Awaken Dreams – Pen and Ink Illustration (video)

“Awaken Dreams” is a pen and ink illustration that completed the series of ink artworks about following your purpose in life. The first illustration from the series is “Sleeping dreams”. It featured the dreams that humans have and never come to life unless the person is waking up. So, this second painting is expressing precisely that waking up step.

This pen and ink illustration is also a metaphor of the dreams that begin to fly when someone is realizing their own dreams and purpose in life. You might believe that there should be the third step when the dreams fly. However, from my personal experience, when you wake up, you will undoubtedly follow your dreams. What I tried the most in this painting is to make the connection between the girl’s eye and the bird’s eye. And that is because they come from the same pair of eyes. In the process of waking up, both the dreams and the dreamer become conscious of the presence of the other one. That’s why they look at each other in the eye.

This exchange of looks between the girl and the bird is the revelation of the purpose in this pen and ink illustration. The dreamer is now aware that she is a dreamer and she sees her dream, while the dream is aware of its existence, the fact that it’s dreamt and it begins to manifest in reality. In the same way, humans begin to move in new ways when they wake up and understand their purpose in this world.

Awaken dreams is a metaphor for finding your purpose in life. I’d say it’s the precise “Aha!” moment when you realize what is your path in this world.
The black and white is my own personal way of seeing the world. I rarely find shades of grey, because my perception of the world is either white or black, never in-between.

The girl has awakened and so has the birds that are her dreams.

It might sound a bit too intricate, but this is how it feels. This design can also be found on Society6 in my new store. You can get mugs, coasters, pillow cases, tote bags and many more featuring this design. So, yes, I made a leap from metaphysics to the physical world, and we return with our feet on the ground.

Materials to create a pen and ink illustration

• pencil for a quick sketch
• dip pen
• black ink (I use permanent black ink from Winsor and Newton, 250ml)
• A4 paper (I use regular print paper)

Pen and Ink Illustration Video tutorial

You can find the video tutorial for this ink illustraton below. Also, don’t hesitate to subscribe to my Youtube channel because most of the time I am posting first on Youtube and then on my website. So, check my Youtube channel, if you will.

Thank you for reading and watching!
Have a beautiful day like you!