One of artist and illustrator Jean-Batiste Clary Niemi-Junkola’s biggest challenges having now graduated is making sure his work is seen. Based in Sheffield, this might mean a move to London but ultimately the goal is to make a living from making creative work full time.

This year has been spent building his confidence. “I was previously part of the NFT One-of-One community, and through collectors buying my work, it gave me the confidence I needed to realise that I could do it,” Niemi-Junkola tells CR. “This community has been dwindling, so these past couple of years have required me to make real-life connections, which was much needed anyway and has been great.”

Self-belief and “maintaining the delusion that you will achieve whatever you set out to do” has been a recurring piece of advice the creative has followed since he was 17 but he’s added some realism to this ambition. “Yes I can achieve what I want, but I need to put in the work,” he states. “If I don’t put in the work then nothing will happen. This applies to every aspect of my goals, from developing skills to networking to discipline. It’s not easy, but it stays on my mind and I hope it brings me to where I want to be.”

Niemi-Junkola studied Game Art at Sheffield Hallam, which consisted of creating game-ready assets for games, 2D concepts and various modules outside of that. While it allowed him to build technical skills, the creative felt the course was too generalist, but he still managed to forge his own path. “Luckily, I created illustrations and artwork throughout my time at university, and this is what I want to go into.”

The images Niemi-Junkola creates are often a mix of 2D and 3D animation and illustration. They have an almost video game aesthetic and focus a lot on linework and contrasting colours. “The themes in my work are either personal or part of a loose story, often relating to experiences I’ve had or simply a specific emotion that I can then challenge myself to create a piece about,” he explains. “I don’t like messages being so clear to where you’ll look at a piece and know what it means straightaway and be done with it.”

Overall the illustrator sees his images as a reflection of himself. “I’ve always wanted to create expressive artworks that are fun and bubbly, but it just doesn’t work,” he reflects. “I’m unsure if this is because of who I am as a person, not being able to express myself like that, or if it’s just practice that’s needed.”

Though he’s embraced the digital readily in his work, Niemi-Junkola is cautious about throwing himself into every new advancement. “If I could choose to live in a world without AI, I would do that. However, it’s not going anywhere so I think it’s something we need to come to accept and place laws [around] as well as develop technology to maintain protection for artists,” he says.

“With AI artwork specifically, there is an incredibly small niche of people using it to create genuine art, and creating it ethically by using free-use data or creating the data themselves and then using their own AI model. I’m not 100% against it, but there is a lot to worry about. All I can do is hope not too many avenues close for us artists.”

In terms of his own future, Niemi-Junkola feels optimistic and that nothing is off limits, whether that’s creating a video game, an animation or pushing his art further and exhibiting his pieces.

“My goal in life right now is to get to a point where I can create what I want and work with people to fulfil ideas. I would also love for as many people as possible to see my work, but unsure if this is something worth wanting,” he reflects. “The future is very uncertain for me, I’m honestly not sure where I’m headed, but I’ll keep trying my best to make art and we’ll see what happens.”

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