After utterly failing Inktober, Sketchvember was inching closer & I decided to make my sketches different from before.
I wanted to create a series that I actually liked & nothing came into my mind except for my Japan trip back in 2015. I love Japan; I’ve always loved anything Japan-related since I was a kid & finally going to Japan with my friends the year before I made this series, almost brought me to tears.
Landing in Kansai Airport was a dream come true & walking around temples & visiting castles of Tokugawa Ieyasu brought shivers down my spine! I knew I wanted to work on a Japan series & I hit 2 birds with 1 stone – I created this for Sketchvember & I turned this also into a sticker set which I sold in a Hobonichi meet!
For about a day or 2, I pondered over what items I wanted to include. I created a list & edited it so many times, but in the end, the list was filled with things that I resonated with – they were the things that instantly popped into my head when I think about the trip I took with my friends.
I painted 1 painting per day on the weekdays – my weekends were off limits cause I needed to rest my hands! Each piece took several hours to make depending on how complex the item is. I don’t think I have to say this, but I’ll say it anyway… The ramen took the longest to make. My back hurt so much I had to stop midway. Haha!
I learned a lot from this challenge! It definitely tested my ability to choose the right colors for each piece and in the process, I learned the kanjis & hiragana for each item – thank you to my HelloTalk Family for teaching me some of the words I didn’t know about!
Completing the set took more than a month, but it was well worth it! It wasn’t only because my Instagram feed looked pretty because of all the colors; it was also because I finished what I started no matter how difficult it was. I kept pushing myself to paint every day till I was at .psd #30. It was fun to do & hopefully I’ll be able to make another series like this again soon!
I printed these out in A6-sized sticker papers & sold it in a planner meet! I was amazed at how many people reserved & bought the sets! Thank you for all the support! <3
