Jukka Murtosaari Legolas 1994 1

Jukka Murtosaari (Born: January 2, 1963, Helsinki, Finland. Died: August 2016, Almada, Portugal) was a Finnish comic artist and illustrator. His illustrations often featured a realistic style, though he was also adept at depicting fantasy characters.

Murtosaari started in 1979, and created comics for comic society magazines in the early 1980s, illustrated science fiction magazines, and drew for publications such as Pahkasika and Suomen Mad. A domestic, realistically drawn color comic was a rarity in the press of the 1980s, and similar works have hardly been seen since.

From 1985 to 1988, Murtosaari illustrated the Jake newspaper comic strip written by Kari Vaijärvi, and two albums of the strips were published. However, the third album was released posthumously in 2017.

In the 1980s, Murtosaari worked on an abandoned Sindbad animation in the United States. In the 1990s, he began working on Disney comics, including creating cover art for the local Roger Rabbit magazine.

Jake #1 (1987): “Sissilinnake”, pg 15. Pay attention, on the cover of Tähtivaeltaja!

In 2000, he illustrated Vauhtikaverit ja taistelu auringosta (Speed Friends and the Battle for the Sun), written by Jaana Lappo, together with Kari Korhonen. Murtosaari also illustrated several Moomin books during his career. In 2007, he started working on Donald Duck illustrations for the Dutch Donald Duck magazine.

Murtosaari lived in Portugal in the 2000s, where he also passed away. In his final years, he created cover art for books by the publisher Jalava, among others.

Alongside his illustration work, Murtosaari spent several years working on a book presenting illustrators of 20th-century pulp literature, a project he left unfinished. Some of his work was published posthumously in the book Kannen kuvitti... Taskukirjojen ja lukemistolehtien kansikuvia 1920–80-luvuilta (Kustantamo Helmivyö, 2022).

In the 2000s, his illustrator profiles were published in Pulp and Portti magazines. [wikipedia, Suomalaisen sarjakuvan ensyklopedia, Kemin sarjakuvakeskus 1996, Heikki Jokinen, Kalervo Pulkkinen, edit.]

[C] = Collection
[F] = Fantasy
[H] = Horror
[SF] = Science Fiction
Et. al. = Publications includes other artists as well