Five Winks

Five Winks
Watercolor on paper
5 x 4 in

Note to self: never use black for a soft image; it ruins everything :| 

I randomly decided to do this small painting, and, for once, with no references - I'm so proud of myself, haha! I can pinpoint a whole bunch of mistakes, though, but I guess that's all part of the learning process.

Someone once told me that I should paint more from imagination like this; I'm thinking of putting a twist to it, maybe a postcard series or something, which I could sell in print form once I make enough paintings. I'll see. :) For now, I must concentrate on job hunting - a funny business, I must say.

Cheers. ♥

Our Mother Spring

Our Mother Spring
Watercolor on paper
29.7 x 21.0 cm
(Credits for references: AmethystDreams1987, faestock, nettle-tea)

In line with trying out illustration styles, I came up with this painting. I altered the way I paint hair, and painted birds for the first time in my life - so pardon me if they look strange. Here are some WIP shots:

I had fish in the original sketch instead of birds, but I scrapped them after some thought; I wanted the painting to convey a light, summery feel, and fish didn't quite seem the way to go. And they seemed scarier to paint than birds, haha!

The scan doesn't do the colors justice; I tried as much as I could to digitally correct them :(

I played around with lines and shapes in this painting; I wonder if you can spot the very subtle heart shape that dominates the overall picture (other than in the flower petals). This took quite a while to finish, but it was a fun while! :3 Yay for painting!

OTC 2; New Classics

Day 2 of my One Thing Challenge (does it count if it's not daily?); I did this while watching CSI: NY... I kinda like how the side-view turned out, although I know I have much to work on. 

In other news, I must share what I found in Kinokuniya the other day: an edition of Pride and Prejudice with a hand-painted cover design:

Back cover, with a quote from Mr. Darcy; everything is just so pretty!

Sterling Publishing came out with a new line of classics with these hand-painted cover designs, done by Aura Lewis. The others I saw were Sense and Sensibility, Jane Eyre, and Wuthering Heights; I wanted to get them all, haha! They're relatively inexpensive too (about $10), but I thought of getting this novel in particular since I've always wanted to read Pride and Prejudice. When my mom saw it, she asked me, "Are you going to join the Austen Club now?" :))

That's it for now. I'll post soon, with a new illustration I've been working on. Toodles! ♥

Calla Lilies and Pencils

Calla's Morning
Watercolor on paper
29.7 x 21.0 cm
(Credits for model: inspyretash-stock)

As a graduation gift, I was given a 72-set of Derwent watercolor pencils, and I love them soo much!! I used them for the painting above, and they couldn't have worked better with the Daler-Rowney Langton paper. The colors are so amazing, and the paper absorbs them nicely. It's very ironic that I've taken to watercolor painting now, especially since I spent a good portion of my life berating the medium (only because I didn't know how to work with it). Now that I more or less know how to use watercolor pencils, I can't wait to paint more with them! <3

OTC 1; New Techniques

So this is the first attempt of the One Thing Challenge I mentioned in my previous post. I'm so ashamed of it, haha! 

I can never get those facial proportions right. Whenever I draw faces from imagination, they always come out cartoony somewhat. I used to doodle such cartoon faces back in high school, and in college for a while, on my planner. Who knows, this could be my one thing, but, being partial to realism, I'm still iffy about it.

In other news, I recently bought brand new Daler-Rowney Langton 300gsm watercolor paper (I'm really into watercolor now!), and I'm just itching to try it out, so I got started on another sketch for a potential painting, using a model as usual.

Since Langton paper isn't really recommended for beginners (a.k.a. yours truly), and it's quite expensive, I'm trying out this sketch-transferring technique I picked up from tutorials posted on deviantART; basically you lay out a preliminary sketch of your work on a sheet of simple paper, then transfer it cleanly onto watercolor paper so as to avoid any potential damage of the watercolor paper. I thought I'd give it a go since I am quite fond of murdering paper through erasing. So far I'm finding the task fun!

A long time ago I came across an interesting quote which I think is applicable to my artistic situation now, and which I think every artist, especially myself, should adhere to,

Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art. {Andy Warhol}

Cheers ♥

One Thing Challenge

Intermission between Chapter Senior Life and Chapter Graduation Day: summer vacation and the listlessness that inevitably blankets this time lag that otherwise calls for partying, exploring islands, or some other exciting adventure-like thing. As for me, I am spending this time quite contentedly with the loving family back in the sandlands where I grew up - Dubai - and I've been doing the same routine every day: sleep, eat, watch my baby niece, play Persona 3 on PPG (my PSP; yes, its name is the acronym for Powerpuff Girls; it's a long story), eat, sleep. Only occasionally I do some art:

This is taking forever for me to finish, haha!

As of today, I have decided to burden myself with a challenge: draw and paint random faces from imagination every day. I used to when I was still in my awkward years (I even created comics) but I stopped when I discovered I copied better. This challenge is to compensate for all the time that I did not spend doing art when I swore I would, but largely it's to find that 'one thing' (cue One Direction) that makes my art mine. I hope I find it ♥ 

In other news, I want to share that I recently found an oval-shaped canvas in Carrefour, and it was so lovely and so inexpensive (Dhs 12 or $3), I had to buy it. I don't know yet what I'm going to paint on it, but the shape calls for some still-life or portrait I think. I'll see if my challenge strikes a bolt of inspiration sooner or later. 

Anyway, so I'm off to hunt for some quality art materials; I accidentally left my watercolor pencils back in Manila, and any decent drawing paper, so I'll be searching for some here. 

Toodles, dear world!

Published

I present to you, Baht, Boots, and Gandhi: the first book that I illustrated for, and that was just launched last Thursday! :D

Quick backstory: last year, over one of our lunches, my aunt mentioned that she and her two friends were bent on compiling a series of travel essays, and publishing it in book form. Half-jokingly, I asked if I could illustrate for it, and she said yes. It was only months later, in December, that I got around to working on the illustrations, for she reminded me about it, saying the book was quickly on its way to the printing press. 

They only wanted simple illustrations, my aunt affirmed, nothing too detailed lest the actual printing sacrificed some of the quality. At first, the drafts that I sent reflected specific essays, and were rendered in a cartoon style (as seen above). 

Then, my aunt relayed the feedback from her friends; they found the illustrations alright, but not quite in line with the style of the book cover. "Do you know what retro looks like?" my aunt asked me, and Betty Boop popped into my head. "Something like that," my aunt laughed, and I was thus faced with a new challenge. I had never in my life attempted to draw a retro-style cartoon. I had to scour Google for samples in order to come up with something that looked even remotely retro. Also, the content of the images had changed; now my aunt and her friends requested specific subjects. My aunt wanted a remake of the same island girl as above; author Mo Francisco wanted me to draw her riding the roof of a jeepney, and Gayle Certeza wanted an Alice-in-Wonderland feel to her illustration.

Before I knew it, the new drafts were sent for coloring. One day, my aunt handed to me a published version of the finished book. I caught my name at the back, and did a double-take. Only then did it occur to me that this was serious business. My name is on the cover. I squealed my joy to high glory.

And here are the finished illustrations:

It's so unreal, seeing my drawings on fancy paper, haha!

Each of the illustrations serve as introductions to the authors' biography and acknowledgements. They turned out so nicely, especially with John Casipe's coloring (who I haven't met). 

The book launch was held at the Filipinas National Heritage Library, serving as the opening to the 'Babaenihan' event that celebrated women (that day was International Women's Day). I arrived there early enough to take a few shots of the place while it was relatively empty, and already I could feel the buzz of excitement. My aunt seemed anxious, while her two friends whizzed about in a rush of adrenaline. After cocktails were served, the event opened with a welcoming note by Tweet Sering, author of Astigirl, and was then followed by readings of the three authors of Baht, Boots and Gandhi. The whole event ended with a series of inspirational talks from 'astigirls' (which I wasn't able to catch; astig means 'cool', although in a superlative form, almost ineffably cool - hence astigirls means cool or awesome girls). 

I didn't take much pictures, but here are some of the ones that I did take:

Promotional tarps outside the building

The reception area

The bookstore has such an amazing collection; I kept squealing, "Sources!" (What the Humanities has
done to me...)

Right to left: Gayle Certeza, Gina Verdolaga, Mo Francisco

Look, my illustration's on the screen! :D

My aunt signing her first autograph

A shout-out to my aunt: I'm so proud of you, Tita Gina! A big congratulations, and thank you sooo much for letting me be a part of this big adventure of yours; I hope you have plenty more in the future! I love you!

To the reader, Baht, Boots, and Gandhi will be available to the public soon; I'll let you know when! :) If you come across it, do take the time to read through it, the essays are absolutely wonderful and thoroughly amusing. The book makes you want to travel and write your own stuff!

Thanks for reading, and take care! Woohoo, I'm (sorta) published!