New fashion illustrations and some lessons...

I've enjoyed doing this "Let's Rock This" drawing last night, with my colored pencils on my bed, and learned a few things:

1. I like that I left out the background colorless, giving the focus to the muse.

2. I noticed that one of the best ways to spot 'weak' links in the drawing is to take a photo of it and note, then get back to polishing. Will do this next time!

3. Watercolor pencils don't lay nice on grainy watercolor paper. Too grainy for my taste, and...

4. Remind myself to not push the under drawing pencils too much.

Materials: faber-castell watercolor pencils, staedler graphites, pilot g-tec black 0.3 pen, dong-a metallic pens, berkeley watercolor sketchpad for the "let's rock this" sketch, cattleya regular sketchpad for the "work it" sketch.

This drawing below was inspired from a pretty cool photo from the awesome 

The Sartorialist fashion blog. I incorporated my latest design and Voila!

Let's rock this.

Let's rock this - details

Let's rock this - details

Work it

Work it - details

Shasha's fashion Illustration, decades back...

I knew I have loved sketching and making fashion illustrations back in the day, taking inspiration from geishas and girls in magazines. I just found this circa 89 scanned photograph of me on my 9th birthday and I thought this image is downright inspirational :)

Another crazy schedule "idea"

What got me overwhelmed, I just realized, is that I am treating sketching/drawing AND rendering as one thing.

They aren’t!

Having no clue what these art terms mean to my venture, I went crazy with my schedule of workloads for the next 53 weeks and knocking myself out.

So how do I go about these…

First, sketching/drawing should be the first to come in. So I need to work on these skills first.

Perhaps, Andrew Loomis’ books are my main resource of knowledge. And oh, the nice, free tutorials from PencilKings!

I probably should be getting started with PencilKings first since there is a schedule that I need to follow.

I think I am currently 5, NO - 15 days late right now. Each day needs only 5 minutes to work on so I can probably squeeze that in early in the morning when I wake up, just before my zumba time.

After that 1-month’s worth of doodling, I’d probably go back to Andrew Loomis’ Figure Drawing book.

I’m probably giving myself two months to complete all these sketching activities.

Need to produce at least one page of sketch for each lesson.

I’d probably use that beautiful sketchbook that is a South Korean brand. It’s pretty thick and not as handy as a moleskin but I’m fine with it.

Then, when I’m done with sketches, I’ll go down to rendering.

The process as to how I’m gonna make it possible is to be discussed later.

As you see, I like to fantasize and dream out all those things – but time management is my enemy, or my weakness.

THAT should be something I need to work out FIRST AND FOREMOST.

Okay, so basically, as I realized a couple of seconds after the previous sentence I had typed, what I’m planning to do really is just an extended version of my original plan.

I am really going crazy.

Week 24, says my calendar

Week 24 should have marked my first collection's Week 11, which means I am supposed to be almost done with it. Boom!

Oh well, I don't feel bad about it much because with all my uber mismanaged time, I could say I still managed to hone the skill.

I have adopted proportions (9 heads) from Chic Francisco's book, Fashion Designing, and worked on my color rendering with the help of my very young and so much fun fashion illustration instructor. I could say I have improved and I'm pretty much happier this time with my work.

These are the ones I've done recently. Tools of the trade: Cattleya sketchpad, staedtler graphite pencils (HB, H3), Pilot G-tec 0.3/Pigma Micron 02 waterproof pen, Prang watercolors, Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.

Complementary

Gradient

For my finals next Saturday (7th week at the fashion illustration school), I'll be making two designs - my own high fashion take based on a Geisha and a Vampire. I haven't envisioned anything yet but I'm planning to start soonest so that I'm armed with at least 2 designs for each theme come Saturday. Or even three for each.

'Excited to use my watercolor papers then. Speaking of which, I need to try out those Prang watercolors (that the school recommended) on those watercolor papers before I destroy any underdrawing. If you could see in my "Gradient" illustration, the skirt's teal color bled so much at the sides that I had to lift and lift as much color as I can with tissue paper and water to clean them up. It was really frustrating so lesson learned.

I may post a review on the tools I used recently. Perhaps after a few more illustrations. We'll see.
For now, I gotta go and I hope to post more updates as often as I'd like.

cheers,
shasha

The male face... that I've been meaning to share

Update on my tasks last week

I can pretty much say I didn’t totally mess that to-do list last week.

For the doll fashion thing, I have completed one client’s request. The one that takes up a lot of time, I didn’t complete but I made a good start. I will be finishing the rest this Wednesday, when it’s national holiday here in the Philippines. I have new orders, though, which I intend to work on the weekend.

I was able to finish my art assignment to my Coursera class, so I think that was an accomplishment for my week despite my bloopers in the other department.
I did some family stuff but missed to cover the little boy’s books and notebooks. Now noting mentally that I had to take some power nap on my way home so I can cover the books tonight.
Another major miss that happened was the comic book story line. I’m planning to start plotting tomorrow morning, then sketch the rest of the week. Next week, I should start drawing for the frames.

I was so happy to have started reading Andrew Loomis’ Figure Drawing For All It’s Worth. I have learned perspectives easily and applied it to the painting I prepared for my courser class.
I won’t show it here, but to my “gallery” blog, artofshasha.

So gotta go, as you know I have so many things to catch up with.

Tatah!

In need to clear my head

On Monday, I had already planned and listed my to-do’s for the week. Tuesday, I tried to keep track but my lack of discipline as usual destroyed my neatly planned days.

Now, it’s Thursday and I have not started/completed some of my to-do’s yet. It’s because I got so preoccupied with one to-do that I ate up on some of the hours dedicated to other planned tasks. And I know you are shaking your head now. I can’t afford to be this irresponsible forever. I have a 53-week deadline, see? And I have to develop some awesome will power in there to be dedicated and focused on my pre-bliss days, even before I step into blissland.

What do I do? I have so much going on? I keep adding on my list. And now that it’s back to school (for my kiddo), my time for these growing ventures is even further lessened. Sigh.

I guess I’ll need to list ALL my pre-bliss goals first. The ones for this week first.

Doll Fashion Studio

I am to prepare some patterns for Saturday sewing. This is some tiny commission project (literally, too) I have agreed with a nice Sylvanian Family doll collector. Then another two-item commission with a repeat client who is a 1:6 fashion doll collector should also be done by Saturday.  Could this be possible? Hmmm. My Saturday morning should only be dedicated to sewing, as I don’t want pattern-making and fabric cutting to kill my supposedly excited-about-sewing mood. I’ll give the sylvanian project 3 hours, then 2 hours for the 1:6 fashion doll items in the morning. In the afternoon will be cleaning my work area, QA, and packaging. That is, if I had already prepared the patterns by Friday the latest. Shoot! Friday is dinner date with family, so I had to make patterns tonight. That means nothing about figure drawing or online art class for tonight. But today, I’ll be at the nearby nail spa during lunch break with a colleague, so I might as well sneak in some sketching time while the attendant squish my fingernails. (Update: done with pedi, and some sketches: Yay!)

Coursera: Introduction to Art (online class)

This week I am to complete a 4-hour online art class, of which I think isn’t enough time. I even reviewed some of the videos on my way to work last Monday. Done with my readings and accompanying videos, and the quiz. Additionally, I will only need to submit an artwork based on this week’s topic. I will give it 2-3 hours on Sunday morning. It shouldn’t be very detailed, as what’s important is the concept, at least for this week’s lesson/art genre.

Upcoming Comics

Lastly, the storyline I am to make for the comic book story I am to contribute to an old colleague’s upcoming indie magazine. A 2-pager intro story shouldn’t take long. Perhaps I can give it some 3 hours tomorrow. Will probably sneak in some initial sketching in the evening, too.

But more importantly…

I also have a young family to raise. As a mum, I make sure my son is ready for school next week. I’d pretty much need 2-3 hours to cover his books and notebooks, label some of his school supplies, and then some. We had to buy him a new pair of school shoes this weekend, too. Perhaps, going to the mall plus getting the shoe will take 1-2 hours. My Sunday afternoon will be dedicated to school stuff preparation.

Long-term goals…

Aside from these, I also have other goals that are just as crucial.

I need to learn to strengthen my personal finance. So I read my daily personal finance blogs, which utilizes 1-2 hours of my time daily. I also plan my financial goals in excel files, and I check the stocks market regularly. I need to be financially sound when bliss starts so that I can only focus on the creative part most of the time. I am currently wrestling down my credit card debts, while slowly building my emergency fund. As for the studio that I am to use during the bliss, I have no plans to add new expensive equipments within its first six months. Those equipments will have to be fruits of my labor then.

I also work out that business person behind the studio. I had to keep a delicate balance between being creative while being on top of business things. Marketing strategies, goal-setting, business plan adjustments, studying what the perfect daily routine is, productivity measures, are just a few of the things I try to tackle so that I don’t panic come crunch time.

Lastly, I need to stay healthy as I don’t have anyone else to rely on to but myself, when the bliss comes into full bloom . I sneak in workouts in between these tasks, and healthy diet, too.  

So there, I have laid out this week’s plan. Will report about the progress (yes, let’s be positive!) by Sunday night. Tatah! 

The bad girl is back.

Entitled to my own excuses?

I was gone for 9 weeks, and where the heck did I go? I know you don’t need to hear my plethora of excuses for all the wasted weeks, but I’ll tell them anyway. :P

For the last 9 weeks, 3 weekends were family out-of-town short vacations. The rest were a mix of family responsibilities, some days deliberately spent on commission projects for my other endeavor, the doll fashion shop, and a week or two of being flat-out lazy. Sometimes, I just didn’t have the will power to sit on my table and be creative the way I wanted.

On my way to failing Week 6 (Simple Fabrics), I devised a strategy to work on my assignments during evenings of workdays. To catch up, you know, or draw in advance, especially that I have already set vacations for the coming weekend. I know it would have been also more advantageous for me since my son is having his summer vacation (from school) the entire time, thus my nights after work are free (from tutoring). But my self-discipline, or the lack of it, failed me again.

Sometimes, I doubted the goals I set myself every week. Or the scope, at least, of the weekly assignments. Were they really unattainable (for the working family woman commuting four hours to work daily, with other artistic endeavors) or I am just plain lazy?

Sheesh… it took me weeks to finally decide and have the thick face to log in and write here again. I know I don’t have readers or followers, but, it feels like I was deceiving something or someone if I don’t at least try to finish this 53-week journey of mine. It’s like some baby I bore, but left somewhere else to die. Geez, saying that was making it worst already.

Or if I try to be more positive, which I always am, I can work on my weakness and flaws, don’t you think? You know, catch up?

So, here’s the plan.

Current status:

I already had my male face done on schedule, but never got to upload the drawings. I’ll have them available in another post, as I’m writing from somewhere I somehow couldn’t find a copy of the artwork’s photo. I was already done with my Week 5: Hands and Legs exercise and I have also already sketched my “fabrics” ready for the “Simple Fabrics” and “Luxury Fabrics” weeks but never got to finish them since my tablet broke, which I used to store my fabric/clothing photos.

I really think I’m not yet ready for renderings. So, as much as I wanted to start Shoes, Bags, or Jewelries, I believe my sketching techniques are so flawed I find myself struggling with the many difficulties self-taught illustrators like me encounter. Proportion, perspective, you know, the basics. I draw what I saw, and I think it makes it so difficult if you don’t understand why these subjects look that way.

Then a few weeks ago, I re-discovered legendary Andrew Loomis’ books. I got almost all his beautiful books from this very generous site, http://www.alexhays.com/loomis/. And I realized how much I’ve been missing. All my questions in Figure Drawing, were answered. What I felt after reading the first chapter from his “Figure Drawing for all its worth” is positively strange excitement, and the promise that there's still a chance to better my craft. He probably was a fun art teacher. I will probably make a separate post just to tell you how much gratitude I felt for him for extending his knowledge in his books. So, yeah, that added up to the fact that I need to learn the basics before I start rendering.

And to further complicate my case, I have enrolled in an online art course at Coursera.org, Introduction to Art: Concepts & Techniques. And, another though face-to-face class, Fashion Illustration (which I’ve been meaning to take up for the last two years). Both will use up most of my incoming 7-10 weekends of this year.

So, what am I to do?

I am planning to change the gear. Re-map things. Not because I was unsuccessful with my previous curriculum, but I think it wasn’t outlined right. Instead, since I will be doing lots of art assignments to these classes, and will be doing exercises based on Andrew Loomis’ book that I have mentioned earlier, I thought it would be fair for everyone (me and me) to just post what’s been happening with my illustration endeavors.

Easy Peasy.

So, where do I start?

Anywhere. No plans, for now I guess. I don’t want to disappoint myself so whatever I came up with this weekend, will have to be posted before Monday.

Will this work for my ultimate goal?

Hopefully so. Because really, it’s just all about giving time to it. For now.

So I gotta go.

Whew. That was some speech.

‘Til next time….

Faces...

had been real busy, thus the late installment for last week's faces and hair. here's what i've managed to squeeze in between lenten season, deadlines at work, some dolly fashion orders, and my son's circumcision surgery. i know.

what i've learned from this drawing:
1. i'm beginning to learn my proportions of mixing burnt sienna, raw sienna, ultramarine blue and some rose madden for my midtone skin,
2. sharpen your colored pencils as often as needed even if it means pausing from your flow,
3. need to step backwards to better see my facial proportions,
4. i gotta learn so much more doing hair!

today, i'm supposed to show you guys my hands and legs drawings. i am aiming to produce them before weekend. til then! mwah mwah!

Week 3 - Figure Drawing - Male

and so this week, i sketched some men. some rather looking dandy, others Thor-ish, others regular (er, regular models, that is). in my first page below, i have sketched a female figure to kind of place a reference to, and voila - my first attempt (next to the girl) looked like a 14-year old, effeminate boy, or little teenage tan Powder. i just love that powder movie; i'd probably watch it one of these days... oh, well...

looking at my first page, it became very clear that i need to research more on drawing the knees, among others. those-too-large-for-their-legs knees are just too prominent from this angle.

and then i think i did improve on this next page...

.. a lot of Powder guys, there...

my third page consists of heads. a relief from all those big bad men..

then more practice on whole bodies again..

and i found my favorite in that fourth page, and then some..

and another favorite... i like his tan.

for this week, i used my good old winsor and newton cotmans for the skintone and clothing base, faber castell watercolor pencils for skin midtones and clothing, my pilot g-tec 0.4 fine pens for the facial features, some gel pens, and my good old staedler pencils of which some had been sitting patiently in my art box for at least 5 years. my watercolor pad is a berkeley 180gsm 24-sheet one. it is cheap and perfect for my practice. i've kept my canson one for the coming collections.

that's it. next week will be FACES and HAIR. hmmm, i ought to edit my collected vogue pages already.
bye for now!

Week 2: Female Figure --- What I have done so far...

so, here are the things i did to more or less complete my Week 1 task:

* brought my watercolor pad everywhere i go so that i can sketch/practice when my hands are idle (lunchtime at work, kitchen table while cooking, couch while watching tv, bedroom before my son sleeps, at waiting areas while running errands/paying bills, etc)

* revisited my favorite youtube channels Fsketcher (teaches you how to structure your line drawings) and Elidada84 (makes use of watercolors for fashion illustration well)

* revisited my old books - Illustrating Fashion: Concept to Creation by Steven Stipelman, The Fundamentals of Figure Drawing by Barrington Barber, Fashion Designing by Chic Francisco, my old watercolor book - Watercolor for the Fun of It - Painting People by Michael Otis, etc...

*  sketched in the weekdays, colored during the weekend

*  focused on form drawing - dismissed my downloaded files and magazine clippings (saved them for later, though)

* photographed some of the sketches

* post them here...

okay, here are the sketches for Week 1. Enjoy...

Week 1: Collect images (end of week)

and so, i have collected the images i will be using as inspiration for the coming weeks. i got Vogue pages, men's magazine pages and downloaded photos. yes, i did include some downloaded photos. in fact, for the figure drawings, i'm probably gonna be using mostly the ones i downloaded since i needed images of people with really toned muscles that i needed shown in my drawings.
i did want the printed pages as my inspiration images but my hubby suggested that i move one from traditional to what's in the now. what he meant was, if i can have access to the best photos from the web, why not tap the opportunity? i gave it a thought, and a try, and boy, am i glad i did!

inspiration images for figure drawing (female)

but i'll get most of my fabrics, shoes, bags, jewelry and anything fashion drawings from my Vogue pages, still. i also started collecting magazine images for men, but just the same, i had collected the fashion model types. this coming week, i will also be downloading more athletic photos of men, for next week's figure drawing exercises, men's edition.

okay, i'm off now to drawing. i'll be posting early this week or mid-week to show you what i have started for week 2 exercises (figure drawing - women).

ta-tah!

shasha

Week 1: Collect images (start of week)

today is Sunday, and i've committed to making this day the "start of the week" for all my 53-week journey here. but before i talk about my Week 1 task, i have listed some things i'd like to achieve out of this endeavor. yeah, just so you have an idea what the 53 weeks are for. by the end of the journey, i should be able to call myself an illustrator. yup, short and sweet. i know my first post was kind of vague. but yeah, this is what it's all about... and i can't probably call myself one without doing the following :
- completed 3 personal collections
- completed 3 gigs/projects (paid or not, as long as i have worked with someone outside my own world)
- pitched (with super thick skin) at least 1 of my collections to a company
- filled my gallery of works with at least 53 drawings
- developed my own style
- sold 5 originals in my etsy shop (which i am to setup when i have done my first collection)
- sold 15 prints in my etsy shop

- financially prepared myself for the bliss (because emotionally, i am so at it already!)

i know it's not so glamorous of a list, but i guess i can start with that. i am hopeful that once i'm in the state of bliss, i will be able to do and give more :)

okay, so let's get down to business - my task for Week 1. i have assigned myself to choose and collect the images i will then store in my inspiration/reference database. these images will be my "practice" images, the ones i will use during Week 1 to 10. i see these images to be partly my guiding light in the learning process. i am thankful i still kept my old Vogue magazines as the photograph-like finish of the pages seem to be the best option i can find. i don't want to spend a lot printing photos i like from the web. i don't want them printed from a computer printer, either. yes, as inexpensive as it can get! i have to get through the 53 weeks not spending a fortune. as if i have any!

i have drafted my 53-week schedule and here's what i've come up with:

Week 1 - collect images for reference/inspiration (source: Vogue and some other magazine pages)
Week 2 - figure drawing - female
Week 3 - figure drawing - male
Week 4 - figure drawing - face and hair
Week 5 - figure drawing - hands and legs
Week 6 - fabrics (part 1. i had to start with simple ones, i guess)
Week 7 - fabrics (part 2, i will try rendering the luxurious ones here...)
Week 8 - bags
Week 9 - shoes
Week 10 - jewelry and other accessories
Week 11 - iconic photos
Week 12 - illustrations from imagination (part 1)
Week 13 - illustrations from imagination (part 2)
Week 14 to 25 - collection # 1 (during this 12-week period, i will create the collection then scan and archive them, upload to behance and probably list on etsy. 8 weeks will be dedicated to creating artwork, remaining 4 weeks, to admin/business stuff. theme in mind, is my favorite - the fashionista tropicana, a stylish girl who loves the tropics.)
Week 26 to 37 - collection # 2 (i'm planning on concocting a collection of awkward composition. i've always liked to photograph awkward moments so i think i like to make it an entire collection of artworks this time... hmmm, that's for a start though, i might change my mind before week 26 starts...)
Week 38 to 49 - collection # 3 (Ugly Pretty. i want to draw "ugly" girls in haute couture creations. i don't know where to start yet but, yeah, it's still in the awkward theme... i'll think about it..)
Week 50 - Learn Art Licensing
Week 51 - Prepare Pitching one of my collections
Week 52 - Pitch to a chosen company

so there you go, my uber long post exposing the ultimate dreamer in me. this probably will be the longest post i'll ever have here as i am hoping that this blog be full of actual learning, not just dreaming. i will be sharing my adventures and misadventures, my ups and downs and everything in between... so yup, i'm off now to my first task!

till next week,
shasha

prequel to "53 weeks..."

it's always been about bliss. no matter what life has put me through, i always try to find my way to get back to my bliss. i get a little taste of it sometimes, since i'm currently in a place (most adults are i guess) where you have to find that inner bliss to survive. but it doesn't mean there's no way you can ever live a life of bliss. geez, there's too many bliss words already, but isn't it what this blog is all about?

okay, so 53 weeks until the first day of my own bliss. are you in for a ride? i'm excited but i have to plan everything, too. to make sure things are smooth-sailing during my blissful (that word again) ride. Acquiring that (okay, pronouns can be fun too) is not gonna be easy so i had to make sure i don't miss. bliss or miss? tahaa.. 

in the next 53 weeks, i will chronicle my adventures to, well, yeah, you know what it is. i'd probably call it adventures since i should be doing something out of my usual routine, to , er... succeed, right? talk about working outside your comfy zone, yeah? 

okay, so i gotta split now. i had to come up with a solid plan as to how i can achieve this. i gotta do my important tasks first, before i can sneak in my "adventures", adventures that are the necessary building blocks of my, yeah, bliss. there. i said it. again. nth time. gotta go. now. gotta. stop. typing. like. now. already. . .    .  . .