Drawing Hu Yi Tian | A colored pencil drawing

When you're a frustrated polyglot

Guess who's learning Chinese? Yup, that's me. I guess you can say that I am a frustrated polyglot. When I was thirteen, I learned how to read and write Japanese hiragana and katakana by complete accident. I was (am) a big anime fan, and I remember singing along with the opening and ending theme songs of many anime, while at the same time "reading" the lyrics from the screen. Soon enough, I learned a few Japanese words. I didn't keep it up as I entered college, though. I was more focused on surviving my courses than improving my Japanese.

Before I left college, I became a huge fan of k-pop. From GOT7 to TWICE to Super Junior to GFriend and to literally more, I found that following through my favorite groups would be better if I actually understand a lot of what they were saying. Soon, my housemates and friends would teach me Korean words one at a time, but I never really got the hang of it except for kamsahamnida. I'm not even sure I romanized that properly.

Anyway, I recently came across an English cover of a Chinese song. I love it!

The song apparently came from a Chinese series called A Love So Beautiful. The comments about the show were generally praises, which piqued my interest, so I just had to check it out.

So I watched A Love So Beautiful

To say that I got addicted is a vast understatement. I fell for it! It was simple and light, cute, and so kilig. Of course, it had a lot to do with how cute the main character, Chen Xiao Xi, was, and how handsome Jiang Chen was. Their friends were a good looking bunch, too! Their friendship was very relatable, a big selling point.

The story revolves around the happy-go-lucky Chen Xiao Xi's adorable crush on the popular Jiang Chen, and how they grow closer together. The show tackles school issues and problems, and demonstrates the effect of pressure and over all stress has on a student's mental health.

Like many other viewers, I also crushed on Jiang Chen's portrayer, Hu Yi Tian. Standing to more than 6 feet tall, Hu Yi Tian started out as a model before venturing into acting. His height difference with Shen Yue, the portrayer of Chen Xiao Xi, was far too adorable!

I just had to draw Hu Yi Tian!

I decided that I had to draw Hu Yi Tian, so i can finally move on from him, Shen Yue, and the show as a whole.

I rushed through the whole thing before my motivation runs out. I am one of those people who would excitedly begin a project but would find it hard to see it through the end. While I am not particularly happy with the output, my addiction has finally been satiated.

Putting all my fascination with the show (and Hu Yi Tian) into a single drawing did the magic.

Materials
1. Faber Castell classic colored pencils
2. 200 gsm paper (mine was on a sketchpad)

Would I recommend A Love So Beautiful?

If you appreciate light-hearted stories, then I urge you to see the series. Each episode lasts around 40 minutes, and is definitely worth the attention.