I’m tremendously grateful to have been chosen to be a member of Adobe Japan’s Creative Residency Community Fund, which was put together in order to help visual creators throughout 2020. As a participant, I was commissioned to create a piece in honour of Japan’s national holiday 文化の日, or ‘Culture Day’ on 11/03.
As the purpose of the holiday is the promotion of arts, academics and all-around creativity with exhibitions, parades and special school events wherein students can showcase their club activities, I wanted to draw various visual elements representative of Japan that could be recognized and understood internationally. I chose to draw a student proudly showcasing her creative materials, including an Apple Pencil and iPad, which are the main tools I used to create this piece. Just behind her hand is the icon for Adobe Fresco, the app I used to bring this illustration to life.
Because Culture Day occurs in autumn around the time that leaves begin to change colour, and because the Japanese custom of もみじがり or ‘leaf-viewing’ is so prominent, I thought it would be nice to use the visual motif of momiji leaves as another background element tying the whole piece together.
Happy Culture Day, everyone!
