Spotlight on Ninky

Translator Profile

This week we will move the spotlight onto Ninky!

Soompi Forum Username : Ninky

Country of Residence : Melbourne, Australia

Fan Level : Obsessed to the point of no return for all things Pillow Book & 3L3W!

Hello, it is me, Ninky!

*Waving to all the ELOD fans out there...*

I hail from the land down under in Melbourne, Australia, but was raised in Singapore.

One of the interesting aspects of my youth is coping with learning two languages and becoming proficient in both.

I have never liked learning Chinese in my youth (let’s just say I hated it), but as the saying goes, hindsight is a 20-20 so I am now enjoying the fruit of being able to read plenty of literature in both languages with ease.

This suits me to a tee as I am a quintessential bookworm and read plenty of books in my free time.

I am the connoisseur of all things creative. Be it digital illustration, making one of a kind handbags or creating one of my baked goods, I enjoy it all.

The blog is an outlet where I channel some of my creativity to and it has been a fun process.

I was inspired to create an illusion of “Four Seasons of Love” for the wide title poster on the blog. “Eternal Love of Dream” is the English title while its translated Chinese equivalent is “Three Lives Three Worlds, The Pillow Book”

Either way, the book is very dreamy with lengthy periods of the story spent in recollection or in “Aranya’s Dream”. In my opinion, the drama series has reflected this mood pretty effectively in their art direction and stylistic expression.

Looking at the poster on the blog, you may have noticed how I carried this same dreamy stylistic element into it. Using a blend of purple and pink hues, I reflected the main character’s favourite colours, while retaining the dreamy feel artistically.

To the far left of the poster, I reflected Autumn through the illusion of falling leaves and the autumn moon. On the far right of the poster, the remaining three seasons are reflected. Looking from right to left, your eye catches the summer peach trees, the spring blooms and the falling snow.

In addition to four seasons, I have also integrated the main characters’ “four” different lives into the poster. Aranya & Shen Ye, Xiao Jiu & Song Xuan Ren, Dong Hua & the little red fox, Dong Hua & Feng Jiu and finally their family all within the same piece.

All in all, I wanted to portray the vision of Dong Hua and Feng Jiu’s eternal love: that they love each other regardless of season and incarnation.

In the wintry land of Fan Yin Valley, Dong Hua slowly but helplessly fell deeper and deeper in love with Feng Jiu. In the dreamscape, we see the other seasons and it is there that Dong Hua and Feng Jiu cemented their love for each other.

Therein lies my inspiration for the blog’s poster. I hope you all enjoyed the breakdown of my thoughts as I created this piece.

And I hope to continuously contribute to the blog through the translation of Tang Qi’s various texts and stories, bringing it to the English speaking world in the correct context, occasionally artistically, to communicate the beauty of Tang Qi’s literary prose.