Vietnam’s Moon Festival and Ha Long Bay Inspire Illustration
Ya’ know… August gets a bad rap. Viewed as the angel of death, some folks look at our eighth month and cry: “August is here. Summer’s over. We’re all gonna die.”
Extreme, eh? A little.
Well, I’m an optimist. Instead of saying “It’s all over”, I see August as a great beginning for one simple reason: MOONCAKES! Yeah, that’s right, MOONCAKES! (And you thought I was going to say football, ha!) Mooncakes signal the upcoming Vietnamese Moon Festival and each August is a reminder of the great Vietnamese delicacy brought home by Mom for my sister and yours truly during those wonder years (sniff sniff, Kleenex please).
Anyway, what the hell are mooncakes and what do mooncakes have to do with illustration or 3d? Glad you asked. Mooncakes are the first of two parts of an inspirational source for my latest piece, “Legend of Ha Long Bay”. More than a nostalgic piece of childhood memory, mooncakes are a valuable symbol of Vietnamese tradition, The Moon Festival. It’s a special lunar harvest festival held around the autumn equinox, typically the third or fourth week of September. The Moon Festival is celebrated throughout China and most of Southeast Asia with each country basing traditions on local legends and lore.
The mooncake itself is a tasty delicacy made up of a very thin outer cake layer which contains a sweet dense filling. The types of fillings offered are numerous but the one constant is the golden treat at the center of every cake, an egg yolk (if you’re reeeeally lucky you can find a mooncake with two yolks, deeeeelish). And what does the egg yolk represent? Bingo! Our wonderful prince of tides, the moon.
The second ingredient of my inspirational source is Ha Long Bay in Northern Vietnam.
After leaving my native country years ago (I left at the ripe age of one), I recently revisited Vietnam and stayed in Ha Long Bay for two nights. Simply put–Ha Long Bay is a majestic, magical and spiritual experience. It is a great place to get easily inspired. What makes Ha Long Bay so special are the thousands of limestone karsts that decorate the bay. Some of these tiny islands even resemble animals and conjure up fanciful stories from the locals. Legend has it that a dragon fell from the sky and crashed into the bay. The dragon shattered into thousands of pieces and gave birth to all of the tiny limestone karsts we see today.
In honor of the upcoming Moon Festival, its delightful treat, Ha Long Bay and my proud lineage I present the concept sketch and color treatment for my illustration “Legend of Ha Long Bay”. And, as a motivational tool for both of us (you the reader and I the artist), I will unveil the final piece on September 30. Why? You guessed it again–the official day of this year’s Moon Festival. Tune in for some WIPs and obviously the unveiling 🙂 Peace!
~Sammy
Part II: WIPs, More Mooncake Lust, and More Ha Long Magic!
