Santtu Mäkinen | Sussuri
SFX make-up | Artwork | Handcrafts
Born 1997 | They/them 
| Järvenpää, Finland
I'm one of those humans who during the construction process got the feature/bug added into them that makes them have impulsive desire to smash thing with another thing to make it look something the ancient hunter-gatherers really didn't need but it looked pretty so now we gotta make more - also called an artist.
My feature makes me scratch a stick against a surface of somekind and create a picture I see in my brain. This is called illustrating. Occasionally I might also take a bundle of yarn and use another stick to wrap it into something that distantly resembles a small creature or object, crocheting one might say. There's other types of "creating" I've taken interest of, but these are my selling skills.
I began my path in 2010 and having been going ever since. I'm located in Finland, currently in Järvenpää.
What do I do?
My main type of creating comes in the form of 2D drawing. I make illustrations, comics, character designs and merch. I specialize on figurative art, meaning I like to draw subjects that present something, such as characters, scenes and actions. My main focus is humans, animals, monsters and other fantasy creatures and living beings. I work mainly digitally but enjoy traditional pen-and-paper sketching and coloring when making consept art.
Aside from drawing, I craft through fiber art. By crocheting I make 3D plushies, also known as amigurumies. Interest in character creation shows here as well, as I love making creatures out of yarn, big and small. There's no limit: if the yarn can be stitched into a form or other, I'm down for making it!
I have a professional degree in make-up artistry, graduated from Stadin AO (Helsinki, Finland) in 2025. I specialize in special effects, such as injuries, prosthetics, character creating and bodypainting. Theatres and filming sets are my dream places to work at, being part of a collaborative workgroup bringing a story to life. One could say artistic make-up is where I have the most passion. Building props, like prosthetics, by myself is something I'm most interested about and aim to learn different techniques and ways to make them and use in various projects.
What are my interests and specialities?
My interests and themes include but are not limited to: horror, fantasy, folklore and fictional stories, movies, video games and comics. I create my own stories and characters, both for own original and collaborative projects such as group-hosted improvisation comics and zines. I take inspiration from nature, most often from any kind of animals, as well as anatomy and medical science. This can be seen in my artwork potraying gore, body horror and monsters. Creating silly and cute things is not far behind.
Some of my main aesthetics revolve in a way other around horror (more spesifically monsters, cosmic and medical horror), anatomy, nature, space, folklore, insects, vulture culture and decay of the living things. I may use my own experiences with gender and psyche as inspiration in an exploration of consept of self and body.
Experience
All of my drawing skills are self-taught. I've been drawing as an hobby since 5th grade, and began to do it more seriously since high-school. I took optional art courses there but have no official education or degree in art. I always seek to learn more and develop my skills and techniques by my own and by studying other artists. I focus more on digital drawing, my most used art program being Photoshop. I draw in cartoony style, and love to experiment with anatomy, colors and character designs.
No generative AI is ever used in my work nor I plan to ever use it.
I've part-taken various collaborative drawing projects, like comics and zines. Most of these zines have been free for the clients, and you can find them listed down below (coming soon).
I began crocheting in 2023 and it is also something I've self-taught myself. 3D projects like arigurumies are my main interest. Currently I work on learning how to make complex plushies and decorative artwork. I'm also learning embroidery to create figurative pieces and patches.
I have a professional degree in performative- and theatre technique, make-up from Stadin AO, graduated in 2025. Before that I studied in Etelä-Pohjanmaan opisto (South Ostrobothnia Folk High School) in make-up course in 2023-2024. During my studies I've been part of various theatre student plays in the make-up department, as well as in student short-films.
[List of projects I've been part of coming soon]