Yuumei

Flower Buns and Issues with Patreon's Messaging system

I needed a break between all the emails, charity sale, and art book stuff so I did a fun speed paint, and what's more fun than flowers for hair? :D

In other news, there has been some issues with Patreon's messaging system that makes it completely impossible for me to reply to messages here. Basically I send out thousands of messages every month with the download link for the rewards. Recently the messaging system made my inbox explode with copies messages I sent you and every...

Envision

~Envision~

2020 has been a rough year for everyone. From Covid to the endless wildfires that turned the sky red, sometimes it can feel overwhelming and hopeless. But don't give up, we can envision a better future, and we can bring that vision to life.

For this Thanksgiving, I will be hosting my annual charity art sale to raise money for the environment. Last year we raised $14k in donations and this year MSI will DOUBLE any money we raise! That means if we can raise $15k this year...

Rain it Out

I've been super busy prepping for the Thanksgiving charity sale that's coming up. It's been nothing but mind numbing logistic work of ordering packaging, restocking inventory, etc so I wanted to just let my mind go blank and paint with the flow.

But despite all the work, I'm super excited for this year's charity sale. On top of the usual 10% off and free mystery prints, we'll also be doing raffle giveaways of 6 big mystery prizes that'll be revealed soon! As well as a special sponsor wi...

Terrarium Life - Plants and More Plants

Finally finished all 6 of my Terrarium Life series~

I first started this series when Covid lockdown happened and everyone had to quarantine. It made me think about all the things we can enjoy by ourselves and how to focus on our self care and mental health. Be it reading books, cuddling with your pet, drinking tea, or tending to plants, take some time each day and treat yourself well <

I'll be adding stickers and postcards sets of this series and other new products to my shop f...

Terrarium Life 6 WIP

Finally going to the finish the last of the terrarium life series :D When I first started this during the beginning of the pandemic, I didn't think it would still be going on at the end of the year. But at least vaccines are coming soon and in the mean time we can all use a little more self care in quarantine :)

Wishing Tree

Painted something different this time :) The days are getting colder and the holiday seasons are getting closer. I'll be hosting my annual charity sale again starting Black Friday, I hope everyone will support the charity sale this year too!

Suspire

Last of the 6 part series inspired by the recent CA wildfires. After 3 months, the fires are still burning and the air quality fluctuates depending on the wind direction. I'm so tired of all this and just want to breathe without checking the AQI warnings everyday. 

This piece will be included in the October rewards to be sent on the the 5th :)

Rebreathe

No. 5 of my 6 part series inspired by the CA wildfires. Even though the smoke has cleared we're still getting red flag warnings all the time due to extreme fire danger from high winds. It's exhausting to live on the edge like this.

Inhale

The smoke is finally cleared from my part of California but the images of that time remains in my mind. I wonder what next year and all the years after will be like if we don't work together to stop climate change from getting even worse than now.

This is part 4 of my 6 part series inspired by the recent wildfires. You can see the last 2 and some other new art on my Discord https://discord.gg/j2vP6rQ where I post new art...

New painting and wip for Fisheye Placebo

Continuing the series. 2 days ago another fire started near us, and even though the sky remained blue, ashes rained down and everything smelled like smoke. I wonder how much longer this will continue, and I'm definitely not looking forward to the coming years as climate change worsens :/

Sketch version of the painting:

In other news I've been working on the next ch...

continuing the mask series inspired by the recent wildfires

The air around here finally cleared up in the last few days (though got a little worse again today, sigh...) In those precious few days I spent as much time outside as possible and just breathing the fresh air. It's hard to believe how dystopian it was and makes me fear for the worst as climate change continues :(

I'll likely continue this series for a few more paintings. The past few weeks of utter misery was at least a lot of inspiration. 

Below is a screencap of the wip :)...

Lofi Cali Girl

 Lofi Cali Girl - beats to relax/study to during the climate change apocalypse.

I saw the Lofi Girl meme floating around about all the different countries and thought about making one for California where I live, and well...

The 2 photos are taken by my SO of the sky outside our house. That contrast between inside and outside is crazy!

2020-09-09 17:42:41 +0000 UTC View Post

WIP

Over a week ago a dry lightning storm struck my part of California which is something we've never seen before. It caused an unprecedented amount of wildfires that has covered the entire area in smoke. It's been so hard to breathe and I'm just dreaming of the days when I can go outside again. 

This is no doubt all exacerbated by climate change, and the fires in turn will accelerate climate change in a downward spiral. I'm guessing this is something we'll be experiencing a lot more i...

WIP and I went to the doctor about my hand

Hey everyone! So much has happened where do I begin?

I finally got an appointment with an orthopedic and he diagnosed me with Trigger Finger. The good news is that after so much rest, the lump is smaller and barely hurts now, so I can go back to drawing more. 

The bad news is that there is no real cure for this, just long term management methods such as icing my hand after each drawing session to reduce inflammation. And if the lump gets bigger and painful again, I can get st...

Chasing Dreams

Finally had some time to paint between all craziness with the kickstarter :D

This one is inspired by all the beautiful timelapses in this video

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oagszCmJLpU 

Thank you all who voted on the art book stretch goals. The 2 winners are definitely dust jacket and more book pages by a wide stretch. I'll be discussing the options with my book print...

Next Kickstarter Art Book Stretch Goal?

Thanks to everyone's unbelievable support, we reached all 3 stretch goals in 24 hours! That means everyone who backed a book will also get a free bookmark, 4 stickers, and 6 postcards!  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yuumei/sanctuary-the-art-book-of-yuumei 

I never imagined this much support and didn't even think of a 4th or 5th stretch goal. Please let me...

Art Book Kickstarter is LIVE!!!

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yuumei/sanctuary-the-art-book-of-yuumei  

It's finally here! :D This campaign includes lots of bonus rewards such as exclusive prints, bookmarks, and more! Check them out!

2020-08-10 16:50:16 +0000 UTC View Post

Art Book Kickstart Prelaunch! :D

My art book just got approved by Kickstarter! It's currently in pre-launch mode, but you can follow it to get the get notified of when it officially begins in probably a day or 2 :)  

 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/yuumei/sanctuary-the-art-book-of-yuumei 

Finished the Kickstarter Video

Sorry I've been mia with the updates. It's taken forever due to my extreme camera shyness, but I've finally finished making the Kickstarter video. I just need to add a few more details to the campaign and it'll be ready for launch! :D

Thank you all who voted on the signature vs stamp poll. Since the results were about 50/50 across my various social media, I've decided to offer a limited amount for both :) And special thanks to everyone who was concerned for my hand. I'm hoping to go to...

Artbook Kickstarter: Signature or Stamp?

Here's a sneak peek of my upcoming artbook: Sanctuary, featuring a decade of my paintings from 2010 to 2019. It will be on Kickstarter soon, and one of the options will be to have the book signed or stamped. Which option would you prefer? Let me know in the comments!    

2020-07-20 21:07:11 +0000 UTC View Post

Townscaper paintover 3

This will be the last #Townscaper paintover for a while, because I'll be busy preparing my Kickstarter for my first ever art book :D More updates on that coming soon!

And thank you for all who gave me suggestions on what to include in the Kickstarter. I've made a list of everything and will be looking into which ones can be done :) 

2020-07-20 21:00:52 +0000 UTC View Post

More from Townscaper

Another paintover from @OskSta's #TownScaper game :D  Everything you can build in the game is just so cute and magical, makes me want to go on a fantastical journey 

Here's the original screenshot from the town I built in this game :D 

2020-07-08 18:09:23 +0000 UTC View Post

TownScaper Paint over

TownScaper, like the name, it's a game that let's you create cute towns. It's so fun and relaxing, fellow artists and gamers should def check it out. It's a great tool to design European styled citizen with an organic flow, and in my case, it saves my hand a lot of pain from drawing from scratch. Beyond that it's just so fun to play around in.

This is what the original game looked like :)

Fade to Light

Finally got to paint again :D I've been using the same technique as last time with a soft clay between my palm to prevent my hand from hurting as much. 

This painting is inspired by all the cool photos of light pillars. There are so many amazing natural phenomenons, sometimes I can hardly believe they're real.

In other news, while my hand has been impaired, I spent all the time I couldn't draw on lots of other exciting stuff that will be released soon. I'll be releasing my ...

Terrarium Life 4 - Books and Stars

More from the Terrarium Life series :D Books and plants and hanging stars, these days I just want to be a child again.

I had hoped to finish these much sooner but it sucks to be forced to slow down due to my hand pain. Though I've been trying out a new technique that might help. The lump in my palm hurts most when my fingers are closed while holding a pen, so I've put a soft clay in my fist to prevent my fingers from fully closing. So far so good, if this works out long term I might...

Reflected in the Stars

First time painting since I found that painful lump in my hand. It's not hurting much anymore, except for random spurts of what my doctor thinks is radiant pain. Hopefully Covid19 will be more manageable in a month or two and I'll be able to go into a hospital to get things fixed. 

In the mean time I decided to paint all things on my bucket list. I've always dreamed of seeing the aurora and bio-luminescent algae. They look like stars in the ocean mimicking what's above. 

Tea and Lotus

Continuing the "Terrarium" series~ One of the things that's been helping me during quarantine is tending to my aquarium and trying out new teas. What's been helping you lately? 

In other news, the lump in my hand is still there but I'm going to slowly get back into drawing. Hopefully as more things are opened again, I'll be able to go to the hospital and get surgery. In the mean time, new art post will be slow Q_Q

Thank you all for supporting during a time like this. I'll be ...

Drawing all the things I miss

Last year this time I would be going to the annual Cherry Blossom Festival in SF, but that and everything else has been canceled due to the pandemic. I've been missing all the street food and flowers, so I dug up some old photos from Japan and painted over it. It helps during that bad times to remember the good times.

Speaking of bad times, I recently noticed a painful lump at the ...

Continuing the terrarium series

I'm thinking of making a series of 6 images showing all the things we can do while in quarantine :) What other activity or container should I draw? :D

Start With Love

The Coronavirus pandemic has been a challenge that our generation has never faced before. In light of so much uncertainty and isolation, feelings of fear and loneliness is everywhere. But we are not alone, and despite these challenges, we can find small victories in our daily lives, in doing what we love, and sharing that love with everyone else.   

Start your day with love. Be it love for art, music, dance, books, yoga, gardening, anything that makes you happy. Unleash your c...