Rami Niemi's sketches and stripped-back drawings, The Polycottons

Now that pretty much everyone in the whole world has a blog, you don’t have to tell someone twice to share something about themselves with the entire web. I’d be inclined to think that a lot of people present themselves differently online to how they truly are in the real world, and it’s always so refreshing to come across an artist or illustrator who is just totally honest about themselves. Rami Niemi is one of those: as well as updating his website with his incredible, neat and brightly coloured editorial illustration all the time, he also gives viewers a chance to see a more personal aspect of his work via his sketches in a collection he calls The Polycottons.

“To me The Polycottons is 100% a meditative self-help art project that I’ve decided to make public because I like it so much. It’s a world where there’s no work, only slacking and free time and perusing the seemingly trivial details of life, such as LPs, clothes, haircuts and art. Just like it should be if a guy was free from the daily grind.” The sketches are, of course, drawn in Rami’s signature style, but the images on The Polycottons are loose and un-edited unlike his meticulous, vector-based editorial work. It’s like his true, honest self, on paper. The characters express worries about life, they swear and lay around being gross – they talk about things that you may not talk about in polite company. But that’s why they’re so great – they’re just honest. They’re the illustration equivalent of answering the door in your pyjamas: vulnerable, funny and natural.

“I’m trying to tackle the big picture of life. Once again the world revolves around the same old themes that don’t leave me alone: freedom, money, individual vs. community, meditation, exercise, consumerism etc.,” Rami says. “I’m hoping these seemingly separate little ditties make up a nice entirety one day, one that I can collect in one volume and explain the meaning of life. I get asked to do The Polycottons for magazines or adverts sometimes, but I’m always wary of it because I feel unless the piece is based 100% on my own undiluted idea, it doesn’t work and loses 85% of all the soul and purpose.”