My ✨ art goals for 2023 ✨

1. Have an illustration published by a (major) news outlet.

This has always been a somewhat superficial goal of mine – I say that because it seems like a cool thing to tick off of my “illustration career mile stone” check list, but I won’t be completely heartbroken if it doesn’t happen. 


Some actionable steps to take in order to achieve this goal: 

  • Update portfolio with relevant (political, current events-related) illustrations. I will be working with a topic which appeals to me but is also very relevant: climate change and transitioning to a more sustainable future. I’m aiming for 4 - 6 works. If you are interested in reading further, I wrote about it here: Developing concepts for a political editorial illustration. 

  • I’ll need to freshen up my editorial client list, and quite possibly reach out to some old, but hot 🔥 leads.

OMG, old video alert! I made it private because I stopped cold-emailing, but the info seems relevant now.

Ultimately, I realised I had this goal because I enjoy learning and sharing important information, and sharing this via illustration. And how illustration can draw attention to critical social issues, make it more digestible, or else present it from a different perspective. So, either way, if I get published or not – at least I’ll have new pieces for my portfolio which are totally aligned with my values.

Side note – it has happened a few times that a client stumbled upon an illustration I already made and then simply paid me for the licensing. Anything can happen!

2. Cozy watercolour illustrations featuring forest goblins and faeries 

I realise this is almost a complete 180 from the above, and also a topic I have never featured in my current portfolio… but I grew up reading fantasy picture books, and I love a good fantasy read even now. It’s a dream of mine to create a cozy little fairy tale escape. 

My goal is to create at least 4 pieces, so it can feel like a substantial part of my portfolio, not just a one-off (though if this ends up being a one-off venture, I won’t be too hard on myself – it’s OK to explore). 

3. Style changes – incorporate more texture, rely less on lined elements and details

This applies more to my editorial / client projects. I realised that, if I want to be taken seriously in the editorial field, my main concepts need to be more focused, with more room for negative space, less reliant on details. More minimal, but not necessarily easier – it can be hard to come up with strong ideas! Especially for me, I rely heavily on detail and I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a conceptual illustrator. 

Second point, texture: first step would be to create some textures using different media (e.g. charcoal), scanning those in, and creating a texture library I can use for future illustrations. It seems like a fun technique I haven’t used much in my work, and I reckon it could be a quick way to add visual interest in my backgrounds if I’m not going to be drawing them by hand.

Wish me luck! 
What are your art goals? Feel free to share in the comments!

2022 recap: “bad” year for freelancing, good year for life

Compared to 2021, I wasn’t very busy with client projects this year. On the one hand, it felt a little unsettling, but on the other hand, I know from shared and conventional wisdom 😉 that most businesses, freelance or not, go through their ups and down.

To recap, here’s what I worked on in 2023:

  • For most of the year, May - October(!) I worked on this Sex Education Brochure for WienXtra, an Austrian organisation that, in cooperation with the city of Vienna, provides information, education, events, and leisure activities for children and young people. The reason this project took so long is not the amount of work I had, but rather, limited resources / man power on the client’s side – so everything was slower than I’m used to. I wish I had better prepared myself for this, but I enjoyed working on this project all the same.

Spread of illustrated sex education brochure, with the title "Ja heißt Ja und Nein heißt Nein" (Yes means yes and no means no). The chapter deals with consent when engaging in sexual or intimate interactions.

This chapter of the brochure talks about consent.

  • So, because of this, I had more time to work on personal projects, for example this “Raclette” piece, which I finished in October: 

  • In November - December, I exhibited the above piece, along with some others, in the St. Gangolf church, Trier. 50 artists were invited to take part in the exhibition, Inspiration: St. Gangolf, to celebrate the reopening and renovation of the church (you’ll see in the pictures that Jesus himself was still going through… his face lift 😉). I actually ended up selling one of my pieces, “Hot pot” – which was a rewarding, but also kind of sad?! It felt weird to say good bye to a piece which I had worked many hours on; like saying good bye to a part of myself. But I feel reassured that it’s staying in a nice new home now!

Video of the illustrations in St. Gangolf church, Trier, and Jesus under construction lol

  • Side note – I hope you don’t mind me pitching myself – most of my works are available, on demand, as prints! Yes, even the sold works. All you have to do is ask about the artwork you are interested in, and I’ll give you a size and price from there. 

  • The last official project I worked on this year was typesetting for this photo book: Transatlantic by Tom Klein (a photographer and fellow creative of ours in Trier).


Why 2022 was this a good year “for life”

I suppose you can guess: I had more time to pursue personal goals. For example, I did a 30 day Cantonese learning challenge, followed by a 30 day reading challenge, followed/paralleled by a 30 day yoga challenge. 

What I learnt from all of these challenges is that it takes small, but consistent steps to keep yourself going. Even on my worst day, what is the smallest thing I can do to keep X habit going? And I think that helped me a lot. 

I also realised that I love learning languages, not just Cantonese – so this year I’m adding Thai, Ukrainian and French to the list – but keeping it small and manageable, of course! 


Final Reflections: no art on a dying planet

As the year came to a close, I realised that there is much more I would like to do in terms of climate activism. We are moving much too slow in terms of reducing C02 emissions, transitioning to renewables and public mobility, and ultimately avoiding climate tipping points. Huge props to fellow illustrator Holly Exley for her tireless activism + sacrifice, and confronting her audience with this issue.

The next step for me is to attend the big demonstration in Lützerath on the 14.01.23 – this German village will be destroyed and dug up to make way for a new coal mine – which will ultimately stray us far, far away from the goal of limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5°C (as laid out in the 2015 Paris agreement). Activists are trying to prevent this from happening.

The science and facts are clear. So, my question to you: if you are not (or cannot be) on the streets, what will YOU do to help mitigate this disaster? Are we going to keep applauding from the sidelines, waiting for young people to fix this?

All my current projects + Why I’m taking a relaxed approach to my work!

I’ve recently felt inspired to do more sketching. To capture the energy around me, and to keep drawing, even if it turns out bad. I haven’t felt that way in a long time. Perhaps it’s a summer thing. Overall, I’m prioritising mood over quality, though it’s also nice if the sketch turns out good at the end. 

I’m also working on this piece that I’m just calling “hot pot” for now. I have a thumbnail composition already, and my plan of attack is to do studies of the individual aspects of the image before hashing out the final layout. Oh, and I’m experimenting with dip pens + water colour, and I really like it so far! My favourite part is that you can draw kind of crappy and this medium will make it look intentional lol. 

In general I’m going for a more relaxed, imaginative and playful approach with this piece. I don’t want to always have to rely on reference images, and to check if every single detail is correct (my normal mode). It’s just so exhausting and really takes out all the fun. It’s hard to work alone because all I hear in my mind are those critical, perfectionist thoughts. I realised that I am a lot more easy going when I have someone to talk to while working. Just like in my personal life, I wish that in my working life, I had more of a balance between working alone and working with people around me. 

In the mean time, my  strategy is to be mindful – to notice when I have those extremely self critical thoughts, and then to let them go. It also helps to have relaxing music while working, here’s my drawing playlist in case you’re curious!

BTW, you’ve seen this already, but here’s the printed version of the feature illustration I did for Spectre Journal Issue 3! AD: Gabe Berlin, he was awesome to work with!

Finally, I signed a contract for another project with the Ban Ki-moon Centre in Austria. Here was the first project, in case you missed it. I’ll be starting next month, so I’ll keep you updated!

Finally finished this piece + does “correct perspective” make good art?

FKA the piece I never thought I’d finish because I didn’t like it, but – I recently got round to it because my agency was asking for “space themed” illustrations, so that gave me a lil kick in the butt. Sometimes in life you just gotta finish things you don’t enjoy. I look at it now and think “ok, this and this part* could’ve been better, but people seem to like it anyway and at least I finished it!” Yeah that’s all. 

Space Café, July 2021

Space Café, July 2021

* If you’re curious about what in particular I’m not happy with in this piece it’s: a) the skater’s right arm b) the seated woman in the front/right – her right arm, too c) then in general the sense of depth in this environment, I’m not sure if I nailed it; perspective is not one of my strongest suit but I’m trying to improve it.

On the other hand, I can also make peace with the fact that, in general, a more symbolic perspective is more important to me than realistic perspective, ie it’s more important to me to sacrifice correct perspective in order to show certain details. I feel like if I were to show everything in 100% correct perspective, certain aspects, like a person’s outfit, or the contents of a table, might get lost. I hope that makes sense?!

If we look traditional Thai (temple) mural paintings for instance, a lot of it is completely flat! It’s definitely not true to life, but there’s a charm to this kind of representation, because it tells a story. It literally gives us a full(er) picture of the environment and what is happening in it.

I’m definitely not knocking people trying to master 3-point perspective, OK. I just think there are different ways to art good, and that’s all. 

A new style / skill: Vector Illustrations

I’ve recently been working on a new series of vector illustrations for Craftview, a company which puts softwares for woodworkers, landscapers, construction workers, etc, all in one place.

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Anyway, I never thought that I could do corporate-type vector illustrations or include that “style” into my portfolio somehow, but this project gave me the push to try. And, save for the line work that is normally evident in my work, I think it kinda fits with the rest of what I do? I mean, it’s people-focused and the characters look approximately the same, shape-wise. Let’s see what my agency (and the world) thinks. I hope this can open some new doors! 

BTW, in order to keep the style somewhat in line with my other work, I did my thumbnail sketches the way I normally would, but then simply did a shape-based execution in illustrator (using mainly the pencil tool, not the pen tool, as this works with the organic shapes in my work).

ueber-uns.jpg
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What I appreciated / found interesting about this process: I felt like I was building dolls, but in 2D, and there were many instances where I could simply copy and paste existing shapes (heads, arms, legs…) to build new ones. Working with vector also means you can have the final output be virtually any size, but… that’s a given.