This is a long overdue reflection: It was supposed to happen last year. Having been away from this blog for so long made me realize how valuable writing was to me. It was a form of self-reflection and self-discovery. I missed the sense of groundedness after writing a piece, and I wanted to relive that feeling, and so here I am, writing again, starting with the topic of illustration.
The Journey
My illustration journey started in 2018. I decided then to create roughly one piece per week, which amounts to about 100 illustrations every two years. By the end of 2024, I’ve uploaded 300+ illustrations to Instagram. After 6 years of practice, here are how my best works for 2024 and 2023 look like.
From 2D to 3D
Perspective had been one of the goals I tried to hit in the last two years. With perspective, a flat figure illustration can be made to look 3D and pop. A compelling sense of perspective through foreshortening just invites more attention and makes the viewer stay longer to savor the piece. I was fascinated by the brilliant use of perspective by other artists in many of their illustrations, and I wanted to be able to do that as well.
Through the study of their works, I learned that one of the keys to convey directions in 3D space is the convexity or concavity of the contours on a surface, so I made sure that I paid attention to this in my illustrations. With directions conveyed, I then tried to communicate a sense of depth through foreshortening, mostly through the contrast of size between the near and the far.
I also read a book on perspective just to strengthen my understanding of this topic. I’m still no where near perfect when it comes to drawing in perspective. However, compared with the first 200 pieces, the last 100 illustrations are much more dynamic and less clipart-y thanks to the use of perspective.
From Muted to Bright
One of the perks that comes with creating illustrations over and over is the ample opportunities to experiment with colors. Through this journey, I’m able to observe how my preference for colors has changed over time.
When I was younger, I liked to use bright saturated colors. Then in the last 15 years or so, as my taste developed, I drifted towards the vintage, more muted palettes. They looked more sophisticated to me and I actively discouraged myself from using bright tones. However, in the last two years, after being wowed by how other artists created excitement in their works through vibrant tones without being cheesy, I went back to bright colors again. I went out of my comfort zone and experimented with those that I had rarely used, such as bright pink, lemon green, turquoise and neon colors. Through these experiments, I also learned first hand how the bright tones can elevate the content density in an illustration, making the composition feel richer and more substantial.
The Meh Pieces
Out of the 300+ illustrations that I’ve made, there are many that I love and feel proud of, but there are many more that are just meh: The colors are cheesy, the concepts are not good or the figures don’t feel quite right. They simply aren’t as good as the ones I selected into the grids that you saw at the beginning.
Making arts takes courage: The result is always somewhat unknown each time I start a new illustration. After a good piece comes out, there’s joy, but there’s also pressure — the pressure to keep creating something as good or even better, which can be paralyzing and demotivating.
When this happens, I come back to the meh pieces. They are the symbol of my courage in the past to create despite the pressure, and I cherish them just as much as I cherish the good pieces. Looking at them, I think to myself: If I had the gut to create and upload something that wasn’t very good at that time, why do I now need to care so much about how this piece is going to turn out? Then I let go, finish the piece and post it to Instagram.
Final Thoughts
I vividly remember the deep sense of contentment I felt when I made a breakthrough in the use of perspective and colors last year for the jeep illustration. That’s how I knew how much I loved illustration. At the same time, even though I’ve been doing this for 6+ years, I still quite often feel like an imposter. I still have things that I find hard to draw such as dogs or script letters. Even for figures, more often than not I don’t like how they turn out. There are times when I’m impatient with myself, feeling restless and thinking that I should’ve progressed faster.
I recently stumbled upon a YouTube video related to Taoism and this idea of Wuwei, which translates to not forcing things to happen. I think this is perhaps what I need at this point of my journey. Let me just keep going and practicing and worry less about how good or bad each piece is going to turn out. Let me just create, and let things take care of themselves. Have faith and let the journey continue.
If you’ve read this far, you might also be interested the reflections I had for this first 100 and 200 illustrations.
