May
It's been years since I've drawn a blood moon themed fanart. I finally made one again this year and surprisingly, this piece took more or less 17 hrs to complete. Perhaps sitting through all that hours looking at the same scene made the art losses it's beauty in my eyes.
I was suddenly hit by the realization that my cat is already a senior. I can't help but overthink what would happen if I wake up and no one's asking for food or whatever anymore. So I drew that feeling. I love to bury my face in his belly which is what's shown in this art as well.
April
I didn't like how it turned out. I made this artwork while still feeling drained for submitting artworks for two contest so there was nothing else aside from the idea of a girl taking a rest after taking out a dragon. The biggest inspiration is that I haven't drawn anything fantasy in a while, and so happened that the streamer I was watching was playing monster hunter - it gave me the idea and I put it into artwork. Still, bright scenes and colors really is my weakest point. Finding contrast feels like going to war.
March is a little special. For whatever reason I decided to join two art contest that I've never done before. This one's for the CSP international contest themed 'My Color Palette'. First time saw the description I thought 'oop, this one's hard' mainly because my color palette is on the darker side, and surely, almost everyone will try to make there's as colorful as possible. So then I thought, why don't I show the meaning of 'My Color Palette' while honoring my dark mood theme? And the thought gave birth to Contrast. This art depicts how even though the color of my artworks' bleeding to the scene, the environment remains greyscale giving the idea of 'dark mood' niche, and my life as an artist.
This art was made right after ‘A moment of Bliss’. I never dreamed of working in the art industry mainly because I can’t do shit right after an artwork. Originally, this art was supposed to depict how it feels to have carpal tunnel syndrome but I’m not feeling it at all, so instead I just quickly paint how my hands look like when doing pen and ink art.
You may not believe it; but I’m an RnB singer. I did many solo acoustic gigs and so I care about my voice. But there was a part of my life where cigarettes were my best friend. Although it’s been almost a decade since I stopped, I still remember how light everything feels after I light a cigarette. That blissful feeling is what I wanted to convey in this art.
March
I save titles of artworks I'd want to create in the future. This makes me avoid art blocks and capture ideas that suddenly pops up in my head. As of this writing 3/31, I have about 40 titles waiting to be drawn. But 'Conatus Irritus' is not one of them - I made it as a comeback for a contest as I messed up my first submission. Originally, I wasn't planning to make the world dark, but I thought to better show the importance of upgrading his wings, I had to make the outside world really hellish looking. Effort in Vain, is exactly what I wanted to portray.
It stings a bit when I look at 'Delusions'. I haven't been able to show it well, but this scene shows a man kissing the lady in a TV monitor. It's an exact scene that happened to me - I was so captivated that I ended up kissing my computer monitor, and then struck with feelings of despair and hopelessness. Thus, only the lady in the TV has colors and everything is just grayscale. This scene's composition is heavily influenced by the 'Young Frankenstein" movie in 1974.
'Filth in the Beauty'... is something I truly hate. I'm not a fan of NSFW nor have I drawn one aside from this in my entire life. One day, I stumbled upon an article about a Japanese idol shifting to JAV because they wanted a name for themselves, or they just want to 'Shine'. I spent many time looking for answers as to 'why JAV' that I didn't realize I only have 2 hours left to sleep before work. So I decided to draw 'Filth in the Beauty'. I wanted to portray more 'filth' but settled with this scene. Originally, the title of this artwork is 'Shining', but I was reminded of a song from one of my favorite VKei bands. Sound's like 'The Gazette'? yes, the Filth in the Beauty song exactly.
'A Hint to Narcissism' is the second artwork I painted after 'Despair Darling'. Just like what happened with 'July's Lullaby', during the creation of 'Despair Darling' I thought I really become good at painting/drawing... until the artwork is done and I saw all the imperfections and opportunities. That feeling of something close to narcissism is what brought to this art. Originally, it was supposed to be a temple made with jade that bounces reflections of his face all over the place, but I had to change the composition due to my incompetence.
February
‘Despair Darling’ is special to me. I am alone in life, mainly by my own choice. This art depicts how I live in solitude, knowing I can get out of the current situation but decided not to for whatever reason. The seemingly coffin looking rock the character is sitting on is the ‘key’ to get out of that dungeon, while the chains represent the unknown things that’s holding him back, and the faces mock him for his actions. And oh, I got the title from one of my favorite game's bgm: Minoria.
It was almost Valentines, and I wanted to put out something due to remembering a distant memory. I have been watching a vtuber named '雲丹天まろ’ for a while and I thought she's really a likeable person. 'She's the kind you'd want to date' - I thought. And so I tried recreating the scene from a long time ago and turned it into 'Vivid Memory'.
'Sleep tight, My Lady' is fun and cute. I'm watching a vtuber named '歌恋憂’. Her content includes sleeping on stream that I find really cute and relaxing, I'm actually looking forward to it sometimes. So on her third anniversary, I thought of re-creating a scene where she slept through most of it and it became this art. Her wings on cake showing how peacefully she sleeps (˶˃𐃷˂˶)
January
The inspiration for this art is a bit obvious. I made this art after 'July's Lullaby', which I made after I decided to finally apply for an art mentorship. While making it, I thought that the artwork 'July's Lullaby' was great until I realized it's looking dull again. And so I looked at my other artworks and they all have this dull look to them. I hated that feeling which then gave birth to 'Too Dull, Too Grotesque'.
When I started to take art seriously, I always wanted to create art that tells stories. For the first time in 3 years I made my very first art that tells a story - the inspiration for this is a vtuber named 'July's Song’. She sings like a real angel, and her repertoire is not something I hear everyday. Listening to her felt exactly like an angel playing harp alone in a forest. While some may see this art as something hopeful, like a ray of light in a dark forest, in my eyes it’s the opposite.