Earlier this month I submitted to a one-night art show in San Diego that was organized by Thumbprint Gallery. Every show has a theme, and any art that you submit (up to 4 pieces) to these shows must be for sale. This one was Studio Ghibli and I had been planning on submitting for a while ever since I heard they were having it. Luckily I managed to sign up at the last minute and created 2 art pieces for the show. Read on to see the process and what ended up happening at the show!
I had a hard time thinking of something to make! I have pretty much seen all of the Ghibli movies, so it was hard to decide which one I wanted to pay tribute to. It eventually came down to which films are my favorite.
My top 3:
- Princess Mononoke
- Spirited Away
- My Neighbor Totoro
As much as I LOVE Princess Mononoke, I couldn’t figure out something that I could draw… effectively. Princess Mononoke is kind of a bad-ass film, and I wanted to draw something just as badass but sadly that is not one of my strengths. I realized that my strength lies in the simple, and cute versions of things. I started sketching things from Totoro and Spirited Away. Eventually I came up with an idea for Haku.
It was really hard to figure out how to proportion the lower half of his body with the rest of it, since it was turning out to be a chibi version, but after about an hour I finally managed to even him out.
The inking process was actually very tedious. I think this is the most time that I have ever spent to do my line art.
Coloring was nerve-wracking! I haven’t colored with my Copics in a really long time, so I was out of practice. When you start coloring, there’s really little chance of going back. I actually did mess up a little bit though. When I was testing out the colors to color Haku’s fur, I finally reached a consensus on which pens to use, and right when I started coloring I realized I started to color his belly X_X. Mortified, I tried my best to save it. It may not look too bad from a different pair of eyes, but I think I managed to salvage it.
In the end I decided to not have a background… considering my near-disaster, I decided to just leave it as is. Plus I am not good at coming up with backgrounds. #sticktowhatyouknow
Now that I was done with that piece, I was trying to think of something else to do. I thought back to an art trade that a friend and I came up with back in 2013… We decided to make playing cards of a Ghibli Movie. She chose Spirited Away and I settled on Totoro. Well… she actually finished her project, and even finished beyond the face cards. I had sketched up several ideas, but it never came into fruition. Time went on and I never finished mine, and soon I forgot all about it.
Welp. I guess this was meant to be, so in a last ditch effort before submission, I decided to finally work on this project (3 years overdue!)
The concept of which cards should have who on them came relatively quickly. The king being King Totoro, Catbus being the queen, the jack and the ace to be the other remaining Totoros.
I’ll be the first to admit that my lines could have been a lot cleaner here, but I was pressed for time and there was no turning back!
During this round of coloring, I wasn’t as hesitant (I really couldn’t afford taking so much time). I went full steam ahead when I started coloring. I think the blue totoro came out a little too blue, but oh well. It was getting done!
Above is a depiction of what it looked like laid out in the frame.
After I was done trimming them and placing them into the frame, I dropped them off at the gallery and waited for the show the following Tuesday.
That night I arrived at the show and… my things weren’t there! Turns out that someone had already bought my pieces and took them home. I was a little bit bummed that I didn’t get to see them up on the wall, but I was also thrilled that someone liked my art enough to actually buy them!!!
There were so many other good pieces there, it was definitely a great experience.
If you’re interested in participating in a future Thumbprint Gallery event, check out their submissions page for upcoming shows! Also follow them on Instagram for updates as well.
Until next time.
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