[image 1: Digital ink brush illustration of a man who looks like a monk holding a gaiwan in one hand. The lid is slightly tipped, allowing steam to emerge from the gaiwan in the shape of a green tortoise. The text on the image reads "A Magic Steeped in Poison" and "Lin Wen Yi" in Chinese characters.
image 2: Black and white sketches of a monk with different facial expressions and poses. Text reads "Lin Wenyi Various Scenes Drawing Practice from 'A Magic Steeped in Poison'"]
I blasted through A Magic Steeped in Poison by Judy I. Lin last weekend. It’s Book 1 of the Book of Tea Duology, a fantasy set in a world inspired by Song Dynasty China with a magic system based on gongfu cha. Tea mages are my jam! And you also get amazing food descriptions! Gorgeous clothing! And of course political dramas and romance!
I have been consoling myself with fanart while waiting for my copy of book 2 (don't spoil me!). Here's my totally predictable bias love for side and monk characters showing for Lin Wenyi!
You can read more of my rambling (with spoilers warnings) over at Pillowfort: https://www.pillowfort.social/maiji/tagged/lin%20wenyi
New York based artist Wenyi Geng uses a specific orange-peach-toned color spectrum, with muted greens and blues rounding out her drawings.
Drawn digitally on a Wacom, her scenes explore the world of the surreal, with boats floating above the ground, farmers with strange, moon-like trees, and waterfalls that roll out like carpets.
We especially like the way you’re drawn into her scenes, full of…
[image 1: Ink brush-style illustration of a woman in a weimao/veiled hat playing a flute, sitting with a monk pouring tea from a gaiwan into two floating teacups. White birds fly around them. There are five Chinese characters written on the side. An English translation in small print reads at the bottom: "Only One Month in Hundred-Birds Gorge".
images 2 and 3: Closeup/details of the monk and the woman.
image 4: Black and white ink lines-only version of the illustration.]
Magical tea for two 🍵✨ I had a lot of fun trying to give this an old-timey-tea-stained ink painting feel. There are lots of fantastic characters in the Book of Tea duology, but if I absolutely had to choose favourites, I’d probably go with Wenyi and Lady An. More thoughts (with spoiler warnings!) at https://www.pillowfort.social/posts/2897396