I’ve been focusing on reading from my little library for the picture book project this month. I have a terrible habit of collecting beautiful books but only occasionally reading into them. Many of these books have been with me for years, as I moved from London to Berlin, and from Berlin back to London. Now is the perfect time to explore my library and organise my thoughts for the project.
As mentioned in the May letter, I'm developing an existing work into a picture book. I'm unsure whether to keep the original structure or push it a bit more. I've gained new insights from the natural world and believe they can connect with the story, just still figuring out how!
Reading has been helpful in clarifying my ideas. My main challenge at the moment is the text. Over the years, I've become more selective with words. I turned to image-making due to the limitations of language in conveying subtlety. Images help me reflect and capture the nuances of life, time, and emotions. I feel at ease using visual language and have been relying on it for years. But don't get me wrong, words are still a convenient tool, and I still scribble or try to write something from time to time. However, commissioned projects bring a different level of seriousness and self-doubt creeps in. Even so, I need to put it aside for now and start drawing and designing the draft.
In other news:
I was recently interviewed by Cornelia Funke's website! It's available in English, German, and Spanish; just click the buttons at the top right to switch languages.
The animation I've been talking about during the past months was released yesterday! It's a TED-Ed lesson called The Secret Behind How Chinese Characters Work, by Gina Marie Elia, with music and sound design by Zing Audio and animation by me. I tried something new in my animating process, particularly for the first minute of the video, and will share this in a separate post in the future.
I’m so happy to have this chance to share the beauty of Chinese characters. As you'll see in the video, the character 木 (mù), meaning wood or tree, is a pictogram. I’d like to share more — when this character is duplicated, it becomes 林 (lín), which means a grove or woodland; triplicated it creates 森 (sēn), meaning densely forested, as you can tell visually. And five 木 characters naturally form the word 森林 (sēnlín), which refers to a forest. Isn't this beautiful?
I recommend watching it in 1440p or 2160p resolution for a better experience. I hope you enjoy it and feel free to share your thoughts with me!
Lastly~ sharing some June fragments to close this letter.
I was dog-sitting for my sister for a week. Her name’s BaLa, which means guava in Taiwanese. She's a lovely four-year-old doggo who effortlessly garners compliments from strangers by just doing nothing. Isn’t it a great life being a dog?
Sadly BaLa and DonDon didn’t become friends within that week, but they reached a mutual understanding to keep a safe distance and (occasionally) coexist in the same room.
Though I already miss her and her adorable round eyes, I'm relieved from the daily walks and random encounters with human and canine strangers. I'm happily returning to my normal routine and finishing this letter from the cosy comfort of my work pyjamas with DonDon on my lap 😌
Yesterday marked the summer solstice. I hope you're enjoying the start of a new season and that it’s sunny wherever you are. Get out there and soak up some rays! Take care 🌼
這個月為了正在發展的繪本我主要在看書。我有一個喜歡買書卻不見得會讀的壞習慣，很多書已經陪著我好幾年了，跟著我從倫敦搬到柏林，再從柏林搬回倫敦。現在正好可以從翻閱這些收藏來整理我的想法。
這個繪本是從一個現有的作品發展的，我還沒決定是否保持當時創作它的結構或再進一步發展它，所以兩個方式都在嘗試。因為對自然有了新的想法和感受，覺得它們好像能帶進故事裡，只是需要時間梳理出那個聯繫。
然而最大的挑戰是文本。這幾年在選用詞彙時我變得越來越小心翼翼。透過圖像創作是因為感受文字語言在溝通表達上的局限性和赤裸感。圖像反而幫助我反思並捕捉生活、時間和情感裡的細微差別。幾年下來我已經習慣使用視覺語言也覺得比文字來得自在。
話雖如此文字仍然是一種方便的工具，我還是會時不時地寫寫字記記事。然而委託案讓看待這件事變得嚴肅起來，讓自我懷疑跟著蔓延開來。不過還是得暫時把現有的放一邊，等把畫稿也擬出來之後再說吧。
一些其他的更新：
近期與Cornelia Funke網站的訪談這個月初出來了！在頁面右上角可以切換英語、德語和西班牙語。
過去幾個月一直在提到的動畫也在這個星期釋出了！是為TED的教育頻道創作的，該集名稱是The Secret Behind How Chinese Characters Work，由Gina Marie Elia撰寫，Zing Audio提供音樂和聲音設計，我負責動畫製作。我在裡頭嘗試了一些新東西，能看得出來嗎？之後有時間會再獨立出來分享。
很開心有這個機會能為中文創作，以英文的方式去看待自己的母語也很有趣。影片簡單介紹了中文的系統和演變，讓我想起我們書寫的是多麼美好的語言—「木」可以獨為木、組成林、合為森，而五個木理所當然的成為了一片森林。
影片建議以1440p或2160p的解析度觀看，因為我的風格在1080p有時會被壓縮。希望你喜歡，歡迎和我分享你的想法！
最後用一些六月的片段來結尾。
這個月替姐姐照顧了一個星期的拔辣，是一隻可愛的四歲的狗勾。光是這禮拜就讓我覺得當狗真好，連躺著好事都會自己來。她甚麼都不用做，就能在每天兩次的散步途中收到許多陌生人的讚美。很遺憾拔辣咚咚並沒有成為朋友，但有達成共識保持距離並（偶爾）共存在同一房間。
不過可愛歸可愛，我很開心已經不用每天帶狗出門散兩次步，還有和陌生的人和狗的隨機社交。回到我的日常，穿著工作睡衣給把這個月的信完成，少不了腿上窩著黏人的咚咚 😌
昨天的夏至開始了新的季節，希望你在的地方也陽光明媚。出門曬曬太陽吧，下個月見！
Loved learning more about you and your process in the interview on Cornelia Funke's website! I LOVED her books when I was younger.
Congrats on such an incredible animation! Your work is so tender and beautiful and lends so well to bringing the origin of Chinese characters to life.