Nonami Toy

I made a little toy! 

This is my little girl without name (but for short "Nonami") She is a character that lives inside Pi's head and explains her whimsically how the world works. Pi has Aspergers Sindrome. Both are characters of mine for a project about autism. It is a long term project but I like to treat myself into doing some fun stuff while some other projects take the priority. I hope I can find some time to get back to it soon

The sculpture/toy measures about 4 inches (10 cm) and it's made out of Sculpey. Spray painted white and then painted with acrylic paint. It was really hard to keep the symmetry, I tried to do my best.

Here is an old drawing of the Girl without name:

I am proudly exhibiting my master piece on my living room. I love it! 

Now, Toki Doki, do you want to do business with me? ha

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Japanese crafts

My sister in law brought me some fun little novelties from Japan. I used to them today as a good end point to the weekend. It was really fun (and relaxing) to decorate the girl in the kimono and make some sushis. I paint and design dress up dolls for work so this was a really thought full gift.

This are the packages:

 My Creation:

I put some on my computer and the sushis look so good on there!

Thanks Yoko!

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Shizue in the woods

Things that I like. Day #1

Here is a drawing of my girl Shizue, she is a BJD doll and character of mine. Shizue (Zoe for short) is a Halloween elf that helps to spread the spirit of Halloween all across the world. I have made some other drawings of her but I think this one really captures her gaze.

I am starting a new challenge today, 30 days of drawings of things I like or things I have made illustrations of before (that I like). So, I expect to do some illustrations of my characters and re-illustrate some of my pin-up-type illustrations, but who knows, I am not really planning anything. This will be another 30 days, because that seems to work pretty good. It is just for fun! Fun drawings to help me strengthen my style and my drawing speed. I hope to move into a more concept-oriented challenges after finishing with this one if I get the results I am looking forward to achive.

This is the process I used this time:

Pencil skech

Work on values on black and white in a multiply layer

Work on color with Overlay layers and multiply layers

Add detail on layers on normal mode.

I hope you liked it! Tomorrow more!

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Making wood block textures

I want to make some new illustrations in Photoshop with wood block feeling and I decided to make my very own textures with what I had at hand. I didn't have wood block paint so I used Blick's student acrylic. I also didn't have etching paper so I tried a couple types of papers from my sketchbooks. A mat to avoid making a mess and big brush and I had everything I needed for some experimentation!

It was a little tricky to make them look just like the wood block etching but it was lots of fun. Here is how you can do it.

1. get a piece of wood

2. Apply the paint with a roller. I didn't have one so I used a big brush.

3. Place your paper on top and apply pressure with your hands or another utensil. I some times helped myself with other piece of wood, a coworker told me you could use a wood spoon. Ultimately the amount of pressure depends on the type, thickness and quantity of the paint you used. This one of those trial and error thing:

4. Peel it up and enjoy!!

I got several good ones!

Like this one

I am looking forward to use them!

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Pickling

Pickling carrots, mushrooms and celery. I had had pickly carrots before so I think that would be cool. Who knows about the mushrooms and the celery and the fact that is all mixed together!

We will see!

Pirate dinner IV - Puppy Treats Design

Today, it was Pirate Dinner.  Some very talented friends of mine and I hold a monthly design challenge, that means getting together, eating some good home made food and laughing a lot. Each month's host proposes a theme for the challenge and gives us especial directions if needed, we make a design and bring it with us.  There is no pressure, it's just to have fun designing.

January's challenge was Puppy Treats.

This was my design.

I thought I will tell you a bit about my creative process. The name that was picked for me was "Lick, sniff and bite" which is a very dirty sounding name. So, I wanted to make into a yuppy, kinda classy design to add some drama. I was thinking that it would be a good contrast. I started by doing some research and drew some title options in my sketchbook:

I liked how the last one on the right looked, so I went on the computer and worked on the idea, tried different typefaces and color combinations. I usually choose few font options with Font Book, but I am open to try other things along the way. 

I start designing on black and white first, then I keep duplicating the logo and make slight changes to it until I am happy with the result, same with color schemes, diecuts and all. After a few hours I decide to stop and make a decision. I choose a design and then apply it to the different flavors. I like to see how the idea will be implemented in series. That helps me decide how big the type should be (for instance I had to reduce the type on the flavor because longer titles needed smaller type and I wanted to keep it consistent). Or what color schemes I am using, I had to make changes to my bacon color scheme in favor of the beef flavor. 

This is what my file looked like when I finished.

For a professional job I would probably had more comps and more sketches but this is just for fun. And I had lots of fun in fact this is what I devoted pretty much the whole Saturday afternoon to.

Looking forward to the next challenge of the Pirate Day/dinner/awesomeness!

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Daily Creation Challenge #30 and last!!!

For my last challenge I wanted to do something that I was supposed to do months ago. I finished the final business card comp for my cousin's craft label. It's a comp, subject to improve. She makes awesome handmade jewelry and accessories. I am not sure that she has a website but if she does I will update the post.

And now I am "free". But I have a very tasty project lined up next. I will be making illustrations for a friend's website. Will keep you updated!

The daily challenge has been an awesome experience and I have been thinking in other types of challenges to do next. I will leave it for 2012, since I will leave for a couple weeks and go home in Spain, and will be very busy with the holidays. Also, my brother has asked me for a drawing to put on his gaming stick and that has to happen before the wise men day!


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