Over the past few days, I submitted what I genuinely believe are some of my better works to several commercial commission platforms again. The result was the same: verification failed.

If I still refuse to believe the problem lies with me, then I’m just being stupid.

So—is it because my technical skills aren’t good enough?
No. I know I’m not top-tier, but I’m confident in my judgment that many storefronts already online—and even selling well—do not have higher technical quality than my work. On that point, I trust my eye.

So where exactly is the problem?

After reviewing everything, I reached the following conclusions in this first phase:

1. After multiple failed reviews on platforms like MiHuashi, I have to completely rethink how I position my work and what “finished” actually means.

- Drawing well ≠ people will buy it

- What you think is good ≠ what everyone thinks is good

- Complexity in your work ≠ others can perceive that complexity

- Understanding the platform’s taste and logic is crucial

2. If I want to make money, I have to meet standards

- The nature must be obvious at first glance
What exactly am I selling?
It has to clearly fit into an existing product category.
The clearer, the better. Personal expression comes later.

- Put down the “artist” pride and put on the “merchant” mindset
Control costs (time)
Do I really need to design everything from scratch every time?
Can I create templates and SOPs?

- Repeatable sales
Does each artwork end after one sale?
Can it become a calendar, framed print, or another reproducible product?

- Bundling
Can my works be linked together?
For example, when I sell a popular product A, can I include a sample of new work B?

- Scaling up
Do I have to package and ship everything myself?
Can I “industrialize” the process?

- Brand collaboration
Can my art drive traffic or value for other brands?

Next, even if I don’t like it, I have to start thinking like a businessperson.
Because if I don’t adapt, I’ll die very badly.

That said, when I think of this as a puzzle to solve rather than a compromise,
I do feel a bit of motivation coming back.

This time I deliberately broke away from more conventions, which I found very interesting.

I spent more time than usual thinking about decorative patterns, but that process gave me new ideas.

Going forward, I’d like to approach decoration more from a graphic composition perspective.

Decorative elements themselves could also draw inspiration from nature or generative art patterns, helping me expand my visual knowledge base.

I’m not completely satisfied with the pose this time, but I decided to finish it at this stage.

These pieces is developed from my daily silhouette practice.

I refined those studies into a more complete work, focusing on strong visual shapes and interesting color contrast.

This is the third iteration of the OC in my project “Turning my drawing skills into commercial value.”

I’ll use this version as a reference, develop two more cases, and then move on to the most exciting part: market validation.

Tried a mildly seductive design.

Just a warm-up.

Originally this was just a test to see how the character illustration would look, but I ended up expanding the whole scene as the logic unfolded.

It was really fun to draw, but it drifted away from my initial goal —
to make the character stand out (and, honestly, to make something that could sell).

Still need more trials.

My next personal project I can talk about publicly is - how to change my ability into bread I need.

As you may think — yes, this is basically what freelancers do. But still, it can be seen as a puzzle that needs to be solved.

Let’s take a look and see if I can figure out a way to make some creative money through a project-solving SOP.

According to a simple investigation (I checked some platforms that creators often use and summarized the most popular characteristics a product should have), if I can fulfill one of the values below, I can make some money:

- emotion value

- knowledge value

- community connection value

I’ll do all three anyway. But I tend to start from the one I’m most good at — ideation.

So I want to be a role that turns users’ OC (original character) s into real paintings. I’ll start from simple character design, as you can see in the picture.

For more money, I’ll set levels in my service system — but that’s a future talk, not now.

This is a practice method I often use:

1. Start with random references

I tend to use a reference site with a flow view — then I can smoothly switch from one reference to another.
(ex. Pinterest)

2. make good use of reference without copying

In this step, I just try my best to turn every reference into a single design element in my image.
Without overthinking, the picture will grow by itself — which trains my ideation ability.

3. arrange the composition carefully

Since I need to keep adding elements into the picture, I have to try hard to keep the composition funny and understandable at the same time.

Good exercise.

In shorts, this process can be regarded as a simple hybrid exercise for my creative muscles, and it is funny anyway, so I can keep doing it.

The outcome always out of expectaion though

This is one of my rare attempts at painterly rendering. Among my other works, it feels like adding a different perceptual filter to the world. An interesting experiment.

Since I haven’t had the time to properly update the Sketchlog, I decided to just start filling it with something anyway.

I’ll gradually move over the parts of my creative process that feel meaningful, interesting, or simply well-drawn.

Using CATBOX-001 as the first post feels right—an imperfect beginning is often the start of something good.

Today is the first day of my website going live — worth celebrating.