Charles (2021)
This piece was created as a birthday gift for a close friend. I wanted to make something meaningful and leaned into a more comic-inspired, pop art direction — using a grain brush in Procreate to give it an old-school poster texture. I filled the composition with visual elements that were essentially inside jokes between us: a goldfish, a lollipop, honey drips, and monstera leaves. All of it was framed by a pastel, splashy background to keep the surreal energy light and playful.
The goal was to make something chaotic yet cohesive, full of movement, layers, and personal symbolism, a piece that felt custom to our shared sense of humor and his love for surrealist aesthetics.
Reflections & Areas of Improvement
The lollipop gets cut off awkwardly; in hindsight, it would’ve been more balanced if fully drawn or better integrated into the composition.
I could have spent more time adjusting the spatial rhythm between the visual elements.
