"I want to draw with sincere feelings, just like you."Plot: After a personal tragedy, Sosuke Aoyama is going through a difficult period in his life. One day, he comes across camellias painted in the suibokuga style (for simplicity, I'll call it sumi-e). Fascinated by the technique, he becomes a student of a distinguished master.
The book about personal transformation I'd like to recommend is The Wonderful Adventures of Nils.
This is a story about a boy who is magically transformed and travels across Sweden on the back of a white goose, slowly learning compassion, friendship, and love for the world around him.
Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a book about a desire most of us have felt at least once: the wish to return to the past.
When I was preparing for the ONA (Orientation on the Dutch Labor Market) exam, I kept hearing two extremes: “It’s a nightmare, brace yourself” and “It’s super easy, just chill and wing it.”
The truth? It’s somewhere in the middle. You can pass this exam — if you prepare strategically.
It takes time, attention to detail, and a bit of planning.
When I started preparing for the Dutch naturalization exams, I realized how much scattered information there was online.
So, I decided to bring everything together — my experience, the textbooks I used, what helped me most, and what I wish I had known earlier.
Recently, I’ve been diving into colored pencil techniques — and it’s been surprisingly dynamic.
All of these (except the coffee cup ☕) were created using tutorials from a book called "Real Color Pencils" by Makami Shie. The book is clear, inspiring, and makes learning feel exciting rather than rigid. Every page feels like progress you can actually see.
