America's Cup Watercolor Painting for WCN

I did this watercolor painting last year as part of a t-shirt graphic concept for a proposed America's Cup apparel line by West Coast Novelty. It was fun contrasting the bold red-orange of the Golden Gate Bridge against the vibrant blue of the San Francisco Bay.

CURRENT PROJECT: "Joy" Page 1

I recently completed an illustration for a lovely story, titled "Joy, about adoption and the special bond between families.  I am working closely with the author, Susan Longley, to create a series of 12 illustrations to help bring her story to life as an illustrated e-book app.

 Here is a sneak peek at the first page of the children's e-book, "Joy":

Visit this link to the author's website for more information about this e-book, to learn about the author's personal experiences that inspired her to write this story, and to pre-order your own copy of "Joy."

Can't wait to share more with you all soon!

An Indian Queen... and a Lesson on Enhancing your Portfolio

Last spring in my children's book illustration class, I started working on a version of "The Princess and the Pea" set in India. For the midterm for my portfolio prep class this semester, I got an opportunity to create a new piece for my portfolio, so I chose to illustrate the other half of a spread for "The Princess and the Pea" that I had started a few semesters ago.

Here is the finished illustration:

And the complete spread (along with the other illustration I did in the spring):

Lesson Learned: Every time you have an assignment for class, think about what you can create that will make your portfolio better. I could have illustrated a brand new concept or story for this assignment, but instead I decided to use it as an opportunity to strengthen a piece that I had already completed. The illustration of the princess in the rain was a strong portfolio piece on its own, but now when I open my portfolio to this illustration, the complementary illustration on the facing page finishes the spread and makes it look more complete. Plus, I got to introduce a new character and show my ability to keep a cohesive style throughout a series of illustrations. 

Koala, Hare, and Fox... a Lesson on Fur

Here are a few more wildlife illustrations I have done lately:

Koala

European Hare

Gray Fox

Lesson Learned: When illustrating furry animals, keep an eye out for the different colors within the fur. The animal will look more interesting if the fur has many colors in it. 

Green Tree Frog... and a Lesson on Anthropomorphism

Last week, our lesson was on Reptiles and Amphibians. I decided to study the Green Tree Frog:

Orthographic Drawings:

Wildlife Illustration:

Character Design (Lilly the Tree Frog):

Lesson Learned: Pay attention to the details when anthropomorphizing animals. When designing the ballerina tree frog, I first asked myself- what do I need to include that will define this character as a tree frog? I decided that the essential elements to make it look like a tree frog are the skin and eye colors, the structure of the head and placement of the eyes, and the toe webs and pads. Then I asked myself- what humanlike characteristics does this animal have that can help me to anthropomorphize it? I decided that the hinged elbows and knees, humanlike muscular structure of the arms and legs, and the ankle bones are all aspects that I could work from to help make this frog more human-like. 

Largemouth Bass... and a Lesson on Animal Anatomy

Well, I have finally entered into my final semester at the Academy of Art University! I can hardly believe it.

For the first assignment in my Wildlife Illustration class, we had to study and draw a specific species of fish. I chose to illustrate a largemouth bass (Greg's favorite fish). I had to do 3 orthographic drawings in pencil (skeletal, muscular, and exterior), a size scale illustration, a realistic illustration in the fish's natural environment, and an illustration of a character I created based on the fish I studied.

Close-ups of the color illustrations:

Lesson Learned: Understanding the anatomy of an animal can really help when drawing it in poses that you do not have exact reference for. If you understand the way an animal's body moves, you will be able to depict it more believably from viewpoints that you do not have exact reference for.

Perfume, a Pink Powder Puff...and a Lesson on Painting Glass

For this still life assignment, I had a hard time finding stuff around the house that was pretty enough to paint with watercolors. I wanted a still life that was high-key and colorful, and I eventually found just the right items in my makeup bag!

Lesson Learned: Clear glass reflects all colors around it! Do not paint clear class as a monochromatic object! At first glance, I thought I would just need to use a gray color in different values to paint the glass perfume bottle, but when I looked closer, I saw so many different colors in the glass. The glass picks up bits of all of the colors around it, as well as colors it creates when the light shines through it. Going into this painting, I had no idea that the clear glass would end up being the most colorful part of this painting!

Adorable Baby Wearing a Chullo... and a Lesson on Edge Control

I started the summer semester on Monday, and I am loving my classes so far! I am taking a Creative Writing class, which is a lot of fun already (we are doing poetry)! I am also taking a Watercolor for Illustrators class. I was first introduced to watercolor in Illustration 2 by the fabulous Camille LaPointe Lyons and I completely fell in love with watercolor painting. When I heard that she had written the Watercolor for Illustrators course, I signed up immediately. I am so excited to learn more about watercolor painting from such a talented woman. My instructor, Sue Rother, is a very talented painter as well.

Here is my first painting for the semester- a little 6x7" spot illustration of my pretty niece, Emma:

A special thanks to my talented mother, Margarita Bromley, the excellent photographer who took the photo that I used as reference for this painting. Her lovely photographs have been the reference material for so many of my illustrations over the years!

Lesson Learned: Paint outside the lines! 

The first module of this course taught me to throw out the painstakingly precise application of paint that has ruled my artistic approach ever since my childhood. As a kid, I always carefully colored inside the black lines of my Barbie coloring books and painted perfectly within the designated areas of my paint-by-numbers. According to the experts, however, it is better to take a loose approach to watercolors, and it is okay to paint outside the lines! 

For this approach, paint the middle value first, then paint through adjacent shapes of the same or similar values so that the colors start to bleed together. Of course, test it on a scrap of paper first to make sure that running the colors together won't result in a muddy color. I still had to be precise in the areas of detail (I used masking fluid for the eyes, teeth, and highlights and patterns on the clothing), but it was fun to let the colors bleed together around the edges, and the soft edges helped to draw more attention to the sharp detail on the face (the focal point of my illustration). Those soft edges I was able to achieve with this technique created sort of an atmospheric blur like you can achieve in photography by using a large aperture.

My Best Friend's Wedding... and a Lesson on Using Masking Fluid

On June 4, my cousin Jacob married my best friend Kelly. They are a perfect match and will be so happy together! I painted a watercolor portrait of them to commemorate this joyous occasion:

Lesson Learned: Frisket is your friend! 

I used masking fluid (frisket) liberally when painting this portrait. I masked everything in the foreground before I painted the sky. This helped me to keep the value of the sky even, since I could paint all of my wash strokes horizontally (right over the masked area) instead of worrying about painting around the foreground objects. When I removed all of the masking fluid, I was left with clean edges and pure white paper where the figures, temple, and trees would be. 

Then, I carefully painted masking fluid over the areas where the lightest details and the hardest edges would be. This helped me to keep the edges crisp and the lights light so that no details got fuzzy or lost as I applied thin glazes of color to keep the colors luminous and bright. Then I let the painting dry, lifted the masking fluid, and added the dark values to the details with a mostly dry brush and I did not have to worry about my edges blurring or my highlights getting lost. Masking takes time, but it is so worth it in the end!

Illustration 2: Editorial Portrait

Here is an editorial portrait that I painted in watercolor for my Illustration 2 class last semester. 

We had to pick a person whose story we wanted to tell in an illustration, and I decided to illustrate my lovely Abuelita Nilda. I depicted her when she was younger, using a few old photos as references to come up with this portrait. She stands in front of a Peruvian flag, representing where she comes from. The condor flying out of the flag illustrates her rising above the challenges that she faced during the war in Peru and staying strong and persistent as she helped her family immigrate to safety in the United States. She is one of the strongest and most inspiring people I know, and I am so grateful for her shining example of strength.

¡Te quiero mucho, Abuelita!

Lesson Learned: If you paint what inspires you, not only the result but also the process will be beautiful and rewarding.

Illustration 2: Animal Illustrations

For this assignment, we had to choose an animal to first paint realistically and then turn into a character. I chose to illustrate a Muscovy duck.

I saw this duck at a park near Lake Merritt in Oakland last year with my family. It had so much personality and I took a ton of photos of it. I went back to the park to take more photos for my project and it was still there!

Before I knew the that it was a Muscovy duck, I thought that it was some kind of weird chicken-duck hybrid, so I called him Chuck the Chicken-Duck.


Here is the realistic rendering of the Muscovy duck painted with watercolors:

When it came time to turn the duck into a character, I made him into a nerd. The duck at the park seemed like a nerd with the way he waddled and wheezed, and the other ducks picked on him and stole his food.


Here is my finished watercolor illustration of Chuck the Duck:

Lesson Learned: Use references when creating animal characters. It is so much easier to create a character if you have an image to start from. I took over 100 photos of the Muscovy duck in the park and spent some time observing it so that I could have a starting point to create this character. I was able to develop a character with a personality based on the real duck's mannerisms and a characterized look based on the real anatomy of the duck.

Illustration 2: Bag Design

(This blog update is a bit late, since this project was assigned at the end of September and due the first week of October.)

My second assignment in my Illustration 2 class was to create an illustration for a shopping bag for a particular type of store. The weekend after the project was assigned, I spent the weekend with family in Monterey. My inspiration for this project came when we visited a giant candy store in the Tin Cannery Outlets near the Monterey Bay Aquarium. When we entered the candy store, little Rulon was completely overwhelmed by the countless barrels brimming with delicious candies of every kind, and I captured his priceless expression on my camera.

When I was flipping through my vacation photos later, I was so amused by this photo and that hilarious expression. Rulon looked completely entranced by all of the candy in the room. So, I decided to design my illustration around the concept of a child being hypnotized by colorful, yummy candies and ended up with this fun watercolor illustration.

Lesson Learned: Though planned, posed reference photos can be great, sometimes the best reference comes from everyday events and spontaneous incidents.

Illustration 2: Narrative Paintings

I absolutely love my Illustration 2 class that I am taking right now! I have to admit that I was terrified going into the class knowing that it was a class taught entirely in watercolor. I had never done a complete painting in watercolor alone- only made up mixed-media techniques with a little bit of watercolor here and there. I was even more intimidated when I found out that my professor for the course, Camille, is an outstanding watercolorist who has won national awards from the California Watercolor Association, among her other impressive achievements as a professional illustrator. I was afraid that I was going to be horribly inept with the new medium and be completely embarrassed as this watercolor master critiqued my sloppy work in front of the whole class.

I was relieved on the first day of class when the teacher was not at all intimidating, but exceptionally kind, generous, and (most importantly) patient! She teaches watercolor painting in a way that makes it simple and understandable, and my learning curve was much less treacherous than I had anticipated. I am actually beginning to fall in love with watercolor painting and plan on taking a more advanced level watercolor illustration class with Camille next fall!

For our first assignment, we had to complete two narrative illustrations that take place in the same setting at two different times of day. The objective was to not only create a nice composition and tell a story, but also to show proper watercolor painting techniques and variations in light temperature and color at different times of day. It worked out perfectly that we went to visit Greg's family in Ephrata right after this project was assigned, so I got some great reference photos on the farm.

For my first painting, I illustrated a young man working in the barn. Just a typical day of work in the hot summer sun.

For my second painting, I illustrated the same man in the same barn at night, going to check on things and wondering why the lights won't turn on. Little does he know that the barn is haunted...

I am really pleased with the way my first assignment turned out, and I got an excellent critique from my teacher. I just have to make a few adjustments to the hands and the shoes and then I will be ready to add it to my portfolio!

Lesson learned: Don't be scared of a new medium until you've tried your best to learn it from someone who knows how to teach it! You just might end up loving it!