My Bird Neighbors

Since last November, we have had bird neighbors visiting our apartment everyday. When my husband first bought bird food, we were looking forward to seeing birds. But we had waited for a month for the first bird to come. Now, they come visit everyday: at least three meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and numerous snack visit.

There are two kinds of birds visiting our place. One is house finches. They are three couples (brown head and red head). The other is eastern bluebirds. The feathers of eastern bluebirds are very beautiful, and they have a cubby orange chest. 

When birds come, our cats would make a very interesting sound to welcome them. My husband said they are trying to mimic the sound which birds are making. When we hear it, we know birds are here!

These birds bring much fun to our life. Watching them eating make us so relaxed. So I want to create an illustration about them!

The initial idea was to draw birds eating at the our apartment's balcony, as you can see from the sketch. But somehow, I feel it's not quite right. The sketch did show what I see, but I don't see the liveliness. I don't want the illustration to be too literal, but the theme must still be birds-eating and also include balcony elements. 

So, it needs transformation. I thought of the illustrator Rebecca Green. One of the illustrations she designed for her Patreon shows an antique look. I like it very much: yellowish background and sketch-like green frame. I took reference from her pictures and decided my illustration of birds would have an antique look, and the balcony elements would be transformed into a frame. 

Then the coloring part. First, I used gouache to paint a dull yellow as an undertone. Then, I colored the birds, frame, grass...But at this point, I only painted a thin layer. I wanted to get a certain idea how the illustration might look like. If I am not satisfied with one color and want to change to another, because the illustration is painted in a thin layer, I have room for adjustment. 

Once I was satisfied with all the colors in the picture, I began adding values to colors, making the colors brighter or darker. And then using colored pencils for the details. 

The style of this illustration is different from my previous work. I like the transformation of the balcony elements. I think I step out a bit from my comfort zone!

***

 【我的小鳥鄰居】

自從petit ami買了鳥飼料後，我們和貓一直很期待小鳥來訪。從安裝好後的每日盼望，足足等了一個月。第一隻鳥來時，我們好開心；現在牠們是常客，每天至少來三次(早午晚餐)，和想到就來吃幾口的點心時間。

最常來的是House finch，牠們是三對夫妻(一隻紅頭，一隻棕頭)。偶爾來訪的是Eastern Bluebird，身形比較圓潤，橘色圓滾滾的肚子超可愛，吃相比House Finch豪邁。

有了小鳥鄰居，我們和貓的生活多了很多樂趣。Albert和Richard看到鳥來就會模仿鳥叫的聲音，我和petit ami就知道小鳥來了！

所以，決定用插畫記錄可愛的鳥鄰居。

一開始構圖的想法很直觀——小鳥在陽台吃飼料的樣子：飼料吊掛在陽台側壁，有的小鳥在欄杆上吃，有的在地上吃。但是，看著這個構圖，覺得哪裡怪怪......？我想表現小鳥吃飯的雀躍，又想包含家裡陽台的元素。我想到插畫家Rebecca Green，她為自己Patreon設計的圖融入復古的元素；泛黃底色、富含筆觸的手繪框邊。我喜歡這些元素，想把它融入到自己的圖。最後，決定跳脫框架思考，不是畫眼睛所見，而是變形、變形！

這是變形後的草圖：

顏色以復古色為主題，要有點舊舊的，但又非看起來髒掉的顏色。像是，Bluebird的藍色要很飽滿但不是艷；House finch的主色是棕、紅、米色，而且要和底色的黃有和諧感。

上色時，第一輪完成所有配色，但只刷上淡淡一層。這步驟是幫助自己具體看見畫面呈現的感覺。第二輪開始一層層疊色，讓角色躍然紙上。

第一輪讓我最緊張。不確定腦中的畫面能不能好好實現、執行過程會不會發現畫壞了或方向不對？不過，過了一會發現，沒自己想像的煩，慶幸自己勇敢挑戰。

小鳥身上的細節用色鉛筆完成。下次想讓線條再大膽一些。不過，我很喜歡這次構圖跳脫框架的嘗試。

Thanks for reading!
Jenny☺

The Fun in Winter

The most wintery illustrations I drew in this year's winter must be these two!

After moving from Texas to Indiana, I am looking forward to seeing snow. Though I don't like cold (I only want to stay under blanket in winter), I still want to experience the beauty and fun in a snowy world. Such feeling is what I want to show in my illustrations: Coldness and Playfulness. Winter is cold but full of fun!

The inspiration came from the iceskating I saw in Chicago (Gouache Practice #2), and Christmas and the fairy tale <Nutcracker>. I want to show the fun in winter by carrying out these idea. 

Initially, I sketched on papers. For the sketch of Santa and elves, I especially like the moose skating aid. I didn't know there is such thing until the trip to Chicago where I discovered penguin skating aids which help kids to skate. (I definitely need it as well since I have limited experience in ice skating.) 

As for the Nutcracker sketch, at first I imagined the girl Clara and the prince Nutcracker skating in front of a castle. However, after drawing the castle, I felt something wrong. I feel the space in the picture is gone. The characters look too close to the castle, which I don't like. But I also don't want to decrease the size of castle so as to create a sense of space. At the end, I decided to eliminate the castle. The focus will be Clara and Nutcracker. 

When planing the color theme, initially I planned it should be holiday colors such as red, yellow and green. But I wanted to challenge myself to create an illustration which features a blue tone. So, I changed the color theme to Turquoise Blue, Green Yellow and Flesh Tint for the Nutcracker illustration. 

In addition, I want the audiences to feel a sense of cold but also warmth in the snowy illustrations. Blue and white represent the cold; warmth comes from the fun of the interaction from the characters. 

After the idea and direction were clear, the rest was patience and persistence to finish the work!

I want to share some of my favorite details:

***

【冬天的童話】

這年冬天，畫得最有感的就是這兩張圖吧！

從德州搬來印州，我很期待在北方看到雪。雖然怕冷、冷就不愛動，但還是想親身體驗雪白世界的美與玩樂。這就是這兩張插畫想呈現的感覺：Coldness & Playfulness。好冷但好玩！

創作靈感來融合了我在芝加哥看見的溜冰(Gouache Practice #2)，以及聖誕節和冬天的童話故事《胡桃鉗》。我想透過童話般的節日與故事，表現屬於冬天的玩樂。

一開始先在紙上畫草稿。聖誕草圖那張，我最喜歡的是麋鹿溜冰輔助器。哈～我以前不知道有這種東西，直到在芝加哥發現有企鵝款的溜冰輔助器，有些小孩會扶著這溜冰。(我不會溜，應該很需要！)

胡桃鉗的草圖，背景原先是設定女主角Clara和胡桃鉗王子在城堡前溜冰。但畫好城堡後，我覺得離角色太近，空間感沒了。但是也不想把城堡縮小拉出空間感，後來決定捨去城堡，聚焦在角色上。

規劃顏色時，原先設定胡桃鉗和聖誕節插畫的主題色都是紅色，但後來想來點挑戰，把胡桃鉗改成冷藍色調，從土耳其藍、淡綠黃和膚色去變化。

雪景的話，我想表現寒冷但又有溫暖。以藍、膚色和白色帶出雪與寒；暖來自角色互動所帶來的生氣。

等到草圖和色彩都有明確方向後，就是耐心一筆一畫完成啦！這邊就不詳述了，不過想分享幾個我喜歡的細節：

Thanks for reading!
Jenny ☺

Gouache Practice #3

This week's practice is the interior of a Japanese restaurant and seafood. 

The reference I took is a Japanese restaurant called "Sakura", which is located in Indianapolis. My husband and I had been there twice. The food is great, and the price is decent! We underestimated its popularity as the second time we visited there. We didn't make a reservation and many people were waiting to be seated, so we ended up waiting for an hour. 

Similar to Gouache Practice #2, I illustrated a JP restaurant again. And I plan to work on a new illustration based on this one. For this practice, I simply layered down colors and didn't care much about light/dark. The fun part was adding characters and JP traditional masks. I think they bring liveliness to the pic. 

As for the seafood, I drew some common seafood which is used in JP cuisines. My favorite are the octopus and squids. I love using colored pencils to add texture on them. The red-brownish colors make me feel that I was barbecuing the octopus and squids while illustrating them. I wish I could go to a Taiwanese night market and get BBQ food!

***

 【水彩練習#3】

這次的練習是日本料理餐廳和它的延伸——海鮮。

餐廳是參考Indianapolis的日本料理餐廳「Sakura」。我和petit ami拜訪了兩次，很好吃，價格也很實惠。第二次拜訪低估了它受歡迎程度．沒訂位到現場，結果等了一個小時。

繼上次水彩練習#2，我又練習了一次日料餐廳內裝(之後要從這張延伸畫一張完整的圖)。這次畫法是一層層疊色，沒特別強調明暗面。比較好玩是畫了老闆和日式面具。加了角色，果然圖畫多了生氣，我就喜歡這種！

海鮮練習呢，我列了一些日料常見的食材。過程中好玩的地方是用色鉛筆加筆觸。在畫章魚和魷魚時，上紅棕色筆觸，好像在炭烤牠們。哈哈，畫著畫著很想念台灣夜市燒烤。

Jenny☺

Happy Lunar New Year!

It is the Year of Tiger!

It’s the third year of me creating spring couplets. In Taiwan, we used to get free spring couplets from friends or buy some in traditional market. But it’s hard to get those in the U.S., so I just create one by myself. (This is what an illustrator is for, right?)

The materials for spring couplets are very simple. 
    - A piece of drawing paper (self-painted red background)
    - Holbein Acryla Gouache (black as a replacement of ink)
    - Watercolor brush (a replacement for Chinese brush)

In the previous two years, I had included our two cats, Albert and Richard, in the spring couplet illustrations. This year, I make a decision that they will appear in my spring couplets every year! (And a complete collection after twelve years.😂)

For me, tigers and cats are similar species, so I want them to have similar poses. In this illustration, I drew the draft directly on the paper. I used a red colored pencil (Caran d'Ache Luminance), and purposely drew the lines heavily. For one thing, the lines could be visible after layering down the red background. For another, it won’t look weird if some lines could be seen from the final work. 

Here are close-up looks for the Year of Tiger.

I wish my family will have a promising and fulfilling year! Good luck and keep pursuing our goals!

***

【虎年春聯】

新年快樂！自從來美國後，因為不好買春聯、樣式不一定喜歡，所以就開始自己畫春聯。今年是第三年了！

材料很簡單：
    - 自製紅紙 (把畫紙塗上紅色)
    - 黑色壓克力水彩 (代替墨汁)
    - 水彩筆 (代替毛筆)

前兩年的春聯，兩隻貓都有出現在裡面。今年我決定就照這個模式，以後春聯都要有兩隻貓出現！而且今年虎年，跟貓也很搭。老虎和貓，遠房一家親！在試了一些草稿後，決定讓他們擺一樣的姿勢。

這次我是直接在紙上，用暗紅色色鉛筆畫草圖。草稿打得比較深，因為上紅色背景會吃掉一些草稿線條。而且就算完成圖露出一點色鉛筆筆跡，也相對自然。

鏘～這就是今年春聯小祕辛啦！今年的題字是「福虎生風🐯」! (本來想加「行大運」，但沒位置了😂。)

仔細看可以發現一些修飾的痕跡。沒關係，照樣喜氣洋洋！😊

希望這幅春聯，帶領我們一家迎接朝氣如虎、創造豐收的一年！新年快樂🐯❤️

Jenny☺

Gouache Practice #2

The first two illustrations are city night scene with ice skating arena. These are a recollection of a trip to Chicago with my husband last year. My husband and I wanted to do ice skating there but didn’t make it. I want to illustrate different night colors, one with cold tone and one with warm tone, and both must capture the glamorous atmosphere of city lights. The painting process had a lot of fun. I enjoyed creating different values/tones of blue and yellow, and then used thick paint for highlight. 

The other two illustrations are Japanese restaurants. I am currently working on a draft featuring a JP restaurant, so I want to do color test. I imagine the restaurant’s interior would have the warmth of wood yellow and lively ocean blue for seafood. So, for this practice, I tried to find the balance of the two colors. 

Practice makes me become a better illustrator! I want to build my illustration journey with confidence and ease! 

***

【水彩練習#2】

這次練習了以溜冰場主題的兩個都市夜景。靈感是去年感恩節我和petit ami去芝加哥玩，那時很想溜冰但沒溜成。夜景一個藍色調，一個黃色調。我喜歡混色的過程，想辦法混出不同的藍和黃。最後用厚顏料點出夜晚的亮點。

另外兩張是練習日式餐廳，因為最近想畫一張和日本料理有關的圖。我想找出餐廳的木頭暖黃和海產料理的水藍的平衡。

加油～繼續努力！

Jenny☺

Old Sketch, New Painting

Sometimes if I want to practice watercolor but have no idea what to paint, I would repaint an old sketch.😂

This is old sketch from 2019. I took a reference from an old photo on Pinterest. I like these three girls playing hula hoop, because I could see their lovely friendship and pleasure of playing together. The first time I painted, I just picked whatever the colors that came to my mind. But this time, I wanted to only use these three colors: Prussian Blue, Magenta and Flesh Tint; flesh tint with a tiny bit of magenta for the skin tone, and Prussian blue for the girls’ dress code. I like how the blue makes the dresses look vintage.

I usually start to paint background and then characters. But this time I painted the girls first. After finishing it, I felt that I didn’t want the background to be pure white. I wanted to have some color play! So, I used three Caran d'Ache neocolor water-soluble neon crayons to wet/mixed the colors. 

The result was OK but not quite satisfied😂. It looks like the girls are floating and playing hula hoop, haha! But it was just a practice and I had much fun, so I don’t mind the result. And I am happy to see the changes and growth from the two old and new illustrations. I want to tell myself: Good job and keep going! ✌

Jenny☺

***

【舊圖新畫】

有時候想練習水彩卻不知道畫什麼時，把舊圖拿來重新畫也是一種方法😂

這是我2019年畫的草圖，那時候想練習畫小孩，在Pinterest找了黑白舊照模仿。第一次上色時隨意挑選想用的顏色。時隔兩年再畫，這次我有特別想用的顏色：Prussian Blue, Magenta 和Flesh Tint。

Flesh Tint當然是用在小女孩的膚色，不過我喜歡加一點Magenta，這個紅意外的讓膚色亮起來。Prussian Blue是女孩的衣服主題色，因為我想要有古著感的洋裝，而且我想像她們可能是親生姐妹或是三個好朋友......

通常畫圖我都先畫背景，不過這張是直接畫角色。可是畫完後，又想試試再畫背景會變成什麼樣子？後來用Caran d'Ache 水溶性蠟筆，用水彩筆把蠟筆顏色暈開混色。其實我覺得畫圖時，背景和角色邊緣的銜接處不好處理，因為顏色會互相染色，邊緣不銳利角色就跳不出來。有時候需要用細筆修圖，把輪廓描繪清晰。

畫完背景，我覺得小女孩好像漂浮在奇怪的空間搖呼拉圈...哈哈。但我喜歡她們的小洋裝，真心想要一件😌。

從舊圖新畫看見自己的轉變，當作是一個放鬆的畫畫練習，哈哈！然後繼續新的一張。            

The Animals I Met

This is a mini oil pastel series about the animals I met. 

How does this series begin? Well, initially I just wanted to try some art materials I seldom use. Oil pastel has always been a medium I am interested at. Painting with oil pastels makes me feel like I was going back to childhood drawing with crayons. The art-creating process is very “straightforward”: me holding the pastels, the distance between myself and paper is very close. I paint as I think, my emotions could simultaneously reflect on paper, as I paint it hard or gently. The whole process is intuitive, and I like the texture and crumbs of oil pastels. 

So, I gave oil pastels a try! 

And the oil pastels I used also had a history. I have had this box set since I was in high school. It is at least 15-years old and still functions well, haha! The only oil pastel technique I know is what my high school art teacher had taught me: blending colors by applying a second color directly on the first color. Just one technique for this animal series.

At the beginning, I took my cats, Richard and Albert as my models. I observed their face and painted. Then I thought, maybe. I could do an animals series, starting from the animals I have/had met. I was planing to complete 9 animals but ended up with 6, because I was out of paper 😂. These animals, I have continued living with them or had met them shortly. But all of them have unique personality. As I paint, I try to think what kinds of animal are they? What do I see from them?

Yup! I should write stories about each animals. For next blog! 😂

***

最近完成了一組動物迷你系列作品。這系列是用油性粉彩創作的～

當初想做這系列，算是突發奇想😂。我想玩玩平常少用的媒材，油彩是我一直很想嘗試的(很像小時候的蠟筆)。怎麼說呢？我覺得油彩是很接近「原始」的創作，手握著它，我和畫布的距離變得好近，短短的3到5公分，想到什麼直接畫，非常直覺。力道大或小，情緒張力反應在畫布上；刷刷刷地筆觸摩擦，散落的屑屑，感覺很原汁原味！(很多小孩也是從蠟筆開始畫畫，就是這種原始味吧！😂)

所以就決定來玩玩～

我使用的這盒油彩也有典故，因為它可是我高中美術課留下來的工具。過了十幾年還可以用，太神奇了😂。每次下筆，都想起美術老師說用筆推顏色去做混色。我不知道還有什麼其他技巧，只知道一直推，哈哈！

一開始不知道畫什麼，就拿家裡的貓Richard和Albert當模特兒，觀察牠們的臉，塗塗推推抹抹。畫著畫著，突然覺得可以畫個動物系列！但要畫什麼呢？......從身邊的動物開始比較有感覺。本來預計畫9個，可惜紙張不足，只畫了6個。這6隻動物，我跟牠們或長或短的生活過。牠們在我心中都有一種個性。畫著他們，想著牠是一隻什麼樣的動物？我從牠們身上看到了什麼？......

之後再來寫寫小故事，分享我和牠們的生活☺️。

Thanks for reading!
Jenny☺