January...

...brings a new year. Hey all! Here we are once again, with a clean slate. I figured that I'd lend my first blog of the new year to my artistic endeavors of last ( or in other words, since I was too lazy to post last years stuff, I'll get around to doing it now. lol)

Unfortunately, I didn't do much "artwork" per se, but I did do a few greeting cards. And a major step for me: I finally did my first craft fair! Needless to say, it was a total bust (I have a laundry list of why it didn't work out, but lets not get into that), but I did take away some valuable info.

 

 Now, I can't remember if I posted these or not, so if I did, I apologize. These were birthday gifts that I made for friends. The top one was Illustrator & Photoshop, the 2nd one strictly Illustrator, and the last one was my first attempt at painting on wood. Didn't turn out too shabby.

I must say I enjoy making greeting cards more. The top one was for a friend's baby shower. One of my very few encounters with a Cricut. I honestly don't like that machine at all. Don't get me wrong, it does a lot of neat things. And what would be even neater is if they made it to where you can cut your own designs. I don't know what it is, but that machine just gets on my nerves. The second card was also for a baby shower. Design done in Illustrator. I'd like to say that is my best card in awhile. It looks quite professional. And the last three pics were cards I made for the craft fair.

And remember that Foomi I bought at WonderCon? Here he is, finished and all! (Finally lol) It took me so long to complete because I really didn't know what I wanted him to look like besides having  wings and horns. Even up to the point where I started to paint I wasn't completely set on an idea. So I sort of just winged it (no pun intended) all the way through the painting process. He didn't turn out too shabby, either! I'm pretty sure I'll be doing more customs this year.

So that's it for now, kiddies! Here's to more artwork! Time to get crackin! =)

 

Yay! WonderCon!

So my second year at attending WonderCon came and went and I had a great time. Unfortunately, I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked because I was sucked into buying mode. I spent a GOOD (not good meaning good, but good meaning bad lol) amount of moola on artist goodies, but definitely well worth it.

 Look at the Uglydoll! I feel sorry for the guy inside lol

 Hey Giants/X-Men fans! Check it out (Unfortunately, this was not mine =( )

 I've wanted this ever since it came out. I love Chris Sanders

 My first Tokidoki collectible. Yeah, I'm a late bloomer.

 My first custom Foomi! What to do, what to do! That will definitely be a future blog...

Camilla D'Errico

 Nidhi Chanani

 Steph Laberis

 Brittney Lee

 Nidhi's postcards/mini prints

 Brianne Drouhard

And this time, I actually got to experience the "behind the table" action. My friend, Cristian, (the illustrator behind Reluctant Zero) had a space in the small press area and I got to hang out and catch up. It was definitely a thrilling experience for me seeing and meeting the people that came to the table. It left an impressionable mark on me so much so, that I have been debating all day if I should turn in an interest form for APE. And if a little 10 year old girl can have a table (if you went to WonderCon, you would know what I'm talking about) so can I, dammit!

And lastly, I just want to say congratulations and thank you to an artist friend of mine, Nidhi Chanani! (Check out her awesome work, here) She was recently interviewed for a segment on CNN. About a year ago, she FB messaged me out of the blue with inspiring advice which has helped me work on believing in my art. I try to hold on to that feeling everyday. She has had a huge influence on me and I thank her from the bottom of my heart. <3

Hi!

Howdy everyone! I'm back! Sorry for the long hiatus, but February was definitely a hectic month for me and I'm just now able to hunker down and do a little drawing here and there.

What have I been doing, you ask? Welp, in a nutshell, I got a new job and moved (again) all within a month. Do I like the new job? *Meh* But that's a whole different story that I won't get into. Let me just say that I'd definitely rather be doing artwork all day long... Speaking of which, to any freelancer out there who is reading this, I pose a question to you: Can you give me any advice, tips, tricks, etc. on jumping into the freelance world? HELP ME PLEASE!! Thanks and I will forever be grateful for your hospitality!

Moving right along, I've been motivating myself to do some artwork because remember what I said in my previous post? This is the year of yes I can! In this week alone, I did 2 1/2 illustrations (1/2 because one is more a doodle than an actual finished piece). Unfortunately, I can't show the 2 just yet because they are birthday presents for dear friends, and this blog posts to my Facebook in which they can automatically see it on my wall. But I can show the 1/2 piece:

This one I did in memoriam of my beloved kitty, Minnie. Thursday was the 3 year anniversary of her passing. I still miss her so much. =.(

And since I'm on a somber note, I would like to say that my <3 and prayers go out to those in Japan and anyone else who has been greatly affected by the earthquake and tsunami. Please stay safe and the world is with you.

Boy, am I tired, but I will strive to bring you more doodles and drawing next week! Ciao for now =)

There...

Happy early Chinese New Year!

It's a new dawn, it's a new day...

Happy new year, everyone! I know I've been MIA for some time...the end of last year dealt me some considerable blows, but I'm slowly on the mend now. 2011 is starting out pretty well for me, so I'm going to make this year the year of "Yes I can!" No more "I'll try" or "maybe" or "I dunno"... This will be the year of taking action!

My main resolution for this year is to focus on my artwork. I plan on opening an Etsy shop (yes, I know I said that before...but now I have actual merchandise!), working on some paintings, and hopefully becoming an exhibitor at APE or some sort of fair (crossing fingers for this last one.)

And so with that said, here is my first piece for the year. I know that last year was the year of the tiger, so this one has nothing to do with the new year. I'll probably just do a rabbit piece next. Enjoy!

It's been a month...

...since I've last posted. Sorry, I'm just not into this blogging thing like I used to be. I guess that will be one of my new year's resolutions to work on. (Yes, it's almost that time again...blah)

Anywho, I've actually got a couple of pictures to post. The first set is from APE which happened a couple weekends ago in San Francisco. Boy, did I enjoy it. It definitely had much more of an intimate atmosphere compared to the other cons I've been to. And there was walking and breathing room! lol Unfortunately, I had to limit myself to only $100 spending money. But I was happy with what I got. I also got to chat it up with a couple of my favorite artists: Nidhi Chanani and Pascal Campion. Those two are awesome! Hopefully, if I crack the whip on myself and start churning out some artwork, I'll set up a table next year. (Another thing to add to my resolutions list!)

From top to bottom, left to right: Bill Presing, Sho Murase (and the "Heroine" book), Fiona Meng, Danni Shinya Luo, and Liana Hee,

Nidhi and Pascal prints

I love Bill Presing's artwork!

I was soooooo excited when I saw him drawing this on the inside!

The next pic is actually a piece I did a long time ago. My friend e-mailed me a couple weeks ago asking if I had any Asian inspired artwork that she could borrow for an event she's having. I had to do a little digging through all my old artwork, but I was able to find it. It's done with Caran D'ache. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's like a watercolor crayon. I'm not a super fan of using it, but I actually like the way it turned out with this piece. So I'm dropping off Mr. Buddha this weekend and hopefully he might find a happy new owner who'd like to buy him!

As you can see, I scrubbed out the background because honestly, I didn't like it at all.

 And lastly, I have a cute little Halloween pic. I actually did it a couple weeks ago as a demo piece at work. I didn't know what to paint, so I just came up with it on the fly. I figured I'd post it just in time for Sunday. So with that being said, Happy Halloween to everyone and I hope you all have a safe and fun weekend! Eat tons of candy, too! =D