Getting Ready for Sketchbook!

I finally received my sketchbook from the good folks at The Sketchbook Project. The theme I chose is: "A Day in the Life Of..."
It's going to be a great project and I will start drawing right away. Anyone - from anywhere in the world - can be a part of the project. Check it out »

Personal Project: A Baby Sprinkle

I recently did a shower invite for my friend - I had no idea A Sprinkle Celebration is a little different than a traditional baby shower celebration. But, nonetheless, I was honored once again to provide a cute little invite for her 2nd baby. Here's a snippet of the card for her Sprinkle Celebration!

What Inspired Me Today?

My good friend and colleague, Cynthia Sheppard, (her artwork above) inspired me to experiment on my drawing techniques and to dabble in a variety of drawing styles and subjects for good practice. Cynthia is a remarkable Fantasy Illustrator and am a big fan of her work. We briefly talked about art and drawing today at work and from that brief moment I learned that I should not limit myself to only one style or subject and I should probably use a combination of different techniques, focus on a different subject matter, and basically just try something new and out of the ordinary. This is probably a great idea to loosen up those drawing muscles a bit, right?

As an artist, you've always got to keep your artwork as fresh as the day it was created. Here are some examples of the things I've done to keep myself motivated:

1. Finding Inspiration - exposing yourself to many different drawing styles or taking art classes or even just walking outside and looking at nature.

2. Setting Your Own Goals - set yourself up with a personal project and a designated due date and recreate something that you see everyday. Maybe it's redesigning an existing children's book cover, your favorite magazine, or even your favorite commercial product to get those ideas rolling...

3. Learn Different Things - try using a different medium for a change, try drawing a different subject matter and get out of that comfort zone. If you're the one who loves to draw cute and fuzzy characters, maybe try drawing something gorey and scary for a change!

4. Work Those Drawing Muscles - very important! Practice, practice, and practice... Draw something at least once a day even if it's just a rough sketch on a piece of napkin.

So, what do you guys do for motivation and how do you keep your artwork fresh? Would love to hear your thoughts!

IF: Pioneer - Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was a pioneer in the study of electricity and renowned for his many contributions throughout history. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. Benjamin Franklin is truly one of America's most influential Founding Fathers.

Sir Isaac Newton: Gravity

I've noticed a lot of people have been contacting me about this illustration I did a while back on Sir Isaac Newton. I think a couple of students who contacted me needed it for a school project and/or a presentation. I am truly grateful that this cartoon turned out to be pretty useful and just because of this I have decided to do a series of illustrations depicting influential individuals of all time. With that being said, I am going to start with Benjamin Franklin, a pioneer in the study of electricity.

Stay tuned...

Featured on Illustration Island

Many thanks to Thomas James from Illustration Island for featuring my site on his blog - "The 8th Element of an Effective Portfolio Website." Illustration Island also featured the 7 Elements of an Effective Porfolio Website and has mentioned lots of great tips on how to present your work and how to achieve an awesome portfolio site.

Thank you to Thomas James for his creative input!
Click here to read about the post »

IF-CRUNCHY Breakfast

Happy Holidays

I'm saying this a little early, but Happy Holidays everyone! May you have a safe and prosperous New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Here's an oldie but goodie drawing I did back in 2006. Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

IF-Unbalanced: Humpty Dumpty

IF: BLURred Vision

"Honey, can you pass the salt, please?"

Michelle Back in the Day!

I have been drawing ever since I was small, but I think it all came together during my Sophomore Year in High School when I joined Mr. Burns' Journalism Class and became the first cartoonist in Thomas Edsion High School to grace its newspapers with monthly comic strips. I wanted to compile a couple of old sketches that I have done from the very beginning and see how my characters evolved throughout the years. It hasn't changed much, really, but I think I have made some improvements along the way. I hope you like them!

Click here to view »

New Site Launch!

Hello guys! I have finally completed my website re-design and right on my target date of Nov. 1, 2009. Thank you to all who helped me out during the creative process. I couldn't have done it without you. Hope you guys like it. Enjoy.
Visit Michelle's New Site Here!

Happy Birthday, Big Brother!

Today is my brother's birthday. Happy Birthday, Kuya Chuck.
I miss you. Rest in Peace.
Oct 23, 1968 to Sept 15, 2006

Character 2: Sesame Street (Personal Work)

A good friend of mine asked me to draw some Sesame Street ® characters for her son's 2nd birthday. I was more than grateful to help out. I used to watch Sesame Street ® back in Manila everyday after school. Those were good ol' times.

Sesame Street ® characters copyright Sesame Street.
This artwork was created for personal use only.

Character 1: A Tribute to Sweeney Todd

You guys know I am ALL INTO anything cute and chubby - which is pretty apparent in my cartoons/illustrations. But, on the other hand, I am also a big fan of anything gory. I know I do not show it as much in my work, but I love a little bit of horror and goo from time to time. So, with that being said, I will post my first art challenge and showcase "Sweeney Todd." I loved the movie and hope you guys like my little rendition! (of course, I still have to keep the cuteness in there somewhere) :) Enjoy.

Stay tuned for next week's character...

A Challenge: 1 Character a Week for 1 Year

Ok, so I have decided to do a small challenge for myself. Since I haven't been participating on IF or Monday Artday and all the cool drawing blogs, I really have to push myself to practice drawing again. So, with that being said, I will challenge myself to draw 1 character a week for 1 year. It will be sort of like drawing on a Munny® - I"ll keep the same shape and just draw different characters for 1 year. I think this will be a good practice for me and get my pencils sharpened again. So, I really don't know what i'm getting myself into, but here we go....let's do this!

Start project: August 24, 2009
End project: August 24, 2010
Characters: 52

Stay tuned...

The Art of Cynthia Sheppard

Hey guys, please check out the cool and awesome works of my good friend and colleague, Cynthia Sheppard. She is an awesome Fantasy Illustrator and a great designer! Check out her work here: Visit Cynthia's Site Here!

~ Cheers!

IF - CRACKED

IF: Heirarchy - The Bat Team

I guess Bat Girl calls the shots after all...

New Web Project: Mind Blowin Xperience DJ Services

Hello everyone!
A good friend of mine wanted to redesign his site so I was honored to help and give his site some cosmetic updates. I previously did his first site long ago when there were "tables" :) So, I obviously needed to upgrade him to CSS and just created a simple and cleaner site. (which reminds me, I will need to upgrade my own site very soon too!)

My good friend, Carlin Hertz, is a DJ here in the DC Metro Area. If you guys need any DJ services, Carlin is the perfect guy for you! He is truly awesome. I still need to fix the contact form at the bottom and do some minor tweaks, but other than that, http://www.djnferno.com is LIVE and ready to roll!
Pls visit his site and take a look around! If you have a special event coming up and need any DJ Services, Carlin Hertz is the one to call!

Cheers!

IF - Theater/Theatre: Hamlet by William Shakespeare

HI guys. I couldn't help but draw Hamlet for this week's IF. Hope you like it! Cheers.

I Heart Dirty Code

I can totally understand the frustration with website designs concerning CSS layouts and browser compatibility issues. It is a lot to learn and I am sure everyone has gone through a lot of trials, lots of testing, and basically just making everything work. I recently got scolded by a programmer because I used a z-index and absolute positioning in one of my sites. I did not think there was anything wrong with it, but he mentioned it was a "dirty code" and not to use it ever again! So, ok. I got it. No more using z-index. I felt like a kid wearing a dunce cap :) But, oh well, I got a nice t-shirt graphic out of it at least....

IF - Impossibility

"It's just not going to work out..."

Can't wait for Halloween!

Baby Shower Poster

And here is the coordinating poster to go with the baby shower card....

Baby Shower Card

Hi guys! Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Will promise to do more posts soon! Here's a baby shower invite I made for one of my friends - she had a Star Wars theme and I had a lot of fun doing this one. Hope you guys like it.