Ville Ranta was born in Oulu, in the north of Finland. He studied Finnish literature and language at the University of Helsinki, but eventually chose a career as a comic artist. He debuted with the graphic novel 'Sade' ('Rain'), about an epic flood, in 2003. He founded his own small publishing house, Asema, together with some other Finnish artists in 2000. He cooperated with the French author Lewis Trondheim on the album 'Célébritiz' (Dargaud, 2006).
A self-taught artist, Ranta depicts family life, the work of the artist and his travels to comic festivals in his diary-like works. 'Isi on vähän väsynyt' ('Daddy’s a bit tired', 2005) tells of Ranta's day-to-day life with his family and has been translated into French. The author also picks up societal and historical issues in his work. His 288-page work 'Kajaani' (2008, translated into French and Swedish) gives a new, highly personal account of the great Finnish cultural figure Elias Lönnrot.
Ranta also draws comics for newspapers that comment on current issues, and he delves into the essence of religion and faith in 'Eräänlaisia rukouksia' ('Some sort of prayers', 2009) and 'Paratiisisarja' ('The Paradise Series', 2010, translated into Swedish, French and German).
