Painting a Doraemon and Snoopy Espresso Cup

I painted another piece of pottery: a small espresso cup and saucer. This time, I put Doraemon on one side of the cup and Snoopy on the other.

A Small Surface

Painting an espresso cup was more difficult than painting a larger plate or mug.

There is not much room for a drawing, especially once the curve of the cup, handle placement, and rim are taken into account. The design needed to remain simple enough that it would still read clearly from a distance.

Doraemon fit on one side, while Snoopy sitting on his doghouse fit on the other.

The Hard Part: Clean Lines

The biggest challenge was drawing the outlines.

The studio used a needle-style paint applicator, which was useful for putting down thin black lines. In theory, it works a little like drawing with a pen. In practice, the flow of paint was inconsistent.

Sometimes too little paint came out, so the line would fade or break apart. Other times too much paint came out at once, creating a thicker blob than I wanted.

That made clean cartoon outlines surprisingly difficult. A small change in pressure or paint flow could turn a neat line into something uneven very quickly.