From the Sketchbook

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I don't often draw men, in any form of illustration. There's just something less intuitive about their build than female faces and figures. However, a certainly anon has been very generous with her time and efforts in drawing for everyone else, so I felt it only appropriate to try to draw her request. It would probably benefit me to practice male proportions more often.

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Raspberry Boom

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A+ and I planted a few small raspberry plants at the back of our garden plot the very first year we had it, in hopes that they would eventually grow and fruit. I don't remember them producing very much the last couple of years, but that would make sense because the plants hadn't had time to mature yet. However, this year we did expect to get some raspberries, and were a bit disappointed when they did not bear any ripened fruit in what should have been their first fruiting cycle. In fact, we wondered a bit whether the raspberry plants were somehow ill, and would need to be replaced (something I hope we won't have to do).

Although we did miss the first fruiting cycle, they seem to be doing much better for the second fruiting cycle, and producing anywhere between a half a pint to almost a full pint every couple of days. I'm glad to see them actually producing fruit, although we may still need to replace them if we can't figure out why they didn't fruit earlier this summer.

But for now, I will just enjoy the raspberries and be glad that we have as many as we do.

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Welcome to the Wandering Willow

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Greetings, lovely person! Thank you so much for visiting The Wandering Willow. This is my new home on the internet, where I blog about things in my life that inspire me, or that I do or create. Because I have a wide range of interests, my blog will likely reflect this, covering everything from fashion to music to crafts to japanese culture (traditional and pop). I hope you can find something here that strikes a chord in you, and that you will stay and share bits and pieces of my life with me.

As I begin a new chapter of my life, I've decided to do some reorganization in terms of my online activities. Thus, building my new home here.

Because I have been blogging in some form or another for a rather long time by now, I feel like it would be both sad and disingenuous to simply erase those parts of my internet life. It is very much still a part of me and made me who I am today, and I am more than happy to continue to share it with others. What this means is that the posts on this blog from long before this message are in a way "legacy" posts, an amalgamation of all the blogs I have kept until now.

Feel free to ignore them, or to enjoy them. Perhaps you can get something out of them still, or at the least they may provide some entertainment on a slow day.

In any case, please pour yourself a cup of tea (or tasty beverage of choice), put your feet up, and enjoy your time here!

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Woodland Fairytale

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Once upon a time, there was a beautiful woodland area...











I did these illustrations for my final project in the figure drawing for fashion illustration class I took at SAIC this quarter. The prompt was to draw a set of 5 figures and demonstrate perspective, texture, and pattern in the clothing. My initial inspiration was based on mori girl fashion, particularly with neutral and pastel colors and layers galore, hence the woodland setting. However, as I was sketching, the aesthetic that emerged in the end was less neutrals and light layers, but somewhat more structured and with more vivid colors. To me they feel like real-life versions of what characters in a fairytale might wear, and I went with that in the final versions. I wanted to introduce some variety and force myself to draw male figures as well as female, so I chose to do 2 men's looks, 2 women's looks, and 1 child look.

All drawings in this set were done using Copic pens and markers on marker paper.

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From the Sketchbook

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There is something particularly charming about drawing cute pictures for people requesting characters that they have a strong connection with. Of course, as with any situation, you might run into less than courteous characters, but for the most part, I really enjoy doing these types of requests. It also serves as a nice space in which I can experiment a little bit with different drawing styles and just generally practice making art in a more relaxed setting.

Recently, I've decided to try a sort of "quick-sketch" style. Partly for increased speed. And also because I really love the soft coloring style, and wanted to find a way to do it myself. Nice solid rendering is nice, but there's something about soft colors that just really makes my heart do flips.

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And Then There Was Snow

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~ Trees and bushes dressed in their winter's finest of plush snow-furs and cloaks of white. ~

I always enjoy wintery scenes where all the greenery is covered in a fresh coat of fluffy white snow, making them look particularly round and cuddly. I'm sure it's not great for the plants to be weighed down so much, but I have to admit I find it very beautiful.

With winter also comes warm, comforting drinks in cozy corners. I myself am always partial to some hot chocolate with whipped cream on top. Or a hot cup of tea, but that's weird with whipped cream. It's nice to sit in a little cafe, alone or with a friend, and just enjoy the quiet moment of contemplating the steam rising up in front of you.

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University Ballet of Chicago Presents: Raymonda

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For the first show of our 2015 - 2016 season, University Ballet of Chicago Presents Raymonda!

It is the height of the Fifth Crusade. War threatens to keep Crusader Knight Jean de Brienne and his beloved, Raymonda, apart. The arrival of an enigmatic foreigner jeopardizes Raymonda’s happiness--forever. Set to Alexander Glazunov’s brilliant score and adapted from Marius Petipa’s legendary choreography, witness the valiant triumph of devotion over deceit in the Holy War.

I myself danced two roles in this show: as an emissary featured in the Grand Pas Hongrois, and also as one of the maidens in the Valse Provençale. The Grand Pas is indeed one of my favorite ballet scenes, and the music is so very beautiful, so I was very exited to have the opportunity to perform it!

Much of the costuming was very frantic and last-minute, but we managed to pull it together in the end! Here is the outfit for the Valse maidens.





For the Grand Pas, I spent the last couple of days before the show making the sparkle fabric overlays for the tutus, as well as the matching armbands and fan-shaped headpieces for all of the women.










I had fun dancing, the show came together just in time, and I had lots of friends and family come see me! Also, best partner ever ^_^

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Just Drawing Some Manatee~isms

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I found out about the LINE Webtoon Challenge League contest, and decided to try to make something to submit, even though the deadline was super close. You can read the first five episodes of "Manatee~isms" here! If you like cute manatees doing funny things, you might like it?

I'd very much like to continue drawing cute manatee (or other animal) cartoons in this vein, although I think it is something that will take considerable more time planning storyboards before I can consistently produce them in the future.

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Finding the Ocarina of Time

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I've always felt like wind instruments have a certain old-fashioned charm to them that fills my yearning for woodland and fairy beauty. Ocarinas especially capture my imagination, with their airy almost ethereal sound and their unusual rustic-looking shapes. Of course, now you can get ocarinas in all sorts of interesting and modern designs, but I think I still associate them most strongly with mostly round and gourd-like forms.



I have had my ocarina for a while, but never really spent enough time learning to play it beyond just fiddling around once in a blue moon. I finally decided to buy a couple of simple songbooks for it so I can more easily get comfortable playing actual songs, instead of just twittering around blindly. I'm especially enjoying the "Anime" one because it turns out to exclusively contain songs from Studio Ghibli films, which I adore.

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From the Sketchbook

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Now that the hatsumode collage is done, I delivered it, and returned to a more normal routine of drawing requests. I tried out a new lineart technique on this one and I think I might try to do it more. It has thinner lines than I've been doing previously. It at least works better for nice flowy hair of the style I like.

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