Mervi Emilia Eskelinen - Artist, illustrator and poet

Hello! It's me, Mervi Eskelinen.

I'm an artist and illustrator, total nerd, marketing know-it-all, poet, doodler, designer and business sorcerer doing my own thing in my own pace.

hello@merviemilia.com

Yes, I make art & illustrations!

Inspired by nature, space, fantasy and weird stuff, I create you quirky illustrations, distinct logos and fun patterns. While I'm drawn to simplicity I cannot resist getting a bit unhealthily obsessed with details. The colour palette varies from simple black and white to bold and vivid colours.

The designs I create are in a style you cannot quite find anywhere else. Each art and design is handmade with care, to fit the use and the need. I make both commercial illustrations and designs and personal art. My goal is to create something beautiful and strange. And always be weird.

(Plus I detest those annoying illustration characters with small heads and big legs and feet you can see on every single web site these days. Could everyone be done with them already?)

Illustrated black and white repeat pattern of stylised apples by Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

Creator, digital painting of a mysterious person with purple pink bob hair, green eyes, green stripe on lower lip and a crescent moon on their forhead creating a shiny universe between their hands by Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

Flower Power Bicycle, a line art style black and white illustration of a cutesy bicycle with baskets full of and surrounded by flowers and bees by Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

Illustrated repeat pattern of simplistic juicy red strawberries with green stems on a creamy background by Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

Rocket, illustration of a naive style white and pink space rocket launching to the stars with a plume of orange fire under it by Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

Illustrated repeat pattern of simple small green leafy plants on a white background by Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

Wild Herbs & Berries, black and white line drawing style illustration wild herbs, strawberry plants and blueberry plants by Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

Make-Up, coloured pencil illustration of multiple make-up items and tools on a light brown background by Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

A black and white line drawing style illustration of three same shape coffee cups piled up, with the bottom one decorated with a heart, middle one with a triangle stripe and the top one with a plant illustration by Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

Fantasy, a digital chest portrait drawing of a androgynous humanlike creature facing right with eyes closed and with pointy ears, dark brown hair braided and pointy horns by Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

Rooster, line art style black and white illustration of a fancy rooster with big tail and left foot lifted up by Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

Hidden Garden, black and white line drawing style illustration of a mystical garden hidden within birches with a small greenhouse Mervi Emilia Eskelinen

Visit gallery

Watch me draw

There's also that webcomic...

Sometime around the Spring 2021 I started publishing a webcomic. It's a little four panel black and white semi-autographic comic about the mundanity of life, with a main character who distantly resembles me.

The comic is as dry as my sense of humour, and sometimes a little bit poetic too.

Read the comic

Building sustainable businesses

You may be all over the place or completely stuck, overwhelmed by step-by-step instructions and other people's blueprints that don't fit your situation at all, confused with how to communicate your value and just wanting to slow down and breathe. I'm your tiny sparring partner and business sorcerer, helping you to figure things out.

My hit products, Minimalistic Business Plan Template and Simple Business Plan Template, are already making creative business planning easy by guiding you through it with short instructional prompts and questions.

If you need more hands on help, do write to me at hello@merviemilia.com.

I'd like to help you create your own business blueprint.

I write poems and stories

Since I was a kid and learned to read and write, I have been loving to write poems and stories. I like to illustrate with my words too.

Read stories & poems

My origin story

Born early '80s somewhere in rural Finland, I've always been a dreamer. Partially raised by a cat (Misu tried, at least), I learned to dream about faeries and other creatures of the forest.

Mervi as a kid during summer in blue bikini and a straw hat sitting surrounded by grass in front of a red playhouse

The conventional and traditional has never suited me. I have too many interests and skills to be a narrow specialist. And I like to be my own boss.

In early 2000s, for a few years I studied computer science before switching to web communications and design in Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. During my studies I became a freelance web designer and developer. I wrote my thesis about utilising social media in business-to-business marketing, and it was graded as excellent. Eventually I was slapped with a degree, Bachelor of Culture and Arts.

Mervi's sense of snow (a photo of me as an adult in a snowy landscape wearing a big warm winter coat)

I've been self-employed, involved in a couple of startups, had my share of failures and burnouts and successes, made bigger and smaller changes to my business, and worked with other business owners for over 10 years.

Throughout those years I have learned (the hard way) how hustling with something that feels unsatisfying and meaningless leads to failing. Slowing down and finding your own path is the way to go.

Read my blog