sleepyhead

This will be a quick post. I am minutes away from plopping my head onto my warm and nice pillow. Even though it's still early, my body feels dead tired. Anyway, here's a quick doodle I made when I attended an art convention. This is inspired by another artist (whose name I forgot, sorry) he created lovely monster drawings in sticky notes. I really like his work and since I only had a sticky note on hand at the time, I decided to give it a quick go. Not sure if this is something I like, but  I might draw from the idea later on.

This was one of the first doodles I made at the art convention. It was only because the initial speakers were kind of boring.

I'm Back!!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything. But now I'm back from hiatus and trying to post several sketches and doodles I've done so far. I'm still trying to finish my Sketchbook Project. Plus, I'm still busy creating shoes. Also attended an art convention awhile back so might post some of that here.

This was a drawing I made of my friend. She's also an artist and currently taking up architecture. =)

Will be posting a lot more of these small drawings. I got inspired from artist cards. Unfortunately, not that many artists are into them from where I'm from. Oh well. By the way, this was done using Steadtler Triplus Fineliners.(Yes, I finally have them!!) I love them a lot! Perfect for moleskines. 

because I still don't have my staedtlers...

Here's the last batch of illustrations I made for my friend. These are still done using four color pens. Will be uploading new trading card inspired drawings in the next couple of days, well, as soon as I get my fineliners that is.

Again, these are two separate pieces. Badly wish I hadn't scanned them at once. The colors came a bit too washed out in the scanning process too. Oh well. 

More illustrations...

Posting some more of the illustration work I did for my friend. The colors look washed out because of the scanning so pardon me for that. And I actually drew these on separate pages but the lady scanned them onto one page so they are going whichever way *sigh.* Anyway, all these illustrations were made with a 4 color pen. Enjoy!

Looking Forward

Hey, it's been a while since I've posted anything on this blog. Putting up drawings that I've done for my friend's story. I'm still waiting for my Sketchbook Project to arrive in the mail. It's been three weeks and no word yet, I wonder if it'll ever come. I'm still crossing fingers. Attending an upcoming International Art Convention in the next month. Looking forward to learning a lot of new things. Hopefully get more inspired and meeting old friends.

Will be posting the illustrations I made for my friend in the next couple of days and maybe a couple more pages from my sketchbook. See, I've been a busy bee all along!

This really won't make sense unless you have an absolutely naughty mind or you've read my friend's story. =)

getting antsy

So it's the same old story, I'm busy with shoe orders, new part-time work and drawing tons of stuff, but none of them are at a stage where I'm confident to show them. Hence, you'll just be getting a picture today.

This week I found this really neat site that helps me get and actually understand figure drawing. I've always sucked at drawing figures from my imagination which is why I'm pushing myself to learn this. Also looking forward to participating in the sketchbook project. Hopefully, I can make the submission in time. Because of this I'm getting "antsy" with a lot of things. And yes, I will be cheesy and post a picture of ants that I took with my phone.

I'm hoping to draw this one day. I just haven't gotten around to it because I know that it will be insanely meticulous. 

Black ants and their little white babies. ( I actually thought it was food at first.)

another four color pen creation

Although this picture is far from done, I wanted to show you what it looks like in the process. (Okay, so I simply don't have any finished drawing to post today.) I have several sketches on paper as well as quite a few still bobbing and floating inside my head. (Jo, I'm still coming up with some rough sketches for your story, so hang tight. =)

Anyway, for this drawing, I used my Dong-A 4 color pen again. I'm starting to just love the convenience of having four colors in one pen right in my hand whenever I need it. I got myself two other similar pens today. Although the other two were generic (it has Spongebob and Tigger as a design!) I think they work quite well.

I'll make sure to post the finished version of this once it's done.

The picture kind of makes it look weird. It looks much nicer in my sketchbook. =(

Say Hi to Julia

Dear sleepy head.

Julia likes to sleep in during the day and often stays awake until the wee hours of the morning reading books with informative but otherwise useless facts about everyday things. She loves stocking up on useless info in hopes that one day she'll actually be able to apply it in her everyday life. Her current favorite book is The Straight Dope from Cecil Adams. 

She hates having her photo taken because she says that it makes her look more bug-eyed than usual. Whenever she drinks coffee to stay awake, she ends up dozing off in less than an hour after drinking. Hence, she's officially banned everyone at home to buy coffee. She downs a glass or two of Coke to keep her awake instead.

some things are just not meant to be

Why am I double posting? Well, I have nothing better to do. Actually I do, but I'm procrastinating so I'll pass this blog post as something I MUST do so I won't feel so guilty. Anyway, as mentioned, still got plenty of things on my plate. Will be illustrating my friend's story pretty soon, if only I could get our damn printer to work. Rushing a pair of Jordan custom shoes, writing articles (WORK), looking for MORE work (to pay the bills) and possibly (crossing fingers and thumbs) joining an international art/sketchbook project. Also need to start on my Japanese Moleskine "plague" themed sketchbook and my portrait/painting sketchbook.

Speaking of portraits and paintings, guess what I found at our backyard.

singing with the weeds

 This was a portrait that I started a couple of years back. I think this was acrylic on board. After jetsetting for a couple of years and recently just came (visiting, really) home, I found it like this. Apparently, my mom found no use for it and dumped it here. It's all torn and the rain and sunshine like to bully it. Occasionally, stray cats like to snuggle up to it or use it for a scratch post. It's supposed to be Julian Casablancas. I kinda feel bad for it but I'm too jaded to pick it up or salvage it. There's another portrait of a girl behind it. At least I know he's not alone.

up close and personal

Been a hectic week. In between working on some shoe orders, drawing, looking for a new job and worrying my ass off about what to do next. Seems like this is going to be a never-ending cycle. Pretty much feeling like a hamster inside his wheel.

Anyway, I'm glad to say though that I finally found a 4 color pen. Been on the hunt for a while and finally stumbled across it in one of the smaller bookstores. It's pretty handy, still blots once in awhile but I guess can't really complain. The brand that I got was Dong-A. I was looking for Bic but no luck. Anyway, here are some of the scratches I've done so far with my new pen.

Creepy Minnie Mouse....

Not really into Minnie Mouse but my pillow has a cartoony picture of her and I just decided to doodle this on my way to la-la land. I've always looked at Minnie as equivalent to Doink the Clown or any of those creepy/scary clowns that you see in horror movies. Dunno, she gives me the creeps for some reason. I only like the bow in this picture.

If you take this picture and hold my hand against it, you'll find that it's exactly the same size.
Didn't mean for it to but it just came out that way.

Unfinished drawing of my hand...duhh. I always try not to draw at night since it just gets awful for my eyes but for some reason it's relaxing to draw at night. Anyway, I'm liking my 4 color pen so far. I just wish it won't blot too much because it does. Sucks. Oh well.

then the third day came

I know that it's been awhile since I've posted anything on the site. Been feeling rather lazy lately. After chasing over countless deadlines, it felt good to finally get a breather. But now, it's back to the drawing board. I'm still waiting for my Japanese Moleskine to get here, a couple of art books that I really want, and maybe a lot of inspiration to hit.

Been reading tons of cool blogs though. I'll definitely post links here once I get the motivation to do so. Anyway, to make up. I'll post several drawings/doodles that I've done. Here's the first one.

Why so sad?

This was done using Sharpie markers on my pocket Quicksilver sketchbook. The paper on that sketchbook is a bit thick, a lot like cardboard so the markers didn't bleed through as much. It's just a quick doodle. I didn't even put much thought into what I was doing. It's my first drawing on that new sketchbook so it was a bit intimidating and I simply wanted to get it over with. For some reason new sketchbooks always do that to me. 

My shoe paints.

This was done just last night, in between watching an anime cartoon and talking to my little cousin. Yes, multi-tasking flows in my blood. Not sure if that's good or bad though. Anyway, I haven't painted for like ages so I thought I'd give it a try again. These were done using acrylics and pen on my Moley. I painted the background a yellowish ochre as a base. I've been motivated to just aim for quantity rather than quality for now. I think there's something about producing tons of work and learning from them that helps you get enough drive to improve your skills. 

 

Finally, this was completed just this afternoon. I actually got the concept a couple of nights ago when I was having trouble sleeping. I don't know, I just got an impulse to draw an eye at 2 AM. I started making the outline and noted down some ideas then simply inked them in today. This took about an hour to do. I do want to make a color painting out of this and maybe improve on some things later on. We'll see if I actually manage to do that though. =)

Soompi shoes

Characters are owned by whoever made them. =)

This was one of the projects that have been keeping me away from my Moly for the past couple of days. I still have about 3 pairs of shoes to finish off so I guess it'll take awhile to get back to my "everyday sketching." Then again, that's just my excuse.

SMILE

Smile!!

Here's a small doodle that I took from my Moley. I'll post more pics of other works as I'm done with them. I'm still trying to get my hands on the Japanese Moleskine, to create an all portrait or themed Moley; hopefully I can get it by next week. Crossing fingers.

Been dragging my carcass behind me

I think this is Avril Lavigne's logo, anyone?

I know I've gone AWOL the past couple of days, well, as usual I have a good reason. I've been trying to keep up with shoe orders left and right. Currently, I'm working on a Brandon Boyd design for Odessa; Pooh and Piglet; and cute Korean characters for my brother's friends. Don't have much time to draw new stuff but I promise I'll definitely get to sketching again. Just being sidetracked by commission work and some writing stuff. 

For the meantime, here was one thing that was keeping me off my Moleskine for the past couple of days. It's a customized piece of headphones. No, this is not my design. My client provided me the images as well as wanted the Beats logo placed on there, so please don't throw legal letters down my way. 

something to quench your thirst

I want me one of those bubble blowers, right now.

I rarely would post pictures here, unless I get bored or I'm trying to "plan" my next work. However, I'm still in the middle of finishing the headphones, maybe I'll post some here but then again, maybe not. Managed to finish a pen drawing last night but not posting it yet.

Anyway, here's a picture that I took with my phone. I like how the bubbles look and I might try and squeeze out a drawing based on this, it could be interesting.

a pop of color

Though this blog could use some color.

No, I am not posting this because I'm a fan of Ironman. =) I actually made this as a possible design for shoes. Anyway, I used sharpies on this. Always felt intimidated by colored felt tips but Sharpies are pretty easy to work with. Although I still need to get used to them just a tad more. They seep in a little too much into the paper which was annoying since I usually use both sides of my sketchbook page.

Also finished a draft for a Michael Jordan portrait, possibly, to be painted on shoes, but I'm not posting it because I'm not happy with it. Pretty much my day involved making the MJ draft, painting headphones with skulls for another customer and sketching out designs for Brandon Boyd inspired shoes.

watching all the ground beneath you drop

I didn't quite capture his lazy eye.

This picture was drawn on one of my most favorite books. I got inspired by an artist who's name totally escapes me right now, but I found him on Etsy. His works were done on antique books and it looked really nice so I decided to give it a go. 

The crisp white sheet on the book helped to make the drawing stand out and I also love how the text is embedded in it. Got any idea who this guy is? 

challenge no.3: Draw a bag, wallet or purse

Yes, that ballpoint is the culprit.

I told you I'd post a new drawing today and I mean it. Of course, it's unfinished but I have a pretty good reason. As you can see, I was nearing the end of it when my new (bought the other day) Faber-Castell ballpoint stopped working. It's included in the picture so you can see the culprit and hopefully avoid it if you are ever working on some important piece.

Anyway, it's still full of ink but it just won't write anymore. I bought only one of its kind. Also, if you notice, this is the first time I've actually done something in blue ink. At first, it looked a bit odd and I simply didn't like it but I've grown to love it somehow. I'm also sort of proud of this drawing. It's nowhere near perfect but it's definitely an improvement from my previous ones especially when it came to the hatching and shading. I'll try and post it again once everything's done, but for now, enjoy!

ps. If you're wondering what has inspired me to try out pen and ink again or simply start drawing/sketching again, check out andrea joseph. =)

procrastinating yet again...

I still can't decide whether I like this piece or not, but one thing's for sure, I miss drawing people.

I promise I will post something new tomorrow. But I was just a wee bit nostalgic when I saw this old pastel portrait of a little girl that I made way back. Resolution isn't so good since it was obviously taken with a low end camera years before. Of course, I have no clue what happened to the original painting. I think my mom just mistook it for useless crap and threw it away. Oh well..

new ballpoints

My weapons of choice.

Okay, so I'm sort of cheating today and skipping out on my sketch-a-day pledge. I did get some new ballpoints though as well as a new book by Chuck Palahniuk (as if that's any consolation.) I'm not sure whether the book is any good but he's a good writer so it'll probably be interesting at least.

As for the ballpoints, I got several cheap ones from Faber-Castell (black, red and blue) in different nibs, one from MGS (no, I don't think it has anything to do with Solid Snake), and a bright pink one ( I couldn't resist) from a brand called Leone. Hopefully I can get some nice work from these. I'm still looking for a sepia toned pen. I'm not sure if it's available here since I couldn't find it at the bookshop earlier.

light my fire...

Done in 2 hours, in between naps, snacks and frustration.

Yes, I also can't believe I used that as a title. Anyway, love the Doors though, but that line has become quite trite. Anyway, the challenge for today was to draw a lamp. Pardon the ink blots and pencil lines. I am still using the same pen (HBW, not HBV) since I haven't gone out of my "lair" to hijack the bookstore, maybe tomorrow. Been at a lull lately, but it's all good since it's giving me a chance to sketch again. Can't say I'm proud of the results but hopefully I'll get there.

stickin' it through 'til the end

My 3 year old Converse. He's thinking of retiring soon. 

There are plenty of reasons why I don't like this drawing but I'm posting it anyway since I promised myself that I'd get back to sketching again by creating "one sketch per day," ahem, starting yesterday. ( I know, I know...this is already overdue) Anyway, been customizing shoes for awhile, and incidentally, the first EDM challenge is to draw a shoe, so I guess it's only fitting that this becomes my first (drawing) post. 

Started this sucker yesterday, but had to leave it alone to eat with friends from out of town which was fun, by the way.Visit Bourbon St. if you're ever in CDOC. (No, I do not get free food for this.) Got back late, so had to finish this today. I liked this drawing better yesterday though. The pen I used just wasn't working. It blotted too much and the nib was too thick. (Yes, I'm taking aim at you HBV ballpoint pen!) I guess I'm gonna have to raid the bookstore within the week to get better ones. I left it unfinished. Simply cannot/will not salvage it anymore, hopefully better drawings are up ahead. Oh yeah, these were done on my first Moleskine too, and I am loving them so far!

And it all starts here...

These are my 20th+ pair of custom shoes. Been drawing too many cartoon characters; this was a nice break.

Been planning this mini sketchblog for weeks now but for one reason or another (okay, so mostly it's just procrastination) I haven't been able to put up posts or even get started on my daily drawing challenge. So for now, I'll be posting pics of the shoes I've recently done. By the way, been creating custom shoes for awhile now but don't think I'll be posting a lot of it here. We'll see.