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.

Dream Bedroom Miniature

 

I have always wanted to illustrate a childhood fascination, things that wowed me in my formative years. One such thing is miniatures. Mini-sized version of daily things are fascinating to me. This is the fuzzy concept I had in mind when I started sketching thumbnails.

Very quickly I realized how fuzzy the idea was. What miniature do I draw? At what angle do I present it?

I took inspiration from the manga "Yamada to Kase-san". There is a scene in which Kase went into Yamada's room the first time. So the miniature is a room... a dream bedroom. The camera angle is slightly high, high enough to display furniture and decorative items in the dream bedroom.

Plus, I instinctively knew I wanted to include a girl reacting to the dream bedroom.

Thumbnail sketch

In this thumbnail, I thought of an actual bedroom. I needed to add enough things in it to make it believable as a bedroom. So, bedroom, pillows, study table, chair, windows, school bag... I felt something was still missing.

I noticed I used straight lines in this thumbnail. The idea is a dream bedroom, so I used soft, round shapes in the actual sketch. The bed, study table and chair became rounded. Next, the bedroom is probably a girl's bedroom. So I added items that are more feminine in my mind: flowers on bed, plant pot, giant bunny plushie, sandals, mirror on table, and candle.

At this point the momentum of ideas was enough to finalize the sketch. Next comes painting colors.

I experimented with an almost monochromatic color scheme with a touch of complementary accent colors. Once I was happy with the colors, I started thinking about lighting.

I wanted the lighting to have a dramatic effect; on the other hand, I thought strong shadows on the bedroom would work against the fluffy cute feeling I was going for. So the bedroom got a diffuse lighting from the top, while the girl was backlit.

Finally, while working on the final touches I received some helpful feedback from friends in my community, I am grateful for that :)

Gardener Girl, a "Draw This In Your Style" Art Challenge

 

It all started in a dark, rainy day... YouTube recommended me a video by Mimimoo Illustration that day (which may or may not be dark now that I think about it).

I feel that sharing one's art journey is very personal and takes courage; and Mimi's journey was full of twists and turns. I was intrigued and thought I'd check out her Instagram page. As I scrolled through the artworks, I felt inspired. Finishing one artwork each day definitely made a big difference!

Something clicked in my mind while seeing all these cute illustrations: my art thought process was missing composition and background/midground/background elements. Thus far, I almost always drew a character on an empty background and found myself not knowing what background to add. This, I realized, is a wrong order! I should start with a composition in mind and add a character in it.

As it happened, Mimi was having a "Draw This In Your Style" challenge, so I applied what I learned and drew this.

Thumbnail sketches