Like other drawing enthusiasts heavily influenced by Japanese manga, I have been dreaming of becoming a manga artist for years. With all the love and hate stories, the only tools I’d ever had were pencils. As a school kid, I doodled on textbooks and exam papers, designed figures with personalities, costumed my characters, and armed them. I spent most of my middle school time creating women’s faces and immersed myself in the story of my own weaving. I didn’t color faces, nor did I draw bodies often. I had no color medium and knew nothing about body movements. I stopped drawing after high school and gave up my dream.
Time flies. I’m growing up and have learned; I got jobs and have earned. In the past few years, I rediscovered my drawing passion and was able to buy high-end coloring supplies. The painting above is my very first colored full-body figure. I designed her face, eyes, hair, and posture. Then I masked her and applied two layers of watercolor for the background with one layer of wet-on-wet and the other layer of wet-on-dry with salt. I erased the dried masking fluid and colored her skin and the dress at last. She’s gorgeous and inspirational and will encourage me to achieve my manga art dream.