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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