Illustration: Godiva heiße Schokolade mit Fuß

2016/02/13

Bought myself a decent-sized sketchbook and here is a page from it:



The size of the sketchbook -- super handy.



And a closer look.



I think I found what I love to do best -- product illustrations.

One's overall mood greatly affects the quality of the work. There are days when I'm feeling forced to draw for the sake of practice and those always come out bad. Feeling forced or rushed to finish a work never works --in my case at least. I need to be calm, collected, focused.... and then there are those days when I have so much inspiration in me I feel like I can draw anything. But that doesn't happen often. :D


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If you like what you see, please follow and like! - that'd make my day!

[ INSTAGRAM :: xxpepperonixx ] -and- [ TWITTER :: miyuupepper ]
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P.S. I am thinking about starting a youtube channel soon, to post videos of my drawing process with. :D Updates will be sporadic but I'm thinking it might be a good idea. Or do I have one too many accounts to keep up with now? XD

Working with markers for the first time

Just as I promised, making it up and posting some stuff from earlier this year.

In February, (amidst the moving-not-moving phase), we came across my sister's old univ stuff and found a bag full of Kuretake Markers. Coincidentally, I wanted to buy Copic Markers but found them too expensive... some 11,990 for a set that comes in a case. Kuretake Markers are not cheap either. But considering my sister had to use them in Design school before (and swears she doesn't want those damned markers anymore), I am very lucky.

In the long run I might want to buy a few extra colours, but for now I will make do with the ones I already have.

2016/02/04

Trying my hand at markers and this is the first one I drew:



A Jaegermeister bottle! :D -- also my first liquor bottle illustration.
It is not perfect. I'm only just learning after all. The lines are crooked too.
Made this in under 10mins, but I know I need to practice.
(Recently I discovered the world of illusive 3d-art. Mixed media but I'd love to give it a go. Would take me hours but it's worth a try.XD)

Next up is a classic Guinness advert:



Amazing this stuff works even after being used and left in storage for some 10years..:D


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For the love of Tea

'A warm cup of tea any day!'

also on
[ INSTAGRAM :: xxpepperonixx ] -and- [ TWITTER :: miyuupepper ]
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If you like my illustrations, click and follow if you haven't already! x

Sketches :: The Moomins

These past couple of days were cool and rainy. Today was exceptionally cloudy & windy without much rain.

Made a quick doodle:



First the silhouettes.



Quite enjoyable; I love drawing trees.



Contemplating whether to draw the background in (mostly horizontal lines for the evening sky and added depth).

But here is how it looks so far...



[also on my instagram; follow if you haven't already.:3 ]

...

Quick recap:

Not much have been going on lately. I'm watching this chinese reality show with kids (it is really funny) which is on every Friday and yes, I'm on this channel at ten sharp every friday.XD We also had a work holiday this week which I spent sorting photos from my previous trip. As for my next trip, I haven't decided yet... But I'm very much looking forward to it.
These past days I spent watching Seis Hermanas, a Spanish tv series which I quite like. I'm already on ep. 78 and it is a little dragging at the moment but it's quite nice anyway. :D I also just finished a UK tv drama - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Only 7 episodes and I'm looking forward to see the next season, if there should be one.:3
Another thing I'm really looking forward to is Downton Abbey Season 6 (pbs announcement), which is due to air in 2016. (yeah, next year.:/).
On other notes, I have been sending and receiving a lot of cards; but will be on a break from OCT and NOV to prevent cards from coming in on December while I'm away -- I don't like my mail getting mixed up with everyone else's for too long as they might get "lost".:O
I haven't abandoned my blog -- but while I've been away from my comp, I have been learning a lot of German.:3 And also learning a lot of German songs.:O

Until then! xx

Sketches :: Totoro x Spirited Away

Spent the weekend writing some cards to send, and decided to draw a Totoro on the back of the card to someone who likes Totoro.

and then later I decided to draw a similar illustration in a new watercolour journal I bought in the same week...







Here is how it looks with colour!



Totoro holding a Spirited Away (-another Ghibli movie) mask.

SKETCHES :: Milan in Watercolor

So over the weekend I thought I'd try to sketch one of the photos from my trip to Milan.



I know I said I was never good at watercolour, but I'm just really stubborn.

Last week while at the bookstore shopping for some art supplies, someone recommended a watercolour brand I've never used before. It was worth a try....:3



This was the inspiration:



Started in pencil like I always do.



Trying to capture as many details as possible, only to be altered and re-altered later. :D



Defining lines. Always with pigment ink. There are many kinds. Find one that works for you. This was a 0.5, other times I use 0.1 and 0.2 for smaller scale sketches in ink only.




Compare, add details.



Mixing and choosing the right colours.



Fill the colours in.



And this was the final outcome:



It was only when I posted and everything that I realized I forgot to write the street name. :P

Sketches :: Karlův Most seen from Smetanovo nábřeží

20150206

Had some free time in the evening and did a little sketching. (I've always been meaning to sketch a few pieces from my travels, but have no time for it...) XD

Here is a photo I took in prague, from the Smetanovo nábřeží, looking towards Karlův most (Charles Bridge), and the Muzeum Bedřicha Smetany (Národní muzeum), right side.



and a larger version of my sketch here:



Do you think I got it right? I'm contemplating whether to draw the branches in...

Sketches - View from the Nihonbashi in the old days

The inspiration..



Started sketching and this is how it looks.



At first I was going to draw the bridge but later I omitted it.;D

I used my Miffy ,echanical pen.X3 I got this from Hong Kong from only HKD$15! :D



I was tinkering with my phone and it was tempting to use some puri apps! XD



I continued the next morning. I did the top part with Mount Fuji. The aroma of the coffee filling the room... hmm.:3



I finalized the lines with ink. I usually use waterproof pigment ink but since I wasn't using watercolour I used Pilot Frixion pen, the kind that you can erase.:D It works great.



I filled it with colour.



And here is the final result!



Voilá!

Do you like it better with colour or without? X3

Illustration : Gloomy Berlin

The inspiration for this illustration comes from Lonely Planet : La Revista de los Viajeros : Berlin.

What drew me to this picture was the cello in the middle.

The original piece is way nicer than this, I made a few changes:



It looks a little sloppy; I thought I'd challenge myself and complete this in 40mins! =_=

When I first started working with Watercolour

I rephrase - When I first started working seriously with Watercolour

-

At the end of my year in secondary, my school decided to open an art club. Believe it or not, my school didn't have one before then. They pushed mathematics and science, not so much writing and the arts. So I desperately wanted to be in it. Luckily a friend and I passed the test (it involving having to draw two different works from scratch -- I drew one of the street view from my room window, and one of Van Gogh's work -- an image which sits vividly in my head).

The trainer (I say trainer because he was preparing us to enter a national competition) made us work with different mediums, testing our strengths. I was enjoying every other medium until this. To be honest I had trouble with watercolour and had to redo some most of the assigned works. T_T

Et voila!



I took watercolour seriously and this is how it pays me back! :S

--

In the end I entered the competition with my trusty set-of-48 oil pastels, winning me a not-so-shiny piece of metal, .. er medal!

No thanks to aquarelle but seeing this reminds me to work even harder to become better even so. XD

~

Have you ever strived to become better at something, a hobby, a school subject, or anything else that doesn't love you back?

Illustration: Images of Sol, Madrid

I spent some time on this, reviewing my photos and picking out the details. Although I already had an image of what I wanted in mind.



This was it, exactly.

I really love the iconic bear with the tree. XD Originally wanted the Sol Metro Sign in the background but thought it worked better as a frame.:P



Ended up placing the metro entrance and the post office behind it.



My mood board..



Watercolour is actually my least favourite medium, and is something I definitely need to improve on.XD



..

I work best with chalk, and oil pastel. charcoal a little, but too messy for me. (Simply put, quite the opposite of this.XD)

I am quite satisfied with how this turned out in the end though...:3

Illustration: The Colosseum in Rome

A quick sketch of The Colosseum in Rome. :3



And here's one with the photo of it:



Not quite perfect...>_<

The two reference photos:



Here it is with colour...



and the final outcome...:P

Illustration: from the Berlin Wall

Spent the evening sketching. Have been meaning to since I came back from my trip but have not had time to.:3



This is from the Berlin Wall, thought I'd sketch something from each of the city I traveled to. :D



For this, I used the Colleen Watercolour Pencils I bought some time ago. The colour came out a bit lighter than I expected -- that meant I'd easily finish the lead if I worked with something of a larger scale. XD



So far I have used Derwent, Faber Castell, and Colleen. I quite liked how brilliantly the colour comes out with Faber Castell.



Not sure how much it resembles the original photo, but this is my version of it. XD



After filling in the colours I pick up my 0.1 pen for the outline.

Here you can see the stuff I used.... :D



This is how it looks with the lines filled in.



I omitted the vandalized parts.XD



Speaking of which, I have sinned for I have done so as well....XD



And my handwriting looks awful because my hands were freeeezing! ^~~~^



Until my next post. Have a lurvely weekend! =X