3rd Prize INPRNT Digital Art Award

Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2026

Essi “Susitse” Välimäki

Title:

“Autopilot” 

Medium & Dimensions:

Apple iPad Pro 11-inch & Apple Pencil 2 / Procreate

About the Artist

Finland-based artist Essi Välimäki (Susitse) has built her career organically through social media. She creates illustrations and comics featuring surreal, horror-inspired wolves, working with an Apple iPad Pro, Apple Pencil 2, and the Procreate app. Essi began drawing canines as a child, inspired by various 2D animated films and series featuring animals. She has also always loved horror as genre in many forms. Drawing on these interests, she has developed a colorful, detailed oriented style that showcases her grasp of wolf anatomy and her ability to capture powerful, emotive expressions. However, the true power of Essi’s art lies in her ability to address and bring to life themes related to mental health and emotions in a profound and touching way. She brings these themes to life through raw yet beautiful visuals, carefully chosen color palettes, and subtle details that may require more than one viewing to notice. Essi’s work stems from her own emotions and mental health challenges. She began sharing her art and writing online in the hope of feeling less alone, but soon discovered that people were drawn to her work. Her audience found her brutally honest art and writing relatable—and, in turn, comforting. Over time, Essi has built a large, loyal community on social media. After quickly gaining widespread attention online, the artist founded their art business in 2021 alongside their studies. Since then, she have worked professionally with the aim of healing wounded hearts.

“Autopilot”: You have made it through another day. You have taken care of your chores and obligations. You have breathed, walked, and worked hard. Now it is time to rest, so you can start all over again tomorrow. Good for you. But are you truly alive, if autopilot is running your life for you? The artwork Autopilot tells the story of the “autopilot mode” we often slip into to cope with life’s mandatory duties and the daily grind. The piece’s vintage electronics represent the deeply ingrained habits that steer us toward this kind of behavior. Towards the mindsets we are taught: that we must simply keep going. That work is paramount. That hard work eventually pays off. The work’s vivid color palette and the deranged expression of the multi-headed wolf illustrate the absurdity of the system.