BREAKING FREE

9 months have passed since my last blog post, WOW. I mean, does time seem to move faster the more you age? Haha anyway, this place looks like it's dead so let's dust it off a little. So what have I been doing these past 9 months? Let's see...I did my first solo trip in October last year to Hangzhou, China, and then in December we have Singapore Comic Con. During Chinese New Year in February 2026, I went to Guangzhou (China again) with my family. In March, I attended the ever crazy Megacon Orlando in Florida, and then my first ever European show - FACTS Comic Con in Brussels in April. Right after that at the end of May, we have Hong Kong's first Comic Con! Whoa looking back, it makes total sense that I feel like not much time has passed, as I haven't really had the chance to sit down and take a breath. Alright before we dive in, I'm sure you are here for the art so let's start with that. New work!

The Destined One | The Great Sage from Black Myth : Wukong

If you've been following me, you know I love Black Myth Wukong (I went to Hangzhou to visit their flagship offline retail store!). And I did a series of ink wash practices at the end of 2024, drawing several bosses from the game, but not The Destined One himself.

Because y'know, when you love something too much, you start to get afraid of drawing it. That's what happened here, I wanted to draw my absolute best version of him, and that resulted in over-thinking and fear in failing to achieve that vision, which resulted in the lack of courage to even start drawing. It all happened in the mind, which is crazy. Anyway, this piece finally happened because a fellow art collector friend commissioned me to draw him (Thank you!). Without overthinking, I started sketching cuz I already had a clear vision of how I wanted to portray him (after all the mind battle...). I was supposed to deliver the piece at Megacon, but halfway through drawing it, the demon in my mind came back and basically whispered in my ear :

"aRe yOu sUrE ThIs iS GoOd eNoUgH tHoUgH?"

And what happened next? You bet, I put down my brush, and I didn't finish it in time to deliver it in person at the show. It stuck at this stage for 5 more months, just sitting there, looking at me, and me looking at him. The Great Sage is judging me. And I'm judging myself (..am I the destined one? pfft). So I went off and did some other stuff. I went to Europe and came back, still couldnt pick up that damn brush, and then I went to Hong Kong and back, and I said okay. It's now or never. If it sucks, it sucks. So be it. And thus a brush was picked, some ink was washed. The Great Sage was born. And guess what? I managed to finish it in just a day and a half, and I freakin love how it turned out. Goes to show sometimes it's not as bad as you think huh?

My InArt 1/6 scale The Destined One action figure serves as a great reference for his delicate armor details.

Anyway, I hope you all love it as much as I do. On the other hand, I want to take this chance to also share some pieces of the Destined One/ the Monkey King, drawn by fellow masters in the art circle that also inspired me while I was working on mine. For some reasons, I cant add caption to credit the artists below the images, so from left to right :

Yao Zhi (姚治) | Tan Eng Huat | Artgerm | Liu Dong Zi (刘冬子)

Feel free to also click on their name which will link you to their amazing gallery. Thanks for inspiring me, fellow senseis!!!

Of course, not to forget the legendary Monkey King by the GOAT himself Katsuya Terada. A great chance for me to flip through his masterpiece and immerse myself into the journey. The world is moving so fast these days, and it’s in times like this that I have the strongest feeling to slow down, to read a book, or to take my time admiring a comic page, panel by panel, stroke by stroke. Then call it a beautiful day. Feel free to try it out, you might love it!

西游奇伝大猿王 (The Monkey King) Vol 1 & 2 by Katsuya Terada

NEW COVERS

Of course, new comic covers! Joining the hype of the Absolute series DC is cooking, I'm proud to present ABSOLUTE BATMAN #22, a 5-part connecting exclusives done for DC and PSA Comics, and will be available in the upcoming San Diego Comic Con at PSA's booth #4237. $129 per set limited to only 1000 copies so for those going to SDCC, dont miss out! Featuring Absolute Batman with Absolute Robins, together with their very cool giant mech overlooking the city of Gotham.

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And then this one is newly revealed in Image Comic's September 2026 solicitations, my new Spawn cover! Featuring Raven Spawn for SPAWN #379, coming out September 30th, 2026. Always grateful to Todd McFarlane Production for having me, I can never get tired drawing some Spawn goodness so I hope you all love it!

Also, I just realized this makes my 10th Spawn cover! I hope I dont disappoint my fellow Spawn fans, after all this is one of the most iconic antihero ever created. And let's hope I continue to draw more characters in the Spawn Universe. That's it for this round, and till next time. Thanks for reading as always!

Kael.