Last updated on June 15th, 2025 at 12:46 am
Sometimes it feels like we will never achieve our dreams. No matter how hard we try, it feels like we should just give up and move on. I’ve been feeling down lately because my illustrations haven’t been performing well online as well as offline. Ive also been comparing myself to other artist and their achievements. Its hard for artist to stay motivated and perform well if their spirit is down. I already knew this but sometimes its still too much. I am human after all. I decided to re-watch K-on to lift my spirits.
At the start of the series, the girls were just a small band that played during afterschool. The didn’t have the skills as they do now, however they endured, practiced, drank tea and managed to play a gig in London. No matter how small the gig, a gig is a gig and an important step in the right direction. The series made me realise that we should enjoy the process and just have fun, because at the end of the day, I enjoy art and if I keep at it I will surely achieve something greater.
The goal of this illustration was to depict the girls looking cool. I really wanted to emphasise their “coolness” with the poses, composition and fashion. I also wanted to put in extra effort for detail and visual noise.
I was unhappy with the sky at first, but with some inspiration, I gave it a cyan/ turquoise hue which looked much better and contrasted well with the grass. The girls at first weren’t too difficult, however this is when many problems started to arise. The first issue was painting the girls faces. After numerous attempt, I just couldn’t make them look like themselves. Next was the drum kit. I wanted to have all their instruments included in the drawing, but Ritsu’s drums weren’t working with my idea. I was so close to throwing my pen across the room because I just couldn’t figure out what was going wrong. I kept going because I thought to myself that things would work out (they didn’t). After some thinking I decided to stop because the painting was getting nowhere. I realised the values were to light which made it stand out from everything else on the canvas. The focus was the girls and not the drums after all. Also the complex shape design contrasted greatly with the background which didn’t help my case either. I’m glad I ceased with the drawing and figured out my issues, however a lot of time and energy was wasted.
In my second attempt, I figured I should go for something simpler and not stress myself too hard. As always, things never go as smoothly as planned. With my new piece, I wanted to quickly get to the painting, so I skipped doing a clean sketch. As said before, my energy was drained and I was still feeling the frustration. After putting down the base colours, I immediately started with the most difficult part, the faces. I faced the same problem as last time and my terrible sketch made things worse. Things were looking grim and I was beginning to think I should give up. I wanted to quit like 10 times already. I reminded myself why I stated this paining I the first place. With that in mind, I kept my chin up and kept going. No way I could forgive myself after all this hard work, plus I still wanted to see the girls looking drip.
Somehow I managed to finish. Although it took a lot longer than expected, I’m happy with the final result. There are some problems here and there, but in the end I think this work is my best to date. The struggles definitely made the final result worth it. Drawing is hard, we fail, get upset and loose confidence in our ability when things go bad. It’s so important to keep at it and keep your spirits up, because once you overcome these problems, you’re one step closer to achieving your dreams.
