Sketching Before Bed

To make sure I draw every day, I started sketching for at least 5 minutes before bed. It's been fabulous. So many good ideas (and not so good ones) find themselves to the page when you're half asleep. You should give it a try. Here's a little sample.

And last night, between the hours of 11pm and 3am, I doodled the two characters and thought it'd be a cute header for a calendar. So walla! It's in the hands of the printers so stay tuned for its debut online. 

This Will Make You Cry

"Good Night Billy Moon" is Ian Chachere's heartwarming/heartwrenching, beautiful submission for the Santoro comicsworkbook Composition Competition and it will MAKE YOU CRY. It's his interpretation of real Christopher Robin's last days. A preview is below. Click here to read the comic in its entirety. Bring some tissue.

This Week's New Art

First finished illustration for my upcoming 2014 Calendar. 

These will become stickers.

A jumping wedding illustration. So cute!

The Mind of a Chef

image from eater.com

Something completely unrelated to illustrations, entirely related to food and in my opinion, definitely about art, I started watching PBS's The Mind of a Chef. The show follows David Chang (restauranteur and mastermind behind Momofuku) as he explores the science of, the stories behind, and the deliciousness of food. Anthony Bourdain narrates the show so it feels like No Reservations but is really more of a TV version of Lucky Peach magazine. I LOVE it. I'm only 4 episodes in but the first episode, "Noodle", has me salivating and itching to visit Japan again. He also makes gnocchi out instant ramen. WHAAAAAT!! Watch it below (or on Netflix).

Watch The Mind of a Chef, Episode 1: Noodle on PBS. See more from THE MIND OF A CHEF.

Actually, scratch that. It is related to illustration because there are some sweeeeeeet animated sequences thrown in, too. It has everything!

This Week's New Art

More wedding illustrations! Guestbook illustration with the classic paper cutout balloons.

For stamping fun!

For their photo booth

Miyazaki's Animated Rain

via The Kubrickist

The Last Bit of New Zealand

I realized I never posted the last leg of my New Zealand journey--Queenstown.
After trekking through the glacier, I stopped off at a hot spring. It was included in the glacier heli-hike package, and it couldn't have come at a more opportune time. I'd been living out of a mini van for 3 days now, and hadn't showered. Ha! So I LOVED IT. Don't worry, I showered before going into the pools ;).

Feeling refreshed, I made my way to Queenstown by way of Wanaka.


I stopped to hike and explore the blue pools.

I wandered through the small town of Wanaka, took another scenic hike, and bumped into some friends I met on the cruise from Wellington to Picton.

Feeling a bit pooped from driving, I wandered Queenstown on foot. I heard from other travelers that Queenstown was their favorite city and immediately I understood the why. It, like the rest of New Zealand, is gorgeous. A medium sized town tucked in the middle of mountains and lakes. I explored my options for exploring Milford Sound and signed up for a fancy tourist bus. Though I did kayak like I originally intended, I had a great time sitting back and letting someone else do the driving for a change. Also, the bus had a glass ceiling and gigantic windows so it was perfect for viewing the scenery.

Welcome to the land of Lord of the Rings! 

We made various stops along the way including Mirror Lake and a river where we were allowed to drink the water. So tasty.

After 4 hours of winding roads and stunning scenery, we entered Milford sound and boarded our boat. The weather was gloomy and rainy but the rain created hundreds of mini waterfalls so it was a win. Our boat also went a bit underneath one of the waterfalls and I got SOAAAKED. Wet butt for the rest of the day.

We got back to Queenstown later in the evening and I drove back to a nearby campsite. The moon guided my way.

The next morning, I wandered the city one last time, grabbed an insanely delicious burger, picked up a bottle of Pinor Noir to take home, and drove about 6 hours to Christchurch to return the car and fly back to the Philippines.