Stuff People Say at My Art Booth (That I Secretly Love)

People say wild things to artists at markets.

If you’ve ever sold at a convention, a craft fair, or Pike Place Market, you already know: the artist booth is less “retail space” and more “emotional confessional meets art museum gift shop with fewer boundaries.”

And honestly? I live for it.

Here’s a lovingly chaotic list of things I hear all the time - and why they secretly make my little artist heart melt (or at least giggle).

My art booth at Pike Place Market 2025! Every item you see on the table was hauled in and set up by yours truly - powered by a truly unreasonable amount of caffeine.

“Did you draw all of this??”

(I hear this at least five times a day.)

The short answer is: yes. The long answer is: I designed it, drew it, painted it, printed it, trimmed it, signed it, and set it up on this booth that I also lugged in at 8am while caffeinated and emotionally vulnerable.

But I get it. It’s not sarcasm - it’s awe. People don’t expect handmade work anymore. So when they ask, wide-eyed, I reply, “Yup! I made it all,” and smile like I didn’t just cry over sticker alignment last night.

I made all of the signage in this photo the night before the event wooooo~

“This reminds me of [insert oddly specific childhood memory]”

This one hits deep. Sometimes people look at my work and their whole face changes - like they just got punched in the nostalgia. They’ll say stuff like:

“This looks like that little place my grandma used to take me in Taiwan.”

or

“This feels like when I used to play outside after dinner and the streetlights were just turning on.”

I don’t care if you buy anything. That is the compliment. Thank you for sharing your childhood memories next to my sticker rack. I’ll be thinking about it for weeks.

Someone saw this and said, “it looks like a sweet fighting game level” and I’m pretty on board with that

“My daughter would LOVE this.”


Listen, I have never met your daughter, but I already believe she is:

• cooler than me,

• has impeccable taste,

• and deserves one of everything.

The number of moms, aunts, and grandmas who light up when they imagine gifting my art? 10/10 serotonin. Give them a coupon code. Put them in the newsletter. They are my people now.

This lovely customer bought an original mermaid papercraft for her daughter!!

“I don’t know what I’m looking at, but it’s very pretty.”

This is usually said by someone’s confused uncle who was dragged to the market against his will. I cherish this man. He has no idea what he is in for. He finds this kind of market overwhelming. But he saw something colorful, wandered in, and now he’s nodding politely with vague admiration. Beautiful. Thank you, sir.

A stylized plein air of West Seattle as viewed from the Seattle Waterfront. Someone said to me, “I can feel the wind” and I felt very accomplished!

“Can I just say: your booth setup is GORGEOUS.”

YES YOU CAN. PLEASE DO.

I spent hours designing this layout - grid walls, risers, print bins, signage, magnetic lights, the whole beautifully chaotic puzzle. And yes, I set it up and break it down every single day like a traveling art goblin with commitment issues. I own twelve lights, four shelves, and a personal vendetta against bad presentation. Complimenting my booth setup is like complimenting a dragon on her hoard. I will remember you forever.

My husband and I at my 2025 Pike Place Market booth - in a tiny 6-foot space! The “sale window” is just big enough for our heads!

“I could never do what you do.”

Honestly? You probably could. But you don’t have to because I’m doing it. And it means a lot when people recognize the labor, heart, and chaos behind every piece of art on the table.

Even if you just stopped by to look - thank you. Even if you only bought a single sticker - thank you. Even if you just said something weird and walked away without making eye contact - weirdly, still thank you.

Markets are wild. But people are kinda wonderful.

P.S.

If you have said any of the above to me recently, please know I am smiling at you through the screen right now. You are the reason I love selling in person, even when my feet are melting into the pavement and I’ve eaten a single Piroshky and nothing else that day.

You’re part of my story now, and I hope something you saw at my table stays with you, the same way your words stayed with me. ❤️

Source: https://www.wendichen.com/blog

Photoshop Brushes + Digital Painting Tutorial: Dragon Summon

Finally got around to posting my first full digital painting tutorial on this blog, hope you’ll find it helpful!

BRUSH SET (.ABR) | WORKING FILE (.PSD)

Step 1: Loose Compositional Sketch

Thumbnailing is probably the most crucial step to creating a quality finished illustration, so don't skimp on the blueprint stage! During this step, I try to devise a compelling concept and composition. In this composition, the entire body of the dragon serves as a guide for the viewer's eye movement—starting from the foreground and meandering between the rocks before ending at the character / focal point. A carefully thought-out composition will make your illustration easy to read while reinforcing the story.

The story behind this image is that a blind but determined girl has summoned a mighty, all-seeing dragon who lends her its eyes, but for a hefty price. It’s a personal story that I’ve been working on in some form or another for a while!

I keep my sketches very loose and representational, focusing on the composition and design

Tip: Use Guides to Improve Your Composition

This is one of the oldest tricks in the book, yet many artists forget to utilize compositional guides in their work. These are especially helpful if you’re stuck wrestling with a boring or busy composition! If I feel something is off about my composition, I'll often overlay a Rule of Thirds or Golden Spiral guide over the image and adjust elements to match the guide. (Note: Click the links to download the aforementioned guides.) 

Blocking out the composition using the “rule of thirds”

Step 2: Color Blocking

This is the step where I can more or less predict if my illustration is going to come together since I've already put plenty of thought into the overall color design of the piece during the planning phase. I decided to make the dominant colors in this illustration teal and yellow - a basic analogous color scheme that's easy on the eyes. 

Thoughtful color design can be used to draw the viewer's eye and simplify an illustration. Keeping things simple is key!

teal and yellow: a simple analogous color scheme

Step 3: Block in Light/Shadows to Establish a Light Source

Lighting and color can be used to great effect in any illustration to add atmosphere, establish focal points, and improve readability. For this piece, I went with a direct light source from the top-right (painted with a light yellow on “overlay” mode), which allowed me to create interesting high-contrast shapes where the sunlight hits. Taking special care to stylize your light/shadow shapes will give your piece a lovely sense of dimension and contrast.

One of my favorite examples of high-contrast, stylized lighting design is the opening credits of Kung Fu Panda, which I’ve found myself rewatching time and time again for inspiration. 

Painting in the light source immediately adds a sense of dimension to the piece

Step 4: Textures & Details

Now it’s time to fine-tune your illustration with textures and details. I added a hand-painted scale pattern on the foreground portion of the dragon’s body, which helped give the body a sense of scale, direction, and realism. Next, I painted a bunch more foliage all over the piece, which also served to balance out the composition. I started painting in some ground cover and foliage with the tree on the left and also blocked in a simple mountainous background.

Adding details, textures, and scales on the dragon

Note how the plant on the lower right and the tree in the top left help balance out the composition

Step 5: Apply High-Contrast Lighting

I find this step to be the most fun - it’s so satisfying to light up your illustration! The key is not to go overboard with applying those little sparks of light since it can get pretty addicting! In a previous version of this piece, nearly all of the leaves were glowing, in a pretty but dumb way that made no sense. I eventually settled on applying the most high-contrast highlights on the dragon itself, since it makes sense that a giant golden dragon would glint in the sunlight.

The final illustration!

If you’ve found this tutorial helpful in some way, please let me know and I’ll try to make more in the future! Thank you for reading, and happy painting!

 

Game Development Life Cycle: A Three-Part Tragedy / Comedy

Author’s Note: I originally meant for this piece to be a comedic “Shakespearean Tragedy” spoof, but the more I showed it to people who’ve worked on AAA game development teams, the more I would hear sad/relatable sighs from these poor souls. So at this point, I’m going to call this piece 95% reality and 5% exaggeration for comedic effect. I hope you all don’t find it to be too relatable!

workspace_workhard.jpg

Act I: Game Announcement

INT. DAY. The setting is in a stylish yet sterile tech company meeting room. Likely located in Downtown Seattle, or Bellevue, maybe Redmond. Everyone is bright-eyed and optimistic—for now.

MANAGEMENT: This game is going to have EVERYTHING. Riveting online battles filled with intricate strategies. An engrossing and branching story mode. Beautiful and cutting-edge graphics. The world is our oyster.

ART: Here is a bundle of previsualization art! It is meant for internal review only, but—

MANAGEMENT: Let's jump the gun and show this to the Internet!

ART: Ah, bullocks.

GAME DESIGN: Comrades, I come bearing many new game features! Behold, the first one is a sweet and delightful side quest that unlocks after the main character triggers her first weapons upgrade!

ART: I have sketched many concepts for the main character's special buster sword/rifle/lighter/boyfriend.

GAME DESIGN: [hardly containable] I have just thought of 13094091 more features we should add.

ENGINEERING: Those all sound nice, but we need to seriously pare down the scope of this project if we want to have something playable in the near future.

GAME DESIGN: I reduced my must-have list to 5 main features!

ENGINEERING: Oh, marvelous! Thank you for compromising.

GAME DESIGN: The 5 main features contain 13094091 subfeatures!

ENGINEERING: Okay, but do you see how that's exactly the same thing as before—

MANAGEMENT: Let's jump the gun AGAIN and show this to the Internet!

ENGINEERING: MOTHERF—

MARKETING: HEY EVERYONE WE JUST ANNOUNCED A TENTATIVE RELEASE DATE!

ENGINEERING: [muttering, while coding furiously] I'm just going to stop talking now, it's not like anyone listens to an effing word I say anyway—

QA TESTERS: Everything is broken. We are sorry.

ENGINEERING: [impassively] Thank you for the bug reports. Thank you for the 8194729 new Jira Tasks.

[END SCENE]

ACT II: It’s Still Not Out, We Don’t Know What It Is

MANAGEMENT: The Public has been losing faith in our project ever since we delayed our game for the third time. What say ye, knaves?

MARKETING: [forcefully] The Public still believes, I am sure of it. We announced a NEW RELEASE DATE at PAX West. We showed them a new Trailer! We even gave them a Vertical Slice!

ENGINEERING: 80% of that Vertical Slice won't make it into the final game. At this point, the Trailer is false advertising.

ART: Aye, the Trailer that I toiled upon for many a night, with nothing but the soft glow of my Cintiq to illuminate my darkened alcove. What does sunlight feel like, I wonder? What do the birds sound like this time of year?

ENGINEERING: [looking up towards the sky] We will never know; such luxuries are for free men.

MANAGEMENT: OH HEY, we decided to change everything about this game fundamentally. It's a MOBA now.

MARKETING: But... but does The Public even WANT that? We showed them a Battle Royale, what will we tell them now? An updated RELEASE DATE, at the very least?

ENGINEERING: Any RELEASE DATE we give will be willful deceit. [sighing deeply] Do you not see the truth, my sweet summer child?

ART: My friend, we are not in Beta.

QA TESTERS: We are technically still in Pre-Alpha.

MARKETING: [eyes widen] Y-You mean to say...

ART: [solemnly] There is no RELEASE DATE.

QA TESTERS: [stoically] There will never be a RELEASE DATE.

ENGINEERING: We. Are. In. DEVELOPMENT HELL.

MARKETING: [resignedly, brokenly] We are in DEVELOPMENT HELL.

[END SCENE]

ACT III: Endless Crunch Mode

MANAGEMENT: So uh, we're switching to a different game engine. [pauses] Also, there are free donuts in the break room.

ENGINEERING: [falls to the ground] I... I feel faint.

ART: I have mentally prepared for this day. I will repurpose, resize, and reexport all 291450 art assets. 'Tis a dull, thankless task—I must have done something in a past life to deserve it.

ENGINEERING: [weakly] My spirit is crushed, and my body is failing.

ART: You ought to rest, my friend. And mayhaps, consume a liquid that is not Red Bull.

ENGINEERING: I definitely need to consume another Red Bull.

GAME DESIGN: Comrades, this could well be a blessing in disguise! A fresh start, a new beginning! I can beget many new features now that we have a more powerful game engine—

ENGINEERING: NO.

GAME DESIGN: B-but—

ENGINEERING: NO NEW FEATURES.

GAME DESIGN: I bring you nothing then. This shall be a featureless game. :c

ENGINEERING: Good.

——————

QA TESTERS: Here is a level bug. Here is a logic error. Here is a graphics glitch, and—

EVERYBODY: HERE IS MY RESIGNATION.

[END SCENE]