Netta Lehtola
Greetings! I am Netta (b. 1996), an illustrator and graphic designer originally from Turku, but currently residing in Helsinki. I began illustrating children's literature during my graphic design studies and have since illustrated several books (10 in total, as of 2025!), as well as worked in the gaming industry on graphics and UI design.
Right now I am feeling very inspired by old picture books, folk art, retro posters, and nature.
The first book I illustrated, 'Kettujuttuja' (WSOY, 2019), was a nominee for the Finlandia Junior literary prize. Some of my later books have also been nominated for the Runeberg Junior and Arvid Lydecken Awards. My illustrated books have been translated into multiple languages.
My working languages are Finnish and English
I love creating expressive illustrations that resonate with the viewer. My strength lies in characters, but I also enjoy capturing strong atmospheres. I primarily work digitally, but I often strive to emulate traditional paintings and their textures. Another love of mine is traditional watercolors!
Most of my experience lies in picture books, but I'm interested in all manner of projects.
WSOY, Turun Sanomat, Passion Planner, S&S, Karisto, Autismiliitto, Vegaaniliitto
Traveller / Personal project
Character illustration, personal project
Traveller / Personal project
Click to see more about the project.
Mölymyrsky - children's picture book about noise oversensitivity, WSOY Publishing 2025
A book about sound oversensitivity, friendship between two very different kids, imagination and mutual understanding.
“Netta Lehtola’s beautiful and insightful illustrations bring to life both the ruckus and the “Shhh-man”, who fights noise with his sound barrier shield and earplug slingshot. Mölymyrsky is one of this spring’s chilren’s books which best combines a great topic, beautiful visuals and a text, that has fluency, but also humour and ingenuity.”
– Helsingin Sanomat
Mölymyrsky - children's picture book about noise oversensitivity, WSOY Publishing 2025
Click to see more about the project.
Advent Calendar / Turun Sanomat Newspaper, 2024
Turun Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper, distributes their own advent calendar every year. Forest and country landscapes often dominate traditional Christmas art in Finland, so with this illustration I wanted to portray a Christmas in a city and show different people (and animals!) enjoying it in their own unique ways. Not to forget all the hiding elves. Where would they find their hiding places in an urban environment?
Advent Calendar / Turun Sanomat Newspaper, 2024
Click to see more about the project.
Advent Calendar / Turun Sanomat Newspaper, 2024
Turun Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper, distributes their own advent calendar every year. Forest and country landscapes often dominate traditional Christmas art in Finland, so with this illustration I wanted to portray a Christmas in a city and show different people (and animals!) enjoying it in their own unique ways. Not to forget all the hiding elves. Where would they find their hiding places in an urban environment?
Trading Tails / WSOY Publishing 2024
69 pages long and fully illustrated children’s picture book, with images ranging from whole spread illustrations to spot illustrations.
The design and illustrations are by me, with the exception of typography.
The book’s rights have been sold to South Korea.
About the previous book in the series (Fox Tails, WSOY 2019):
”‘Netta Lehtola’s colourful pictures perfectly complement these stories tackling themes of friendship, loneliness and loss. Could this become a classic like The Little Prince or The Frog and the Toad series?”
– HS Viikko newspaper supplement
Trading Tails / WSOY Publishing 2024
Click to see more about the project.
Personal Project 2024
My homage to Shirahama Kamome’s Witch Hat Atelier, which takes lots of inspiration from the visual traditions of western fairytale art.
Personal Project 2024
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Illustration for children's novel Tontun apulainen / WSOY Publishing 2023
Tontun apulainen is a children’s novel and a ”christmas calendar book”, that has one chapter for each day of December, all the way up to Christmas eve. The book is fully illustrated in color, and there’s at least one full page illustration for each chapter.
Illustration for children's novel Tontun apulainen / WSOY Publishing 2023
Click to see more about the project.
Illustration for children's novel Tontun apulainen / WSOY Publishing 2023
Tontun apulainen is a children’s novel and a ”christmas calendar book”, that has one chapter for each day of December, all the way up to Christmas eve. The book is fully illustrated in color, and there’s at least one full page illustration for each chapter.
Spread from the picture book Princess Who Did a Runner / S&S Publishing 2022
69 pages long and fully illustrated children’s picture book about a princess breaking the norms of what it means to be a princess. The book was nominated for Arvid Lydecken Award in 2022. Its rights have been sold to multiple countries, including Ukraine, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Denmark.
Spread from the picture book Princess Who Did a Runner / S&S Publishing 2022
Click to see more about the project.
Spread from the picture book Princess Who Did a Runner / S&S Publishing 2022
69 pages long and fully illustrated children’s picture book about a princess breaking the norms of what it means to be a princess. The book was nominated for Arvid Lydecken Award in 2022. Its rights have been sold to multiple countries, including Ukraine, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Denmark.
Pet/animal themed sticker sheet design / Passion Planner 2021
Passion Planner is a calendar and planner manufacturer that also regularly releases sticker books with varying themes. Each book has around 3 sheets of stickers from each participating artist. Here’s one of the sheets I designed.
Pet/animal themed sticker sheet design / Passion Planner 2021
Click to see more about the project.
Pet/animal themed sticker sheet design / Passion Planner 2021
Passion Planner is a calendar and planner manufacturer that also regularly releases sticker books with varying themes. Each book has around 3 sheets of stickers from each participating artist. Here’s one of the sheets I designed.