Karou and Hasma stamp

Just finished up Karou :) I was kind of feeling a little stuck on this project so I made a side list of small design projects to help keep me moving forward. So I designed Karou's Hasma tattoos and carved it into a stamp. I've only done this once before but it's actually really therapeutic to carve a stamp and really rewarding when you see the results!

Akiva costume designs and more Poison Kitchen props

So here are a few designs for Akiva's costume...even after going through Laini's book twice, I don't think she ever mentions what he's wearing haha. So I tried to make medieval knight inspired vest thing. It's his beauty that should set him a part from everyone else- not his clothes. I always pictured him wearing black but what color would an angel wear besides the obvious white?

I still need to work on his face because this story is about beautiful people haha. He may be beautiful but i feel like he's got a broody expression on his face through most of the book.

Update--
August 8, 2013

a little update on Akiva in color

Update--
August 12, 2013

something still bothers me about this...gonna pick it up again later

Yes, I am alive!

No! I haven't dropped off the face of the earth! I worked on my travel diary in Japan a bit--but didn't have any way to scan everything--even then I want to scan it in when the pages are finished. I know said I was thinking of publishing it by the end of summer but that might not happen until the end of the year. But I will work on it during weekends!! :)

At the moment, I've decided to put myself to work this summer and do the visual development for Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I finished the book before I went to Japan and although the romance in the story is kind of...well something geared more towards teenagers, I thought it had a lot of really interesting visuals and characters that I could create. Plus--it is full of periodical architecture and animal anatomy- things that I am weak or inexperienced at. I thought it would be a good way to challenge myself, not to be lazy and hopefully get some scholarship money.

Here are just a few props and designs for Karou and Poison Kitchen. 

huge travel diary update!!

Hello and goodbye!

Hi guys! I am so sorry I abandoned this blog for a while--I've been a little busy for the past two months arranging my trip to Japan and creating miniature felt desserts.

Unfortunately I either misplaced my travel diary or some master thief was able to take it out from under my nose in .01 seconds. *sigh* but I have started a new one and hopefully will get a chance to scan in a few pages from that before I leave.

I'm lifting off American soil next wednesday! D: Japan will be the farthest I have ever been from home. ;_; i feel like Sam from LOTR taking his first step outside of The Shire. I'm excited, anxious, and am gorging myself on as many american/mexican/ thai foods as I can. Oh taco bell, how can i live without you? (well actually i can...)

Although my family can't see me off to my flight, they wanted to do a going away party. Since they were kind enough to have the party, I thought I would make little fake postcards. I feel like I'm working on an assignment from school haha but without the pressure of 'who's best?' and 'will it sell?'
here's just some progress pics!

for some reason, I really thought it was more difficult to create the clean, crisp, exact shapes I wanted in photoshop--as opposed to illustrator. But I'm kind of really liking and getting more used to photoshop when I do these graphic kind of illustrations. Although the shapes are a little imprecise on PS, it gives the image more character. I still wanna add a little more texture and need to finish painting the statues.

btw! the statues that I'm seated next to are called jizo (jizo bosatsu) statues. They appear to be child-monk forms of Jizo Bodhisattva which I think is some kind of deity that exists in India, China, Korea, and Japan. He is the protector of women, children, and travelers. Statues of Jizo are placed near intersections so that the traveler could choose the correct path. 
--03/07/13 11:49 pm
done woot!

travel diary

hey guys! It's been a while!
I've actually been quite busy since the beginning of break :) really proud that I'm keeping up my work ethic
During that business, I've been able to arrange a 3 month trip to Japan! I'll be studying Japanese language and culture there. Soo I hope to God that I keep up with this diary--thought I'd warm up by getting started on it~just having a couple pages down. I don't know if it's just me but I never knew how much an empty sketchbook could bother/scare me. There are just way too many possibilities...so many things I want to do with it but I'm so afraid of messing up and having to rip out a page and then making something out of the lines of ACCD's design aesthetic =_= then I realize that this is just for fun~ugh brain..stop being such a worry wort.

I wish I thought about the colors more carefully and I didn't properly design anything~just trying to get used to having fun and taking my time on this @_@  please stay tuned for more! I want to try and get at least two or three pages done in this diary for the next 8 weeks with little factoids about Japan, where I'd like to visit, certain mannerisms I need to respect and adhere to, etc. etc.

I was really inspired to start this from Enrico Casarosa's "The Venice Chronicles". I really love his quick and simple little pencil and watercolor drawings of him and his family's adventure around Italy. A trip to Japan isn't something that everyone gets a chance to experience. So I thought keeping a diary would be the best way to help me cherish and appreciate and actually remember every bit of this experience. 

trip

Hello again!

I finished one of my finals last night--
maya has been a little difficult to master over the past few weeks but now I have a whole new respect for animators now @_@ I do think I want to experiment more with the program though--
I had a lot of fun doing all the voices coming from the television--I was partly inspired by an episode of Adventure Time to just talk that way. I really had little to no idea how to use after effects and garage band before last night--but now that I've had a bit of experience, I can't stop thinking about all the possibilities!! :) I'm thinking of animating some of my own work now! We'll see what happens over break!

Trip - link to the video