Create More Kawaii!

This could be my New Year’s Resolution but then again it is part of my many resolutions. So thought I’d share it here, some kawaii art journaling! It all started with a postcard that happened to be in my box of goodies I had ordered online from a Dutch art supplies shop called Splendith. “Create the things that you wish existed”, it says. What a cool item to have in my journal, I thought…

The Start

Opened my Strathmore art journal sketchbook and began sketching away on a two page spread. First thing that came to mind was “bunny bears”, a combination of bunnies and bears, something I indeed wish that existed. So away I sketched. Then I thought other characters should come to play, including Hello Kitty and…. Little One of course! How could we forget? And so I went for “… More Kawaii!” about creating things I wish existed and take it on from there. And there is the postcard, placing it where I was planning to glue it on later.

A Little Change

I began painting the background with some pearlescent Dale and Rowney Acrylic Inks in yellow green, green and turquoise then changed my mind about the big bunny and decided Little One should be in the limelight as she’s my muse. I felt bad not having thought about her from the beginning, I’m so sorry! That wasn’t difficult to rectify though. Then I proceeded in coloring in the letters with Holbein’s Acryla Gouache in iridescent purple and pink. Once the background paint was dry, I carefully but firmly glued the postcard with some Mod Podge before securing it with a pair of Hello Kitty tape strip which came as a freebie when I was shopping in Japan years ago. Great to make some good use of it!

Show Goes On

And time to paint our kawaii friends! Little One now has wings as well as bunny ears. The ultimate kawaii! Her face was firstly painted with Neocolor II watersoluble oil pastel in Salmon, then the hair was firstly drawn in with two shades of brown Faber Castell’s Pitt Artist’s pens before being filled in with brown Neocolor. Then the dress and ears were colored in with Holbein’s Acryla gouache in fluorescent red, the same shade as the hearts in the background. I then painted the wings in titanium white, and liking the transparent finish, left it as is but scribbled some marks with the end of a cocktail stick for interesting texture. The bunnies in the background were filled in with Acryla Gouache in lavender. And then the Hello Kitty by the Christmas Tree was glued on! This is actually a tag from one of the plushies which I have and decided to make use of. How cool is that!

Finishing Off

And more kawaii added as I glued on some flowery wrapping tissue and stuck on some teddy bear cutouts (craft punch and origami paper) and Hello Kitty stickers! The bunny on the left hand side was painted over in the iridescent purple to create some composition balance by matching with the letters on top. The same applied with the heart on the wing but in the same pink as the letters. Little One’s eyes were then filled in with dark brown Molotow acrylic marker with the lashes traced over with glitter glue (not too visible in the photo unfortunately). Then the whites of the eyes with white Molotow marker, which was also applied for the dots on her dress and bunny ears. Finally some bling was incorporated with white Stickles glitter gel on the wings, along with some pink and silver glitter glue on parts of the letters and the bunny’s eyes, respectively. Et voilà!

And what a fun session this was! Since I have tons of Hello Kitty and other cute stickers and washi tapes as well as tags from toys, it is always great to make some use of them and create some art with them. This kind of art journaling is a great break from solely painting and drawing whilst being able to express what’s in my mind. And of course I love creating kawaii but would love to create even more!