Alebrije

This guy has been with me for several years now and I brought him all the way from Mexico. Alebrijes are handcrafted wood carvings that represent visions of dreams normally, however, it's not unusual to come across animals or skeletons too. Some of the best alebrijes come from the state of Oaxaca.

The reason why I'm posting this is because he had a broken leg and a broken antenna for the longest time and I finally did something about it. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph the process involved in its recovery to health, hehehe. I only thought about it once I had finished.... bleah.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the image as much as I enjoy seeing him on top of my bookshelf all in one piece once again.

Rey - Star Wars

 

After watching the latest Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, it was almost imperative for me to draw Rey. So many questions arise from this character, it will be interesting to see how she develops. So glad that we finally have a Star Wars movie that's worth watching over and over again. I've Jedi minded myself to ignore episodes 1-3, hehehe.

Ephemera

Wasn't sure which version was the best so decided to post both of them. Which one do you prefer? These illustrations have been developed from a sketch I previously published, Ephemera.

Always fluttering at the edge of my dreams, never being able to really grasp her.

Renee Coffey - North Island Roadie

 

Summer! Nothing like hitting the beach, catching some waves, drying yourself under the sun and then relaxing in the evening listening to some cool live music. If you find yourself in the North Island of New Zealand during the month of March, you might as well catch one of Renee Coffey's gigs. She'll be hitting most of the surf towns on her tour, so soak in the sights and listen to some good tunes while you're at it. Proceeds will go to Renee's charity called Running with Purpose which works through World Vision.

I am stoked with the way it turned out! This poster looks awesome in a large format version, the colors are so crisp that it really stands out. I think the illustration I made pretty much captures the idea of the tour. I also designed a special version that will be used to commemorate Renee's final concert when she comes back home. Until then, enjoy!

Highlights and Shadows

 

I am really pleased with the result of this illustration, I like everything about it. Starting from the texture and color of the paper up to the way the highlights and shadows give the contours and volume of the face and body.

With a bit of imagination, you can almost see Princess Leia's iconic hair-do.

And now for something different...

 

I thought it would be a good time to try something different from my usual type of illustrations. For a first attempt at obtaining a water color effect, I think it was alright. However, I can see lots of flaws and I definitely need to practice a lot more. There are some areas where there are some nice highlights but most of it is quite flat. This was done using photoshop but I'd like to give it another go with real watercolors next time. Oh well, back to the drawing board I guess.

Latest sketch

 

This is week two of being self employed and it has been a bit difficult to get into a proper schedule. However, this week has been much better than the previous one, I'm a bit more focused and trying to stick to "work hours". The problem is, since I don't have to leave home in order to get work done, I find myself leading a very relaxed schedule.

In any case, waking up every day and feeling less stressed is an improvement that I embrace effusively. I'm also making an effort to improve my drawing skills and this is the first sketch that I've done, hopefully in a month's time I'll be able to see a difference. Not trying to run here but I assume I will have more time to do things that I really like.

We'll see how it goes!

Contrast

I love the way I was able to breathe some color into this picture. The original image was quite dark and had a brownish tint to it. A few filters from photoshop later and the skin has a nice healthy color. Love the contrast! As usual, I must thank my lovely model for putting up with me. Love you GG :)

Pool time!

The days are definitely getting warmer over here and it just seems appropriate that I should have finished this drawing that had been put aside for quite a long time now. I started this sketch in June, which is our winter. I must have been suffering from cabin fever and couldn't wait for some warmth to come over this way.

What am I most happy with in this illustration? Well, it would have to be the lace. I think that's one of the things that took me the most time to do. Once again, I must thank my wonderful model who puts up with my demands even though she may find herself in awkward and uncomfortable positions.

Thanks GG!

The Professor

The first of two cards that I will make to illustrate an article on the MacDiarmid Institute website that talks about the efforts of bringing together the scientific world with the business world in New Zealand. The New Zealand government is promoting the commercialization of science and has set in motion several programmes in order to achieve this.

Spring Fairy

 

Practicing with some brushes, trying to get a watercolor effect. The end result is quite nice although didn't quite obtain the effect I was after. Definitely need more practice. I do like the tones of the skin though, nice and peachy! It's spring finally and a fairy seemed like a good idea to draw :)

WIP

This one has been waiting for quite a while to be finished. There are so many details that need my attention still but here's a small preview of what's to come. Inspired by the girl with the most beautiful smile! Come back again soon to see the final version.

New illustration for the MacDiarmid Institute, this one is to illustrate the blog entry "The Funding Flood".

When thinking about a concept for this illustration, I remembered the famous print The Great Wave off Kanagawa from the Thirty-six views of Mt Fuji by Katsushika Hokusai. I made some modifications in order to match what has been written. It's not an exact reproduction of course but I still like the end result. I changed the color of the water so that it would seem like it's a wave of money and the yellow foam represents coins. Maybe that's not very well achieved but I think it still gives you a good idea of what's happening.

Enjoy!

Best Poster Ever

OK maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but there's no denying that the simplicity of this illustration reflects so much! What evil machinations is this little guy pondering about? That's besides the point, the point is that this little guy is savoring a moment. He's in total peace knowing that he has in his possession a carton of milk. As soon as I saw this image, it struck a chord in me. How can I forget coming back from school and enjoying a tall glass of cold milk? Or having 25 cents in my pocket during elementary school so that I could buy a carton of milk from the school cafeteria?

I have no idea who made this illustration but it is totally Awesome!!! I've been searching for the illustrator/artist who came up with this image but have come up empty handed so far. I would love to have this little guy living somewhere in my flat. I may have to make a reproduction myself, although would love to give credit to the guy who came up with this masterpiece.

Those who know me, are aware of the importance of milk in my life, hehehe

Mmmm.... milk!!

Girls!

This Christmas break I don't have pictures of my travels around New Zealand or any other parts of the world that I can upload. Instead, I stayed at home this time and decided I should do something to cover some of the bare walls.  My solution was to gather some of my girl illustrations I've created over the years, print them and create squares which can be hung on walls or placed around the house. So far, I've made 22 of these squares and they encompass sketches, pin ups, vector based illustrations, hand drawn and mixed techniques. The result is quite colorful but I think I should make even more.

In the future, it would be great to have at least one illustration per week so that by the end of the year I would have 52 new illos! Let's see how many I end up with.

Happy New Year guys!!

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!

Wishing the best to all!

Blue Dreams

This sketch was made on my iPad some time ago, on the 12th of September at 2:19am to be exact. I was trying out the free Sketchbook Pro app but I finished it in Photoshop. The only thing that was tweaked in Photoshop was the change of font for the title of the drawing.

Sassy

This last illustration had been in the works for quite a while. I first drew the sketch about a month ago and it's only until now that I've finished it. If I were to be really critical about this piece, I'd have to point out that the neck is extremely long and that the alignment of the head is pulled too much to the right side of the body. However, since I'm not being too critical, I like the final result.

Originally, the magenta top had no texture and it really jumped against the background. Adding that dirty texture helped ti subdue the effect and I believe there's a better balance overall.

Needless to say, I always have the help of a special person that inspires me to draw these illustrations. Even though it is not a close representation of the actual person, it is based on her.

Steampunk sketch

It's been a while since the last post and many things have occurred. I'll put a few things up in order to catch up with what's been going on but in the meantime, here's a sketch I just finished today. I originally penciled it in the 16th of September but only colored it until now. Wasn't too sure about the color of the pants but I settled for this brownish grape tone in the end. The other possibility would've been a dark grayish olive green. Hahaha, I guess it would be easier if I told you the Pantone values.

Enjoy!

Midnight sketch

Last night I finally decided to try out the free Sketchbook Pro app on my iPad and I must say I was quite pleased with the way it performs. It takes a bit of practice to control your finger at first, even though this is the first tool we use as kids to paint. Back then we're not too fussy about the turnout of our painting, we're just pleased we can get our fingers grubby AND make something with all that gooey paint.

Since you get no real feedback from the smooth glassy surface of the iPad, and your finger tip can be wider than the brush you select, you sometimes end up guessing where your line is going. To be fair though, this is not a precise application, it's designed to make rough sketches and it works perfectly for that purpose. The free version comes with the option of creating 3 layers and that helps up to certain extent but it does take us back to the days of Photoshop 3 where you would save your file every step of the way because it was lacking this feature. The complete version may have the option of having more layers though, I don't know. You can also control the opacity of each layer and you can order them depending of your needs.

The app also allows you to play with text and gives you several fonts to choose from. The only problem I found, was that when I wanted to place the text at the bottom of the sketch, the keyboard would block this area. I'd have to type the text on the upper part of the sketch and the drag down to the position that I desired. You are not able to hit the return key and get a second line. You must type this one as a separate element and if you want to place it underneath the previous line of text, you'll find once again that the keyboard obstructs the view. As I said before, this app was not intended to be precise so it's forgivable.

Overall, I was really impressed with Sketchbook Pro and as you can see by the date on the sketch, it kept me up until basically 2am. I think it's a great tool to improve your speed painting skills. I highly recommend it!!