Finding My Voice
Back in September 2023, encouraged by my first professional illustration work for a brand, I found myself flipping through illustrations from the archives.
I was embarrassed. Mixed drawing styles, lacklustre colour palettes, and overall inconsistency.
Determined, I went on a journey to find my illustrative style.
I first started by defining the rules. I must:
Use analog
My tools of choice were: an A5 notebook, posca markers,and inksDraw daily
No excuses.
And so, my journey began.
It started off well, but I spent too long trying to make each page perfect.
30 minutes. Sometimes more.
By day 13, I was falling apart.
Dissatisfied. Embarrassed.
Ugh.
I almost quit.
Instead, I went back to basics—composition, layout, balance.
A foundation I could both lean on and, hopefully, break.
The foundations sparked inspiration.
A theme emerged.
Within 15 minutes, I had 24 ideas—enough to carry me through the days ahead.
Enough to enjoy the practice again.
Things were going well. I could finish a page in 15 minutes. It felt light.
Then the holidays came. I was travelling.
Uh oh.
To keep the momentum, I pared it all back to just my notebook and two black markers.
Just enough to keep showing up.
Simply using black forced me to use it wisely, to communicate what mattered.
But I quickly learned that linework alone wasn’t enough. I couldn’t express light, mood, or emotion.
By the end of the trip, I was craving my colours.
When I finally had my Posca markers back, I went a little overboard. Day 68 was not my best work.
But something had shifted.
After being away from colour, I started using it differently.
With more intention in the silhouette.
More depth in the work.
It became bold.
After 188 days of daily drawings, I found it.
A style I could call my own.
