SUPER SAILOR MOON PAINTING

Took a while on this lady - Super Sailor Moon! I probably should do Eternal Sailor Moon as a finale? I don't fancy her poufy ball sleeves or the tiered skirt as much. This painting didn't quite turn out the dreamy way I had pictured in my mind, the way Takeuchi Naoko's beautiful ink artworks are.

Initial sketch. Originally her hand was up but it ended up covering the brooch so I altered it.

Traced onto the canvas.

Base paint and the reference pictures.

She originally had the rainbow graduating colours on the collar and skirt hem like in the manga, but I just couldn't do it properly in acrylic because there was no space to blend the five colours.

 So plain blue. I checked the anime version on how they did the cels and followed suit.

Shading done. The trouble to mix four additional colours just for dots (representing gemstones) on the brooch made me wish for it to be completed already!

I added lines to the painting using acrylic ink mixed with paint, added stray hairs, accents.

Finished piece. The background has tiny white stars but it is too faint to see it from this scan, it is more vibrant in person!

If you like to own this painting, she is available in my Etsy shop! 25 x 35cm, acrylic on canvas, unvarnished. Clicky here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/176659892

SASA'S COMBO SKIN PORE REFINING MASK

Hey folks, just want to do a quick review here on this set of mask I bought a few weeks ago. So I'm a fan of Lovemore's "New Zealand Kiwi Acne All Out" mask and my neighborhood Watsons stopped stocking them so I went to Sasa to see what else was offered, and saw this product that claimed to do a similar job.

Sasa's Color Combo series: Combos Skin Pore Refining Mask Set.
This post is a comparison with Lovemore's product, for Lovemore reviews just google and you will find many reviews by cute girls. This is not a paid endorsement.

They are almost identical, with the main difference being the strawberry scent. The sebum softener smells very good. I love strawberry scents lol. I wanted it on my face longer so spent more time rubbing it into my skin which probably makes it so much more effective. Just squirt a bit on areas you want to apply the mask on to. The 2-3 drops instruction is a lie I tell you.... just squirt however much you need, and it will dry from massaging so I add a few drops of water on the face as I go along.

The bottle design of the mask is slightly different with a smaller opening. The Lovemore one has no additional cap so the liquid usually glops out. This one has a better control on the amount you need. The consistency is slightly thinner than the kiwi version so I needed a thicker layer to cover the pores.

It smells alright. It does smell slightly of chemicals masked over with a strawberry scent but I can live with it. After rinsing the softener off, leave your face slightly wet and apply the mask on areas of blackheads/whiteheads/rough spots. I usually avoid applying on pimples. Apply a good layer till the skin cannot be seen... not too thin a layer (unable to adequately cover the pores) nor too thick (takes too long to dry).

It dries pretty evenly and feels like I got the mask dried tightly too so the gunk will affix to the mask. This is the disgusting whiteheads/blackheads/microhairs after peeling the mask off! I would say a good percentage of gunk is out.. 85-90 percent! And I've been having acne breakouts and using this sulphur cream that makes the plugs rise to the surface making my skin really rough so this mask just makes my skin soft again... by extracting it all out ahaha.

The last bottle is the essence to minimise open pores. It has a thicker consistency compared to Lovemore's, pretty much like what one would describe as 'serum'. Actually it became sticky as I pat it in but it absorbs quickly.

Well that's it. I recommend it. I think it was cheaper by a bit since it is an in-house brand. Both are made in Taiwan and pretty much the same thing. If you don't mind a pink alternative to Lovemore's mask then use this.

SAILOR MOON PAINTING ON CANVAS

Here is my first art for 2014. It is a Sailor Moon fanart as promised, acrylic paint on canvas, lines are done on acrylic ink, 25 x 35 cm.

Pencil sketch very early on. This is just a snapshot I took for instagram by the way. After that I inked it onto tracing paper and transfer the image onto canvas with carbon paper. So 3-4 times drawing the same image.

Base paint.

Added rough shadows and got the outlines more concealed.

More shadings and layers of paint. I realised my light source was coming in the opposite direction on different parts so I redid some parts.

Added finishing details. I was wondering if how to do the outlines so popped by the art store and bought acrylic ink in brown.

The outlines came out bold since it was very dark.  I thought it would take half an hour to do the outlines but damm it took me 6 hours (from 11pm-5am)! I kept messing up. The weave of the canvas threw the lines off at times.... so wash the ink & retry, wash & retry, wash & retry!!!

Stars and hair. That day it was taking the acrylic 2 hours to dry since it rained the whole day. Acrylic usually dries in 10 minutes. It took me many hours to complete something as simple as hair and stars lol.

I am currently painting another Sailor Moon! If you want a commission just e-mail me at chibilemon (at) gmail.com or convo me at Etsy if you have an account. The painting can be purchased in my Etsy shop, not sure how much to price fanart so it is going lower than my original art: https://www.etsy.com/listing/174843885

DAISY RIBBON LUCILLE

Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year! Any plans for 2014? How did you spend New Year's eve? Mine was pretty uneventful, and almost forgot it was 31st since I was trying to finish that lady above.

First I updated my vintage jewellery site with a new extension and post, and looking for new plugins... yeah BORING!

Then I decided 2014 is the year of fanart art-wise! Yes I am planning to come up with fanart, SAILORMOON fanart! Can you believe Sailormoon is 20 years old already? Feeling the age now, it didn't seem that long ago. I've been seeing all the posts about the special collector's releases for her 20th anniversary all through 2013. *temptation* Maybe I'll make a post about that later. Anyhow, it is about time I made a proper fanart of her. Perhaps on canvas for sale for Sailormoon fans out there, and it won't be expensive, probably $80-$120 range.

So I started to sand down a bunch of primed (gessoed) canvas that was left sitting in the dust, really it was so full of grey sootballs they had to be washed under running water. They were primed way back when my dad was still alive even! They are nice and smooth now.

Then I played Final Fantasy IV on the SNES emulator till the wee hours of the morning.

Back to the artwork, I finished colouring 'Daisy Ribbon Lucille' on New Year's Eve morning (about 3am), here's a short video on how the layers are piled on in Photoshop:

If you'd like her for your crafts, the lineart is available as a digital download in my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/listing/173846290