This one was an exercise in fighting myself.

SF Chinatown, loose style, ink and watercolor. The goal was to let go of the neatness, to sketch messy and not fix it. And I did that, technically. But it didn't feel good.

Loose, sketchy watercolor is a style I genuinely struggle with. When I see other people do it, it looks effortless and alive. The squiggly lines feel intentional, the imprecision feels like a choice. I look at theirs and think, that's so cool. Then I look at mine and all I see is the mistakes. The weird squiggles. The lines that didn't go where I wanted. The places where it just looks... off.

That's the imposter syndrome part, I think. It's not that the style is bad, it's that I can't see my own version of it clearly yet. Someone else's loose sketch reads as confident. Mine reads as wrong, even when it might actually be the same thing.

I'm indifferent about how this one turned out. Not proud of it, not upset about it either. Just sort of holding it at arm's length, still figuring out what I think. And maybe that's okay. Not every piece has to feel like a win. Sometimes you're just documenting where you are, and right now, this style and I are still working things out.

The red lanterns are nice though.