This month has been very productive for my sculpting and felting! I've made significant progress on my first sheep doll and hope to share a completed sculpture in my next update. For now, I would like to discuss some of my visual inspirations for this doll, as well as the other art and graphics I've created based on that inspiration. These works will be featured on my site and in this newsletter alongside the project.

Since the inception of this project, I have known that I wanted to create sculptures that combine clay and wool to form humanoid figures with sheep-like traits. I envisioned these figures resembling humans, with sheep-like elements such as wool around their heads and bodies. As I explored how to design these elements cohesively, I aimed to make the wool appear like clothing. Through experimentation, I began to find overlap with Medieval and Renaissance-inspired fantasy from my youth. With this realization, I found my direction. My dolls are taking on a pseudo-medieval look, which includes wool head coverings, wool undergarments, and hand-sewn clothes over top.

As I began to solidify my designs, I revisited the fantasy media from my youth. I first looked at things like Ever After: A Cinderella Story, Ella Enchanted, and even Shrek. The dewy, glittery looks, paired with the earthy, warm tones that contrasted bright blues, were very inspirational.

Along with the film media of my youth, I reflected on actual Medieval art from my studies in Art History. In college, I focused on two distinct areas: Ancient through Medieval art of the Global West and Japanese visual culture. While they are very different topics, they both informed my direction in this project. My knowledge of Medieval art provides a more obvious and direct connection, whereas my studies in Japanese visual culture influence my work less directly. In 2019, I presented at the Mechademia International Conference on Asian Popular Culture, discussing my research on subverting gender expectations and deconstructing heteronormativity in Shōjo manga through my work titled “Utena and the Power to Revolutionize the World: Reconstructing the Fairytale Through the Deconstruction of Heteronormativity.” I am fascinated by this genre for many reasons, particularly its striking visual aesthetic, which is a stylized reimagination of European knights and princesses. This visual style inspires me and overlaps with the fantasy media from my youth.

Throughout this creative process, I collected reference images on Pinterest.

New Logo!

For years, I’ve tried to find a medium, direction, and project that allowed me to create art that felt personal and deeply rooted in my identity. With my current projects, I feel like I’ve found that groove. So, I set out to create a new logo that matches my current work.

In 2020, the original art I was creating was focused on supernatural subjects and themes. My first logo suited those themes well but was also specific to that genre of work and didn’t align with anything I’d explore outside of it. By 2023, most of my work had shifted to fan art for East Asian boys’ love, making that original logo no longer fitting. So, I designed a new logo that was meant to be simple and not limit the tone of my work to just one genre. I drew inspiration from other artists’ logos that resembled a signature stamp. While this logo achieved its intended goals, I never felt particularly connected to it.

My creative projects are now centered around identity and multimedia art. With this body of work adopting a developing, pseudo-medieval aesthetic, I wanted a logo that aligned with that style. To maintain simplicity, I envisioned this new logo as just the first letter of my name, embracing this new artistic direction.

Inspired by the works I studied in college, I sought inspiration from illuminated manuscripts. These texts often feature a single, large, heavily ornamented letter at the beginning of a passage. While each letter appears unique and tailored to its specific narrative and illustrator, there are identifiable visual tropes that can be recognized across different works.

To create my own letter design, I examined the general shapes and structures of the letters I found, identifying common forms that resonated with me. Once I had a clear idea of what I wanted, I drafted my letter, and the process felt almost effortless; it only took one sketch to finalize my design. I incorporated my favorite elements and added a tiny twinkling star as a nod to some features I plan to include in my dolls. I then imported that sketch into Illustrator, quickly built the vector for my new logo, and it was complete.

I’m really happy with this logo. It embodies the simplicity that I was looking for and reflects the style and personality of my work, as well as the new direction I’m pursuing. In addition to this logo, I created several accents and assets for my website and newsletter. These include the unicorn at the top of this email and the swords and curtains featured on my site.