Meow there, Monday! Here we are again... the end of year. So soon! Anyway, celebrating the coming new year in Pantone's Color of the Year for 2014 - radiant orchid. And of course, it has to come in dots/circles for good luck, wealth and prosperity! So, Happy 2014 to everyone! =^.^=
Meow there, Monday! This is my entry for Colored Pencil Magazine's online art challenge for November. And finally, a portrait photo again! Been waiting for a portrait art challenge since the last one several months ago. The succeeding challenge photos were really nice but I prefer doing portraits or anything human-y figure-y... This is my second attempt for this challenge, didn't quite like the first one I did.
Couldn't quite get the colors to look like the original illustration after scanning. Anyway, it's rendered with watercolor pencils on a 9" x 12" Canson watercolor paper. Trimmed a bit to fit the scanner. Adjusted the color/brightness/contrast on Photoshop. Below is the art challenge photo by Sally Ford. As usual, we are free to do our own interpretation of the original photo. I choose to do mine in color, as my selection of grey colors are pretty limited. I don't normally do colored portraits, so this piece was a bit of a challenge... but it was a lot of fun! Will certainly be doing more of there colored portraits! Fun!
Now, for the process/WIP pics... Just some of the in-progress pics. My style is that of render-and-wash technique. I wanted the final piece to look soft, but slightly "textured" and a bit like an old photo...
Some greys and wash to tone down the final colors.
Some more grey and then the browns and wash...
Building up the layers...
Kept repeating this until I got the color intensity I liked...
Working on the details...
Almost done!
And this beautiful and inspiring song accompanied me while I did this piece...
Hontou no Oto by Kokia, one of my fave singers!
Youtube, where is that auto-replay button?!
Yeah, looooooong post! Please browse through the other portraits I've done too, clicky-click (here)... If you like the song by Kokia, check out my portrait on Kokia, (here). I've included some of my fave Kokia songs in that too. Thanks for reading through this looooooooong post of mine! =^.^=
Meow there! 'Tis the merry and festive holiday season... parties galore... So here's one for the daring one. Deep red, body-hugging sheath dress with black, stripey-ladder design detail. Sexy and elegant... =^.^=
Meow there, Monday! Temperature's gotten cool these days, or rather, these nights. Nighttime's when the temperature here drops a bit, but daytime's pretty much the usual hot and oftentimes, unbearably hot! I love it when it get cool at night... sweet dreams and snuggly coziness! =^.^=
Just less than a month after the strong earthquake, now it's the strongest typhoon ever recorded! WTH!!! Cebu City sustained minimal damage, as the effect was not as strong here... Northern Cebu, and Central Visayas suffered really bad, they were in the direct path. It's just soooo sad to watch videos of the typhoon pounding those places and the aftermath is just horribly tragic... And as if it's not catastrophic enough, another storm has entered the country and expected to hit Southern Visayas and Mindanao in a couple of days... Not as strong, but we definitely don't need another one this soon!
Happy Halloween!!! As with last year, in my imaginary world, this would be my Halloween costume/outfit... sexy mummy/bandage inspired outfit. Anyways, don't let the spooks get ya! =^.^=
Meow there, Monday! What a freaky and frightening week it has been last week! Pretty much been shaken and rattled for about a week now, and counting... Just when we thought the aftershocks have finally calmed down on Saturday, they surprised and freaked out everyone on early, early yesterday morning with sudden jerks and strong shaking of our beds for about 3 or 4 separate times, minutes apart! Hope all these tremors would stop now! Anyway, it's pastel, peaceful, calm colors for today's sketch... Stay safe, my fellow Visayans! =^.^=
Yeah, there was an earthquake here on Tuesday, October 15 at around 8 AM. It shook HARD!!! Initially, it was reported to be a magnitude 7.2 but was later downgraded slightly to 7.1. The epicenter was on the neighboring island of Bohol, close to Cebu. Actually, on a clear day, we can see Bohol! The quake mostly affected the central part of the country. That was really the worst ever I've experienced! This was really scary and freaky! Yeah, there were stronger quakes that hit the country before, but this one was the worst I've personally experienced. Our house suffered minor damages thankfully! A few, new, tiny cracks in the walls, old cracks grew a bit, a few bathroom tiles fell off the wall, things fell off the shelves, some glass objects broke... But there were serious damages to other parts of Cebu and Bohol. The aftershocks are just craaazzzzzyyyyyyy!!!! On Day 1, it was almost nonstop and rather strong too! The whole day, night and into the early hours of dawn! It was scary! Day 2, aftershocks calmed a bit, less frequent but still strong. Now, Day 3, even less frequent but still rather strong. Sometimes you wonder if it was an aftershock or if it was just your legs/chair/mind playing with you! Night time is tough too as it's hard to sleep 'coz just when you've managed to doze off, the bed would suddenly shake! Minutes into my writing this blogpost, it shook again! And rather strong too!
Many old, historic churches were damaged, and some collapsed. But this one in the video below is that of the oldest church in the country, the Basilica Minore del Santo Nino de Cebu. One of the busiest, most frequently visited church here in Cebu. The video caught the actual collapse of the bell tower. It's soooooooooo dramatic and unbelievable, it really looked like a scene from a movie!!!
It's a really tragic event, lots and lots of damage and many people died, more than a hundred so far. But one thing that was really, really lucky for us was that the earthquake happened on a national holiday and at a relatively early hour. No work for most people, no school... Most people were at home and awake already. Malls and shops were still closed. Otherwise, it could have been much worse... Frankly, it's kind of hard to believe it happened here! It's the "These are things you just see on TV!"... The damaged Basilica Minore and other damaged/collapsed buildings, they're places we regularly pass by on the way to someplace else. It's sad to see it happening to my home city...
And yeah, totally not related to my blog topic... If you read through the whole post, thank you for spending some of your time on today's post. I was initially planning to post a sketch and combining it with this post about the earthquake but it seemed not right to do so. Well, I really don't have any sketch to post for today I confess. It's been shaking a lot lately, and the shaking are often sudden and strong... freaks you out with its suddenness! When I'm doing drawing, my drawing/drafting table would shake... sometimes it's the aftershocks, and the rest of the time, it seems my drawing movements' causing the table to shake! But since Day 1, everyone has been on constant dizziness from all the aftershocks! Rather disconcerting! Life has started getting back to some sense of normalcy... hoping for these aftershocks to finally stop!
Thanks again for reading this rambling post of mine... =^.^=
Meow there! Loving this stripey dress from the Spring 2014 collection of Missoni! Nice, nice colors in this collection too... deep and rich jewel tones, balanced with equivalent muted pastels. I'm especially loving the stripes. =^.^=
Watercolor base.....
Watercolor pencils for richer and more defined fabric print...
Meow there, Monday! Saying goodbye to September with this cute floral dress from Temperley London's Spring 2014 collection. Wasn't it just the beginning of September last week??? Time really flies by much faster these days......... *sigh*
Meow there! Cute outfit by Dsquared2 for their Spring 2014 collection! Loving this collection... sexy, colorful, vivacious and fun! And it's got that vintage, glamorous vibe... so old Hollywood! Happy weekend! =^.^=
Watercolor base and then I use watercolor pencils to do the print...
This collection and fashion show made me think of the those wonderful and beautifully done old Hollywood musicals. I love those musicals!!! Esther Williams really comes to mind, especially with the vintage, tiki beach themed show/collection. She's one of my fave old Hollywood actresses!
A video clip compilation from her movies...
One of the best movie scenes ever! From the movie "Million Dollar Mermaid"...
Meow there, Monday! Continuing with the Spring 2014 fashion show sketches, today it's an beaultiful gown by Monique Lhuillier... Love this collection! Especially the luscious and vibrant fabrics... =^.^=
Meow there! Been rendering my sketches a bit different lately, especially the skin. More use of the watercolor for shading and contouring, and less of the colored pencils. I think I like the effect better... looks much neater. It's still much easier to use watercolor pencils to render fabrics though, better control. =^.^=
Meow there, Monday! The Spring 2014 fashion week shows have recently begun. And I'm starting off my runway sketches with this cute dress by Carolina Herrera.
Pretty collection... love the sensual movement of the fabrics.
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