Naughty or Nice?

Merry Christmas everyone!!

I hope you've been nice because Leaves for Chloe is out right on time for Christmas, oh yeah.

And HERE's a list of suppliers.

But if you've been naughty... well you better start making amends right now and hope for the best, Santa's a jolly nice guy after all *hohoho*

Ah my fingers are itching to draw more Chloe...

Leaves for Chloe e-book cover

Meet Chloe!

She is Anna's best friend, she's also the main character of Pat Elliott's novel Leaves for Chloe, and once again I've had the opportunity to bring her to life for the e-book cover.

Portraying Chloe has been such a different experience compared to Anna. By the time I started working on Chloe I had read the first novel, so this chick wasn't a brief but someone I already knew.

It's been a super fun project, drawing outfits, laughing with Pat, turning dogs into lambs and into dogs again... I would have liked to park a trike somewhere in there, but she has high heeled boots in the country so I regret nothing!

Leaves for Chloe will be available for purchase by the end of November, you'll be able to get updates on the dates and selling platforms in Pat Elliott's web page or her Twitter feed.

A tea-leaf reading.

A prediction of turmoil, two men fighting over her and a house move.

Can your future really be told in a cup?

Chloe is feeling down in the dumps. Her best friend got married, her new boyfriend lives at the other end of the country and her ex won't leave her alone. Can she ever have a settled love life?

She has her fortune told, hoping to find some clues to her future.

Her tea cup reading promises a mixed future, with despair, love, new friends and two men fighting for her love. 

Only when Chloe finds her true self will the future be the happy one she longs for.

Join Chloe as misery strikes, hope returns and the battle for happiness begins.

Happy Holidays

Seventeen of these present bearers have already accomplished their task and are enjoying the holidays in their new homes or are about to arrive there. This one though was stubbornly set on doing it XXI century cyber style, so there :)

Wishing you all merry Christmas and a wonderful 2014.

All In The Leaves e-book cover

Meet Anna!

She's the main character of Pat Elliott's novel All In The Leaves, and I've had the opportunity to design the e-book cover for her.

It's been a long way baby, and as exciting as it is to see how all the work is wrapping up and finally out in the open I have to admit I'm gonna miss all the laughs we've had during the process, even through the pert-boob incident (ooops! Shhhh....).

I'm happy to say that it's finally out for sale on Apple's iTunes and Amazon, and it'll soon appear on Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, Waterstones.


Check it out!

A tea-leaf reading.

A prediction of a fabulous life to come.

Can your future really be told in a cup?

Anna is feeling down in the dumps. She's nearly thirty, painfully shy 

and has no boyfriend. She's still living at home and has a boring job. 

Can this really be all there is?

A chance bout of tears leads to a tea leaf reading which predicts a 

wonderful future for her.

A future which promises a new career, a new home and a husband. All by 

the following Christmas.

Join Anna as opportunities arise, calamity strikes and the battle for 

happiness begins.

Back To Basics

Summer has come and gone and I didn't even notice, how did that happen!?!?

It's been full of ups and downs, but I think I'm going to let the downs wash away and just cherish the sunny days, beautiful cucumbers, photo shooting outdoors, action movies, and new geckos visiting the terrace during the evenings.

Don't know about you but I didn't get to use my watercolors during most of the summer. Got to do sketches and studies though, and got ready to start a new series of paintings, and now finally my brushes are getting wet again, yeah!

And I'm taking the opportunity to go back to basics and use some pigments I haven't used for years. I can't even remember why they got replaced with something different in the palette, but hey, I'm having a blast rediscovering, experimenting, and finding how to integrate them in my current painting processes.

Traditional vs. Digital - Take 2

Not long ago I was musing about digital and traditional art, about them being two sides of the same coin, two tools serving the same goal.

This weekend I've been making a back-up of some image files from last year and came by a good example of using traditional mediums to do what's usually a digital task.

See this portrait? Last summer I was lucky enough to work for a man who wanted to take an old and damaged photo of his mother when she was a baby, reprint it and use it as a gift.

Anyone would have asked for a clean up in Photoshop or similar.

Instead, this man chose to commission the revamp of the photo as a watercolour painting. How amazing is that?!

Each time I fall in the digital/traditional debate I end up thinking the same, the tools are not important, just make meaningful art.

Perturbadito

This is a little thing I've been working in small slots of time, on the side of other works.

It feels good to paint something without other purpose than relaxing and enjoy the flow of paint on the paper.

Since this little fellow has been guarding my conte pencils for quite some time now, I decided he deserved an homage.

I got rid of his stray eyes. Not sure why. They give him this disturbed look that oddly enough, grows on you after a while. Might do a second version just to include them!

Digital vs. Traditional?

I’ve been ill for over a week guys.  

Have you ever been ill but feeling well enough to get to the painting table just to discover the little nuisances of it all? It can be so frustrating!

That pencil stroke running in the wrong direction thanks to a coughing fit. Or the paint from your brush splattered all over the paper because of a sudden sneeze. How about the brush falling from your hand and rolling over your paper? Believe me, NOT FUN.

At some point I decided to redirect all my creative efforts towards digital, which I seldom do.

The result has been a bunch of new icons, some textures to tweak future images (couldn’t let those splatters go to waste, now could I?) and a couple of little pics for the web.

Like this little ID card, it’s so much fun grabbing scanned images, some stock, a bunch of fonts and unused sketches, throw them all together, stir while it boils and see what comes out of it!

I guess I just need to fangirl for a little bit over the chance of having one art medium that’s not messy when you need it, one that allows as much flexibility as any other traditional medium, one that lets you UNDO the unwanted stray stroke that you make when you cough.

Or maybe the point of this post is simply to acknowledge that digital and traditional are two sides of the same coin, that it doesn’t need to be one OR the other, but both complementing each other. Whatever works, right?

Every Time I Paint a Portrait I Lose a Friend

Wasn’t it Sargent who said that? Well why nobody asked Mr. Sargent what happens when it’s a self portrait? I’ve found out, it’s horrible to give yourself the silent treatment, but you do!

It’s quite interesting how easy it is making a self portrait just for yourself and how difficult it is to do it to show it to others, the reason is quite simple, you just want to look GOOD – yes I’m hearing Darren Hayes singing Ego inside my head, shut up Darren! – After some failed attempts it turns out that only I can look like me... and that’s a good thing! Ha! go figure.

It is what it is and I think this one is truly me, not just physically, and that’s the goal, rocking my American Retro T-shirt, comfy socks, my beloved Escoda in hand and a big smile plastered on my face, and hopefully sending those vibes to you, C’mon you know what I’m talking about.

And yes, it doesn’t hurt that the “engaging” and “dynamic” angle hides any fat that might or might not be down there ha-ha! after all I want to start talking to myself again as soon as possible!

Have you painted a selfportrait? I want to see them! Point me in the right direction and please tell me you’ve gone through the same narcissistic mini crisis.

Embrace Fear

Want to know a secret? Fear has been one of my closest companions my whole life.

Here’s a fact, Fear is a strong source of motivation, sometimes the strongest. Here’s another fact, that motivation can get you to better places, the problem is that more often than not it seems to motivate you to turn and run in the opposite direction, or just freeze sporting the dumbest face you’re capable of.

Do you want to know another secret?  Fear probably just wants to help you to reach that better place but the wacko has not the best sense of direction so you need add your two cents too, it’s just trying to give you some advice, you can take it, ignore it, or bend it, letting Fear lead probably won’t end pretty well but once you turn it into a team work chances are that you weren’t condemned to doom after all.

This conversation happened last Wednesday regarding this illustration:

- Not your best, is it?

-...o_O…well it’s not that bad…

-She seems calculating, you should fix it

-…. yeah ….. a pity there’s no time, it’s going in the mail tomorrow morning, and it’s such a tiny area that is going to be difficult to lift it completely, and probably will look weirder after that, there’s no time to redo the whole thing if I ruin it, it really needs to be in the mail tomorrow blah blah blah…

-Change · it

-O_O

Rest assured I was the one getting the blows. It’s unsettling to get that kind of straight feedback -not to mention nailed critique- right the night before I want to mail the thing. And all the blabber? That’s a lot of stupid excuses pouring out of my mouth as fast as Fear whispers them in my ear.

I’m always telling fellow painter friends to just go for a change they are pondering, that it won’t be ruined, that once you’ve done something you can do it again if bad comes to worse, and every time I’ve firmly believed every bit of it.

When you have something that you know is not working, and the chances are either leaving it as is (just to avoid ruining something that you know isn’t good enough), or changing it and maybe fixing it... it’s a no brainer, isn’t it? You go for it and make it better.

Now insert Fear and my own work: bye-bye no-brainer, hello brain shutdown, let’s hold hands and run up the hills.

And then is when being friends with Fear might be an advantage. Maybe - just maybe – I’ll give it a knowing look and say “hey why not trying to lift it? Imagine if I screw up, that’s gonna be the kind of panic attack that you’re going to love fueling, look forward to it while I rework this, will you?”

Yes, in the end it took more time arguing through that conversation and defending the case in my brain than it took to just get to the task and repaint that face.

It’s a fact that Fear is going to be there right by your side sometimes, so you might as well befriend it, enjoy your time together and make the best out of it!

Make a wish

Last year I went on a Thank You quest by the end of the year, I felt it was important to show appreciation to the people that made my year better one way or another.

Loved to do it. I don't do this every year, neither I send christmas cards, honestly I seldom text people for christmas, when I do I want it to be special and personal and hopefully make that person's day a little bit brighter.

Have you ever made new year resolutions? or a new year planning? or a wish list? I have, it's private, just for me, with musts, goals and wild wishes.

Last month -thinking about the next year's one and revisiting my last year one- have made me realize how important the wishes section on that list is.

That's why this year I've gone and done little paintings again, proper christmas cards this time, filled with stars ready to grant all kind of wishes.

So make a wish, make many, from the heart, believe that you can make them happen and go for it!

May 2012 be your best year yet.

One done, two to go!

And Under the Wave is finished, now onto the next one!

Links to the whole WIP: Step 1, step 2, step 3

New WIP

No Hobbit update this week, sorry, but I have 3 little paintings in line and to be honest, it feels grrrrreat to hold a brush again, I'd missed those relaxing hours one on one with the paint and paper, feels like forever since last time I painted something!

The first one is going to be called Under the Wave and looks like this so far, I'd love to say that it's just a first wash but nope, more like some hours of work O_O, anyway I'm completely excited about painting this one because it's been on my to-do list for a couple of years (ok, more like 4), it was going to be one of a couple, the other one was Over the Wave and this one of course couldn't be but Under the Wave, have you ever had a title decided so long before actually painting the work? :P

Ok, it's an early stage and it's flowing quite easily so far so there isn't any secret or decission-making to share about this step. I'm using a very limited palette of 4 colors, the same used for the other painting, it has made me rethink about the importance or not of documenting your works, a.k.a. should I once and for all keep a decent record of my works instead of random swatches and photos of the used palette when I remember to do it?

Here's over the wave, the current twin gotta look at least as good so cross all your fingers for me ^_^.

Christmas ramblings

When I woke up this morning I was complaining in my mind about the horrible rainy dark cold and early morning I'd have to face and how I should just rebel against the world by staying in bed warm and cozy under the duvet, then I thought that hey, christmas lottery day should have a sweet surprise for me so it wouldn't be that bad to get up and moving.

I didn't win the Christmas national lottery today. I honestly thought I should be one of the winners this year but alas, Lady Luck messed it up again and got lost somewhere in the way. Yet this morning - while it was still dark and the sky filled with stars and a fantabulous full moon hidden somewhere behind those rainy clouds - I was feeling like running, dancing and jumping to the rhythm of Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine" in my way to the subway. So I guess it's been a good day after all, right? That's the interesting thing about days, that they let you see how relative good and bad can be.

I've been thinking about my 2010 and pondering all that's happened and all that hasn't, trying to see things in perspective, how good has "good" been and how bad has "bad" been and how much they've mingled and changed coats or how much they've been totally apart from each other and true to themselves.

While doing all that thinking I've spent the last couple of weeks painting like crazy these little tokens of appreciation, I only have these 2 to show, the first and the last, the ones who haven't carried messages to so many special people yet, the ones that will carry it for you, I've loved to chat, laugh, rant and drool with you so far, I've had the chance to tighten bonds with dear old friends, met some new and enjoy lots of art, anecdotes and insight. I hope to be able to walk through this road with you all in the year to come, with the occasional stop for bed and breakfast?

Is this a Merry Christmas post? Yes it is, bear with me and my ramblings for this one, pretty please? And forgive me for not fixing that scanned crazy red but I wasn't in the mood, after all I haven't won the lottery today, remember? Now go and have fun!

Halloween's around the corner

And little Franken jr. is eager to go trick or treating around the neighborhood dressed up as Jack Sparrow, because every kid wants to be Jack Sparrow! I want! you know I'm five

This concept was edited quite a bit since it came to my mind so here are some steps for your entertainment:

Nobody can deny that when I say I doodle or draw rough sketches I mean it, reeeeeeally doodly and rough first concept, at that time I had a version of Mama Estein dressed up as the little red riding hood in mind too

The idea at first was having her taking little Franken around the neighborhood, with some creepy fences and houses silhouettes in the background, but she was totally looking like Marge Simpson so... off with her!

And as you can see the idea of some metal fence surrounding the blocked shape of the background remained until I was half done with the illustration, at that point I was thinking on using some white for them to make them look like carved shapes that melted with all the white surrounding the main theme, that was edited out too, as soon as I was carried away by the dark night sky and decided I didn't want anything to compete with it.

My favorite part of this illustration? painting those dreadlocks! I want to do that again, maybe a series of monsters dressed up as Jack Sparrow is in the making... or maybe not!

The painting that never arrived

Yesterday I ordered an extra drawer for my new freezer and the customer service's guy told me that it will take at least 2 months to be delivered to my home, in answer to my shocking "whaaaat?!" he just laughed and explained that, well, it has to come from Turkey plus there's august around the corner and what not, so he recomended to order it right now and wait patiently.

That's made me think, MAYBE the painting I sent last month for Rhonda's swap group is not really lost forever, MAAAYBEE it's taken the long way through Turkey and it simply will take at least 2 months before arriving to its destination, yes, sure.

How long has it taken for one of your mailed paintings to reach destination in the worst case?

I wasn't going to blog it but since probably the original will never show up I'm getting nostalgic about it. Ain't it great that we're in a time when you can save digital copies of every single painting you paint?!

If I ever get to redo this one again I'd approach it from a completely different point of view, like turning it into a more experimental ink painting with only touches of color here and there, food for thinking...

New Twitter banner for my blog sidebar

I've been having this urge lately of making a sidebar banner for my twitter instead of just having the latest tweets there.

BTW ain't it super easy to alt+tab to check your emails and fav pages and social networks and what-not when you're working in photoshop?

Forgotten

I was thinking today how badly I need to start working hard to build a new portfolio, that's lead me to take a look to some old works for inspiration, this is one of my all time favorites and I'm surprised I haven't blogged it before, I have a thing for old dolls.


Now I only need to be able to draw and paint again on a daily basis instead of just some hours during sundays and everything will be all right.

Random post of the year

It's the morning of Xmas Eve and I'm thinking about my visit to the beach during september again, why? no idea. But I thought I could post another oldie featuring the sea, I painted it for a swap group and didn't get to keep a good image of it because my scanner was broken at the time, a pity.



And since I'm missing the beach I'm looking through some photos I took, can't believe that I actually took this one walking in the water with my cell, best idea ever! will keep it forever :)


Ok, enough, I think I've lost my Xmas mojo today, but yesterday was all about presents hunting for the Three Wisemen Day, I came home pretty empty handed though, except for some absolutely tacky Xmas wrapping papers and photos.


The Xmas monster (aka my brother) instructed me not long ago about what's a Do and a Don't when it comes to "propper" Xmas decorations, and looks like it's all about tacky, so being the fast learner I am I've applied it to the wrapping already, in fact I'm loving them all and most of all the one on the right, to the point that I'm actually thinking of not using it for the presents and use it for some collages... hmmmm......

Well since this post is turning quite random here are some more photos I took yesterday (ok the ninja assassin one was from last week),

"break in case of zombies", it's good to know where I can find a huge strong wooden antizombies weapon, right in the middle of Preciados street, nice! I'm planning a combo with some friends this weekend, Zombieland and Ninja Assassin in the same glorious afternoon, it's gonna be epic, I've been waiting for ninja assassin for a whole year and it's finally here, in fact I've been so unbearable about it for so long that the same week I took the picture my friend Victor sent me an MMS of a similar ad too, and he wasn't the only one to think about it, the only thing that stopped them was that I alredy had sent them my own photo, ninjas for the win!



Back to yesterday, later in the afternoon I came across this tshirt, I totally want it, but I didn't buy it, all my budget this month is for presents for other people, had to remember that for a second, just a second, and left it again on the shelf :).





And finally when my shopping day was officially a failure I found this, it's indeed a couch, who wouldn't want it as a present? I would if I had a viking themed room for sure, you gotta love a goat couch, and yes those are goat heads lookalikes AND horns, WOW, and WOW again, ROFLOL, brilliant.

Oh! look what I've found going through my cell photos, my letter to the 3 wisemen this year! lol. Yes, I DO write it every year :D

Ok, time to shut up, right? Happy holidays to all of you who celebrate this season and if you don't... have an awesome day all the same!

Maybe I'm just doodling giraffes but at least I'm not procrastinating

I doodled it yesterday night and started throwing acrylics in, I've been playing with it this morning and it's ended being acrylics, marker and chalky colored pencils. Somehow among all my stuff I don't have any kind of fixative, how has that happened!?!?

Plus I've just noticed it's anatomically incorrect!! WHAT!?!?!?! Oh, well, it'll have to do.

I hope this finish with my obsession of making giraffes for this guy who's gathering 1 million of them.