This post features 3 pencil drawings of Leiting, Qiuye, and Mingzhu — an exploration of the art style for Spirit Animals in Disguise, and a return to drawing on paper.
Leiting
I drew this Leiting when I was waiting for my bicycle to be repaired. It went quite smoothly perhaps because I had some ideas beforehand. Compared to the previous design, I gave this Leiting a more stylized look: simplified details, cartoonish proportions and rounded shapes, making her puffy and lively, a better fit for storytelling.
Qiuye
I drew this Qiuye using restaurant waits. It took multiple sessions in 3 different days to finish. Here I challenged myself to capture Qiuye’s shy expression instead of the standard smile. A darker tone was added to provide some rhythm to the composition.
Mingzhu
For this Mingzhu pencil drawing, I laid down a quick framework before bedtime, and finished it in a coffee shop. I tried to highlight Mingzhu’s love of food, not just some static or context-free poses.
The Paper-free Period
Before digital painting, my primary tools were pencil and paper. I always struggled with a drawing tablets, perhaps because I wasn’t looking at my pen tip, or due to a lack of skill. Even after switching to digital, I would sketch on paper first, then scan and ink/color in software.
But those pencil sketches were extremely loose. I rarely gave them any refinement, assuming they would be inked digitally anyway, so the extra effort seemed pointless. I think this mindset eroded my control, planning and overall compositional awareness.
Starting in 2012, during a long creative low period, I so dissatisfied with my pencil sketches that I abandoned the approach entirely in favor of a pen display. I told myself it streamlined my workflow — now fully digital, no scanning or cleanup needed — though part of me was definitely running from deeper issues.
From then until the end of 2025, I never drew on a paper except a few gift small cards for friends, which found extremely difficult to do.
Picking up Pencil and Paper Again
So why did I pick up pencil and paper again?
First, in October 2025, I rediscovered my old pencil sketches. Many of which weren’t as bad as I remembered, and some even had a raw energy which my digital art lacks. That rekindled my interest in drawing on paper.
Second, I noticed declining reasoning and self-control — I struggled to recall how to write some Chinese characters and often doom-scrolled during free time. I suspected over-reliance on digital tools might have eroded skills that I had “outsourced” for convenience.
So starting December 2025, I committed to doing more tasks manually. Drawing on paper was part of the effort.
The start was rough. After years of neglect, sitting down with analog tools felt painful; sometimes it took me minutes to make a single stroke. But with persistence, a new habit formed — and now I can finish a drawing in an hour or two.
Before the three drawings in this post, I had already completed four: two gifts for friends, one WIP FOSS mascot, and one I’m not satisfied with, so I won’t share them just yet.
Onward
I’ll likely keep drawing on paper as a daily routine and share them in batches with a certain theme.
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