My First 'Soup Painting'

I’ve always loved those illustrations where food characters are soaking in hot soup baths or dancing joyfully on top of tart crusts. There’s something so fun and cozy about them—it makes me want to draw my own version, too!

But for a while, I held back. I kept thinking, “Isn’t this someone else’s invention? Wouldn’t I be copying?” What if someone says I’m stealing their idea!? 😱

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But then, I had a little realization.

Think about classic still life paintings. All those famous painters from the past painted grapes, apples, bananas, pearl necklaces, and mirrors laid out on a table. The compositions might have been different, but they were all working within the same genre: Still Life. No one accuses anyone of copying there—it’s just... a still life!

So maybe, illustrations with food characters floating in soup or dancing on tarts could also be considered a genre of their own? Like, “Soup Paintings” or “Tart Scenes”? I mean, the setup is kind of the same: instead of a wooden table, the environment is a soup bowl or a tart crust. And instead of fruit and mirrors, the subjects are veggies and food characters with spoons and forks as props.

Once I framed it that way, it totally made sense to me—and I finally gave myself permission to try making my very own “Soup Painting” for the first time!