Hey there Reader :)

I hope you're doing fantastic today! My back is doing better and I'm super excited to finally show you my latest finished illustration 😊 This illustration was difficult, but gave me a lot of insight I want to share with you today!

The World We Built 🌿

This illustration, as always, was very hard to make. Polishing the details, adjusting the colors on so many elements, noticing mistakes halfway through… Art is always very demanding.

But as I was approaching the finishing touches, I finally saw that things started clicking, and I’m so happy with the result!

It’s a big relief when the process leads you to the right place :)

Here’s how the final illustration looks like:

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Here’s what I mean when I say “noticing mistakes halfway through”:

As I was in the middle of color blocking, I felt like there was something wrong about the sky. I wasn’t sure exactly what nor how to fix it, so I tried to mentally push it aside at first.

But as I was walking back from the gym, the answer was clear in front of me: it was the clouds!

You see, I have my comfort way of drawing clouds that I do by default, and it’s been a while since I actually took a reference to draw them. But recently in Krakow the sky has been beautiful, and it inspired me to push it a little bit further than usual this time :)

I took a picture on the spot and used it as a guide the same evening!

Now I’m much happier with the result, so it was worth it to take this extra time! This really motivated me to continue improving and avoid staying stagnant!

Why I’m choosing to draw hope

What were you into as a teenager?

For me, I admit, I was mostly into edgy stories—at least from my standards at the time. I loved superheroes, shonen, fighting games, anything that makes you feel powerful with two dudes beating each other up, or stories about powerful beings. Basic teenage boy things!

And while I still sometimes daydream about these kinds of things, it goes without saying that my art is vastly different.

But I don’t think it’s such a bad thing!

In fact, I’m very happy with the direction my art has taken these past few years, as I progressively leaned towards creating illustrations about comfort, bliss, and hope. And I think that’s what the world needs the most at the moment!

And I think this message can be empowering, much more than power fantasy stories.

Empowerment does not have to come from physical strength. In our everyday life, if we want to do anything to change our situation (improve our relationships, build something with others, overcome our own past…) we first need to believe that it’s possible.

And that’s why I think hope can be a great source of power, just like faith: simply because of that belief that things can improve and you can do something about it.

This is what I realized this week, and this makes me appreciate what I do even more :)

🚨 Big changes for August!

Important! This month in the newsletter will be very special, and I wanted to warn you before announcing it properly :)

You see, I will not be home and will be on the road for the entire month; but instead of pausing this newsletter, I decided to take you with me!

I will keep the reveal of the details for next week, but expect interesting images, more art, and less text—like a weekly stack of postcards in your inbox 😄 I know I tend to ramble a lot, so I’m sure you guys will appreciate this temporary format!

Everything will be back to normal after the end of summer! I’m excited to share with you what I meant next week ✨

And that concludes this week's issue! I hope you like the new illustration, and that you are all having a great summer :D

I can't wait to share mine with you!

Have a great rest of your day!

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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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