5:54 in the morning. Part I

It's 5:54 AM, on the cusp of morning. The other half is at work, and I, at a Starbucks. As a millenial, of course I have just enough to have earned a reward for a free drink, 3 shot Latte Machiatto. The car is in need of repair, I have learned, mid-twenties, to finally learn of car pieces, ordering the part needed online. With the wheel hub in box on my passenger seat, I walk, with sketchbook and pens in hand, to the green mermaid inlaid cafe.

The air is sourly sweetened by the ocean air. Cool and crisp, the sky seems to float lightly and brightly, almost as if outlined with polish or a glitter gelly roll pen.

It's perfect. With my hair swirled and piled high on my head, nails just painted by myself the day before, I sit and draw.

"Tamaska", a red wolf at Wolf Haven International.

Today's art piece is the red wolf. Terribly endangered in the world we live in today, strong conservation efforts have been put into place to keep this beautiful, shy and graceful beast alive.

With a recent visit to Wolf Haven International in Olympia, WA, I was able to learn about the special breeding program there, and see the vast area of America in where they used to live, to the now mere finger print smudge of a size where they live now.




To better interest you about the Red Wolf, and not bore you on my rant, let's move on. On to the art!

Step 1: Get that idea on paper
I have sketched out the Red Wolf portrait, with the help of reference photos and multiple tries at getting the eyes balanced.
















Step 2: Fur!

Once everything is balanced, it's time to fill in the fur. I have already done a couple of therapy-fur rounds, and am now completing the first layer of black fur at the cafe.                    

The most enjoyable, yet challenging, part about the fur is following the natural direction of the flow. I am not going to lie, I have to use a reference picture. If I don't, I lose the balance and sense of where it goes. 

Smokey Wolf and Cups of Honey Milk Coffee

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? Busy with life, but still passionate and positive I hope? :]

Although it doesn't seem like it through my blog, I've been very busy in the art world, and it's great!
I'm so in love with making art postcards, and since my latest post, playing with new media!

I've found I love working with anything from sharpie to white-out, to watercolor pencils to copic color pens, gelly pens and even highlighters! Depending on the mood of the picture, what it's portraying and what should be colored draws me to the certain media I use for each picture.

On that note, let's get started with this step-by-step post!

Step 1: Start with, well, your supplies!

In this case, to start with anyway, a blank postcard canvas, pencil and eraser is all that's needed.  (for now)

Step 2: Let's Sketch!

I already had an idea of a wolf filling up half the space of the postcard, coming toward the viewer. 

However, I ran into problems with the pose. So I worked it, and re-worked it, and worked it again. And finally realized, it was the legs throwing me off, and preferred the pose on the right. 

With the legs in this pose, I realized it had more of a realistic look to it. 

And, as you can tell from the picture above, I had a hard time with the eye placement. Once I figured it out, I made sure I filled it in!

Now, what's a smokey wolf without any smoke? Let's add details, yay!

The sketch form is now finished and it's time for the next step!

Framed Romances and Iced Passion Tea

So, in the journey of making postcards and exploring the world of Etsy and hand made goods, I somehow discovered a new style that I didn't know I had in me. And I love it!

I call them Romance Frames. In general, I LOVE capturing sexual tension, tender moments, love and passion through art. But I also like gothic and celtic design, stained glass, the artist Mucha and etc. And come to find out, when I clash these two together in my own style, it comes out like this!

                                               

And I'm proud to say the amazing owner of these 4 postcards above is my good friend from high school, Shannon! After she bought the first 3, I made the last one for her for free, and modeled it after her and her husband. :] I just couldn't resist.

Recapture Beautiful and 3 Days of Caramel Coffee

SO, after completing a couple other postcards, I was able to move on to a big and fun project! A good model friend, actually, international model who is so beautiful and talented, asked if I could do a postcard for her. What did I say? Of course, naturally!

This was a little bit more challenging however. You see, I am not skilled in the arts of exact potraits or real people. People I make up in my head or reference for my ideas in pictures, sure. But people I know.. somehow, my mind can't translate well the personality and glow of people I know into my hand. It's either realistic and dull, or looks nothing like the subject, but has a glow to it. Ha! You can see below which one it turned out to be!

As you can guess, I was asked to do a potrait, and I was very excited about it, but at the same time, nervous! I don't want a chance to ruin her beautiful face!

I do say though, it was wonderful practice and it came out ALOT better than I expected! I think it's because I put my all into it and didn't give up. :]

Let's start with her pretty picture that I used as reference! 

Beautiful right? :D

So. This is how it started. 

Step 1; Begin! Similar to how most things start, it started with a sketch. 

Of course, I forgot to take a picture of it FRESH, but at least I got one in comparison and ended up getting it all down and filled in a background as well! Yay!

Yellow Shade of Leopard and Two Milk Coffees

Alright, so if you are not too sure why there are many shades of Snow Leopard postcards, or not too up to date on my Etsy, then I can tell you here that because of the great support of my friends of family, I realized that the Snow Leopard postcard is one style of my art that I can rely on. I believe I drew a mint green one first, and since then, they have been flying off the wall. Friends have given me hints and tips, and others have given support by giving me ideas on how to continue this series.

 Long story short, I decided to make them into a Snow Leopard Rainbow! I haven't been able to complete them all together, but so far, the green shade is in New York with a good friend, and the purple shade just left on it's way to Seattle with another good friend. A Snow Leopard Rainbow scattered across the states!

The red shade is waiting at home for a good owner, but at this point, this post is about how, through the yellow shade, most of them came together.

Let's start with the beginning;

Flower Boy Cathedrals and Caramel Coffee With Milk

After an intense marathon of Vampire Knight (yes, an anime with corny romantics and sexy vampire characters, I am one of those people), I was so motivated and inspired to make a handsome character of my own come alive. 

The renaissance, painted cathedral ceilings, stained glass windows and conservative romance of that time, mixed with Japanese pop culture gave birth to this postcard creation. 

Granted it's not a masterpiece, but I have fallen in love with him none-the-less. 

Let's start with how he came to be.

Step 1; Sketch and Create

You can see here that this is a half completed sketch. With time already running out before work, I was able to crank out one flower boy but finished halfway with this one. My main focus at the time was the wheels in the circles and his body anatomy. 

Found the Treasure and Jasmine Tea.

In my absence, I’m been on the quest to find a perfect job, a perfect hobby and a perfect life balance.

Let’s just say, like everyone else, I found that it’s nearly impossible to find any of those, perfectly.

However, I found a new life calling I think.

Making postcards!

As you know, I love to draw and have been doing it for years. However, lately in life, with not much time on my hands and room for extra paper and books, I have had no motivation to draw if it only becomes another extra page in my memory box and closet.

Then I found the wonderful creation that is called the blank postcard.

And also the wonderful website called Etsy.

I had made an Etsy account a couple years ago, hoping the inspiration I found there with other’s amazing handmade goods and creativity would launch me into success.

Alas. I made some jewelry pendants and crochet scarves, thinking those were my signature goods, but had no passion in it and only made it in hopes of someone finding it attractive enough that they would buy themselves.

So I closed down my Etsy account and went back into an art withdrawel.

When I was re-introduced to Etsy a couple years later, due to a couple of friend’s success and beautiful hand made goods, I found the hidden Etsy archive of handmade cards, postcards, stationary, stamps, post notes, everything!

I was enthralled!

I had realized I was in the wrong section for me in Etsy originally. It’s a world of human creativity all over the world and in every subject of craft! Some I’ve never seen before!

Thus, long story short, the varied  collection of handmade postcards I have been making began to grow.

And the best part about it is, I’m not doing it for anyone else, I’m doing it for myself!

I’m just so happy I can finally make productive art that can be made into something, like a letter, souvinier or transportable wall piece. I guess I’m just happy to be able to share my art with everyone. I finally found a way to share more than just online networking on art sites, but actually putting it in peoples hands.

 In addition to posting them for sale on Etsy, I’ll be posting a blog post per postcard, showing my thought process and art process for every card as well.

Sadly, for the earlier postcards, I only have a picture of the completed product and well, at least I can post them here. And you can also find them on my Etsy account here!

 

 

From here on out, not only will you be able to buy my postcards, but see their process from beginning to end!

And hell, if you like my art a lot, I’d love to send some for free! Especially if its for a friend, family or cause. Being able to put my heart into my art is one of the largest things I’m grateful for and blessed with.