How Signature Looks Came to Be

What started off as a simple sketch turned into something more over the years. There is this girl that I always draw and I think it’s become a pretty distinctive feature of myself. I believe the best way to actually show the gradual process of her growth is to show you what I have done year after year. These drawings were prepared for Jeanius’ membership cards. When I started drawing for my column in a magazine, Jeanius asked if I could also draw something for their membership card. So I did.

The first one in 2011 was how my girl looked like then. I love big eyes and big hair. Maybe because people kept telling me how thick my hair is, and how they envy that I have “so much” hair. Big eyes is really a personal preference. She was really simple then, simple sketch, outline and then fill in the colours. But she definitely had to have big eyes and big hair.

2012. She was a little different. I went back to the little lines for eyes and I tamed down her hair because I had some feedback saying that they only saw hair and only the hair. So here she was being a lot more bare. She didn’t have big hair getting in her face and no button eyes filling up the whole of her face.

2013. I was playing a lot more with different styles then. I experimented with different mediums. tried various art software and attempted using art tablets. I was also getting serious about drawing. It wasn’t so much about sketching and doing it for fun anymore. It was a very interesting period of time. I learnt so many things. Her eyes changed and yes, I insisted on the hair. Big hair became her signature look.

2014. I had an idea to come out with a second book and I wanted to draw for this book. Sol was created. The girl with the big red hair. She would have long slits for eyes… long because she had HUGE eyes. I love it when I draw her with her eyes open, and boy does she have big eyes and long lashes. Sol, the latin name for the Sun. Sol is someone who is constantly on a journey of sorts and she ultimately embodies hope, and I decided her hair would be red.

2015. “Sol’s World: Somebody to Love” gets published. This is Sol right now at this point in time. I am still constantly learning different art techniques, experimenting with new things, trying out new methods to achieve different textures and effects. Art is alive and there are no limitations as to what can be done.

“Somebody to Love” is lovingly crafted and drawn by hand with zero digital input. I think that there is still something raw and imperfect in the natural strokes of the brushes that makes it all so perfect. This is how I view it now at least, and I’m looking forward to see what my art will look like in my future projects.