Photoshop in roughly one day, from an idea in my head to the finished picture. My focus was on sculpting expressive forms, using stylized materials and building a composition that immediately communicates the theme while still allowing room for interpretation.

My goal was to create a picture that would resonate with the demoparty audience both visually and conceptually. The fact that it placed second through community voting suggests that it connected with viewers in the way I had intended. For me the creative alignment of intent and audience reception is the most rewarding outcome of all. Thank you to the organizers, voters and fellow participants!

🎪 2nd Place at Nova Party 2025 – New School Graphics 🥈

Jun 15 2025 - I'm happy to share that my image, titled “Clowns are fun and funny and a joy to have around”, was awarded 2nd place in the New School Graphics competition at Nova Party 2025 held in the UK!

In total I spent approximately one working day on it and hand less than two hours left before the deadline. I submitted my piece as a remote entry, and followed the event via livestream. Even from afar, the atmosphere and energy of the party came through clearly and it was inspiring to see such a variety of creative work across all categories. I’m honored to have been featured among them.

Star Control in 3D - #retrogaming

Jun 11 2025 - I have re-created more Star Control ships in 3D. The official count is now 3: Human Earthling, Umgah Drone and Slylandro Probe.

HP t5515 3D printed case

Apr 3 2025 - I designed and printed a new set of "clothes" for a HP t5515 thin client computer. The floppy drive is fake as is the key lock, but the new power button does work.

Bare metal emulator RPi Zero & case with power LED

Apr 2 2025 - I designed and 3D printed a case for the original Raspberry Pi Zero to run the BMC64 bare metal Commodore 64 emulator. The brown material is "mukha" PLA. I had a reproduction "power" badge I bought from a seller on Etsy laying around, so I decided to make it a part of this project. The red LED lights up when the power is on, just like the real thing! The dimensions are approx. 7 x 3.5 x 1.6 cm.

Wedge computer

Mar 5 2025 - I designed and built a wedge-style computer. It houses a Raspberry Pi 4, active stereo speakers, an SSD drive for storage and a "tenkeyless" keyboard. I used Blender 3D for modeling the 3D parts that I printed using my Prusa of which there are approximately 50 glued together. I drew inspiration from stylish Sony MSX2 computers of the '80s. I'm still going to work on this for a little bit more, but it is already being used for some retro gaming. The game F-1 Spirit from 1987 is running in demo (or "attract" mode) on the screen. Some modest overclocking of the RPi was required to reduce stuttering, but thankfully a hefty heatsink and dual fans keep the temperature in check. While there is no substitute for original 40-year-old hardware, it does deliver some nostalgic feelings, at least for me.

Earthling Cruiser - #retrogaming

Mar 5 2025 - The Earthling Cruiser from Star Control 2 has always been one of my favorites, thanks to its unmistakably Trekkie design. So, I put together a quick low-poly version that looks like it came straight from early '90s gaming hardware. This animation came from a simple curiosity—I wanted to see what the ship might have looked like if Star Control had been released somewhere around 1993-1996, back when games and first-generation 3D consoles rendered surfaces flat, without textures or filtering. I also ended up tweaking the GUI a bit so the ship could have more room to "breathe." Except for the background, the 2D elements were cut, pasted, and modified from an original in-game screenshot. The animation was made in Blender 3D, with additional edits done in Photoshop.

1st place at Assembly Winter 2025

Feb 23 2025 - I’m thrilled to share that my artwork "Cmdr. Duck vs. Octopus" took 1st place in the Wild Demo category at Assembly Winter 2025! Assembly brings together some of the most talented digital artists in the demoscene, and standing on stage to briefly talk about my creative process was an incredible experience. I focused on dynamic composition, material work, humor, storytelling, and it was amazing to see it resonate with the audience who voted for it. Of course, I had to include regular-sized bananas for scale to understand the size of the absolutely massive trophy I got.

Impossible Mission reimagined

Feb 11 2025 - Who wouldn't remember the old classic Impossible Mission from 1984? I got inspired and decided to make my own version of it with a modern twist. I took some cues for colors from another classic game Wing Commander and also added some storytelling elements, such as biological "breeding" tubes, which aim to add more depth to the original game story wise. Additionally, the fire extinguishers could be used as game mechanical devices, which the player could use to incapacitate or distract the robots. I used Blender 3D and Photoshop.