Do you have a Passion Project?

YOUR ART IS WHAT YOU DO WHEN NO ONE CAN TELL YOU EXACTLY HOW TO DO IT. YOUR ART IS THE ACT OF TAKING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO, AND CHANGING PEOPLE.” – SETH GODIN

So What is a passion project? 
It is something that you work on (painting, writing a book, growing a garden) that makes you happy, satisfied, and puts you in the zone. It’s something that makes you stay up to 3 in the morning!
You do it for your own enjoyment and not because of the money.

Benefits of Passion Projects:

• Decreases stress levels:
  One thing I noticed when I'm doing my passion project is that I get to relax. After painting or drawing I feel happier. (That's why I always try to paint first thing in the morning.)
• Improves your skill:
  Of course the more I paint/draw the better I get.
• You become more productive:
  Instead of checking my facebook, or surfing the net aimlessly, I get to make better use of my time
• Sometimes you get to earn from it:
  And last but not the least I was able to get commissioned paintings and turn some of my works into postcards and sell it.  

My latest passion project is this children's book written by Sofia Santiago.
It's still in the early stages but hopefully we can have it out before the year ends.
We are still developing the main character, will update you as we go along. :)

Start your Passion Project Now!
Starting something is not easy, that's why I suggest that you make it a habit.
Start to sketch daily for a month and see what happens. :)

Don’t be afraid of the blank sheets by Ricky Nierva

I just want to share this inspiring TED talk by Ricky Nierva. For those of you who doesn't know him, he is a filipino production designer at Pixar. He's worked on Up, Monster's Inc., Finding Nemo & Toy Story 2. :)

Staring at a blank sheet is one of the artist's nightmare. Watch how Ricky Nierva tackle this problem. :)

I hope you were inspired and motivated by his talk. :) Let's start drawing! 

Be Brave

Merida of brave is one of my favorite character because she is not your typical princess. I just love her hair!!! :) I decided to draw this because at the office we are working on chibi cute characters and I was thinking why not create a cute chibi version of Merida! :) 

chibi merida steps gif

Tools I used for this piece

I made most of my artworks using the ff materials. You can buy most of these at Deovir. (No Deovir does not pay me to promote them, although giving a few brushes would be nice!  :) )

• BRUSHES: 
• 1" Langnickel Hake Brush
• No.8 Grumbacher Golden edge Sable
• No.1 Winsor & Newton nylon brush
• PAINT:
• Prang 16 colors
• White Gouache (for the highlights)
• PAPER:
• Arches Watercolor Paper

initial wash and color blocking

I start off with the washes and started to loosely fill the subject. I used a lighter shade of the colors at this stage. And build it up later by adding darker shades. Most of the colors are blues and greens and a bright orange for her awesome hair! :)

building up color

After that I took a break, and stepped out. I do this to refresh and also to look at the artwork from afar in a different view, then I as myself, am I happy with it or do I need to add more color? what is missing? where does your eye lead you? etc. 

adding details

After talking to myslef for a while, next step is adding the details on the bushes, trees, Angus' shadow and Merida's dress. And it was finished! yay! :)

I enjoyed creating this Chibi project I might do another character, let me know in the comment which character you want a chibi version of. I might do it if I like the character. :)