Reflections 2022

I feel it is time for a reflection post since I have not written one in a while.

In the first half of 2018 I was consumed with penciling and inking "Avengers: Infinity War Spread". I then spent around a year to finish coloring the final painting. On hindsight, this was an expensive experiment.

Having finished the long project, I got lost in the many possible directions I could go. I kept drawing, though the artworks were individual works with no common theme. In early 2020, I started the "Dragon Ball x MCU Poster" project. I thought I could get more audience if I painted characters people already knew. I finished the final painting in November 2021.

I did not realized this at the time, but these 2 long projects showed that I needed to pay more attention to backgrounds and composition. I did, however, realize that I was chasing a mirage. Drawing fanarts would not get me to the goal that I formulated at the end of 2017:

I also decided that I would focus on creating a world for children of around primary school age. On that age, I was reading comics like Smurfs, Johan and Pirlouit, and Steven Sterk. Even though I don't remember much of the stories, the adventures and fantastical worlds formed an impression on me. I would like to draw stories like that--evergreen stories that generation after generation of children will enjoy.

Around March this year I started drawing things I find fascinating in my childhood, such as cardboard house and playing with cars over a make-believe town. "Dream Bedroom" was, in my opinion, a concept that nicely fit my goal. It captured the fuzzy idea of what I wanted to draw. In 2017 I thought this idea was children stories. I simplified that into a series of images, which may or may not end up as stories later on. The essence is that an image must capture bitter-sweet feelings from my childhood.

Going forward, my plan is to draw a series of such images--so my long term goal has not changed--only this time I am paying more attention to building audience:

• I will post regularly every Saturday.
• Each post is a square image. No more irregular shaped image.
• I will make composition my starting point. No more character posing in front of an empty background.
• I will post an image in 3 posts: pencil, ink, and color. The 3 posts will tidy up my Instagram profile. No more chaotic mix of pencil, ink and color images.
• All posts are scanned images. No more blurry, unevenly lit images captured using phone camera.
• The 3-post schedule also gives me around 2 weeks to color an image. My mini goal is to improve my painting speed. (Though I hope quality will improve slightly.)

I will reflect again in around a year. Hope to see you then.