The Way of The Samurai – 武士の道
This piece was such a treat to work on, I’ve been quite a Sumo follower for a while so when I was given the task to basically do anything the first thing at the time that came to my mind was SUMO! The first part of the assignment was to create a pen and ink illustration which was right up my alley as I use pens to draw ever so often.

I never really start without some sort of research, being prepared and having material ready to support possible challenges are always good. I started with a few reference and mood boards then proceeded with thumbnail sketches.

Afterwards I was tasked to pick two which led to me the second part which was to make Value Composition Studies where I played with the light source and value structure.

Part three was to finally start to work on the refined rough drawing where I tried to resolve the shape language I was going for, I am very much a fan of “economy” in art I always say ” Why would I draw a bird in 25 lines If I can draw a bird in 5 lines.” which pretty much sums up my mentality on this particular piece.

Step four was to finally start drawing the final inked piece which was a breeze. I already had an image in mind on what I wanted it to look like so the second and third seating was just fine tuning and adding contrast to keep the value structure intact.

moving to the fifth part COLOR!!I love color, Color unlocks my inner child and my love of pixar-esk artworks that I grew up with. Coming into the fifth part I was also reminded of artist Samuel Smith (@samuelsmith.art) a visual development artist with very warm and honest works, he roughly set the mood and inspiration of my eventual final version.

With that said, I am happy to finally produce and finish an illustration that brings me closer to finding out what I really wanna do. This is something that I held off for a long time due to a perfectionist mindset but I felt like I have rediscovered one of the core reasons why I do art. A step closer on finding myself in a sea of expectations and ambitions of which some are not my own.

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