Whiff - Wordless Picture Book

2022

Ongoing

Digital painting with chalk texture and batik-inspired style and motifs, of the young girl lying back and floating atop a colorful scent cloud, smelling a sprig of curry leaves. The scent cloud encicles the title 'Whiff', written in cursive golden letters

This is a wordless picture book series that I am working on in an experimental style that combines chalk-textured representaional rendering with batik lines and motifs. The story celebrates the fragrance and flavour of Southeast Asian cuisine and the herbs and spices used in it, along with the warmth of family evoked through food.

5 spreads from this book have been submitted to the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2023 Illustrator's Exhibition and Nami Concours 2023, while the finished book will be submitted to the 2023 Silent Book Contest.

Artworks

Digital painting with chalk texture and batik-inspired style and motifs, of the young girl and her family gathered around a dining table in anticipation of a delicious dinner. The young girl is hugging her grandmother, who is wearing a dark blue cottom dress with white circular batik motifs. Her father has his arms on his hips, head lifted up as he sniffs and avours the delicious scent of food, while her mother is leaning forward on the table, also deeply breathing the scent in. The cat is sitting on the chair on the far left side of the scene, paws on the table and also delighting in the scent of the food. On the wooden dining table there is a pot of curry, a plate of blue-pea-colored agar agar jelly, a plate of pohpiah springrolls, a jug of lemongrass drink, and a stack of bowls and some chopsticks beside them. There are some potted plants (ferns and palms) in the background

Digital painting with chalk texture and batik-inspired style and motifs, of a sequence of spot illustrations, against a background of dark blue with wavy textures and white circular batik motifs. In the first illustration a young girl with short, curly hair, some tied in a tuft above her head, is floating, following a cloud of scent, with arms outstretched as a white cat with a brown tail wearing a red harness comes bounding up joyfully towards her. In the second illustration, the girl kneels down in an embrace with the cat, while the scent cloud snakes around them, leading to the third illustration, where her mother and father also join in with the hug. The cat is a bit squeezed and uncomfortable.

Digital painting with chalk texture and batik-inspired style and motifs, of a young girl with short curly hair, some tied up in a tuft on her head, floating behind bushes of blue pea flowers, following a scent cloud originating from the kitchen of her house where her grandma is cooking curry. Her mother, father, and their pet cat are standing at the front porch looking worried.

Digital painting with chalk texture and batik-inspired style and motifs, of a dreamy, whimsical scene where a young girl with short curly hair, some tied in a tuft above her head, in a pale blue dress with a white sailor color, is floating and following a scent cloud that stretches across the page. Below her curry leaves, fruiting and flowering, are swaying, while a pot of curry and curry paste in a mortar and pestle float above the scent cloud, against a dark blue background of circular batik motifs.

Digital painting with chalk texture and batik-inspired style and motifs, of a close-up scene of a young girl with short curly hair, some tied up in a tuft on her head, rubbing tears off her face as a colorful scent cloud drifts pass her nose.

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Whiff - Wordless Picture Book

Artworks

Jun Qi - Storytelling & Illustration ©2022