Happy Hobo

Been abandoning my blogspot for tumblr...might just move on to tumblr soon since I have too many pages to manage and update. Although I've always felt that blogspot was more ideal for writing long detailed posts and sharing my process/inspiration.

 But for now, here's a piece I finished last month! Inspired by the city of hobos I passed by on my way to work daily. It's been awhile since I've done line work illustrations and I was surprised by how stress-free it felt to just doodle and then color. I used to do a lot of crazy line work pieces before I went to art school. After art school it was all about ditching the line-work, working fast and rough while keeping all the technical things in check so this piece was pretty liberating to work on.

Super Mom!

Had this idea in mind and finally decided to tackle it for Mothers Day. It was definitely a challenge cause I had to step out of my comfort zone and try something different from my usual (simple) works. It's my first time painting an interior environment so it was hard for me to decide on what palette I wanted. My original intent was to do a night scene which would've fit the story better, but that would require a cooler palette. I wanted something warmer so... morning it is! Tried not to overwhelm myself with technical details but at the same time I didn't want things to look "off". The struggle was real with this piece and it made me realize I still need a lot of practice when it comes to painting!

On the bright side, I've signed up for Schoolism's subscription and can't wait to start it!! I totally miss learning with some sort of guidance since I've been feeling a bit lost about advancing my skills after graduation. I'm trying to push myself to step out of my comfort zone but it's hard without some sort of guidance...

Originally intended to save a desaturated version just to show my values but then I thought it would be fun to keep the outfit colorized.

Golden Days

Close Up

Finished this one a few weeks ago! Been posting on tumblr but there's still something nice about blogspot although nobody uses it anymore. Maybe its because I've always been into this old school style blogging (like back in my xanga days) so I feel more comfortable sharing things in detail here.

Anyways, I was stuck on a complex piece so I decided to take a break from it and worked on something simple and minimalist. I was actually inspired by a few a simple photographs with gorgeous lighting so I decided to illustrate it with a little story I envisioned on my mind.

I realized that minimalist drawings are actually very challenging since most of us tend to naturally over-draw. It requires an eye for design and definitely some very strong foundational and technical skills to be able to strip everything away while knowing what to keep. Although this piece looks simple, I struggled quite a bit when it came to questioning myself what to keep and what to eliminate. Overall, im not sure if the feeling of the piece translated as well as I had envision but I got to a point where I knew I should stop. Maybe I will rework it in the future but here it is for now!

Quick Sketch

Quick sketch of my sister with my new surface pro! Slowly getting used to it, im not sure if its ideal for very fine detailed drawings yet but its amazing for sketches and fast comic style drawings. Been working on a few pieces but haven't felt satisfied with either yet...

The Messengers

Finished this a couple of weeks ago! Still a pretty loose and simple illustration but I wanted to focus more on story telling. Inspired by some Chinese folktales and dramas I used to watch/read as a kid.

I've always wanted to try blocking in with 3D and using 3D cam to get depths of field...I later realized it wasn't really necessary with the simplicity of this piece, but it was a fun experiment! Will definitely be utilizing this method in the future although it does require a few extra steps. This would be a great method for detailed environment paintings or anything that requires some precise perspective (wish I'd done this when I was drawing The Bait)

Golden Catch

*judging you with my party hat on*


Just finished!It was something I started on during a slow day at work and just kept working on during my free time. I've recently changed my mindset and approach to drawing and this has been one of the most enjoyable pieces I've worked on so far. Gotta enjoy the journey!

Recently made a FB page to post all my updates, it'll pretty much serve the same purpose as this blog but less wordy ....ha! https://www.facebook.com/joycefanart

" Fail as much as you can so you can eliminate your flaws." 

                              - Goro Fujita 

Wise words from an amazing artist.