Mini Cards - The Harvest

We're planning for a range of mini cards now. I remember how I used to collect Pass-It-On® cards and loved to give them to my friends with a handwritten note behind. They were inexpensive and fit nicely into the wallet, and could double up as mini greeting cards as well as gift tags.

Most of the Pass-It-On® cards were friendship or encouragement themed, and were very meaningful. There are many verses in the Bible and quotes by Godly men and women along those lines. As I was designing this card, I wondered if many people would be attracted to the verse on it. After all, it is not really friendship-themed, and it is more for the Christian than the unbeliever. I decided that the design and colour would have to make up for that.

For this card, the verse was chosen after the concept. The inspiration was more an exercise of composition and colour to start with - A thin strip of blue sky at the top contrasting with rich yellow wheat fields at the bottom. Kako provides the point of interest as a farmer with his woven hat and sickle. I later added the clouds to break up the flat blue sky and put in more texture with a wheat brush I created in Photoshop. I originally wanted to include a bundle of wheat in the distance on the left, but in the end felt that it was unnecessary. The vast wheat field contrasted with a single labourer would communicate the message more effectively without the bundle of wheat.

The Fruit of the Spirit

Many years ago I drew a cartoon representation of the fruit of the Spirit as described in Galatians 5:22-23 and printed it on T-shirts for my friends and myself. I don't think I can find the soft copy anymore, but more recently I re-drew the passage using the 2 hamsters Robinson and Kako.

I had different ideas for this. One of those ideas was to do a calendar of the Fruit of the Spirit, and to use different scenes from Bible narratives to illustrate each aspect of the fruit. However we decided not to produce calendars in the end, and chose to do stickers instead.

The challenge was to condense each aspect of the Spirit's fruit into one single illustration. Many Bible concepts are very abstract and challenging to portray visually. How does one illustrate "holiness"? Or "goodness" and "faithfulness" for that matter? After much thought, I finally decided how to illustrate them. Some of the ideas are taken from the original illustration I did many years ago, while others are from Bible passages. Hope you enjoy them :)


P.S. I managed to find the earlier Fruit of the Spirit illustration. Apparently I did do a backup! Here it is:

Evangelistic Namecard

The namecard printers I use offer double-sided colour printing at the same cost as one-sided colour printing. I thought it would be a good idea to utilize the back of the card to share the Gospel, hence this design. It still needs work, but I think you get the idea ;)

That I May Save Some

This comic was done for the International Christian Comics Competition 2 a couple of years ago. I found out about the competition rather late and had to finish it within a week. The theme had to do with evangelism or discipleship, so I decided to do a Gospel comic from the perspective of a street evangelist to 1) encourage those who faithfully go out to share the Gospel on the streets, and 2) to present the Gospel to those who need to hear it.

Walking on Water

This illustration was done for Wen's World's 2008 Calendar, which was on the theme of the Word of God. Each of the 13 months featured one aspect of God's Word. This illustration was done to illustrate the faith-giving aspect of God's Word.

For my calendars, I like to take a verse from the Bible and accompany it with a picture (sometimes a scene from the Bible) that is often not directly related to that verse. The verse used with this illustration was Romans 10:17, which says, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (ESV).

I figured that a well known Bible scene where faith is clearly shown is the time where Peter walked on water. We often use that passage to teach about a faith that keeps its eye focused on the Lord Christ, and that looking at our surroundings will bring doubt, which will only make us sink. Too often we forget one important point: Peter was the only man in the Bible to walk on water (with the exception of Jesus, of course)! So for this illustration, I chose to focus on that.

I wondered how Peter might have felt walking on water. He was so anxious to get to Jesus. Did he gingerly step out of the boat and test the water first? The Bible seems to suggest that the impossibility of walking on water did not even cross his mind until he was already out of the boat. He did not notice the fierce winds until he had already (and likely unwittingly) taken a few steps. It seems plausible that he jumped out of the boat and was happily running over the waves before he realised that what he was doing was humanly impossible.

Faith, of course, is not blind or presumptuous. It is always based on God's Word. Peter could walk on water because he acted on Jesus' command to do so.

The verse and devotional text that were published with this picture are reproduced below:

The Faith-Giving Word

So faith comes from hearing,
and hearing through the word of Christ.
( Rom 10:17, ESV)

The Bible tells us that God’s Word is
the source of faith. Without His Word,
we would not know what to believe in,
and our faith would rest on nothing but
man’s imagination and fantasy. Man
does not often have the power to uphold
and prove his word, but God’s Word
has omnipotence behind it. That is why
when we hear His Word and put our
trust in it, miracles can happen.

Pictures and text are © Copyright Pix Artz Pte Ltd March 2009

Change of Seasons

This was the first design of my first batch of A5 notebooks. My retailers had been suggesting that I produce larger A5 notebooks for a while, and I thought doing a series on the 5 books of wisdom would be a great idea. However at that point in time, I only had inspiration to do designs for the books of Ecclesiastes, Psalms and Job. This design is based on Ecclesiastes 3:1. It was the most popular design among the 3 that were produced at that time.

People have asked me how come it is snowing in autumn. It's actually supposed to be the end of autumn when winter is approaching. The leaves on the trees (some of which appear rather green) are just artistic license.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us that there is a time and place for everything. Take a good thing out of its proper time and place, and it may very well lose its beauty. Everything, the Bible says, is beautiful in its time. The verse does not say, "in His time," but, "in its time." Snow is beautiful in winter, but is hardly appropriate in summer. There is order to God's creation, and everything is beautiful and to be enjoyed in its proper context.

As God's creation, we best enjoy life when lived within the order that He has ordained. When we go against that order, that is when we hurt ourselves and others. For example, sex is good and blessed within marriage, but is sinful and hurtful outside of it. Even in life, timing is everything. A good investment made at the wrong time can result in tremendous loss. And a good businessperson observes trends and plans how to ride on them to make maximum profit, much like how a good farmer observes the seasons and his land and weather and takes measures to reap maximum harvest.

How then do we know when to do what, and when is the best time for anything? Frankly nobody knows. Nobody, that is, except God, in whose hands is the future. That is why it is so important to "wait for Him". Not just wait on Him, but wait for Him. It is then and only then we are assured of His blessings and empowerment for the task He has called us to.

Pictures and text are © Copyright Pix Artz Pte Ltd February 2009

Back to the Drawing Board!

Hi! Welcome to Wen's World Christian Comics' art blog!

I decided to set up a blog to share some of the art works you may have seen on our stationery and website, and even some that have not been published.

A lot of work and thought go into the creation of a piece of artwork, which is not always obvious to the viewer. Sometimes the Lord teaches lessons through the creation of our illustrations as well.

As an artist, I always appreciate it when other artists explain their work. It gives me more insight to the processes and richness of each work of art. And I hope this blog will do the same for you.

So it's back to the drawing board! See you there!