nic's sketchbook

Hare Band

2012-02-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

Quick sketch of a hare band member.

I'm on Etsy!

2012-01-30T16:41:00.000-08:00

I've finally set up **my Etsy shop**, where I'll be selling some paintings -most of which I've posted here- and other handmade items. I need to figure out shipping costs and taxes, which unfortunately for me involve math. Please bear with me on that. In any case, thanks for looking!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T23:04:00.000-08:00

Hi there. Hope you out there in internet land have had a wonderful holiday season. It creeps up and then it's gone. Like diarrhea. Just kidding, I love the holidays. Here are a couple of tiny plushes I made for Christmas gifts. They are about 4" tall cacti in miniature clay pots.
Happy 2012! Cheers!

Battle of the Bands

2011-10-15T09:17:00.000-07:00

Girl in the Green Shirtdress

2011-08-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

Tourist Couple in Venice

2011-07-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

Ladies at a Cafe

2011-07-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

I can't decide if I like this or not. It was an exercise to be as quick and loose possible, with watercolor and pen.

Girl in Red Tights

2011-07-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who came out Saturday to the Peligro Event! Saw good friends, met new sweet people, drank free margaritas, listened to good live music, a nice time. And special thanks to Chris Vigil for organizing the entire thing and letting me be a part of it. I'll scan & post my other pieces sometime this week.

Peligro!

2011-07-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I'm happy to announce that I'm part of a ONE NIGHT ONLY gallery and music event this coming Saturday, July 23rd. The event is called Peligro <--click for website, and it starts at 8pm, ends whenever we want. I'll have some watercolors for sale and sharing a wall with this crazy talented artist, Arthur Fong. Please come and hang out if not for the art, for the music, but hopefully for the art too.

A Chicken

2011-07-16T14:21:00.000-07:00

Rock Eater, Ludo & Slimer

2011-06-30T11:12:00.000-07:00

Seo Kim posted an adorable Ludo drawing and it reminded me of this - How did I forget about these little guys? They were tiny 2x3" stitched pieces I created a couple years ago for a charity art show. LUUUDDDDDDOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Man, woman, and pimp

2011-06-22T10:52:00.000-07:00

My sketchbook is filling up fast.

Fashionistas

2011-06-21T09:37:00.000-07:00

A couple more.

People

2011-06-19T12:29:00.000-07:00

From my sketchbook. These are drawn from the Sartorialist, Rumi Neely, and other various fashion blogs.

Objects

2011-06-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

From my sketchbook. Getting crazy and trying something new. Lots more to come, as soon as I can scan. Thanks for looking!

Per Bimba Beatrice

2011-06-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

This is a hanging mobile (I think that's what they're called?) I made last year in Italy as a present for my boyfriend's niece, Beatrice. They are hand stitched little birds perched on & hanging from branches I found in Urbino on one of our walks. (They sort of resemble fish, but shut up, they're birds!)
Beatrice's mom tells me that she runs in the room, yells "Pio, pio, pio!" and she has to run and hold her so that she can play with them.

Here they hang in her room, by a magically sturdy hanging device my boyfriend's father made and it turned out perfectly!

Here's the little cutie! I'm glad you like it, Beatrice!!

(PS: It's 2011?)

Aperitivo

2010-10-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

I am in love with the Italian concept of Aperitivo. These are acrylic on wood board 10"x10"
Attempt #1. Eh.

Attempt #2. Eh, but getting there? Maybe 3rd time will be the charm? We'll see.

And here is #3. I'm happy with the way it came out. I hope I can find the time after the holidays to do more.

Some Print Design, YO!

2010-08-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, so these are already 2 to 3 years old. I was making a conscious effort to only post my freelance and personal projects here, but since I have no immediate plans of updating my portfolio website at this time, I might as well dust these bad boys off and share them.
These are some of the posters, ads, and graphic novel cover layouts I was lucky enough to create, under the incredible supervision of Mr. Zachary Pennington, Designer and Art Director extraordinaire. The company was small, and the creative division before I arrived consisted only of Zach. We became a department of two and he led the creative direction of everything from print to web to merchandise, so needless to say I was lucky to get my hands on all type of projects I normally wouldn't have had the opportunity to. Zach was incredibly talented, knowledgeable, patient, and probably the hands-down best design director I've ever had the pleasure of working with. I learned a heck of a lot. Thank you Zach!

Ads for: “Dylan Dog” 2007 & 2008, “The Adventures of Tymm: Alien Circus,” DrunkDuck.com, 2007 & 2008, “Atlantis Rising"
Poster for “Gravity” 2007 (Title Design by Zachary Pennington)
Cover and Back Cover design for “I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space” Graphic Novel, 2008
Cover and Back Cover design for “The Weapon” Graphic Novel 2008, and cover coloring

Old Branding

2010-08-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

This is a logo and branding imagery I did a ways back for a project that never went anywhere. The 2 images above are a tiny morsel that represent months of work - logo thumbnails, sketches, designs taken to near final, direction changing to other new designs taken to near final, and rinse and repeat until I came to this. I was going for a galactic theme with a modernized retro feel (does that make sense?). It might not seem like much but this particular project entailed not only creating the logo, but the style guide, site design mock-ups, advertising pitches, and mascot designs and animations. My role was essentially a one-woman advertising firm, which was fun to have creative 'control,' I knew what I was getting myself into, but when a project fails to move it's always disheartening after putting so much work into it.
Maybe if I get around to it, I'll show the many evolutions the logo went through (I know I love seeing other people's process).
This project re-taught me some valuable lessons that every designer and artist will encounter at least once in their career.
1 - Know when you've done your duty, and when you start spinning your wheels, stop.
2 - Know when to put your foot down, and stick to your gut.
3 - Communicate that development doesn't just magically happen, it does take time, and show and explain your process to the client.
4 - Last but not least - "Show me the money!!" You need to be paid for your work, for your efforts. Otherwise, you end up with months worth of work to show for something that never took off, you never got paid for, but have a nice little blog post that reflects the always hysterical "hey, you get a great portfolio piece out of it."

This little robot dude was to be the company's mascot. He's mocked up from photos I found online, but my plan was to find the actual (similar) electronic pieces that comprise him, take photos of them from different angles, and animate him. It would have been a lot of work, but I know the outcome would've been worth it.

Here is the simplified stylized version.

The one good thing about this project not taking off, is that I at least get to keep the rights to my designs. So maybe one day if I ever feel like it, I'll use him in a story or for something else? Eh, we'll see....

Skater dude

2010-07-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

Trying to capture people I see in quick simple shapes.

Lingerie

2010-07-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

I love lingerie books and I was inspired to do some lingerie/pinup sketches (here is one I liked) as I browsed Taschen's "1000 Dessous - A History of Lingerie". It visually depicts the evolution of corsets, leggings, bras, girdles, etc throughout the ages to modern day. It contains "erotic" photography of women in the early 1900's that is just stunning.

Mermaid 1

2010-07-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

Going through a strange must-draw-mermaids phase since last week. Here is one I decided to color in photoshop. More to come.
Oh yeah, boobie alert.

Toast in Shoes!

2010-07-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

This is a birthday plush I made for my friend Phil. The backstory is one night a few of us were at a restaurant doodling and I somehow came up with this ridiculous character of a toast in shoes. For some reason Phil instantly loved it and it became an ongoing character. So I had to attempt to make the plush.
I saved the placemat we all drew on from a separate occasion, just last week, with the many silly variations of "toast." I don't know how long we spent drawing toast and cracking up about it like the little nerds we are. I need to scan it in and post it, maybe later today or this weekend.
Toast in Shoes!!!!!! :)
Update: Here are the doodles and variations of "Toast in Shoes," drawn on placemats by Ale Carloni, Rad Sechrist, and Phil Craven. Such gems here include Toast in Boots, FrankenToast, French Toast, Toast with Booze, Toast in Luge, Toast singing Blues, Toast with a Bruise, Toast Douche, etc etc.

Ridiculous. :)

Hello, Summer

2010-06-29T13:03:00.000-07:00

The weather here in Los Angeles has been perfect. It's June-gloomy grey and misty in the morning and by noon, the sun's melted the haze away. It's beach weather warm and just when it feels too hot, a cool breeze rushes past you. In other words, perfect lazy summer days. Last weekend I went to the zoo and sketched for a few hours, to mostly disappointing results (it's been too long since I've drawn animals! And the people at the zoo make me more nervous than anything. Honestly).
Here are a few from the day.
I forget the name of these guys, but they are so frail looking and elegant. Long flamingo-like necks, and their legs don't seem capable to support their weight without breaking!

There is a creature called a Golden Lion Tamarin, a tiny golden monkey, perhaps 8" tall, with a lion-like mane around his head. Oh god, a compact bundle of adorable. If he ends up missing from the zoo one day, I had nothing to do with it. Just saying.

Site promo!

2010-06-27T10:09:00.000-07:00

I've posted about this before (in a lengthy, rather cheesy post), but if you haven't checked out Chris Sanders' website lately, you're missing out and you really should right now! Chris Sanders is an artist/writer/director extraordinaire, co-director of "Lilo & Stitch" and most recently "How to Train Your Dragon." I've been lucky enough to be his website designer, and recently did an overall design refresh. These days he is posting up a storm of his adventures, currently daily, while he travels through Japan with co-director Dean DuBois.

Ancora Italia

2010-06-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

Are We Doomed?

2010-06-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

Anyone else cry when they watch the news?

JN Logo & Business Card

2010-06-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

I designed this logo for one of my best friends, Jamee Nicole. She is a very talented jewelry designer & diamond specialist with an edgy fashion sense and great eye for detail. She designs high quality fashion pieces, and also bridal sets (I think that's what they're called?). Anyway, she really knows her stuff. If you're looking for a jewelry designer, she's fantastic.

Here are some designs I mocked up for the back of her business card, but ultimately decided the simple and clean design worked best.

Here is her final business card. The front side is being printed in gold foil. I can't wait to get them and see how they turned out.

Italia

2010-05-13T12:01:00.001-07:00

In April I had the vacation of my life: 16 days in Italy. Here are a few of my silly drawrringz from the trip...
Beautiful Urbino

A quick painting I did, sitting on the countryside one afternoon in Urbino (don't laugh, I haven't used Acrylics in ages, okay!)

and Venezia

It was quite a fairytale of a place, and the trip was fantastic, overwhelmingly. I can barely mention it without gushing, so I will stop there and go back to my daydreaming of returning one day....
More things to come!

I don't know her name.

2010-05-07T11:26:00.000-07:00

A quick caricature, inspired from this image of supermodels wearing no make-up in bad lighting. She stood out to me and had to draw her.

Lots more soon!

Critters

2010-04-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

Hello!!! I have a pile of things I need to post. I just returned days ago, from a wonderful vacation in Italy, where next to doing lots and lots of eating, I did a fair amount of drawing and painting. Heaven on Earth does exist, in Italy. When I can stop daydreaming for a minute and get my drawings scanned in, I'll post them up. :)
These little creatures ended up being an exercise for me to think/draw differently than I normally do using shapes. I did a bunch more that didn't make the cut, which made me realize the more I "thought" about the drawing, the less successful it became. They are pen on cardstock.

Oliver 3

2010-04-01T00:16:00.000-07:00

This was a very special and personalized Christmas present I made this past year.
The Oliver 3 model is a beautiful, rare typewriter from the early 1900's (I believe between 1900 and 1907).
This is the first in a series of "felt paintings" I'm making, but on a very large scale. I'm particularly excited, not only about using fabrics and felt and sewing vs painting, but about experimenting with stylizing large shapes and defining details with simple lines of thread, etc. I hope to build a collection of these pieces by the end of the year. Please wish me luck!

Rainy Days

2010-03-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

[I've been rediscovering some old(ish) sketches and things that I've never posted here and decided why not. Lots of new things to come, but in the meantime, here is a self-published mini book I made from rainy day sketches...]

Jennica and I were upstairs getting dressed for bed one night when we heard a loud "CRACK!" and saw a bright blue ball of light out the window. The electricity went out, we both screamed, and ran downstairs to discover the tall tree in Pop Pop's backyard had been struck by lightning! The following month, it became our see-saw.

On cold, rainy days, Grandma's favorite thing to do for us was to make peanut butter and banana sandwiches. And we'd dip them in hot cocoa. Sometimes, I'd hope for it to rain just so we could have that treat.

When the big hurricane hit, Grandma's roof flew off. My uncles and cousins had to go down the street to get it.

It rained so hard for maybe a week straight one summer, that Jennica and I rode on our boogie boards down the street gutters with the neighbor kids. We had so much fun! I was 11. Jennica was 7. We were so busted.

We never wanted to stop playing when it started to rain....
And always pushed our luck when we tried our best to ignore "The Whistle."

Chasing and catching lightning bugs in late spring, under a light drizzle, we promised ourselves we'd never grow older... and catch lightning bugs forever....

Birds

2010-03-24T15:52:00.001-07:00

Can't...stop...drawing them....

Naughty, Naughty School Girl

2010-02-28T11:16:00.001-08:00

I thought I posted these awhile back, but I guess not. They're a couple years old, drawn from life at The Drawing Club. (click to enlarge the raunchy details hehe).

The King and the Caveman

2010-02-27T10:29:00.000-08:00

A couple silly character designs, playing around.

"Gracious! Do you think she's handsomely paid?"

2010-02-23T21:44:00.000-08:00

Last year I discovered Audrey Hepburn, and several of her movies; most famously of course is "Breakfast at Tiffany's," which I swear I've memorized by now. Cleaning up my computer I came across these little doodles I did while watching it. She was incredibly beautiful, wasn't she? Such an angel. I gave up trying to capture her, without the mask. :)

And Paul's "decorator:"

Food Chain

2010-02-21T09:07:00.000-08:00

Some of my strangest ideas come to me right before I fall asleep late at night, when I"m overly tired but my mind won't let me sleep, or in the morning when I'm just about to wake up. This is one of those things. I have a couple more I need to do.

The Office

2010-02-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

Maybe a weird way to start off 2010 posts since New Years, but for some reason I was inspired to do a few charicatures of The Office staff. I've always liked the Office, even though this season veered on a strange course. I don't really have a favorite character either, I love them all because they're just the perfect mixture of weird, together. I started with Dwight and laughed the whole time I drew him, then randomly did five more. I used picture reference online, and tried to spend no longer than 10-15 minutes on each (So, apologies, Angela for your unintentionally mannish jaw, I didn't allow myself to fix you).
Here are: Dwight, Jim, Angela, Creed, Kelly, and Meredith.

Happy Holidays

2009-12-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

I wasn't able to mail out a card in time, so I hope this virtual digital kind will suffice. I was originally drawing an elf doing the robot. But it was very complicated. Because he was at a rave. So I opted to draw a quaint chrismassy city block instead. The other day I did the robot in the shower, for no reason. It just felt natural.

The holidays snuck up, didn't they? Not to mention 2010 is practically busting down our doors. I don't like it, mostly because 2010 takes a long time to say, unlike "09", there is no shortened version. We can't really say "0-10," can we? Wait til we get to... 2017. Why do we say the 'Two Thousand' part anyway? We all know what millennium we are in. Can't we just start counting upwards without it?
Well, there's my rant for the day.

Happy Holidays to everyone, and I hope two-thousand-and-ten only brings wonderful things to you!!

Have you heard?

2009-09-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

Everyone's heard!!

So, this is one of a series of little birdies I've been making this summer for friends as birthday gifts. This one is property of the lovely Maurene. I wonder if she named him/her.
(Btw - the grey drop is his little poop.)
I'll post more when I get some photos.
I intended to make a whole bunch (along with other plushies, books, prints, etc) to have a presence at APE Con in San Fransisco this year, but alas, things didn't work out that way. Not enough time to prepare for it, since it's happening in less than a month! These things take time, you know! And I have tv to watch! Just kidding, I'd really like to try for next year though...
Mmm boppa mmm mau mau, mmm boppa mmm mau mau....

Update: Here is little Mandy's birthday bird (sorry it's not as a great a shot):

Illustration Friday - Wrapped

2009-08-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

Couldn't think of anything else. :( Oh well, Mr. Mummy will have to do.
Have a great weekend!

Afternoon doodles

2009-08-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

Who wants to work when there are kitties and silly characters to draw and paint?!

Illustration Friday - Impatience

2009-08-12T11:21:00.000-07:00

We've all seen her. Or we're related to her. People impatient with her, and she's impatient with everyone.

My good buddy Ryan motivated me to do I.F. this week, tonight being our deadline (you better finish yours and post it or ELSE!!!) So I tried to keep minimal colors, and couldn't decide if I like her with or without shading, so posting both. I'd like to say these were done quick but they kinda weren't. The sketches were, but trying to keep few colors was a fun problem-solving process, as simple as they are. I end up doing too many variations for my own good.
Anyway, and now... back to work. Have a great week!

I love lines.

2009-07-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

Lately, I'm doing a lot of this while I think.

Bring it on, Wednesday...

2009-07-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday Sketch

2009-07-20T00:03:00.000-07:00

Many Sundays ago, in a friend's backyard. The late afternoon lighting and shadows were much prettier than what I could get down quickly.

Black Butterfly Productions

2009-07-18T14:22:00.001-07:00

Some months ago my sweet friend Shev asked me to help her make a logo and business cards for a business she's starting up. I love the name and jumped on the opportunity. These are the finalized logo concepts I presented her, after getting a good grasp of what she was after, and thumbnailing out initial ideas.

She really liked the bottom one, and from there I did various layout ideas for the business card.

And then ultimately, the finals!
[back]

[2 versions of the front, with different font choice for her to choose from when she's ready to print]

This project was a lot of fun for me and I like the way it turned out. Shev is a great friend and she was suuuper easy to work with and let me run loose. I don't think I've really shown the process of many of my projects before and thought I'd mix it up a bit.
Have a great weekend!

Colored Heads

2009-07-17T00:12:00.000-07:00

Because it was fun! These are random doodles from meetings and such I decided to color before going to bed. Saw "Dead Alive" for the first time tonight with friends, and though it was hilarious, I needed to ensure my last thoughts before going to sleep are gore-less....but now I just reminded myself of the head in the blender part... dammit. This isn't working out so well.

Hug Me To Sleep

2009-07-11T00:06:00.000-07:00

Epically long post.

2009-04-01T15:34:00.000-07:00

Where to begin! MrTiki was a massive project and a labor of love. It was a virtual world, based on a magical island where almost every decision you made on the site affected your alignment to good or evil - the inhabitants and animals (called "Spirits") of the land vs the villainous, rich Mr. Woo (and his team) who "discovers" the island and plans to take it over and turn it into a tourist trap. I was invited to come on board as the third partner in Dec of 2006, to be the Co-Creator/Art Director/Artist. We all loved this brand we created, and I absolutely loved being the artist to bring it to life. I worked on it up until the summer of 2008, so you can imagine the amount of work that was produced. It's daunting to even think about it, looking back. To start there were only three of us: myself, "Volte6," who was master programmer and infrastructure, and "mrdweedles," game programmer and marketing person. Then Wee joined us, a very talented game developer. Kinh came on board as our amazing writer (who ended up writing altogether about 300 pages worth of damn gripping story). Much later, "TikiMaestro" joined us as our audio engineer and created beautiful theme songs for the world and sound effects for the games, and his wife "WeeOne," later joined as an artist to assist me with overflow. Aside from getting the actual site design/layout/infrastructure developed, we updated weekly with a continuing story line for our readers that included news images, usually involved site events happening on the island, we had a crazy amount of games (including multiplayer), shops which contained insane amounts of virtual goodes in the economy, a working economy system (currency was called "Tiki Tokens"), maps of the world, quests for users to complete, a system to own a "Spirit" feed it/play with it/care for it, a battle system to fight your Spirit against others, we had downloads for users, ... phew, this was an undertaking... a tiki mail system, a forum for users, collectible coconuts, high scores systems with trophies, etc etc ETC.... It was so cool, the site even changed from day to night depending on the time.
We had a steady and growing userbase - I'm not sure on the numbers but I believe we reached upwards of 10,000 users (I could be way off here), without much marketing at all. We also had a wonderful beginning of a fanbase with lovely fansites such as: http://mrtiki.wordpress.com
It was a HUGE accomplishment.. is, rather, and I'm proud of all of us for what we did. Unfortunately some months ago, there was a mishap with our servers and the site experienced a heartbreaking meltdown. I hope one day it all can be recovered and mrtiki can live on in all it's awesome tikiness. In the meantime I believe some of our games can be found on newgrounds.com
Here is a selection of art I produced. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading and looking.
Click images for larger view.
Site design for homepage in the day and in the night:

Logo sketches to final (bottom right)

Tiki Island Map

Tiki Village Map

Wootropolis map & a couple shop interiors

Misc art: Konoso gravesite, Anantiki holiday scene, Cave of Impending Doom sketch, Tiki Temple interior

Foggy Coast sketches:

Some character dev:

Some Spirit art:

Some game art:

Some virtual goods:

Battle system and Spirit care system interfaces:

A selection of weekly news images that accompanied the weekly story:

Misc art: Calendar for users to download:

Concept backgrounds:

I will try to post animations another time. :)

Ruggedness

2009-03-12T00:57:00.000-07:00

This is some old stuff I rediscovered and scanned. It's always fun finding old drawings you've forgotten about. Made me realize how much I miss getting messy with charcoals.

And a silly doodle.

Actually, while I'm at it, I did these sketches last year while visiting my father in Phoenix. We like to go on bike rides, sometimes with his posse of biker friends, sometimes it's just us two. One morning we woke up before the sun and got ready to ride wherever the wind takes us, just head north and keep going. Being the father that he is, he made me wear several layers of sweaters/jackets (including leathers), long underwear under jeans, boots, beanie, scarf, gloves, goggles, the works. I was grouchy because of it. But I was so grateful after about an hour of riding that I was wrapped up so well. It had to have been 45 degrees when we started out, and on the bike ascending in altitude I swear it could've been 30 degrees. But it was one of the best rides I've ever been on. I absorbed the changing scenery from flat desert to red rocky sharp rocky mountains to pine-layered hills to ghost-towns to working aged farms and hidden cabins. Anyway, these are a couple of the images I got down on paper when we got back to the house, bull-legged and wind-chapped.

Something Different

2009-03-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

This is an image I had trapped in my head for awhile.

Sidenote thought for the weekend: Do butterflies poop?

Random Persons

2009-03-03T11:48:00.000-08:00

Flower Dancer Fairy

2009-02-24T11:14:00.000-08:00

a quick one from lunch

Old Ghosts

2009-02-20T00:28:00.000-08:00

...Was the subject of an email I received a couple weeks ago. I almost deleted it, thinking it was spam, but the name attached to it seemed somewhat familiar. To my surprise, as I began reading it, I realized it was a teacher I had in high school some 15/16 years ago....wow had that much time gone by already? (I'm dating myself aren't I!!)
I hope he wouldn't mind that I share this excerpt:

"So here's the deal,

I get this new kid in class today. Her name is Nicolette. So I go to type her name in my gradebook and I put Davenport for her last name. But it is actually Jimenez...I know that, I have her brother in class too. So where did "Davenport" come from? I sat there staring at the screen trying to get my aging brain to figure out the mystery. Finally it hit me. After 17 years of teaching and some 2000 students, I had come across the second girl named Nicolette. You were the first.

Now that the neurons were firing full throttle I could remember that classroom and a few of the students. It was a marine science class out in I building by the water in beautiful Waianae. We had a bunch of fish tanks in the room, went fishing with bamboo rods out back on the reef, and we did a lot of drawings of marine species...."

Not only was it was so nice to be remembered and contacted out of the blue, but his descriptions of what he remembered from my class stirred many things I hadn't thought about in a long time. Being out on the reef behind the high school, smelling the salt and sea life in the air, and hearing the waves crash on the rocks so loudly in some classes it was almost distracting. The way the dusty tiled floors felt under spongey slippers. The sharpness of the reef, and attempting to walk it with slippers sliding out from under you....

-For Mr. Wilson, if you read this, thank you for making my day and bringing back more of my Wai'anae childhood that I hadn't thought of in years.
This reconfirms how overdue I am for a visit back home. *off to expedia*

L.A. Myth 2009 - @ Meltdown Comics

2009-02-18T09:26:00.000-08:00

I'm late in posting this, as the opening already passed, but here is the piece I submitted for the show. It's currently up in the gallery until the 24th, and Meltdown even placed all the pieces online here. The title is "Exhibit 254: Career Outfits of Hollywood Fairies, cir. 2009" (it's incorrect on the site though). Each outfit is roughly 5 inches in height, and made from fairy magic. Many thanks to Dee Chavez for all her hard work in pulling the show together! (and to the fairies that let me showcase their outfits).

Here are each fairy's write-up for your reading pleasure, from left to right:

Happy Valentines

2009-02-14T16:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a lil lunch sketch I didn't get to color yet, but thought it appropriate for Valentines. Have a lovely love-day today and every day.

Fairy 1

2009-02-11T03:13:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: I looked at it earlier today and it didn't seem quite right. I tinkered with the contrasts but just don't know. Are my hues off? Would the shadows be more blue? What is wrong here? Sigh. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. I hadn't realized how long it's been since I've tried to paint semi-realistically. It's addicting. I'm addicted.

Lately I've been drawing a lot of pin-up style fairies, and decided to have some fun with digital painting. I'm not sure the values are very correct and it could be a lot cleaner, but I think I like it so far.

Winter Doodle

2009-02-10T20:03:00.001-08:00

I had been daydreaming about winter in a foreign city.

Robotic Pin Up

2009-02-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

Why? Why not!
This was just a quick exercise.

Green Alien Girl

2009-02-09T17:26:00.000-08:00

Meep.

Cruella Deville

2009-02-09T02:53:00.000-08:00

Hello, blogland. Weeks into the new year and I'm finally making my first post of 2009 (hooray for sleepless nights!)..These are some ink drawings I did weeks ago at the Drawing Club. It was a rough night to start because Daniella was wrapped in so much amazing costume detail and shapes, I was too nervous and careful, but finally by the last few poses I just went for it straight-on with ink.

Sk8ology

2008-08-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

Over 150 artists, celebrities, and skaters mixing mediums to produce one-of-a-kind, rare skate deck canvases in support of ISM: a community project and Now That You Know, two worthy non-profit organizations. The opening is this Sat, Aug 23rd, in Long Beach. Several colleagues and artists that I admire have contributed boards, and I can't tell you how excited I am see this thing come together. I was able to submit one at the last minute, thanks to Kevin at ISM for allowing me. This was a first, and a lot of fun. (Sorry for the horrible shot, it's the best I could do at the moment).

Some Sketchbook Pages

2008-01-14T17:28:00.000-08:00

Here's a mish-mosh (where did that phrase come from btw? just kidding)...of heads I drew at a charity poker tournament before the holidays, some quick sketches in Hawaii when I went back home for a visit a few weeks ago, random people at airports, and people I invented.
Oh, and polar bears.

"Good stuff, Maynard"

2008-01-09T13:41:00.000-08:00

So I said that today, without thinking, because I don't think I'd heard anyone say that in oh, 10 years or so and I don't know how or why it would've slipped from my mouth, because I don't know anyone named Maynard, and I was in fact talking to my friend Tony about this unbelievable Strawberry and Lime chewing gum I had and I looked at him in shock and thought, "Wow, I wonder where that saying came from."
Well, hold on to your britches, because you (all 2 of you that read this) will be very happy to know that it came from a commercial in the 80's, where a father gets his kid to eat his food by telling his kid's imaginary friend, "Good stuff, Maynard."
And there you have it. Has your day improved? Mine has, because it was something that would've killed me had it not been for the wonder that is google.
I wonder where "hold on to your britches" came from.

Nature of Water Show

2008-01-03T18:14:00.000-08:00

-An Art Exhibition Inspired by the Philosophies of Bruce Lee- Opening Night this Sat, Jan 5 at Nucleus in Alhambra. I'll have two pieces up, and hopefully if I'm not still sick as a dog I can make it out. (Drinking my green tea like crazy!) It should prove to be a great first show of 2008 for Nucleus.
Oh, and since I've been such a bad poster lately, Happy Belated New Year!!
Now back to my pillow...and Labyrinth....oh yeah.

UPDATE: Here are my pieces from the show (sorry they're not that large):

"Concentrate"

"Watching Bruce Lee"

tiki heads

2007-11-24T18:58:00.000-08:00

These are birthday gifts I just finished today. They are 2 cubes of wood (about 3"x3") with a painted tiki head on each side. This was so fun to do, it may be the start of a series or ongoing theme. The tiki-ness is invading everything.

happy thanksgiving

2007-11-21T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hope your holiday is filled with only wonderful things. For some free holiday-themed wallpapers for your phone, check out: www.myxertones.com, where I have a few downloadables available. -This one shown and a few others (just type my name in the search field). I plan to have more up soon, including some MrTiki - themed goodies too. Have a great holiday....mmmmm...cranberries and pumpkin pie. I can't wait!

mrtiki.com !

2007-11-19T04:30:00.000-08:00

This is a biiiigggg project that's been in the works, and finally officially launched into the internet-world as of a couple weeks ago!! Here's what it's about:
"MrTiki.com is a FREE, family-friendly online world featuring single and multiplayer games, unique challenges, interesting stories and characters, and just a touch of whimsy. MrTiki updates every week, each time further expanding upon the scope of the island and the variety of the content, creating new and exciting ways for everyone to enjoy the adventure."
From the moment you join the site, your actions affect whether you are aligned with MrTiki and the inhabitants of Tiki Island, or with the power-hungry businessman, Mr. Woo, who sees the magical paradise as an opportunity for tourism, money, and control.
Check it out, make your friends check it out, make your mom check it out. And maybe even your friends' moms.
No really.
I'm very proud of this baby. :)

T-Shirts!

2007-11-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

I posted previously a couple shirt designs I did, and now here they are in their printed glory, just in time for the holidays: http://willisclothing.com/ (Pay no attention to my hacked bio on their site, heh.)
Willis Clothing and non-profit org ISM teamed up with 6 other artists for this limited edition shirt line. I think they all came out great and everyone should buy at least 11 of each.

Heads

2007-09-22T10:49:00.001-07:00

Here are some random head drawings from my sketchbook, just messing around.

Earmint Album Art

2007-09-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

This is a downloadable album image I did for the talented Mistah Earmint. You can download his new album for free and check out other artists' album cover versions, here. Fun stuff.

airplanes, pineapples, and websites!

2007-08-03T10:26:00.000-07:00

Been meaning to share this the last couple weeks but kept putting it off. I guess I've just been too shy. I've never really shared anything too personal on the blog before. Never know how much to share, in fear of boring people, or in fear of my blog turning into something I hadn't intended. But, I have a lil story to share and I think/hope this post will be appropriate. So here goes.
Well, from a quasi-beginning....my mother moved my sister and I to hawaii before I started high school, she and all of her side of the family being from there.

I am 5th generation of my family hawaii-grown. My grandma's grandparents were on the first ship of immigrants to Hawaii from Puerto Rico.

[This is mi abuela hermosa, as Miss Puerto Rico-Hawaii. I just love these pictures.]
My sisters and I were raised on the west side of Oahu in Waianae.
I attended high school there.

[This is the view from the football field bleachers. Yes, the school's right on the beach. Lucky yeah?).
And I attended the University of Hawaii college system, for art/animation.
One year, I passed by a bulletin board at school and saw a flyer for a design contest put on by Disney. I was extreeemely excited about it and entered as an individual. It was the Walt Disney Imagineering Competition, and U.H. happened to be one of the schools that participated in it nationally. So I wrote my own movie idea and built a theme park concept based upon it, with pitch boards, a storybook, a model, and other props.
After weeks of waiting on-edge, a very large envelope was delivered to me at work with a Disney return address. (Receiving an envelope like this, addressed to me personally, was the greatest feeling).
I opened it in front of all my coworkers and customers.

I had been chosen as a national finalist and would be flown to LA for 5 days to pitch my ideas, receive portfolio feedback, network, get behind-the-scenes tours of Imagineering, go to the parks, etc etc. I cried like a baby in front of everyone. :) So, I went, and I tied for 2nd place Nationally, in the individual category.

[me with the 2 big bosses]

And to top it all, I was honored they sat me next to Disney legend, Mr. John Hench, at the reception dinner.

He was such a lovely man and told me stories of he and Walt and his experiences at Disney all through dinner (and cheesecake dessert). I couldn't help but take his table nametag after it was over....

Too bad i was chicken to ask him to sign it for me.

The entire contest and trip were one of the greatest experiences of my life and one of my proudest achievements. It reconfirmed what I always wanted to do 'when i grow up,' and made me want to work even harder.

The next year the movie Lilo & Stitch came out, and I took my lil sisters to see it in the theater. I didn't know what it would be about, other than it was set in Hawaii and I loved how beautiful the watercolor backgrounds were. It turned out that the premise really hit home to me, as my family had been having similar turmoils, and being that I watched it with my sisters, it meant even more.

It was at that point, well within that year, that I made my mind up to try my luck on the mainland. I wanted to move where it seemed would be more opportunities and I could gain experience in the field I wanted so much to be in. Not just for myself, but with my family, especially my sisters, in mind.
So, I moved to L.A. a couple years ago.

Moving was exhilarating...

and terrifying.
-It took me about 6 months to build up the courage to drive on any freeway (on Oahu, there are about 3. In L.A, thousands!) AND not to mention the homesickess...family, friends, the beach,......food.

But I have been lucky enough to meet some of the most amazing people and talented artists, and have built some incredible relationships. That in itself is priceless to me. Along the way, I've been lucky to work on some of the coolest projects I could've only dreamed about years ago.
Which leads me to this introduction and the point of this now novel-length post! In some odd/crazy/amazing twist of fate, I was introduced to the creator/director/writer of Lilo & Stitch, Chris Sanders. I'm excited to announce his new website, and very proud to be a part of it.

When I got the opportunity to help on this project, I was in denial. Then I did a cartwheel. And then I was in denial. And did another cartwheel.
I am just remembering the little girl in Waianae who dreamed of such an opportunity.

And thought it would be nice to share (and freak out my sisters at the same time). I'm just sentimental and thankful...
The End!
Thanks for reading if you made it this far.

Hi

2007-07-31T12:35:00.000-07:00

Just a quick hello to internet land! I've been so distracted from posting here this summer. -It is time for me to dust off the cobwebs and put up some fresh goodness! Lots of news and things to share, so I will be posting again very very soon.
To get things rolling again, here's a lil design I did, "unraveling," for an upcoming t-shirt line....

Power in Numbers Benefit Show

2007-05-07T21:01:00.000-07:00

These are my entires for the P.I.N. show at Nucleus Gallery, opening May 18th - 28th (I'll post up a flyer with more info soon). All entries for the show are 5x7" and will be sold from $50-100, proceeds will be going to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation. I wanted to do a set of drawings or paintings that go together, and had the idea of royal face cards as these silly characters. The paper is tea-stained to give it an aged look, and I kept it limited colors of red, yellow and black as you would normally see on cards. I kinda want to play poker while watching Alice in Wonderland now....

New Identity

2007-05-03T07:27:00.000-07:00

This is so funny, I've been dying to post it. Good buddy and amazing artist Vince Musacchia says this is what he sees when he sees my icon. It's disturbing/odd/cute and I absolutely love it! I may just have to change my icon to this (and see if anyone notices...that doesnt read my blog) Thanks Vince.

Trash to Treasure

2007-04-27T07:24:00.000-07:00

The 2nd show hosted by ISM this month is tonight; the project is transforming something second-hand into something new. I chose to reinvent a couple old purses I found in my good ol' neighborhood thrift store.
And here they are...
Under Lock & Key

Something's Fishy [front side]

[back side]

Who wouldn't want fishies, and a hook and worm on their purse? I know I do.

Here's the flyer. Rich Tuzon did an amazing piece, on a ukulele (which I hope he'll post on his blog today), and when we dropped of our stuff at the gallery, got to see some other clever reinventions other artists did. I think it'll be worth checking out, especially if you're in the area.

The Flight

2007-04-25T16:56:00.000-07:00

This is a piece I did for the "Friends of ISM" show a couple of weeks ago. The branches are cut strips of paper and each bird is on a ripped piece of arches, pinned to the canvas backing. It was a lot of fun for me to do and I think I'll be doing a series of these based on this ripped & pinned concept.

Here is a closeup of some of the pinned birds.

And a closeup of the lone bird taking it's flight.

More SF

2007-04-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

Sketchbook pages from my last trip up....

(This one's for Stephane Kardos)

This bar was our last stop before heading to the airport to go home.

Yosemite Sketches

2007-03-06T22:42:00.000-08:00

from a ways back, finally got them scanned in. I can't wait to go back again.

updates!

2007-02-24T14:37:00.000-08:00

2007 just began and already so many changes and things going on. It's been nerve-wracking but exciting. I just started a new job about 2 weeks ago, after over 2 years at my previous one. It was time for me to make a change and move onto something new. Funny thing is, it seems I got closest with my now ex-coworkers as I was leaving. It made it all the more difficult to leave. One of my friends there (who I'll refer to as Bean) made me this sweet lil going away card I had to share. So cute!! It was in perfect timing with Chinese New Year too.
In other news, I was in two group shows back to back earlier this month. One was "After These Messages" at Nucleus Gallery. The show was an opportunity to reinvent and explore some of the saturday morning cartoons we grew up with. So much material on that subject. I chose to do the Smurfs, and here are my pieces: Schtrumpt Village, and Deep in the Forest. The show is up until Mar 6 if you want to check it out in person, or you can view it online at the Nucleus website.

The Untitled Love Project organized by ISM Community., is a project where each artist explores a heartbreak from their past. I stepped out of the box on this one by not doing a 'lovers' relationship piece, but focused on a different kind of heartbreak. This was super difficult and super different from what I normally do, and I feel soooo nervous and exposed by putting it out there, but nonetheless here is my piece entitled "Losing my Mother."

There will be more phases to the Untitled Love Project, including a website and I believe a book to be published later in the year or in '08, so I'm sure I'll be posting more about that later on. This show is still up at J Flynn Gallery in Costa Mesa until next weekend. I highly recommend checking it out if you can, the works are really beautiful.

Ok, and lastly for today! Late notice, but my friend Heather Chavez is a part of this show happening tonight in Silverlake. The concept for it sounds really cool:

Wow that was a long post. I need a nap now.

Gin Walla the man servant

2007-01-20T10:57:00.000-08:00

I got a couple sketches in at the drawing club this past week. His expressions were great. I like yellow these days.

French Fashion

2007-01-15T09:13:00.000-08:00

San Francisco Sketches

2007-01-06T10:19:00.000-08:00

These are from a couple of months ago. I lub that city.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

2007-01-05T17:08:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to thank everyone for visiting my Advent Calendar, and for all the nice emails I received about it, I truly appreciate it. (I finally just finished it up, phew!). You can still check it out here, and I will most likely leave it as a permanent feature on my site (at least until next year) because it was quite an undertaking for me. :)
As a lil New Year's gift, here are links to my 2007 calendar. Feel free to download, print and color as you wish. Hope you enjoy. Happy New Year!

Click here for PDF

Click here for ZIP

Illustration Friday: "Mask"

2006-12-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

I think this works for the theme? I imagine all the grumpy faces I pass in the day to have elf ears and Santa hats.

Worldwide Sketchcrawl #12

2006-12-11T17:05:00.000-08:00

Here are my sketches from this past Sat. A group of us rode the metro train to Union Station in L.A.

We walked across the street to Olvero street where we met up with around 30 other sketchcrawlers. Of course the first drawing I had to do was of the fake (or stuffed?) donkey. And then of the gigantimous tree with other sketchcrawlers underneath drawing away.

This is a little juice/smoothie stand with some Christmas decorations (digital color added later).

These old men were part of a pack of guitarists on a break outside one of the crowded restaurants.

I couldn't not draw these 2.

And these are miscellaneous people I tried to capture as they walked around.

All in all it was a fun time. There was a lot going on there, with a lot of people and even performers in the park. The food (AND CHURROS) were soooo good. I just wish I went out of my shell and talked to more crawlers. -Always my problem. Anyway, thanks again to Alina for organizing once again.

Avila Beach

2006-11-16T12:52:00.000-08:00

This was done in the car as it lightly rained and I was freezing cold, on a drive back to LA from Monterey last year. The scenery was so dramatic and grey. I remember as we pulled out of our parking space and started to drive again the sun started to peak out creating the most beautiful rays and rainbows over the water.

Worldwide Sketchcrawl #11

2006-09-24T10:11:00.000-07:00

Originally started by Enrico Casarosa, it's a day for artists to get together and basically tour their city and do nothing but draw. (Check out the sketchcrawl website & forums). It happened yesterday, and we had a turn-out of almost 40 people here in Pasadena. It was fun; a beautiful hot day and got to meet some cool new people.
We all met up outside of Johnny Rockets in Old Town. I began the day by doodling birds. Why? I don't know.

Then we walked over to city hall.

And many of us ended the day in the afternoon at the Paseo.

These were all done in my teensy lil 4x4" sketchbook. Lotso fun; can't wait for the next one.

The Hobo

2006-09-09T16:51:00.000-07:00

I tried something different with this week's drawing club sketches; Since John Tucker is SO great at storytelling through his poses, I decided to make a little movie of my sketches. It's done in Flash, so you may need a player if you don't have one; and apologies if it takes long to load (it really shouldn't). It's a silly little thing, but I hope you enjoy. Click HERE!

80's New Wave

2006-08-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

These are from last night's drawing club, with model Daniella Traub -such a great model. This excercise was really fun for me; i tried to be more loose and spontaneous than I normally am. Not sure how successful these are, but it was fun nonetheless. Gotta love the 80s.

Head Drawings

2006-08-23T12:52:00.000-07:00

Most of these are coworkers (teehee), that i secretly drew in various meetings. If they ever see these I hope no one takes offense, it's all in fun. They are all done in pen line colored lightly with colored pencil in a tiny pocket sketchbook. I was inspired by Rich Tuzon's awesome head drawings he did for a zine.

Illustration Friday: "Play"

2006-08-15T10:03:00.000-07:00

This is a character I came up with years ago for a story series, and haven't really touched or done anything with until recently. Her name is Babyblue.

Quick Lunch Sketch

2006-08-14T16:49:00.000-07:00

Illustration Friday: "Capture"

2006-08-10T01:53:00.000-07:00

2nd entry to 'IF'! Now, I just need to work on getting these up sooner in the week! This basically reflects my love/hate relationship with zoos in general. I've always loved going to zoos, and love watching/drawing the animals. I know the animals are there for their own protection and they are usually well cared for. But if it weren't for us, there would be no reason to have to lock them up in the first place. Anyway, that's what came to mind for this week's theme. It's pen and gouache with some color pencil. In case the detail doesnt read well, the giraffe has a little butterfly sitting on it's nose. (PS: sorry for the double link on IF, I didn't mean to do that!)

Denny's Sketches

2006-08-07T13:45:00.000-07:00

These are a little old but I still think they're funny. Diners are one of the best places to sketch people.

New Pin-ups

2006-08-04T01:44:00.000-07:00

This was another fun night at the drawing club with model Jennifer Fabos a few weeks back.

I liked the poses so much I took one of them further and created this character from it. Ain't she cute! It's pencil drawing, colored in photoshop.

Trinity of Matrix

2006-07-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

Long time no post! Been so caught up with projects, and life in general, just haven't had the time to post until now. These are from last week's drawing club. More on the way soon!

Carmen Miranda

2006-05-13T18:56:00.000-07:00

My red and yellow dancing ladies with bananas on their heads! The drawings on top were 5's and the rest I believe were 10's, from this past drawing club session.