π¨ art & chai β Issue #3
Wrapped up my first GN colorist project & DIMNH is an award finalist~ ποΈπ
Weβve hit 50+ subscribers to this newsletter~ π Thank you!
And, after putting 10 months of work into it, I am happy to share that I have finished coloring my first ever graphic novel! β¨
Also, Iβve also come to terms with that fact that I cannot write short newsletters, so, thereβs that. π
i) Hereβs the cover of GHOST ROAST, my first ever GN, which Iβve colored the interiors of! πππ TA-DA!!!~ πππ
Ghost Roast is written by Shawnelle Gibbs & Shawnee Gibbs, drawn by Emily Cannon and the interior pages (only) are colored by me. I also did the flats for this GN. π»
This has been my biggest project yet and wow, it has been a roller coaster. π
I still canβt believe I did all this work, looking at the 200+ pages, but itβs also a book I am very proud of. I hope to show some pages in the coming few months! π
Ghost Roast is available to pre-order and will be out on 10th October, 2023. β¨
ii) In February, my friend (Adelaida) introduced me to Surface Pattern Design and I was blown away. I did not know about the existence of this industry (officially, like thereβs a term and everything LOL) and what it even was. And itβs EVERYWHERE! π€―
I did a free workshop by Bonnie Christine and researched more about SPD while looking up artists who do this. Iβve been interested in creating patterns before but never put more time or thought into it until the workshop. β¨
While I am currently only having fun with this new area of art, I do want to eventually make patterns properly (hello, vector art, after avoiding you for 9 years) and see what other possibilities lie here. π
Below is the first pattern I drew early in March and itβs available as a phone-wallpaper for my Ko-fi subscribers. π
And, this is how itβd look like as a phone wallpaper. (For monthly subscribers only!)
iii) Last time, I shared about the
. This year, my goal is to draw daily in my sketchbook (so far, Iβve missed 4/32 days ) and to use whatever medium I feel like in the moment, to draw gesture drawings, specifically using reference pictures in the Fat Photo archive. ππ½I am quite weak at designing fat/plus-sized characters, so I thought, this could be a great practice and so far, itβs been amazing. I donβt force myself to take a long time. Some days, I do the drawing in 2 minutes, and other days, I take 10-15 minutes. The purpose is to build muscle memory, understand the structures and fill the pages of my sketchbook. π
Hereβs a couple of pages!
i) I had an amazing start to March, what with Arsenal winning 3-2 against Bournemouth, but more importantly, Man Utd losing 0-7 against Liverpool. π
It was an exciting weekend! β½
ii)Β I have now resumed revising my Japanese language skills. I am hoping to sit for the N5 (beginners) level exam later this year.
Recently, I also came across another language learner, Victoria,
, who writes newsletters about their progress regularly and it has really motivated me to get back to my revisions. β¨An IRL friend also gave me his dadβs old Japanese language books which Iβve already started reading through to retain as much information (casually), as I can.
I started learning Japanese π―π΅ during the pandemic. I was lucky to find someone in my βfriend of friendβ circle who has studied the language and was willing to teach me. Itβs been 3 years since I started learning it. My teacher taught me the N5 course for 8 months, after which I have been self-studying (casually) and keeping up with daily Duolingo lessons.
I also started learning Spanish πͺπΈ (super chill, just for fun) 7 months ago. Iβm just learning from Duolingo for now.
iii) Railway stations can be an intriguing place if;
you donβt have to catch a train yourself
you are just going to pick someone up
itβs after 9.30pm
I say this because some platforms would be quite empty and peaceful. I experienced this late February, when I had gone to pick up my maa with my brother. We walked at Platform #7, watched Leicester City vs Arsenal on my phone (Arsenal won 0-1, woo-hoo!), had ice-cream and asked the bookshop if they still get Champak issues or not. They do. π€© (I managed to pick up the first issue with my work in it, just a couple of days ago!~)
iv) Super excited to also share that DIWALI IN MY NEW HOME is a finalist for 2022 INDIES Book of the Year Awards by Foreword Reviews! πͺβ
We are in the Picture Books, Early Reader (Children's) category; in which illustrations play a significant role in conveying the plot, characters, and ideas, and words are usually present. For ages five to eight. π₯³
You can read each issue of this newsletter a week early by supporting me on Ko-fi~
See you in April! π
Congrats on your color job! Iβm excited to see more of your patterns! I loved reading this π
The cover looks really nice! Congrats on all your accomplishments!
I'm happy that my newsletters have encouraged you to get back into language learning. Can't wait to read your language updates if you shared any :)