guweiz

OIA Wrap-up!

Added 2025-06-03 04:03:09 +0000 UTC

The event is finally done and dusted! I've had the best time speaking to everyone who came and liked my work - given it's Osaka (as compared to Tokyo) and at a ticketed venue, there were surprisingly many people who knew me and had come! It's at these times that I both feel a sense of happiness, but also anxiety about needing to get even better. (It's mostly great though!)

My favorite part, aside from being able to talk to some of you guys, has to be the behind the scenes stuff. It's really cool to see how the logistics of 100+ booths all get moved through the cargo entrance along with people. Not to mention the putting up of the wall frames and paintings themselves with a bit of a time limit to boot! There's this really mechanical and practical aspect to it that I just find intriguing. Of course, I also enjoyed looking at my own works up on the wall a little :)

The least favorite part has to be the aches and pains that come from standing so much all the time... And the awkwardness of not knowing whether to actively approach someone who seems to be enjoying looking at a work! There was certainly a lot to learn for me - like how to manage your own body language and positioning in the booth, and so on! I'm still aching and tired but I don't regret at all participating in this.

I just want to say thank you again for being so supportive all this time. I always feel a certain guilt for spending time on participating in events and projects that don't involved just drawing more of the usual work that everyone really enjoys (and that I also love so much), when I know many of you are looking forward to just seeing more of it. This time was a little bit of an exception as I had no regrets in really pushing myself to achieve a higher level of detail with a slightly different objective, and it seems that you guys did appreciate my efforts. But regardless, I'm very much looking forward to being completely free!

After next week's exhibition in Tokyo, I will be well and truly be back in my basement mode, or some might say, the best mode :)

p.s. somehow there are some random messy food pics in there