J.G.V.

Sketches

2012-01-25T12:19:00.000-05:00

I'm currently working on a piece I think I'll call "The Easter Bunny's Visit":

And then just some drawings from my sketchbook:

Re-Touched Art Piece

2012-01-22T22:26:00.003-05:00

click for full view

I want to submit this to a student competition so I edited some parts. It was a lot of fun to go over it again!

Aquarium Visit

2012-01-18T12:30:00.000-05:00

While in LA, visiting my family, my brother and my sister-in-law took me to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. If there are any places that I absolutely love being in are aquariums!

Colored Pencil Sketches (and pen)

2012-01-17T20:44:00.000-05:00

Crafts-and-Drawings Show and Tell

2012-01-12T15:45:00.001-05:00

I'm almost done knitting a small shawl made with super-soft Peruvian baby alpaca yarn (from Rowan's Lima edition). Sooo soft. And because of it's chain construction (a "braided" yarn), it's also sort of stretchy.

Did a simple pattern of 4 rows stockinette, 1 row with gaps,
1 row of horizontal ribbing.

As a christmas gift, I also crocheted a shawl for one of my friends who lives in Norway:
( Taken at Modern Yarn, my local yarn shop)

Lastly, during my winter break in Los Angeles, I got to spend time with one of my sisters, who lives in San Francisco. Here are two drawings I made of her:


I drew her in medieval garb for fun.

This didn't come out as good because
I used a ballpoint pen instead of something erasable,
oooh well.

New Copic Markers!

2012-01-11T02:09:00.000-05:00

One of my brothers and my sister-in-law gave me a large set of copic markers for christmas!

I'm still in shock, but alright. I never really looked up how to use them because I figured I would never own one since they're so expensive. Because of their blending capability, they're like an interesting mix between watercolors and markers. I'm quite happy with the set and it was a lot of fun to use them (the blending is exactly what I wanted from markers).
Below are my first test-run with this new medium:

I definitely played around more with the blending option in this illustration.

Brainstorming

2011-12-16T14:08:00.001-05:00

So there is a contest coming up soon and I really want to win something (being my last year in college, time is ticking!) So here I am frenzily thinking of something epic to make.

Freyja will just adopt the bad habits artist's are reknown for while I work away.

Sketches

2011-12-15T16:52:00.003-05:00

Sketches

2011-12-14T23:00:00.001-05:00

I'm Ready!

2011-12-08T01:23:00.001-05:00

Can't wait to be free from school and have a whole month to work on my short comic this winter.

Work Coming Soon and LGBT Issues in my Art

2011-12-05T16:35:00.001-05:00

I've been on a drawing rampage to fill my new sketchbook so I will put up what I've made when I have some more time soon!

         I've been wondering about what happens if an artist or writer chooses to focus on "unconventional" topics like LGBT issues. Is the creator, career-wise, truly unscathed after choosing to make its protagonist a person of LGBT identity?
For example, would Lord of the Rings be as popular as it is if Tolkien have romanticized the intimate friendship of Frodo and Sam? What if Harry Potter identified as Harriet Potter? What if Jacob and Edward dumped Bella and married each other? So if I choose to have my main character in a comic be a non-white lesbian, or like in my story set in Victorian Europe, Fox & Mirror, in which one main character is a flamenco-dancing trans-woman from Spain, am I shooting myself in the foot?
          My gut tells me no and is fiercely determined to tell me to not get discouraged by what the media portrays as "normal," but I can't help to consider how tempting it is to fall back on portraying the status quo to make a living.
    Well, I hope I find some way to make it all work so I can illustrate whatever the hell I want to illustrate!

Holiday Gifts to Finish

2011-12-05T16:04:00.001-05:00

Knitting this cowl for my abuelita

Crocheting this scarf for one of my brothers

Gloomy Weather

2011-11-22T17:33:00.001-05:00

The weather has been so cold and crummy, it's hard not to have some of that gloominess rub off.

Here's a sketch I made in Central Park a couple of weeks ago using the Alice in Wonderland statue:

Also, I got my picture taken and featured on College Fashionista:

I was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space

2011-11-15T18:16:00.001-05:00

I've been reading the hilarious webcomic, I was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space by Megan Rose Gedris. It's sooo good. I made a little fanart sketch!

Simmering In a Pot of Stew

2011-11-13T09:35:00.001-05:00

Like a salty jacuzzi.

I thought I should write about something that has been on my mind:

       Since I was very little, I've had stories and projects in my head and none of these have been completed, most not even started. The project that has progressed the farthest is Queen Indeed, but now that is being majorly overhauled with character and plot changes. But instead of feeling down about it I find that there is an organic sense to this process of producing a big work like a story and graphic novel. As an artist, and even as a maturing person in general, I feel like I'm simmering in a pot of stew full of ideas, experiences, and flavors; the more it cooks the better it tastes. I halted Queen Indeed because I felt like it was incomplete and fractured; it was really frustrating to figure what it was missing. So I put it back into the stew to simmer some more. Four years later, a lot has changed in the world of Queen Indeed. It has more subtlety and honesty.
       Now, my current problem is intellectualising this natural 'stewing' process by deliberately trying to squeeze ideas that may not belong in them to counteract subconscious biases. I have become aware of many racial, gender, sexual, and class-related issues these past few years (for example, I have begn to try to consider the complex nature of the relationship between Queen Isabel and her lady-in-waiting, whom is a goose girl from the lower classes. How does this disparity in privileges and experiences affect their friendship?) After becoming aware of all these differences, and of even my own privileges, I have a fear that any unchecked biases and stereotypes that I may still have will grow inside these projects and degrade their intended quality. And by constantly trying to question all of my motives for character and plot changes, I have lost a sense of precious spontaneity, and ultimately stifled what inspiration can bestow. It's less fun to work on these projects, I suppose.
      I'm guessing that this deliberate thinking that I've adopted too will change. I mean, I went from not thinking at all about my work to being overly sensitive to it.
       I'm sure I will eventually hit a balance, because even though I do want to become a smarter critic of our world and its history, I need those creative juices to make it work.
      Back to that pot of stew I go.

Class Notes

2011-11-12T13:53:00.001-05:00

While watching The Return of Martin Guerre.

Sex Show Piece

2011-11-11T14:40:00.001-05:00

Last night was Montclair State University's The Sex Show gallery opening, which featured awesome artwork from the university's many illustrators with the theme of sex.

My piece was concerned with sexual repression:

Oh those Victorians and their naughty euphemisms...

The mentioning of sex, albeit indirectly, was too much and they all sort of freak out from their repressed sexual urges.

Call me a prude but I was a bit shocked to read about Victorian euphemisms. "Tipping the Velvet" I'm familiar with because of Sarah Waters's amazing Victorian-themed novel, but some like a "beast with two backs" or "dog's rig," make one ponder a little too long about how they might be connected to sex. And some are on the verge of gross, like an "ever throbbing doodle" which refers to male genitalia. Doodle? Throbbing? Seriously?

In terms of the piece itself, I didn't have a lot of time to plan it all out. I wish the last two panels were larger and that I could have used a better font than comic sans, so if I have the opportunity to go over my protfolio I'd like to go back and fix these things. Below is my quick sketch before I started the drawing the final piece:

NYC Trips

2011-11-09T19:47:00.001-05:00

This week I've been travelling to New York City multiple times and now I'm really exhausted! It's hard to believe people commute to that city every day...

On Thursday night I had the opportunity to visit the Modern Love opening at the New York Times, which featured the illustrators Brian Rea and Christopher Silas Neal.

This is Murray Tinkelman right after his lecture on the history of illustration, which was fascinating and at times really funny. I got to ask him about his opinion on foreign styles like anime and manga being embraced here in the U.S. and, refreshingly, his response was quite thoughtful.

I was ecstatic at bumping into the Madame Butterfly painting by Kinuko Y. Craft on the second floor of the Society of Illustrators. She is one of my favorite illustrators and her artwork for the children's book The Twelve Dancing Princesses was a huge inspiration to me when I was very little.


The "Ying and Yang" fondue chocolate dessert

Last night I had dinner with a friend at the Melting Pot in Hoboken, NJ. I swear they must put MSG or something addictive to their cheese fondue because it was so delicious.

Lastly, here are photos I at my parent's house in Northwest NJ during the freak storm right before Halloween:

New Haircut

2011-11-03T14:36:00.000-04:00

I cut it myself to save money.

A Mori Girl

2011-11-02T22:54:00.002-04:00

Class Notes

2011-10-31T10:56:00.002-04:00

And the product of a super short but ultimately lame doodle session:

I'm just really not a good doodler.

New Tumblr Look!

2011-10-26T22:49:00.000-04:00

The Learning Process

2011-10-26T17:43:00.003-04:00

Just a quick comic to flex those art muscles. Technically I'm not sick anymore, but I have this lingering cough and stuffiness. Ah well.

Boy, it's getting chilly outside!

More Class Notes

2011-10-21T20:46:00.002-04:00

Petit Portraits

2011-10-13T17:09:00.000-04:00

So sick

2011-10-10T17:22:00.000-04:00

During my Study of History class.

Last night I got hit with an excrutiatingly painful sore throat and this morning I felt like a pathetic, achy, sniffling zombie. I haven't been this sick and with a fever in a looong time. Uuuugh.
But I was determined NOT to miss class! And despite my terrible state, I still managed to ~~doodle~~ take notes in class.
Today we watched a 1985 interview of the "great historian" Hugh Trevor-Roper by Bill Moyer:

The dialogues in the word bubbles were not on the video...

And now a photo of my kitty friend looking at the autumn foliage through the window:

Pastel Sketches

2011-10-08T22:44:00.000-04:00

Just sketches from my own original fantasy story made with colored pencils and pastels.

2011-10-01T15:04:00.002-04:00

Soo, in between some school and non-school projects, as well as the prospect of getting a part-time job (I might get a call this week), I want to finish a short comic based on a scary Iroquois folk tale called The Vampire Skeleton.
I'm trying to really commit to completing it so I can finally have narrative material in my own hands by my own hands. You know that feeling of accomplishment that I'm taking about.
Well, I'm going to take deep breaths and just do it.

Sketches During Class

2011-09-28T22:45:00.001-04:00

This is my professor from U.S. History Until 1879. He's a pretty funny guy who says "man" a lot. At the beginning of every class I update him on findings that I looked up, including the origin of the word yeoman and the current equivalent of Britain's debt from the Seven Year's War. We even high-fived on listing the History channel as our favorite cable channel! Nothing like some validation for being a huge nerd. Regarding his word bubble, there were some technical issues with the projector.

Today I attended a Hiragana calligraphy workshop. A Japanese language professor hosted the short event and I even heard her speak French fluently! Badass.

Watched Professor Steven Goldman's presentation on the significance of Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions and its impact on postmodern thinking, in my Study of History class. Drawing while watching actually helped me retain the dense information better. Will you look at that!

Yeah, here there is more writing than drawing. My handwriting sucks.

What I Would Like to be Wearing Right Now

2011-09-25T20:27:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is Monday, a school day filled with reading due dates and a presentation to make bright and early. Even though I really enjoy my schoolwork, I'm just itching to work on my art-related side-projects.

Back to those readings...

On Taking Japanese

2011-09-24T10:15:00.001-04:00

Ideally, I'd like to be able to speak Chinese and Japanese. But since I could, I'm taking Beg. Japanese I at my university. Which is something I've been wanting for, err, 8 years? And I'm finding it really rewarding, so far. I've memorized all hiragana and now I'm venturing into the 3-lettered vowels, which are kind of weird but in a way they make since---practically-speaking. If the Japanese written language was made up real letters and not just phonetic representations they would definitely not have so many exceptions and other sets of alphabets (katakana, for one). But ah well. The part of hiragana history I know is the one in Ancient Heian Japan when hiragana was dismissed as not as 'sophisticated' as Chinese writing by the male nobles; Chinese (I guess kanji?) was basically the equivalent of Latin for intellectuals up until the mid-18th-century in the West. So it was up to the court women to write diaries (The Pillow Book), poems, and novels (Tale of Genji) in hiragana.
Surprisingly, I've learned a lot of Chinese through my girlfriend (who is from Singapore). I have a pretty good knack for languages...If I have another ~~sly~~ opportunity to take a language class I will definitely tackle Chinese.

Anyways, if any of you have taken Japanese, what strategies do you suggest to use for learning more efficiently?

Dr. Who on Planet Amaranthine Fan Art

2011-09-23T23:15:00.001-04:00

Anyone else watch Dr. Who?

Planet Amaranthine is not a place on the show; it's a planet I invented where the ocean is actually not made up of water but some other substance, like oil or something. Still need to figure that one out since it's an important part of my sci-fi story.

Cloudy

2011-09-23T16:01:00.002-04:00

How appropriate to create a cloudy piece on such a cloudy day as today? I'm working on coloring three moody Dr. Who-related drawings. I'll post them up complete soon!

Doodling Around

2011-09-17T00:46:00.002-04:00

And I'm also thinking about chai tea lattes and how awesome it's going to be drinking it during this chilly season. yum yuuum~

formspring.me

2011-09-09T01:14:00.001-04:00

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/JGV ! !

Immortality and the Witch

2011-09-09T01:06:00.002-04:00

On This Rainy Day

2011-09-06T21:52:00.002-04:00

click to full view!

It's a comfortable 60 degrees outside and it has rained all day! And at the moment, I'm listening to Flamenco music and drinking green tea. I took a break from working on a children's book project to paint this. She's a grumpy but powerful witch and found a way to make herself a demi-god... until someone stole that power from her. So here, after many adventures in the desert being forced to help a kingdom at war, she finally has those powers in her hands. However, for the first time shes hesitating on regaining them.

Flower Girl

2011-09-04T21:03:00.001-04:00

This was suppose to be a 30 minute sketch but I was having too much fun to stop....

Travelling Band

2011-09-03T01:03:00.004-04:00

^Click to full view! ^

Daine

2011-09-02T16:07:00.003-04:00

Details:

It's Daine from Tamora Pierce's The Immortals series!
I don't ever make fanart, but I'm all giddy from re-reading all the way up to the middle of the fourth (and last) book of the awesome young adult fantasy series. I didn't use any references so I guess that's why her face looks a bit wobbly. (Her mouth was the most troublesome to paint). The next piece I paint I'll definitely use references photos.

I thought I would pace myself and read one of these books a month but I've devoured them all four in just a couple of days. Although I already read them in high school, I fortunately forgot most of the story so I got all excited, starry-eyed and, frankly, invigorated, again. I've felt so mushy and lackluster this year but reading sweet sweet fantasy novels has inspired once more with fresh energy.
Thank you, Mrs. Pierce!

(I can't imagine how utterly amazing it would be if I could illustrate her novels into a comic series. Gah, life surely can't be that amazing, right? I'll keep dreaming...)

((And yes, I thouroughly took advantage of this "new" pressure sensitivity tool my digital pen has. It's nothing but godly.))

Oh My Goddess!

2011-09-01T15:29:00.000-04:00

My girlfriend just enabled pressure sensitivity on my pen and tablet--something I didn't know my pen could do that! Oh all those years of trying to achieve that effect manually! ;__;
Now I will definitely take advantage of this "new" tool. Yay!

Sketches of Loved Ones (except for the dragon)

2011-09-01T14:37:00.000-04:00

A Love Letter

2011-08-30T17:34:00.001-04:00

Aelfred doesn't look too happy...

I just wanted to sketch a short scene from my story Queen Indeed. I had fun drawing it, except I wish I had invested more time on the face in the middle panel. She doesn't quite look like the character (instead I feel like she resembles me, which is always a nuisance to discover).

Does that happen to you? Grrr, arrr.

Finished the Sketch:

2011-08-30T17:19:00.004-04:00

Yeah...lame.

Back to Reality

2011-08-24T23:37:00.003-04:00

So my amazing week at the Bay area in California to visit my sister is over. Finding a part-time job, cementing my next semester's school schedule full of history courses, and continuing to develop my illustration skills have flooded back into my thoughts.

Anyone want to see Mick Jagger in medieval times?

I certainly do!
Stay tuned for the finished version...

Bonsai

2011-08-03T15:58:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine gave me a bonsai for my birthday. Today I trimmed it a bit. I've always been a terrible plant caretaker but I hope I can keep this one looking alive and beautiful!

Knitted & Crocheted Work

2011-08-03T15:49:00.002-04:00

Trying to Work

2011-07-29T23:59:00.003-04:00

~~terrible terrible anatomy~~

Aelfred in Jail

2011-07-09T10:43:00.003-04:00

Old Sketches

2011-07-07T10:19:00.000-04:00

In the Clouds

2011-07-04T12:48:00.003-04:00

Bring Out Your Dead Artwork

2011-07-03T19:01:00.003-04:00

I don't usually draw myself or create autobiographical art but I think I'd like to since it's so difficult for me regularly write in a journal. I would get to practice making art at the same time! Hmm, very tempting.

The idea for this piece was taken from Monty Python's movie The Holy Grail in which a man shouts out "Bring out yer dead!" and collects victims of the plague nonchalantly. I replaced the human dead with 'dead' artworks that other artists have chosen to dispose of, and here I'm disposing of a watercolor piece.

formspring.me

2011-06-28T18:57:00.001-04:00

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/JGV

Small Piece with Colored Pencils

2011-06-28T18:55:00.004-04:00

Painful Doodles

2011-06-28T12:07:00.000-04:00

Ravaged by a migraine, I stayed up all night (yesterday), restless and bored. I doodled things that were around my bedroom--couldn't be anymore boring than that, haha.

And for something totally less lame:

Two Colored Seasons

2011-06-26T16:44:00.002-04:00

They aren't completed yet but here are photos of two small pieces I started in May with colored pencils:

And I got my wisdom teeth removed last Monday! It was interesting. As I sat on the seat ready for surgery that morning I have to admit I was nervous--the risks were small but it's hard to not fixate on those possibilities...surgeons could very easily mess with one of many important nerves running around the gums and could paralyze half the face! Ah well. Succumbing to twenty-first-century medicine isn't so bad. At least we have anesthetics and painkillers! The latter of which I've been struggling to not take but ultimately been losing that war.

I looked like this all week:

Finished Work

2011-06-15T20:30:00.001-04:00

I don't have a scanner so here's a photo of a painting I made yesterday:

I really wanted to paint something! So I browsed through artworks and such, and I chose to react to this:

Stumbling Away

2011-06-12T16:03:00.001-04:00

I've been working on an illustration job (children's book) these past couple of days.

It's both exciting and overwhelmingly nerve-wracking!

Anyhow, below is what a 1-hour break to practice with watercolors looks like:

Marker Musings

2011-06-09T17:55:00.003-04:00

I have no access to a scanner so I had to take photos :(

Some of the drawings are directly influenced by engravings from a book about the history of printmaking and the others are from a drawings session I had with my girlfriend and another friend! In 6-minute sessions we drew using a random word we agreed upon. I'm sure you can guess which drawings relate to the words log, joke, suspicious, and seal. Afterwards we drew portraits of each other.

Little by little I'm feeling more comfortable using markers!

Finished Bunny

2011-06-09T17:37:00.000-04:00

Finally completed it and gave it to my nephew!

Crocheted Bunny Project

2011-05-20T20:51:00.002-04:00

Ever since I picked up a crochet hook needle in February, I just have not stopped crocheting.

Currently, I'm making this for my nephew who is almost a year old. It's a brown bunny crocheted with a soft and fuzzy yarn ( 30% alpaca hair). Since I'm seeing my brother and his family on Sunday, I'm quickly trying to finish this little guy. I'm also planning on making him a little gray, button-up vest with little details, like side-pockets and a collar. I'm debating whether I should make him a gray bowler hat along with a striped red and white scarf, (with a red bow tie for more elegant evenings.) I thought he was a gardener but he ended up wanting to look more stylish. Figures.

I need to make the eyes and I'll be done!

If it looks decent I might consider making more to sell them on Etsy. I'll post a photo of the finished product. :)

Do you plan on having a career around your art? :)

2011-05-15T23:21:00.002-04:00

Yes, yes I do! I've been planning it all my life, even when I didn't know it (Paleontology, 8-year-old JGV, just so you can draw dinosaurs? Seriously?). Crippled by my fears of failure, I even got persuaded by my concerned parents to seek a career in accounting for two entire years--but after I got an associates degrees in business, I was just too miserable to continue. I took control of my life and decided on studying illustration. Despite the odd jobs I've done that have revolved around graphic design, I would like to work for publishing companies, making children/young adult book illustrations, animating, story-boarding, character designing, and publishing my own personal work (graphic novels).
Many times my dream really seems impossible and that I'll never succeed enough to economically support me (that's all I really need!) and yet I truly don't know what else will make me happy. All I want to do is improve and to continue to enjoy doing it. But I wont let my anxieties get to me. We all have one life to live, why not live it pursuing meaningful hopes and dreams?

Ask me anything

Finally Done with School

2011-05-11T19:00:00.000-04:00

I need to get some rest.

Brewing Art

2011-05-10T22:04:00.005-04:00

Big post today!

I just handed in my 5-piece Illustration II Final! I was given the word 'ghosts' and had to work around that theme. So! I decided on illustrating a short story taking place in Victorian England in which a scientist, rejected from the Academy of Science, begins to study paranormal activities, in the hopes of proving it to be fake and earning admittance into the Academy.

In this first illustration, the scientist-man attends a seance to observe and take notes. He meets the woman conducting the seance, who is actually a con-artist faking the whole thing. Unfortunately, strange things begin to happen, and not by her own trickery!

This second illustrate is a scene of the scientist-man investigating the halls and meeting the gray ladies of the castle.

As the third illustration, the scientist-man and the con-artist woman, who can see and communicate with ghosts, travel to Mexico to meet La Llorona. The scene above involves the woman running after La Llorona to hand her a handkerchief. This act of kindness eventually frees La Llorona to move on to the next life.

Here the duo visit Hawaii. They sneak into the forest to secretly witness the Nightmarchers, a parade of spirits.

As the fifth and final illustration, they arrive in Japan, and you know the Japanese love their ghost stories. Here they encounter mujina, which are faceless ghosts--they look like people except, surprise!, they have no faces. They were by far the creepiest ghosts to research.

And here are my sketches:

Anyways, outside of school, it was my friend's birthday recently so I made her a birthday card of her talking to a bear with watercolors. Silly, yeah.

And now I'm working on a watercolor piece, the largest scale I have ever worked in watercolor before. I haven't finished drawing it yet but so far I have this:

Looking Out the Window

2011-05-07T20:53:00.001-04:00

I painted these for my color theory class with watercolor. The assignment consisted of painting an indoor window looking out after 5:30pm. The point was to capture the reflection of the interior over the window overlooking a scenery during twilight. I found this challenging and I did get frustrated but one must keep going and practice.
I prefer the first painting above; the second one I was experimenting with a themed color of purple, I don't think I succeeded. It looks sloppy, but I'm posting it anyway. I'm still mostly clueless about color theory... A part of mastering it is a hyper-awareness to seeing-- a skill that requires immense practice and work!

2 Sketches of the World of Marie Antionette

2011-04-30T19:32:00.000-04:00

Icons

2011-04-22T20:05:00.000-04:00

Recently, my girlfriend bought me a small pack of watercolor pencils and I played around with them:

I was trying for a cutesy children's style, useful for computer icons or just plain little graphics. I would like to work more with this interesting medium in the future. : )

Dirty Sketch

2011-04-19T22:08:00.000-04:00

Above is a dirty colored pencil sketch of the protagonists from my developing Sci-fi story, Rogue Wave. The story was summarized in the previous blog post. I still need work with the character designs (making her look older and tweaking her hair--bangs or no bangs?--and making him look more...human? Lol. ) This particular sci-fi world/universe is suppose to look like a 1940's version of sci-fi. Signy's outfit in this drawing obviously doesn't exude 1940's but I do have outfits more loyal to that fashion. But the boy's outfit clearly is not, so I'm trying to design a sort of hybrid of modern and 40's vintage fashion. We'll see!

Rogue Wave Story Pitch

2011-04-04T21:16:00.006-04:00

This is Signy, the main character in my developing science fiction story, Rogue Wave.
From what I've been able to write, Signy, a 33-year-old, over-qualified elementary math teacher, arrives at her friends' home to find their son, Maxwell, alone. His parents have disappeared for many weeks. So, running away from the secretive galaxy detective agency who are strangely interested in the boy's parent's research, Signy and Maxwell venture out into the wild, black expanse to solve the mystery of why his parents are missing--revealing many things about themselves and about the universe.
It takes place in outer space involving black holes, bounty hunters, other dimensions and the afterlife, panpsychism, and fear. It is still developing after all my reading on quantum physics, philosophy, and cosmology.

The story has been brewing in my head for a couple of years and will continue to do so for a bit more, until I have enough to illustrate it into a graphic novel. Wish me luck!

Burlesque Poster

2011-04-01T20:11:00.002-04:00

I'm making the poster art for the burlesque performance at my university, hosted by the feminist club. I've been feeling down about my art and going through an identity crisis so I'm happy to at least be able to enjoy making this.

-__-

Three Little Piggies and the Big Bad Hipster Wolf

2011-03-29T21:47:00.000-04:00

Beauty in the Breakdown

2011-03-19T22:28:00.002-04:00

Sketchbook Notes

2011-03-18T14:10:00.002-04:00

....

2011-03-14T22:31:00.000-04:00

Here

2011-03-12T11:02:00.000-05:00

Yup, spring break is here. I plan to do a lot...

Fox & Mirror Moment

2011-03-11T21:07:00.000-05:00

Even though my comic-in-progress has been put on hiatus due to other work getting in the way, my brain won't let it go! So I just quickly jotted down a ridiculously angsty scene where Mr. Fox is killed by a bear trap and the Faerie Queen appears behind her offering to help for a favor.
I wish I could take a comics class and learn more about onomatopoeia, pacing, and paneling because I do feel a little like some parts are off but I don't know how to refine it. I definitely will change some parts of this scene, like the squish panel in which I think I'll hide her face. Also, the panel after that, crack, I'll change the sound to maybe a more metallic crick. Her last comment "I'm alone again," sounds really stiff and fairly unnatural so there's more work to do! I can't wait to get back to work on it in the summer :)

Unfinished Colored Pencil Drawing

2011-03-07T17:25:00.000-05:00

Google Maps Musings

2011-03-02T15:33:00.000-05:00

Is it weird for me to feel as if I traveled after closely combing though the Scottish East Coast on Google Maps? I found two separate castles and some scary cliffs, and the landscapes were full of green, rolling hills. Google Maps is pretty much the closest equivalent to visiting a place, right? Last month I ventured into Tokyo and I already felt like comitting sepukku. That city is cramped and feels endless with all it's concrete apartments and without many trees in sight.
Well, after an hour of "traveling" through Scotland I'm suffering jetlag!
Just kidding, yeah.

The Librarians

2011-02-26T17:06:00.001-05:00

They make quite a trio.

watercolors

2011-02-20T18:17:00.003-05:00

My girlfriend made this.

She's so damn cool.

Novelty Package

2011-02-13T17:32:00.001-05:00

This is a sketch for an Illustration II assignment last month...

Postponement

2011-02-11T18:45:00.004-05:00

I have to put my comic project, Fox & Mirror, on the back-burner for a while. I've been hired to illustrate a book! I hope it turns out well.

Below are sketches of a past assignment from my illustration I course last semester:

The finished assignments are here and here.

Really Old Drawings

2011-02-10T23:25:00.000-05:00

Watercolors and Crochet

2011-02-07T09:36:00.000-05:00

I bought a small new watercolor sketchbook at a very nice discount. So here are some attempts at practicing with watercolors:

And I've also began to crochet! I finished a scarf in one day:

Icy Day

2011-02-02T15:28:00.001-05:00

Watercolor Splatter Step

2011-01-29T15:11:00.006-05:00

So I just finished another watercolor piece and I took photos during the whole process:

To make the twinkling stars I used white acrylic paint and a white colored pencil:

After mixing a little bit of the white paint and some water, and covering the lady and the foreground, I flicked the paintbrush against one of my fingers so the paint would splatter over the piece:

After all the violent splattering, I made some of the white dots 'twinkly' with the colored pencil. Here is the finished piece!

Green Tea and Snow

2011-01-28T16:48:00.003-05:00

This is a WIP shot of my desk with my most recent piece, Stalker in the Midst. I just wanted to paint something simple and cute that would help me get back into watercolors again, because we had something good going on a couple of years ago before Photoshop came in and took over. ~~Homewrecker~~...

Final version

It's been snowing every week!

iTouch Doodles

2011-01-26T22:02:00.000-05:00

Walk in the Park WIP

2011-01-21T17:26:00.004-05:00

I've been a bit down lately, mostly because it's difficult for me to relax because I get so caught up in trying to over analyze everything and improve as an artist. I get stuck in this anxious cycle that spirals down into just plain silliness. Thankfully, someone had to ~~slap~~ snap me out of this stupor by reminding me that I love making art. So simple. So freakin' simple.
So I decided to sit down and make something completely fun--no worrying allowed.
Final version

Red Lion Rollercoaster

2011-01-20T21:22:00.000-05:00

So here is the final watercolor version of the rollercoaster assignment I had to do in my illustration class last fall. My scanner has been no less than terrible at actually doing what is was created to do, so I took a photo and tried to adjust it as much possible as it looks like in 'real life.' That's the pain about traditional media.
Anyways, so my rollercoaster was Chinese folk-themed. The actual ride is suppose to be those red lions made up of multiple performers, all in perfect timing, do beautiful dances. I find the faces of these bright creatures fascinating because they are moved with such eerie fluidity, they almost seem real.

"A Jungle Party"

2011-01-18T20:15:00.002-05:00

I made this for my nephew with colored pencils. He's half-Phillipino and half-Spanish and his bedroom is jungle-themed, so I decided on a festive scene with animals native from the Phillipines, like the carabao and the semi-creepy tarsier. Because I didn't have a scanner in Los Angeles I could only take a photo of the completed piece and so I just hoped it came out alright when I came back. Unfortunately, the photo didn't turn out well; it's grainy, blurry, and very light.

School Starts Tomorrow

2011-01-17T20:38:00.002-05:00

I am so unbelievably excited!

Playing with Markers

2011-01-13T13:15:00.000-05:00

I really like the look of lithographs and silkscreens, I wish I knew how to make them. In the meantime I can be a poser and use markers.

Comic-Related Drawings

2011-01-10T11:30:00.000-05:00

A New Year for Triumphs and Mistakes

2011-01-09T23:50:00.000-05:00

Happy New Years everyone!
I've been busy recovering from a cold, visiting my mom's side of the family in Los Angeles, CA, and working on my Fox & Mirror comic. Physical and mental endurance, and stubborn confidence is needed to even glance at my notes and sketches. *sigh* I'm not going to lie, I do find myself on the verge of quitting with self-doubt. But thanks to my ambitious leo personality and my girlfriend I find a way to just keep working and working at it.

Here is a page from a notebook that I have for thumbnails of paneled comic pages:

My sister-in-law gave me this new solar-powered, head-bopping companion, which I am very happy to place on my desk:

And above is an updated version of my desk. One tip to keep in mind for those struggling to work on their desk: find some way to fall in love with your desk so that you stay put on it to do work. It never hurts.

(I posted this on my DeviantArt journal too)

Waiting for You at the Glass Space Station

2010-12-29T14:24:00.000-05:00

The Disgruntled Poet

2010-12-19T10:22:00.001-05:00

I'm off to Los Angeles on Monday morning for christmas. I won't be back until after New Years. I'm going to miss my girlfriend and also watching Xena: Warrior Princess...But I will make sure I'll do productive artsy things.

Figure Drawing Sketches

2010-12-16T18:19:00.000-05:00

Preliminary Sketches

2010-12-12T17:28:00.000-05:00

These were the preliminary drafts for The Demon Approaches sequential illustrations. They were made with some acrylic, watercolors, pen and ink, pencil, and even watercolor pencils. The final artworks ended up being made digitally for stylistic purposes: View final versions

WIP and New Moleskine Agenda

2010-12-09T22:35:00.002-05:00