Hey there Reader!

How are you? 😊 Here it's warm and raining hard outside, but I actually really love this weather. Perfect to stay cozy at home!

I'm doing great and I'm super excited for today's issue: we will go over my latest finished illustration (finally!), the published mini comic from last week (hurrah!), and a first look at the next project I teased last week :)

And so much more actually! So grab yourself a drink and let's jump into it ✨

The finishing touches that change everything

I finished it! For a few weeks now I’ve been working on this illustration based on a picture I took with a friend in the streets of Krakow.

I was very excited about it, but it simply took a long time to get done; and the finishing touches are what took the longest.

I was hitting a roadblock at the beginning of the week: the image was getting more light and colors, but it all felt a bit bland and gray. After spending so much time looking at it, I had trouble seeing how I could improve it.

Thankfully, my girlfriend is also a fantastic artist with a gift for color, so she helped me elevate it with only a few finishing touches :)

And here is the finished piece!!

I’m so happy with how it turned out, especially if we compare it to what I showed you last week! It’s only a few shadows and color adjustments, but it makes a world of difference in how the final illustration feels.

Speaking of which, I didn’t give this one a name yet; any suggestions?

The mini-comic is online!

​Last week I told you about an awesome event I took part in the weekend before: an 8-hour comic making marathon! :)

After running out of time to add the text and put everything together, I was finally able to go back to it and publish the comic on my website!​

The story is about someone desperate who comes and seeks help from the Soul Doctor, living in a hut among the city rooftops. But seeing the situation, the doctor affirms that in order to fix it, they need to get inside their soul 🌀

The story is pretty weird, but it was somehow deliberate; I’ve talked many times here about how much I need to take more creative risks, and a mini 12-page comic was exactly what I needed!

And despite the weirdness and how awkward it was to describe it to other people at the event, I’m happy with how the story went!

I was also able to experiment with the style: As I said last week, I was inspired by Risograph colors, and I had fun using simple patches of vivid color in order to help represent characters and places more clearly.

One of the characters that shows up in the story was last featured in an illustration from June 2023, exactly 2 years ago now 😄 I had many ideas surrounding her that didn’t come to fruition; but nothing that you’d need to understand the story, it’s more of a personal Easter egg!

I’m taking part in a documentary!

Yes, you are reading that right! Let me explain what happened:

Last week I had a meeting with a very nice couple in my favorite café; we got in contact through my comic book reading club, as they were shooting a documentary!

They are still in pre-production, but the filming is mostly done and they have a solid foundation. And the subject immediately caught my attention: It’s about the life and growth of artists, in Poland and elsewhere :)

They wanted to chat in order to get feedback about their approach, and ask if I would want to help them with a poster; I thought the project was very interesting, so I said why not! But with a few conditions:

First off, this is not a huge workload: this is just preliminary work in order for them to have something to show during an event, so not a huge expectation on my side. And second, I wanted to have complete creative control.

I have worked on free projects in the past, but I often found them as demanding—if not more—than client work. With the little time I have for my own art, I would accept to help only if the final piece could belong right in my personal art portfolio.

Here is the sketch I sent them!

For this poster, I imagined an artist hunched over their work, surrounded by everything that inspired them to start creating. Each person has their own vision of the creative life; but to me, it’s definitely embodied in the quiet creative practice, the daily grind, rather than a constant burst of adrenaline and imagination. And that’s what I wanted to represent in this poster!

The illustration also allows me to take a break, as interiors are actually more relaxed than the landscapes I usually draw. It feels so much easier when you don’t have to draw and color and light and adjust things way into the distance!

To finish, I just want to share with you the heartwarming message they sent me after they received the first sketch <3

Now, back to work!

The final preparation for the convention!

One last thing before I go! :)

As you might know, I’m preparing for a big convention by the end of the month; and I picked up two great orders this week, and I’m super excited to share them with you!

The first one is a massive stack of A6 prints from my local printer:

I specifically asked for a soft touch matte finish like I had for my business cards, and I absolutely love how those turned out as well 🥰

I have more than a hundred of them, with many different designs. I hope many people will be happy to decorate their rooms with them!

The second order I got was an experimental one: it was a series of acrylic keychains!

We ordered from Vograce, a Chinese manufacturer who is very famous among anime artists; in fact, I can guarantee that you have seen something from them if you ever visited an anime expo!

I think they look very nice, but sadly they were all a bit scratched, so I might want to try different providers (maybe local ones) if I ever want to make a bulk order.

For now, this is not my priority: my biggest challenge is to reach more people, not that I don’t have enough to sell. My goal here is mostly to have fun, and as a way to introduce myself to people!

As you can see on the prints, my goal for them is actually to advertise this newsletter :)

The reason being that I’m deeply passionate about it (I hope it shows!), and because I think this is a perfect way to stay in contact with kind people who like my work (like you!) 🩷

Alright! This is it for this week :D

I'm looking forward to sharing more art with you next Tuesday, same hour!

Thank you for hanging out with me on this journey!

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Take care,
- Nighten

This email is part of my art Newsletter. Invite a friend to join the club: https://club.nighten.fr​

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