First of all, happy new year! I hope your 2015 is off to a great start, yes? As for mine, well I post on Instagram almost everyday so you can have a look-see there if you’d like to know what I’ve been doing since I last wrote. 🙂
I’ve also been working on client-commissioned cartoon portraits for my wedding site over the holidays but I haven’t had the chance to post any of the newer stuff yet. In the meantime you can see what I’ve already done here.
While I’m waiting for a new batch of rubber carving blocks to arrive, I’ve been practicing figure drawing with colored pencils. I confess that I have a hard time drawing males –they always end up looking girly. Witness Exhibit A.
I made this sketch today, an homage to the Japanese movie “Hidamari no Kanojo” which stars my favorite Juri Ueno (awesome actress) and delicate-faced Jun Matsumoto. I’m a sucker for chick flicks, even at my age *blush*, and this warm & fuzzy scene at the train station was one of my favorites in the film. Can’t say I liked the ending though, but that’s another story. If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s a link to the trailer. While working on this drawing, I thought of looking for old artworks I made back in college just to see how much my style has evolved. Thankfully, I remembered that they were in my old online portfolio which means I didn’t have to look too far. 🙂
“Fence” (1990) — Seeing this again today, I can now say that I was a bonafide mushball *bow* — I blame the many Sweet Dreams books I read as a teen. On another note, I’m amazed that I was able to draw the girl’s expression so well! I was 18 when I drew this and I haven’t experienced real love yet #chos. Kilig moments? Probably. I clearly remember making sure that the chain holding the gate together forms a heart, haha. I’ll try scanning the painting again so you can see it in detail.
“Pool Hall” (1991) – See, even with this painting there’s romance brewing between characters. In my teen-aged mind, the girl on the right and the tall guy in red are dating… but his friend, the guy in green likes the girl and she seems to like him back. Tall trophy boyfriend, meanwhile, is oblivious to the sparks between the two and is only concerned about maintaining his billiards champion title. The two guys on the left… well they’re the only ones without love problems tee hee. 🙂 Again, I’m amazed that I was able to tell a story through one painting. Also, I have no patience to paint in watercolor with that kind of attention to detail anymore. Maybe I should title this post “DEvolution of my drawing style” instead, lol.
“Hitching a Ride on Santa’s Sleigh” (1996) — And then came the E-heads’ “Fruitcake” book project while I was in the middle of an advertising career. From this point on, it seems I started drawing people in a more cartoony fashion. I also don’t recall why I chose to do these illustrations in black and white. Printing cost concerns, most likely.
Artworks for my old online store “The Paper Basket” (2008) – Looking at this again now, I know I could’ve done this series so much better. I think my freehand drawing downfall started after I got dependent on the computer from 1993 onwards. I would still draw outlines by hand but coloring by computer was so much quicker. That, and I think I lost confidence in my illustrating self after being on the computer for so long…
Artwork for an auction (2009) – I was challenged to explore painting and drawing by hand again when I started getting invited to participate in exhibits and auctions. It was refreshing to actually dab paints to paper and “touch” my drawings after just seeing them on the screen.
“Dreamtangle” (2010) – By this time I was already comfortable drawing and doodling again. Sometimes I would combine hand-drawn inks with digital paint, but now after much trial and error I’ve learned to just leave the pen and ink art alone as they are. K.I.S.S. and all that. The bare-bones black and white version of this drawing is on RedBubble.
Just to cap off this post, let me show you another colored pencil practice sketch. This is from the other day.
After seeing all my old stuff, I’m glad that the attention to detail (folds in the clothes, etc) that was present before is back. However there’s still much to learn and new techniques to experiment with so we shouldn’t stop evolving. As Arnold keeps telling me, “gawa lang ng gawa” — and he has every right to dish out that advice as you can see on his site how much his art has evolved and developed through the years. Laterz!
