Hey Hive!
We're back again with another Art Attack! If you're new to the series, this is where I share my paintings and the process behind them. A behind-the-scenes look at my artwork, if you will. This is not to say that I'm very good at art, or that I'm a professional in any way. In fact this is the opposite, and serves as a reminder to how I first started, and lets me track my progress too!
So this piece was completed way back at the end of February, in time for my sister-in-law's birthday on 12th March! I was thinking of doing a simple piece for her and since she likes ramen and doggos, when I saw this illustration by Dliok I thought it'd be perfect to paint for her!
Just for context, I've painted quite a few different doggo pieces for my sis-in-law.
The first was this corgi in a pineapple house that I did for her as a housewarming gift:
The second was this piece I did for her birthday last year:
And the last one I did was this little one for Christmas:
I think just from these pictures alone you can already see my progress in watercolours. The first was done with colour pencils so it didn't really count.
Anyway, I wanted something similar to the illustration by Dliok but I wanted it to be a little different, like changing the colour of the shibe since it's pretty similar to the broth colour, and changing the background as well.
I also wanted to add something special so I decided to draw the soup spilling out of the bowl, à la The Great Wave off Kanagawa.
So here's my sketch:
I also made the chopsticks a little different by putting a toy dog on top, like a chopstick holder of sorts.
Next was outlining!
I decided to add a little something in the background since it looked pretty bare. And to continue the "lore" from the first one I did, I decided on a pineapple with a corgi hiding behind it!
After cleaning up the sketch lines:
Painting time! I tried my best to mimic the colours in the original, but also account for the my own changes. With the limited colours I had I think it looked alright. For the broth I mixed the light brown with some orange and made it darker around the shibe and the wave, which I think looked pretty cool at least.
Next it was time to paint the background! For this I went with a simple purple ombre, since it was pretty much the only colour that I had left other than red, which would've been too much. The purple was more subtle and complemented the colour of the soup so it fits well I think.
And after adding in the details and lining once more, this was the final look!
I think I might've gone a little too overboard with the lines in the wave, because it looks much too dark with so many lines. It's unfortunate, but oh well. I couldn't erase them anymore so I just had to live with it.
Overall, I think this piece turned out alright nonetheless. The shibe looks cute, and the colours are pretty nice and soothing. Granted it may not look as good as the original, but I like it. And the corgi in the background is smol and cute too.
We had arranged to meet up on 4th Apr and I was all excited to give this to my sis-in-law for her belated birthday but then, covid hit. And everything was shut down, the full lockdown was in place. We weren't allowed to visit anyone outside of our household and since we were living in separate places, that meant we couldn't go to my brother and sis-in-law's place. And so we didn't for a long long time and this piece was just hibernating in my sketchbook for months.
I was so bummed out, but then when the Singapore government finally cleared us to visit each other, we went by in July and I finally gave it to her after 3 months! A very belated birthday gift indeed. But I'm glad she liked it and she put it up on her wall immediately! 😊
I think to this day that piece is still on her wall just above her desk so she gets to look at it everyday. Hopefully she doesn't get sick of it. 😅
Thanks so much for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
