About style 關於風格 / 畫畫的方式

I’ve been bellyaching about not (yet) having a specific style / way of drawing. But then things happened.

A few days ago, I carefully counted and put my rent into an envelope and drew something on it. It wasn’t delicately drawn, not to mention to do justice to my ‘illustrator’ identity. But the landlord lady was so happy because in the drawing there are our 3 cats sleeping on the roof of the house and because we all love them. (Or was it because I said this is the ‘protection money’ for this month?!) I was delighted upon seeing her laughing and rushing to show her husband what’s on the envelope. I didn’t think much of the style when I drew but what to draw to say thank you to her and how wonderful it is to live with them. It’s not a great picture but it communicates well for me as a good picture does.

And then it’s one of my besties’ birthday and I drew her this picture. I know she’d be thrilled and squeaking by whatever I draw (because she always did and for me that’s the best reward). So I think it’s not really about the drawing, or the style, or how good it is technically, it’s really about what you’re trying to say.


我最近有點憂鬱 沒有一個固定的風格

前幾天我數了 (好多遍) 房租，放在信封裡要給房東。我在信封上畫畫。畫的不精細也不是多複雜的圖，但是房東阿姨很開心！因為我畫了我們家裡的三隻貓在屋頂上睡覺，而我們都愛這三隻貓。(也許是因為我說這是這個月的保護費？) 看她很開心的樣子我也很開心。我沒有想太多要用什麼風格畫，畫畫的時候我想的是要怎麼跟她說謝謝，還有跟他們一家人住是多幸運的一件事。那不是一張很厲害的圖，但它很厲害的替我講了一些我沒講出來的事。

然後我其中一個最好的朋友今天生日，我畫了這張圖給她。我知道不管我畫什麼她都會很開心的飆高音 (因為她是台中人，她說台中人開心就會飆高音，不知道是真的假的)。然後我想，也許最重要的不是這張圖的風格或技巧有多好，真正重要的是這張圖要講什麼。

這些生活中的小事都提醒我為什麼喜歡畫畫，和畫畫真正對我來說是什麼。

不要流於形式好像講起來很容易，可是我們很常只看到或只要求表面的樣子，忽略了真正重要的事。難怪小王子會說 "What is essential is invisible to the eye" 真正重要的事是眼睛看不到的。

Work in Process: Valentine Birds

I was commissioned to make a couple of valentine's day card for the coming up Chinese Valentine's Day, which is celebrated on the lunar July 7 mostly in China, Taiwan and Japan. 

There were 2 birds in my mind but I didn't know what they were going to do. I doodled it out anyway. If you see that bean-shaped prototype on the right, you know I'm no close to be called talented... 

The 2 birds on the bottom left caught my eye, and I thought, yay, here we go! 

台灣一間長期合作的書店請我設計七夕情人節卡片

我想畫兩隻小鳥，可是不知道要畫什麼

所以就先在紙上亂畫

But we didn't go anywhere better. 

(It's so upsetting that I can hardly outdo my own sketch!!)

I painted it out but the picture didn't look very exciting to me.

然後用左下角的兩隻小鳥繼續畫下去

可是畫完我覺得好像還少了什麼

Frustrated as I was, I looked around my desk and tried to find something fun to do the image over again. I saw some color pencils and thought, how about applying the color pencil on top of the painting to add some texture... (glad I didn't!) 

And that's when I took the picture below. (Eee! A green flower!)

後來想用彩色鉛筆加點東西上去（還好沒有！）

就開始削鉛筆

發現削下來的鉛筆花好可愛！

Then I totally forgot the painting and the poor birds. 

I played around with the colorful fragments and made 2 new birds. 

Check out the cute little eyebrow of the bird on the right.

It was an accident that the little piece fell right there, but it looked SO right!

Serendipity!

所以我開始玩這些很多顏色的鉛筆小花

拼成兩隻小鳥

一個碎片不小心掉在右邊小鳥臉上

剛剛好變成他的眉毛！

So, yay I drew the bird a permanent brow!

I glued them onto the paper once I found them interestingly satisfying. 

I scanned it and cleaned it up in Photoshop. 

實在太可愛了，所以我畫給他一樣的眉毛

接下來我把這些都黏在紙上、掃描、在Photoshop裡面把圖整理乾淨

Ta-da! Now the little couple are ready to go.

See you out there!

Ta-da! 然後就完成了！

P.S. I really enjoyed designing/making greetings cards. Every work is a whole new project for me and they all reminded me of the good times sending and receiving cards to/from the ones I care and love (and miss!)

It's all about love, isn't it.


Best wishes to all, xxx

Casey



More work/random updates http://facebook.com/caseysushi
Portfolio http://cargocollective.com/caseysushi

Dinosaur and the cat

Accidentally made a dinosaur and a cat. I couldn’t stop but come up with their stories and ended up making more and more of them during the final few weeks of writing my master dissertation (!)  See more of their story here.  不小心做了恐龍和小貓，結果又不小心越做越多了。更多恐龍和小貓

Family outing

It's getting warm in Cambridge! Lovely weather for outing and picnic and everything else! 劍橋的天氣回暖了，適合出門踏青、野餐和做好多好多其他事的季節！

A taste of spring

I saw these little bees flying in and out of the flowering shrubs on campus of Anglia Ruskin University and I think they must know how to make a taste of the spring! (And I could see some of them already filled their pollen baskets on their legs but some hadn't!) 

在學校裡面看到小蜜蜂在花裡面很忙的飛來飛去 (很可愛因為可以看到有的蜜蜂腳上的花粉籃已經裝滿了，有的還沒)，我想他們一定知道怎麼品嚐春天的滋味！我覺得生命真的很美好。

I love hugs

We can always feel it when it's a genuine hug. Same thing applies to people.

擁抱是不是真的其實感受得到
人也一樣
很幸運能在這裡遇到一些真心的朋友
被真誠的對待著

Failure is the mother of ...

... this drawing.