Art & Inspiration letters from NIGHTEͶ (Nathan Guilhot)
My personal magazine documenting my creative journey :)
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Hi there Reader :)
I feel like I'm saying it every other week haha, but this week has been very busy. First thing because I started a new job! Therefore I had very little time to draw, but I still have plenty of things to talk about and inspo to share 🙂↕️
But before that, since this is the first issue of the month, it means it’s time for our little monthly giveaway!
If you’re subscribed to the newsletter, you have a chance to win a free print of your choice, and I'll contact the selected person today. So double-check your inbox at the end of the day, in case you have an extra email from me 👍
It’s a small thank you for following along and supporting my art. I really appreciate having you here :D
What I’ve been up to and what’s coming this weekend :)
Alright, I have a lot of scattered thoughts and new things in my life that I wanted to share with you! And that’s because they will affect this newsletter going forward.
First off, as I announced last week, I started a new job! Nothing related to art, but this took a lot of attention and energy as you can imagine -- the onboarding and first few days in any role are always the hardest.
Illustrated here: me in a conference room setting up my work laptop
But even knowing this, I can’t help but be frustrated by how little I was able to draw recently, not only this week but also in the last few month. Is it me being too harsh on myself? Probably haha, I think if you’ve been reading this newsletter for some time you’ve picked up on it 😄
The job itself is very different from what I’m used to, but in an interesting way! I think I’ll like it here :D
Plus they have a real espresso machine in the office 😄
Back to art, this week I’ve only been able to continue the sketch for the tram illustration we started a few weeks ago. I tried to do it on iPad, but I’m still far from fully used to the surface and the tools in procreate, so I think I’ll switch back to the laptop for the ink :)
There was a ton of perspective mistakes to fix!
Thankfully, once I get used to my new job I (hopefully) should be able to be back to baseline pretty soon as I adapt to this new rhythm! In the meantime thanks a lot for your patience 🙇♂️
In other news, this weekend I’ve also been helping my fiancee put together her art diploma :)
She’s making paper cutout from illustration she made for her own illustrated book; that’s an awesome project I’ll give you a proper look at pretty soon I promise!
But in the meantime, we are both preparing for Ryucon, one of the biggest anime convention in Poland!
This will take place in Tauron Arena, Krakow, from Friday to Sunday; 3 days total, but thankfully I’ll be with friends so it should be manageable!
This is where her illustrated book will officially debut, and I will be there as well to sell my prints and keychains :)
If you’re passing by please feel free to stop and say hi!
I failed my Youtube challenge… but that’s not gonna stop me!
That’s right! Something terrible happened! Well, okay, maybe it’s not that dramatic, but still quite a bummer after all this time.
If you’re unsure about what I’m talking about, almost 2 months ago I started publishing a video on youtube every single day. My goal is to improve how I speak, while at the same time sharing some life lessons I’ve gathered along the way!
I was going strong, but lately I didn’t had as much free time to film, and my buffer was running dry; until one day I completely ran out of time and couldn’t post anything on time!
So that’s how after a 54 days streak I finally broke my upload schedule! But that’s not the end of the challenge for me! And I’m telling all about it in this video I filmed the day after :)
Actually, part of the reason why my buffer of video was running low is because this was intentional: I wanted to be closer to what I’m posting, be more spontaneous instead of filming something that will be posted a week or two ago after I forgot about it.
All of that to say, I feel like my recent videos while imperfect and a bit fuzzy at time, are much more honest and true than some of my previous ones. I’m slowly learning what works best for me!
Here are the other videos that were posted this week:
Super relevant for today! I filmed this right after my first day of work, so it’s a bit messy at time, but I’m super happy about how this video turned out, I got down to the core of what I want to bring to the world with this channel :)
Here is a crash course on how I’m able to come up with ideas for videos every single day; and a passionate rant about why learning is so cool :)
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If you’re interested to see these videos as they come out, feel free to subscribe on Youtube or PeerTube :)
The romantic art of Seizō Watase 🌸
A few weeks ago I shared with you the art by Kawase Hasui, a japanese woodprint artist; and you guys seemed to really really love it :)
So I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to share one of my big inspiration, this time a contemporary Japanese artist: Seizō Watase!
I’ve learn about his work a few years ago with this video on Heart Cocktail, a romance manga and later an anime he created; it’s really niche outside of Japan, so if you’re like me and like old school Japanese media I really recommend this video by kenny lauderdale:
The show is pretty silly and sweet, but what really pulled me into is work was his illustration; and as you can tell, they are also very very silly and sweet.
While still very Japanese coded, I’m sure you noticed his very unique art style, especially for the lines. He’s taking direct inspiration from europeans comics such as Herge, Mobius and the “ligne claire” in general. Honestly, I wonder what led Seizō Watase to this style.
As you can see it's a lot of silly people going on dates haha
If my memory is correct Herge and other comic artist had to clearly separate each colors with a clear line not only by choice, but because it was important for the coloring process to work.
But does Seizō Watase has the same constraints? I didn’t find anything that suggest this, so he probably just really love this style 😄
And as you can imagine, I do too! My art doesn’t follow all the rules of the ligne claire, but that’s the style I grew up with and a big influence on my taste :) And seeing this artist unique take on it was like love at first sight!
Every time I flip through his illustrations (and there is a lot of them!), I have this warm happy feeling and I can’t help but smile. I hope you are also enjoying it! :D
To conclude, here is a short episode of one of the Heart Cocktail series; it’s untranslated, but the music and the art are truly stunning ☺️
Alright, thank you for reading today's issue of my art newsletter :) Hopefully this week I'll find more time and energy to make art! Once again don't forget to check your inbox for any extra emails!
And if you are in Krakow this weekend for Ryucon please let me know via email, I would love to chat in person :D
I wish you a great rest of your week!
Take care, - Nighten
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