My ramen piece was definitely one of my favorites from 2022. It was one of the first pieces where I went from fumbling and feeling like my successes were "accidents" to having confidence and actually enjoying what I was producing.

There were definitely struggles with this piece. But if there weren't then I probably wouldn't be improving. I have discovered that I do not in fact have a concept to draw narutomaki from memory and not even with reference. Some of them are okay and some are just "What is that fuzzy shape there for? Why did I try to shade it there?" I'll have to grab one out of my ramen next time I make one and examine it more closely instead of just looking at a flat image on my computer where the reference is against a white backdrop and not able to rotate in the ways I want to see the edges.

Regardless, I can definitely see improvement. Even if it's not quite as intuitive as CSP, I'm getting great with Krita and I'm developing a better eyefor what I want to draw and how to do it.

I REALLY like the little oil smatterings and how I was able to capture them. And of course the noodles and egg are just plain fun to draw.

I think this would genuinely be part of my last meal if I ever had the choice. I just want to stick my face in a hot bowl of ramen and enjoy the whole thing in one slorp, just have the perfect bite. But I'm an animal so I want to inhale all of it at once like Kirby.

I have a hankering to do a piece like this but as a tile so it can be infinitely expanded like the time I did endless eggs. But I'll have to figure out how to draw narutomaki with a little more precision and understanding, and maybe do a deeper later of noodles instead of doing all the toppings first and realizing oh no,I want the noodles to weave between things but did not plan this properly...

Anyway, I'm really happy with this and it might well be my favorite for this year too. Ramen and a nice ramen egg are just fun to draw. So have the unsigned version and enjoy!