When I started preparing for the Dutch naturalization exams, I realized how much scattered information there was online.

So, I decided to bring everything together — my experience, the textbooks I used, what helped me most, and what I wish I had known earlier.

Recently, I’ve been diving into colored pencil techniques — and it’s been surprisingly dynamic.

All of these (except the coffee cup ☕) were created using tutorials from a book called "Real Color Pencils" by Makami Shie. The book is clear, inspiring, and makes learning feel exciting rather than rigid. Every page feels like progress you can actually see.

In 2012, I visited Japan for the very first time. What I thought would be a typical two-week tourist trip turned into something much bigger — the beginning of a shift in how I see the world.