It’s been a stressful week… + NanDesuKan Report

This week has been full of tedious and time consuming obligations. I’m still not done but things have been progressing quite well. Of course I haven’t really stopped working and have some things to show you guys. One other thing to note is that last week was NanDesuKan so I’ll talk a bit about that.

Since I went to two conventions earlier this year I was having convention fatigue. I didn’t really feel like going but I did want to take some artwork for the Art Gallery section of the event. This time I decided to take only some prints so that I could sell them for a lower price in hopes that I could sell them this time. This year I took the piñatas That I made all throughout the end of last year and the beginning of this year. Some have actually sold already, such as the Popplio and Eevee and have been comissioned to make another one. So for NanDesuKan I was offering Pikachu, Rowlette, Litten, Mimikyu, Totoro, Jiji, and I made two new ones for this convention. Goku and Kuririn. I made them as kids wearing their attire from their training days under Muten Roshi (I even decided to make their turtle shells the day before the convention).

Just in case you forgot or haven’t seen them before, here are the piñatas that I took with me.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32628223106/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32628014416/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32515650162/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32628204896/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31856433233/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32546322051/in/dateposted-public/

Here are Goku and Kuriring that I made especifically for NanDesuKan.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152283125/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36754812210/in/dateposted-public/

The construction of the turtle shells using foam board.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36963133466/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152447945/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316265314/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152441715/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316258924/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316255544/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152447945/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316265314/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152441715/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316258924/in/dateposted-public/https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316255544/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316265314/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152441715/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316258924/in/dateposted-public/

And here they are with them on and painted (painted using spray paint). Tied with some garden ropes to emulate the ones in the series.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36338391343/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152268315/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37152251955/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36316051194/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36754626810/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36754643650/in/dateposted-public/

This was the piñata side of things. But I prefer drawing more, so of course I took some of the new 2d art that I have been working on this year. Thinking back I was learning more than creating this year. But I feel it was worth it (I still have a ways to go, but I’m starting to understand things a bit more now).

My original plan was to show these pieces on their own and before the convention so that those who take the time to visit this site would get a sneak peak as a sort of special “reward” for visiting the site. But I got really busy preparing for the convention that I didn’t have the time (those two weeks before the convention were also quite stressful). Luckily I did get not only the new piñatas finished, but I also had two new artworks done in those weeks prior.

I took 4 art pieces in total this year.

I made a new piece with the prints of the legendary Pokemon from X/Y.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37153150535/in/dateposted-public/

I dumbly chose to do a Saber piece (from Fate Stay Night, I think). But that series can get rather complicated if you haven’t seen or played any of the games (which I haven’t). (There’s so many Sabers) So I really didn’t know what I was doing at all… This was one of the pieces I was doing right before the convention. Thinking back maybe I should have done something else, but oh well.

Done both traditionally and digitally.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37153226875/in/dateposted-public/

This piece I had been working with during the summer. I took a bit of a break and did some minor tweaks right before the convention though.

It is Misaka Mikoto from the To Aru series (will make a post especifically for it later).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36982080862/in/dateposted-public/

And the last piece that I offered this year is the other drawing that I made right before the convention.

This one is of Goku, Kuririn and Muten Roshi. (I will also make another post just for this one and talk about it more).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36982148692/in/dateposted-public/

So these are the pieces I took this year. Now for the results. Out of all the piñatas, only Rowlette and Mimikyu were sold. And of the 2d art, all of them were sold except for the Saber piece. And out of all the pieces only one went to the live auction, that being the Pokemon X/Y piece.

On top of selling a good amount of them this year, I also won an award again this year.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36982351652/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36982350522/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/37153546725/in/dateposted-public/

Seems like I won the 3D category again this year. Plus I also won the Video Game Room Art Show award. Seems like the 3D award was for the piñatas, and the Video Game award was especifically for Rowlette. With that said, I assured another weekend pass for next year.

Not too bad.

Sorry I haven’t really been posting much, but it has gotten a bit stressful these days. And now the future is looking a bit shaky… Heck even the sun and moon were kind of ominous when the outcome of the future was put on jeapardy.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36340111293/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/36756416450/in/dateposted-public/

A bit weird but won’t deny, they looked beautiful. (by the way, they look red because of the fires that were burning on the west coast.)

Nothing can be done except go forward I guess… ε- (￣､￣A) ﾌｩｰ

That should be all for now, I’ll get back to you guys later.

Hasta la proxima,

-Nube

September 10, 2017 0

Preparing for Animeland Wasabi II -Piñatas Part II

It took me a month to make 8 piñatas, I could probably push at least 10 in the same amount of time. I say a month but really it’s about 3 weeks and … 3 days? Some did take a bit longer due to me not having the right color of paper or thinking about the shape I would cut the strips of paper. Despite keeping that in mind, I was surprised that they took that long to make. But now that I have finished them I can look back and and think about ways to cut at the very least 5 days off (if not more). In the end, preparation and planning takes time, almost half of it. I wonder just how much I can refine out of my process.

Looking at the pictures, I will have no choice but to divide it into two more posts. The middle process of actually putting together and giving shape to the balloons that had hardened with the engrudo and newspaper. And the final part of decorating them and giving them their final appearance.

I took a lot of pictures about the process, but don’t wan’t to flood you guys with information so I only posted the most important photos here. But if you click on one, it should take you to flickr which is where I uploaded all of them. There you can get a full view of the process in case you need more angles and steps in between the photos that I did post. In case you don’t want to leave this page as you see flickr than you can right click and open in a different tab.

I made it so that the photos spoke for themselves about the process I took, but if you have any questions do let me know and I will respond as best as I can.

Sorting out the shapes once they had dried sure took a while, next time I have to find a way to keep together the balloons that correspond to one another.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32252956550/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32478830102/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820294113/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31789145354/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32591818516/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32478815652/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820280493/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31789122444/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31789117984/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820267073/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32632173215/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32591764026/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820211643/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32632112145/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32252834090/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32509636691/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820136413/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32509593571/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32591605716/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32591595286/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32252733110/in/dateposted-public/

To speed up the process of cutting the paper that will cover the piñatas I recommend to do several at once. Line up strips of paper together than folded up in halves.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/31820061383/in/dateposted-public/

You’ll end up with this at the end, from there just cut out the shape or shapes you wish to make and that will minimize the amount of time you will be using to cut paper. Otherwise it is a time eater, I can tell you that from experience.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32509530941/in/dateposted-public/

Here’s a sneak peak at what is to come next time.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32252715430/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32591584436/in/dateposted-public/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/darkcloudxero/32252705620/in/dateposted-public/

That will be all for now. I will be adding the final process and showing you photos of how they turned out. I’d say they came out great but we’ll see what you think.

Hasta la proxima.

-Nube

January 31, 2017 0

RESTORATION PROJECT

I have been restoring some of my old drawings now that I have acquired some more copic marker colors and have also just recently obtained a couple of sets of pens. This will greatly give me control of my drawings. I want to make a small segment of that as soon as I get some more items being shipped as we speak. In any case I will be replacing these pieces with their counterparts. And I will be taking the kill bill/game of thrones drawing off since it isn’t such a good quality print. I have an A3 scanner but this will require something bigger, and looking for a place to scan them was rather expensive… I will have to find a remedy for that at some point. Anyway here they are.

As a side note, I learned that restoring the drawing made with color pencils were the toughest to make touch ups on. Copics are really hard to to use on them since they are quite slippery for them.

June 3, 2015 0

My neighbor Totoro

I just wanted to talk a bit about this drawing.

This was actually the first Studio Ghibli film that I got to watch. I first saw it when I was a grade schooler. I used to check movies out a lot back then from the library. I of course mainly focused on movies made for kids. I made sure to check out cartoons all the time. What’s strange is that I never really liked most of what I saw (looney toons, batman, or other cartoons that were popular at the time). But then I came across this masterpiece. Even then I noticed that there was something different about this movie than all the other animated films I saw at the time. It was a very magical movie for me. And so I decided to honor it by drawing this piece. I thought of what would happen in the future. Would Satsuki and Mei still be able to see Totoro and company? I fIgured they wouldn’t and after a bit of research it seems I was correct in thinking so. According to Miyazaki if they had kept in contact for any longer, they would not have been able to return back to the normal world and gotten stuck in the spirit world.

So with that in mind I decided to have Totoro and the other forest spirits hidden as they look over them. Most people tend to do parodies about the bus stop scene. Personally, I thought it is a bit overdone. At first I wanted to do it in a different location. But then I thought, why not use the bus stop, but make it different than all the other art out there. Which is why I made it daytime. Also I made sure to study the location by looking at the scene over and over again. In doing so I remembered that there was a fox shrine right next to the bus stop, almost nobody put that in their artwork so I decided to incorporate it into my own.

I really had fun drawing this piece, so I hope you guys will enjoy it too.

On another note. I will be adding a couple of more artwork to the gallery so look forward to that. I will also be working on some new artwork as well. I have so many projects running at once, but I will push through all obstacles.

Till next time.

-XERO

March 21, 2015 0