After last week’s proof, here is the real deal—one of the tags that made it into the swap.

I used a different technique for this one. Basically, I painted the background, then painted another sheet of watercolour paper in a single wash of two colours (to obtain this bluish cream hue). Once dry, I drew a little manga girl on this painted paper and let it dry. Then I cut it and coloured the hair with a selection of gel pens in yellow, fluorescent yellow, blue and green. More drying time followed.

Now, my original idea was to collage the drawn girl on the background . But then I thought—what if I wet a brush in clear water and ‘paint’ over the gel pens? Sure enough, the lines softened, acquiring a more ‘painted’ look. Once the layer was dry, ti was just a question of finishing off the tag. I kept embellishment to a minimum because i really wanted the painted girl and background to come to the fore. And you know what, I liked the finished tag so much that I ended up making all five swap tags in the same way.

I hope my partners like it too!