This piece is the absolute origin story of my art journey. Back in 2018, I was a high school student preparing for an upcoming art show. My art teacher introduced me to the stippling technique for a project, and I decided to try it out on an octopus design. I completely fell in love with the rhythm, the precision, and the incredible detail you could achieve just by using tiny ink dots. I haven't put the fine-liners down since!

The natural fluid shape of an octopus makes it the perfect canvas for stippling, allowing me to play with depth, shadow, and organic textures across its tentacles. Hand-inked layer by layer using fine-tipped pigment liners, focusing heavily on building up the dense gradients to give the body a true three-dimensional form.

Roughly 20 hours of meticulous, early-stage dotwork as I was first mastering the patience of the technique.

This print represents the exact moment a curiosity turned into a lifelong passion. It’s a nostalgic nod to my studio roots, my high school art department, and the teacher who started it all..