I‘ve been working my way through this illustration and I‘m enjoying the process so much! Painting nature is incredibly relaxing.
And hello to all new members of our little community!...
2019-03-12 19:14:04 +0000 UTC View Post
My first timed edition print is here!
Prints are being sold for a limited time only and will not be reprinted. Only until 15 March, 10 AM EST. STORE
And the interview with Bobby Chiu just went live this morning: 2019-03-11 08:38:44 +0000 UTC View Post
A special shoutout to the awesome folks that hung out with us on yesterday’s livestream! These are so much fun. Just hanging out with other artists and chatting about stuff is probably one of my favourite things in life.
So, if you watched the stream you might have seen me working on this piece. The base colours are done and it’s turning out to be very very Ghibli, which I love!
2019-03-08 15:59:45 +0000 UTC View Post
As a kid, I would always pick up tree branches, put strings on them and “go fishing”. Needless to say, I never caught anything. But still, I had so much fun! Sometimes I miss those days without computers and the internet readily available. I would just have to find ways to keep myself busy with the stuff I had at hand.
Now I rarely get away from my desk. But ironically, nature is still my biggest inspiration. What’s yours? :)
2019-03-07 15:44:48 +0000 UTC View Post
I hope I‘m not spamming, buuut I do have an announcement to make! I‘ll be streaming with my favourite art buddies Kim Myatt, Chantal Horeis and Lorena Lammer this Thursday at 7 PM Berlin time (if you follow the link it will be adjusted for your time zone).
And here is said link: https://youtu.be/l0vwY7Bl074
Please don’t make this public, it’s for patrons only. Because you’re special. ...
2019-03-05 15:17:24 +0000 UTC View Post
I just sent out the rewards for February! They include the layered PSD and step-by-step images etc. for my illustrations "Sunday Afternoon" and "Snowy Nights". Since I finished "The Smell of Rain" in March, I will include it in next month's reward. I hope you have fun picking my .PSD files apart!
Everyone that signed up before the end of February should have a received a private message with their reward OR a message asking them to check their payment option because they've been d...
2019-03-05 10:57:26 +0000 UTC View Post
I‘ll post the rewards first thing tomorrow! I was going to get them out today, but then inspiration struck today and I decided to just go with it.
So this is what I‘ve been drawing today! It’s still a work in progress. I told you before that I’m planning on doing more t-shirt designs this year, so I thought it would be fun to make a tarot mini series with different animals.
This one is The Fool. Things associated with this card are embracing folly, havin...
2019-03-04 16:41:52 +0000 UTC View Post
When I posted this on social media, I got quite few comments saying "I can almost smell/hear the rain" and I thought that was so beautiful! So that's what inspired the title.
This painting went to smoothly because I nailed down the colour scheme and values pretty early on. After that it was just a matter of tightening everything up. I hope you like how this turned out!
It's part of my personal project ...
2019-03-01 11:25:36 +0000 UTC View Post
I’m making more progress on this and I can’t believe that it’s actually turning out the way I imagined it. It so rarely happens!! Ahhh, so exciting!
I’ve been thinking about what kinds of stories I like and I can’t even pin it down to a genre anymore. I think I just need to care about the characters and human relationships. That’s the most essential part for me to get invested in a story. But again, that can be really subjective.
I don’t know if you like hearing me...
2019-02-27 17:26:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello my friends!
I started working on another illustration for Phantasma - my long-term personal project. I don’t work on it all the time but it’s like an old friend I can always come back to. For me, it just feels nice to be able to jump around between different things. It keeps me motivated and engaged. Right now I still have 3 or 4 illustration ideas on the back burner. I hope I don’t ever run out!
Here’s some stuff that happened recently:
I w...
2019-02-26 18:18:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Somehow, I spent 6 hours on this today and managed to finish it. I was not expecting that! And now I‘m completely wiped out. I think I‘ll have to do some kind of a wellness weekend with lots of yoga, meditation and a hot bath.
I‘ve been feeling a bit off balance lately because so many great things have happened, followed by some minor freak-outs. It’s been up and down and up and down and my head is spinning. So yeah, I‘m just going to take some time to rest and find my base l...
2019-02-21 21:06:32 +0000 UTC View Post
As I said in the previous WIP of this piece, I‘ve been into plant care and interior design lately. For my own apartment, I stick to neutral tones (greys, beige, white, black and natural wood). The only colour is the green of my plants. Buuut I felt like this painting called for some warmth and I ended up liking this pink-ish palette. It might change throughout the process, but for now, that’s what I‘m going with.
Also, some cool things that are happening:
I got asked if I ...
2019-02-19 10:13:07 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello my friends,
I‘m excited to announce this interview I did with Dan Ekis. We talk about art and business.
If you‘d like to see my face gradually turn red, check it out: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HWbxyQLhIb4
2019-02-18 09:15:20 +0000 UTC View Post
I started this sketch some time last year, but felt too intimidated to finish it. Back then, I wasn’t confident in drawing backgrounds at all. So I actually started this with a 3D base that I made in Blender. It’s also going to be helpful with the lighting later on!
It’s also fun to incorporate some things that I’ve become more and more interested in lately: interior design and plant care. I threw some of my favourite plants in there that I actually own or would like to have: m...
2019-02-15 22:15:16 +0000 UTC View Post
“Ramen Shop” is just a working title. Do you have a better idea?
I’ve been fighting with this image for 2 days now (the process took longer, but the fighting part only started yesterday). I repainted the lighting a bunch of times and changed the colours around over and over again. Now I’ve been staring at it for so long that I can’t tell whether I like it or not. But I got to a point where I worked out all the things I could and it’s just time to call it finished. I’ll le...
2019-02-14 15:20:36 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello friends,
Maybe you‘ve seen me work on this over the livestream. If not, you can still watch it. Just browse the livestream tab on the left and you’ll find the link.
I‘m pretty happy with the base colours and I‘ll jump into rendering today! I was gonna start on Friday, but didn’t feel so great. So I decided to spend the day on the couch. It was much needed and now I feel rested enough to get back into things.
I hope you like this so far!
-Djamila
2019-02-11 08:50:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello my friends!
I‘ve been working on this drawing for a couple of days now and now the sketch is finally done! I just love these tiny alleys in Japan with their shops and restaurants. Everything looks nice and cozy with flower pots out front. I’ve been wanting to paint something like that for a while.
If everything works out the way I hope I‘ll be tabling at a convention in Japan this year. I can’t wait to visit again. There’s just a ton of stuff I‘d still like to s...
2019-02-06 21:36:58 +0000 UTC View Post
It's time for our semi-monthly Patreon-only Livestream, yay! Lorena, Chantal, Kim and I will be talking about style and consistency. If you have any questions - related or unrelated to the topic - just leave a comment here and we'll address it. :]
This is for patrons only, so please don't share the link publicly.
Link: https://youtu.be/OJejzz4U6A0
Time: Thursday,...
2019-02-05 15:38:25 +0000 UTC View PostI don’t know what’s up with that, but half the charges are still marked as pending. So I’m going to hold off on the rewards until this is fixed. I hope that’s ok! Then I’m going to pick a lucky winner for that tiny painting as well. 😊
But while you’re here, I have some great news! Bobby Chiu asked me for an interview and I’m so honoured and excited. 😱 I’ve been to three Schoolism Live Workshops so far and I’ve loved them all. The atmosphere is ju...
2019-02-04 11:12:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello (my autocorrect keeps changing this to Jello) my friends!
I just finished a new illustration. This is actually the third this month, which means I‘ve been more productive than usual. I’m pretty sure that’s because I have an assistant now to take care of my orders and other administrative tasks. I feel free and light and more creative now that I don’t have to deal with all this stuff anymore. I also outsourced my finances and taxes to a professional. I‘ve been handling a...
2019-01-31 16:16:43 +0000 UTC View Post
I‘ve been super inspired by Hidaeki Hamada‘s photography lately. The colours are so light and fresh and I wanted to incorporate that into my own work.
I‘m so hungry right now, so this is an extremely short post. I‘ll run into the kitchen now and grab some food!
Love you all. 💛
2019-01-25 15:05:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Hey friends!
This is actually not going to stay in a square format. It’s a little wider than that so that it’ll be a nice print.
Anyway, I originally set out to draw a simple scene. Well, this is what it turned into... So I may have failed my mission to keep it simple (as always), but nevertheless, I’m very happy with it. I’m going to colour it with light, fresh tones in anticipation of spring. Around this time of the year I get very tired and grumpy because I just can...
2019-01-24 21:10:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello my friends,
I just did a study to develop my watercolour skills and to find a style that I like. It’s a copy from one of the background paintings in Only Yesterday (1991, Studio Ghibli, directed by Isao Takahata). And I figured since it’s not really mine, I can’t take credit for it or sell it. But nobody‘s stopping me from giving this to one of you as a gift!
So at the beginning of next month, I‘m going to randomly pick a patron and send it to them. 2019-01-22 13:10:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello my friends! This is exciting, I just opened preorders for my 3rd screen printed t-shirt design. It’s the first time I’ve ever made one with two print colours. And on top of that, 2 different colour schemes are available.
Here’s all you need to know:
I spent yesterday drawing this t-shirt design that I‘ve had in mind for quite some time. Maybe you can tell, but I‘m really into yellow right now. And I‘ve always loved ginkgo leaves and fox masks.
What do you think?
2019-01-17 11:49:16 +0000 UTC View Post
A new tarot card! It’s been a while. So, this is the Queen of Wands. The key words were:
I hope all of that comes across. One thing I‘m trying to do is to bring more diversity into my artwork. I‘m definitely guilty of defaulting to white characters and I’m making a conscious effort to break that pattern. But at the same time, this makes me a bit nervous because I want to do ...
2019-01-15 21:03:15 +0000 UTC View Post
It’s YELLOW. So much yellow. I personally really love it, but I don’t see it all that often in artworks. Everyone’s favourite colour is always blue or red or something. Yellow deserves some serious love. 💛
Hello to all the new patrons and to those who have been with me for some time. You are all wonderful.
2019-01-11 14:27:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Hello, hello!
I hope you are well. :) I just finished this sketch for my new tarot card. I haven’t done one in a while because I just couldn’t think of a concept I liked. So I did some other illustrations in the meantime. But finally, this came together and I’m excited about it. While researching and gathering reference, I also got an idea for the Queen of Cups. Can’t wait to tackle that one as well!
But back to this. The Queen of Wands is wholehearted, cheerful and ener...
2019-01-10 15:56:34 +0000 UTC View Post
In my bio it says that “I create illustrations that evoke a sense of wonder and nostalgia” and I feel like it’s especially true for this piece. There’s something so magical about exploring the world when you’re a kid.
I remember loving the snow when I was little. I was running around with this fat onesie that kept me warm and I wasn’t bothered by the cold at all (the cold never bothered me anyway?). But now, when I go out I get annoyed when those mushy watery snowflakes hit...
2019-01-04 12:31:08 +0000 UTC View Post
I just sent out the reward for December! It includes the layered PSD and step-by-step images etc. for my latest artwork "Companions". It features Seth, Leigh and Eiki (the owl) from my personal project Phantasma. The file is super complex and has a ton of layers, so you're in for a treat, haha. But I organised them, so that should be fine. :]
Everyone that signed up before the end of December should have a received a private message with their reward OR a message asking them to ch...
2019-01-04 12:14:57 +0000 UTC View Post