How Umeboshi Was Made

He’s such a cutie!

Make it stand out

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story can make all the difference.

Umeboshi was first drawn on 14th July 2020.

It was a few months into lockdown in London, I won’t rehash all that in detail but the long and short of it was that I was very bored and I couldn’t go to art classes. The classes that I did online didn’t feel like I learned anything from them and I wasn’t able to grasp any information from them so I was looking for a new way to do art. I did the pandemic purchase, I got some HIMI gouache paints, and I got charcoals and other art supplies but nothing kept me interested for long until I remembered that I had an old iPad Pro. All I needed was the Apple Pencil.

Especially because I had already purchased a lot of other art supplies that I wasn’t using I was worried about spending money on something I might not keep my attention for long.

Thank goodness I did.

I drew a little blob and gave it big cute eyes and a mouth. I was excited to have a character that I could tell stories with because almost all the content that kept me sane in lockdown was all the comics I saw on Instagram. They were a great break from everything else that was going on and I wanted to be a part of creating content online which was a nice break from the news and anything else stressful.

I started a new Instagram page and starter to create comics. Umeboshi is very much like me, a little forgetful, optimistic and radiates joy whenever possible.

Once I had made a couple of comics with Umeboshi, I wanted to make some more complex comics about life. If I was going to do that then I needed to learn how to draw people. I went to life drawing classes and eventually got a little more confident with drawing people (see the collection of those here).

Umeboshi has a few more sushi friends and even though I am able to do more with my art, I’ll keep making more comics starring Umeboshi. Volumes 1 and 2 are out, and volume 3 coming soon.