Chinese Zodiac Signs - Series

The Chinese Zodiac Sign series is a personal project, I’ve chose to work on this as Chinese art and especially ink drawings are highly inspiring to me. The symbolism and details in East Asian Art always fascinated me and I tried to pay attention to how pattern and contrast was giving power to the shape through this more, experimental pieces. However I chose to add my own footprint if you will, details that would reflect my personal touch as well, such as the white eyes and the under eye bags, the quite angered expressions which make the animals even more expressive and powerful looking. I think they capture the beauty of old traditional attention to details but also have a spin on the way energy and movement is used, to create more surreal visuals.
The creative process to me is quite abstract in a sense, I take my pen and I just start drawing or sketching. I’ve been asked many times while working on projects, what are you drawing? I never know what to answer. It could me a bird or a tree or a bird that ends up being a home to a family of gremlins. Illustration and art shouldn’t be very well thought, because exactly through this more experimental and ‘accidental’ marks or details you spill a little bit of sincerity, a little bit of yourself. That’s what I think, makes art relatable and evokes certain thoughts in the viewer. You didn’t mean to be anything therefore you were yourself, sending a more honest message. I’m always grateful for the opportunity of moving something within someone, even though it feels quite revealing on my part.