From tomorrow the Year of the Dragon begins—it is my year (just think the next Year of the Dragon will be when I turn 36, omg), so I hope that it is a very good one. I forgot how coveted a dragon baby is, how much luck they supposedly bring. After all, a dragon trumps all the other animals, really. Which isn’t exactly fair. At dinner tonight, watching SBS’ report on Hong Kongers having to move to the mainland to have babies this year, my dad was like “yeah, right, you bring me luck.” Heh, tough love to the end, as always.

In honour of my zodiac, I worked on an illustration for several hours in my down time last week, which eventually turned into a wallpaper. Today, I edited it from its original finish on deviantART to include freehand Chinese calligraphy, instead of the dodgy digital, and frankly lazy, rendition I tried. How can you possibly emulate the delicate stroke movement on the computer? I was daft to even try.

I’m trying to improve my illustration skills and work more frequently on CorelDraw 12, because it’s such a powerful tool, with an abundance of brush choices.

The wallpaper’s at HD quality (2260 x 1600 px, which can be scaled down if need be). Free for personal use only!

Have a great new lunar year! 恭喜发财，万事如意，身体健康，平平安安！

Some detail images:

I’ve also included some of my process work:

Funnily enough I experimented on several sheets before picking the first two characters I started with. You can never quite recapture that energy from the first try; I think my other creative counterparts can agree. I’m no pro at Western calligraphy let alone Chinese, but I like how the latter can afford me some freedom with gestural strokes.