Self portrait 2017

Self portrait in 2017.

I’ve been posting my art online for 10 years now, starting with Deviantart. I dug through all of my art accounts to assemble this collection of self-portraits posted since then.

10 years of self portraits

Materials use range from ink to pastels to watercolor to digital art. I realized this is probably not a good representation of my art in general, but interesting nonetheless. Looking at it, there’s isn’t a clear sense of progression or pattern. If anything, the styles and materials chosen were a product of the circumstances e.g. access to drawing tablet => more digital art, or more free time => more art.

  • 2003-2007: I was learning how to draw, very inspired by the Japanese manga style.
  • 2007: Still very manga-inspired. Started digital art. Lots of dodging and burning in Phototshop. Graduated secondary school and wanted to go to art school. All I did in my free time was draw.
  • 2008: Got into marker pens. Learned Matlab from my dad and decided to major in Computer Science.
  • 2009: Did a lot more mixed media and digital art.
  • 2010: Colored pencils and Artist Trading Cards (ATC) phase. ATCs are baseball card-sized pieces of art that you trade with other artists worldwide.
  • 2011: Started doing vector art and graphic design part-time on campus for GUTS.
  • 2012: Polished up on digital art. Got better at Photoshop and Illustrator.
  • 2013: This was a really good year for art. Got pretty good at using the tablet at work to create vector art. Experimented with self-referential comics. All the outfits drawn, I actually wore. Graduated college.
  • 2014: Lost a lot of momentum when I started working full time at a job I did not love.
  • 2015 - 2016: I did very little art during this time. Somehow, this makes me really sad. In a way I stopped being an important part of who I used to be.
  • 2017: I’m making a comeback. Inktober 2017 has been a good start.

<3