Iron Digital Art · 2024
New Year Illustration
by Jui-Ping Lee
- A' Design Award 2024 Iron Winner in Digital Art
- Awarded April 15, 2024
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 51,786
- Verification code 0866C03F49 · Verify this award
About New Year Illustration
In a tranquil courtyard, amidst the gentle flurry of winter's snow and the vibrant hues of autumn leaves, sits a graceful figure adorned in an exquisite Kimono. The scene evokes the essence of Wabisabi, embodying the beauty of solitude and serenity. Delicate patterns adorn the fabric, mostly Pines, symbolizing solemnity; and the rhythmic Seigaiha representing the tranquility of the sea. Zooming in reveals more intricate details, a stone plate bearing the artist's pen-name rests to the left; and upon the Kimono, patterns of mice representing the new year 2020, the year of mice.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- An elegant figure with splendid Kimono, serenely sitting in a yard on a cold winter's day at new year, with colourful leaves and slowly showering snow around her that represents the traditional artistic term, Wabisabi (beauty of solitude and tranquility).
If we zoom in, it can be seen that the Patterns are mainly Pines, which is used in the most formal kimono, to be worn only on ceremonious occasions; and also "Seigaiha (sea waves)", which represents tranquility.
Aside from that, the stone plate on the left reads the pen-name of the artist; and on the kimono, there are patterns depicting mice, to celebrate 2020, the year of mouse. - Dimensions & Packaging
- Original dimensions at 5600*3150 px, with 935 canvas layers
- Tags
- Illustration, Kimono, Furisode, Kouyou, Karesansui
- Production Technology
- Drawn using a Wacom Cintiq Pro 32, with software Easy Paint Tool SAI 2.0
- Design Challenge
- The key challenge is to make a painting while keep the authenticity of the elements - the kimono, the karesansui ("dry yard") and the red leaves. While many other illustrators prefer drawing kimono-like outfits, this work must be authentic on the kimono design so it can fit the theme properly; under such condition, the creating process became much more difficult due to the fact that it can not be a free-form creation, but a restricted one that the combination of all the elements in the painting must be meticulously designed and crafted.
- Project Duration
- The vague inspiration of it formed since 2017-2018, and the actual drawing started in December 2019, finished & published in January 2020.
- Operation Flow
- At first sight, you will immediately focus on the figure in the middle, in spite of the fact that the saturation level of the background is much higher. This is called the "blurring perspectives" technic that by burring out items whilst no obvious perspective cues, it creates a huge sense of space, and can lead the beholder to focus their sight at once at the non-blurred items, namely the figure in this painting, sitting in the middle, creating a "photo-like" effect.
- Research
- Research especially on the meaning of the kimono patterns was conducted, to better represent kimono while avoid improper designs. Books and documents are examined, and different combinations of patterns are tried in the painting, and the one with best both cultural and visual effect was determined, resulting in a design which is both having superb color representation and cultural meaning that befit the theme of the work (new year).
- Inspiration
- When I was sitting alone in my home watching a video about how Kimono's (traditional Japanese dress) are made, I suddenly imagined a figure in Karesansui (Japanese stone yards), surrounded by maples and wearing the most fine, magnificent Kimono; and I, a "photographer", would quietly approach, crouching on the ground and capture the evanescent moment with a single-lens-reflex camera (which is my canvas and pen)
Colors of New Year Illustration
Design Interview about New Year Illustration
The holy grail it to make the work beautiful.
Make beautiful works. Make works that when people see it, they can easily feel the breeze in the painting, the sunshine from it, the scent that flows around, and want to go into the world of the painting to sit in there, to interact with objects in there
40 hours, I recall.
Because I think if I draw this it will be beautiful, so I draw!
Sure if people wish to buy the usage right of my work...why not?
The goddess of Muse is capricious.
Yes, some...but I can't remember which ones.
Everyone.
I don't know, nor do I care...I on;y want to make beautiful works. If it is distinguished amongst similar works, the beholders know why.
Because it's simply at new year period?
Easy Paint Tool SAI 2.0
I...actually don't know what's unique about my works as I never seek uniqueness, but beauty. The work realised may be unique to the eyes of the beholder, but I wouldn't know that.
No, I create it solely on my own.
It's drawn on a computer so you can say that without a computer, the whole thing won't even incarnate...
Coloring, how to make the best combination of colors.
Because the competition emailed me an invitation to participate?
That's a hard one...I usually feel stagnated during creation because it's like when you are taking an exam, you just answer questions out of your knowledge you possess on the spot. You learn and grow outside the situation of creating/taking exams.
Grand Interview about New Year Illustration
So creativeness is not like popping out of thin air, but like fermentation, or brewery - you collect lots of ingredients and let it sit, while waiting for the "Eureka" moment where everything suddenly clicks together and your creative inspiration stirs like a hot spring all over the place.
You can say it's like a kind of OCD - obsessive-compulsive-disorder - that it's not like "inspired", but paranoid to attend to details and make it perfect for the eyes. Well, artists usually have to some degree OCD and that's what makes an artist and artist.
So the key is saturation. When you see the background, the red and yellow leaves, they are vivid and splendid, but when it comes to the main figure, the dominent color is black, and the saturation level is low. That's the exact reflection of wabisabi - even though you are sitting in a colorful world surrounding you, your heart remains still, as if you are enjoying your own solitude but feel tranquility in there at the same time.
So use Gaussian blur, that's it. It's a common technique in photography that to blur out background and let the beholder instantly focus on the main object, while creating a feeling of space. It's the same as perspectives but just without lines.
So I played a game called Ikenie To Yuki No Setsuna (I am Setsuna, 2016) on PS4 years before I started this painting, and the main visual of it is a big maple tree covered in snow. I believe that is one of the prototype in my mind that brewed in there.
So firstly the choice is limited if you wish to be authentic enough on the patterns - then I just go through my "kimono pattern dictionary" to see which variation looks the best.
It's like I just keep creating arts that I want to, and if some of them got some award it's awesome. If we take an extreme case, van Gogh, he won't care how many prices and award he will get nowadays or how high a record price his work can hit in an audition, but keep creting arts as he wish.
It's now quite blurred how it matured - but again it's like brewery that you collect various ingredients, and suddenly the image jumps into focus that "this is what I am going to draw", and as far as I remember I only got blurred images during like 2017-2018, and suddenly it becomes very clear - so I draw and make it into incarnation.
You know, it's more fun when you have restrictions. Just like creating Sonnets, you have to follow certain rythem rules and that's what makes it fun - another analogy will be poker that why poker is so popular, because you need to follow poker rules while playing cards.
Actually it's like "where's the Mickey Mouse?" in every Disney movie - it's a playful mind that you want to put some easter eggs for the beholders to not just behold the work, but "interact" and "play" with it. And what serves better then the zodiac symbol?