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

 

CHAMELEON GARDENS - PAINTING

My latest painting which took a while, this is the largest acrylic painting I have done so far, though still a modest 25 x 35cm. I had laid it aside for some time to complete other projects on hand, and decided to place more effort in detailing the background but didn't want to overpower the main character yet have a camouflage theme.

There were several changes on the colours of the dots on the chameleons and as you can see it has quite a buildup of paint. Which is might as well, because you can feel the texture now!

 

The sides are painted too which features even more details, the right side has the chameleon's body and the left side (not shown) has some plant details.

The original painting is available in my Etsy shop: 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/101946114/original-pop-surrealism-canvas-painting

MISS HAVISHAM - PAINTING

Miss Havisham is an old scary spinster from Great Expectations (by Charles Dickens). I decided to reuse some elements I made in a DeathNote fanart long time ago to creep it out a little... the drapes and the shadows. This painting is made with acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18cm.

A close-up of the painting.

How it looked midway in progress.

The original is available in my Etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/97025206/miss-havisham-original-canvas-pop

MOURN - PAINTING

Entitled 'Mourn', acrylic on canvas, 18 x 24cm (about 9.5 x 7")

The reason why I made this was simple. I just wanted to draw lace! Also it was partly inspired by Victorian mourning dresses. The colour palette is very limited so the focus would be on the design of the lace - it took over a few days to finish the lace alone. It also made my hand cramp a bit lol.

All sides are painted as always, the varnish is satin (with a bit of gloss).

The painting is available in my Etsy shop here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/96739533/black-lace-girl-mourn-original-canvas

LURKER - PAINTING

Here's a simple painting on wood, 18 x 25cm. Gloss varnish finish on the entire piece!

Available in my Etsy store here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/96221383/original-pop-painting-on-wood-signboard

DIET STARTS TOMORROW - PAINTING

I used my other wooden board as a de-motivational sign (or motivation depending on how you see it). Don't believe in motivational posters, you feel empowered the first time you see it, subsequently you forget. De-motivational posters or memes on the other hand, are always relevant lol. Acrylic on wood, 18 x 25cm. I gave it a gloss finish.

Available for sale here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/95773650/original-pop-painting-on-wood-signboard

SMOG - PAINTING

Entitled 'Smog', 12 x30cm. Acrylic on wooden signboard, string included. I combined everything that I liked into one artwork: nouveau, ukiyo-e and pop (bet you can already tell)! Can't remember what was the original idea for the colours since I changed it a few times, but it was not aqua blue & tan. There's a chinese saying 'when the boat is reaching the pier, it naturally goes straight'... glad it eventually worked out in the end.

How it looks after gloss varnish. The sides and back are painted plain aqua blue.

The wood grain is more visible from this photo than in the first scan.

Available in my Etsy shop here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/95326241/original-pop-painting-on-wood-signboard

ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK - PAINTING

For my next project, I had four pieces of wood lying around for some time (forgot about them for years)... they are notice signboards commonly used in Japan, made of lightweight paulownia wood. I enjoyed painting on a different material other than canvas. First one done is called 'Enter at your own risk', 12 x 30cm in acrylics.

Close-up of the painting after varnishing.

Available in my Etsy shop:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/95168803/original-pop-painting-on-wood-signboard

BLUE UKULELE - PAINTING

Another painting recently completed, I'm happy with how it turned out. Nothing too strange this time. The clouds and trees were inspired by art deco posters.

I gave it a matte then satin varnish this time. Though the colours are not as intense as pre-varnishing (like in the first image which is a scan before varnish), I prefer this one to have less gloss.

Original painting is available here: 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/94216104/hawaii-girl-blue-ukulele-original-canvas

TECHNICOLOR MELT - PAINTING

Been missing in action on this blog for such a long time, I'm not going to give any excuses other than being lazy hehehe. Better late than never... Recently I managed to settle my jewelry listings from my Dec trip to USA (yes, again) so had time to resume painting. First up is this work-in-progress picture: 

It was started in Nov 2011, and I resumed it in late February 2012 after listing all the vintage goodies... because once I start painting, the desk is fully occupied. EVENTUALLY I'll get to it.

This is the finished product, as you can see I made a lot of colour changes, which was part of the reason why it took a long time to complete since everything had to be redone. Had also forgotten how to get back the same colour mix and what inspired me in the first place... am a very muddled-up artist ne...

I tried out matte varnish for the first time. There's this debate on whether I should use gloss or matte varnish, but I wanted a more muted tone since the colours are already dizzying... so matte it is. The shadows are less intense after varnishing. The base coat is a gloss, to preserve the colour, and the second and third coat is matte. Like the feel of it (not sticky).

Matte varnish cuts out the glare from light sources but eats up colour since wax is added to the varnish to reduce reflection. Gloss varnish makes the colours pop but light glare affects the visual aspect. I have a mix of both varnish which is midway, but it still has some glare so the debate continues.

Original painting is available here: 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/94210333/psychedelic-technicolor-melt-original

TRANSPLANT - PAINTING

Finished this acrylic painting quite some time back, and just listed it in my shop as I only managed to get it varnished in August after returning from the US. It is 20x30cm and was fun to make especially with the wavy edges. Titled 'Transplant'. I watched that show 'Oddities' and decided eyeballs are it.

As much as I wanted to paint while in the states I didn't complete any in that month of July - shame - , so will be making more paintings after settling some inventory for my vintage jewelry shop (brought back lots and keeping quite a couple for myself!) Oh yes and to arrange some larger prints in my shop.

This original painting is available in my Etsy shop here: 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/80083764/transplant-original-acrylic-canvas

RATOPIA - PAINTING

Titled 'Ratopia'. Acrylic on canvas, I took a rather long time on this due to the backgrounds being a drag. The canvas is slightly larger from my other paintings; I quite like the extra space and will work more in this.   

The sides are painted too as always!

This is the work in progress. The painting is available for sale in my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/76624469/ratopia-original-acrylic-canvas-painting

I will be flying to California end of this week so this will be my last painting post for now!

RIBBON - PAINTING

My latest completed art, entitled 'Ribbon', acrylic on canvas. I've been wanting to do monochromes for such a long time and finally here's one. Hope you like it! The background were originally 1960s style sunburst motifs but due to clutter they were transformed into polka dots. I think it looks much better this way. Available for sale at:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/75719511/ribbon-original-acrylic-canvas-painting

Closeup of the painting after being varnished.

ONION - PAINTING

Entitled 'Onion', acrylic on canvas.

This was made because I wanted to try out multiple floral motifs. 

Available in my Etsy shop: 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/75470338/onion-original-acrylic-canvas-painting-7

The design extends over the edges on all 3 sides. 

The work-in-progress pencil sketch, as you can see I made a total colour change to the initial colourways!

FLORAL POP II - PAINTING

Another new painting 'Floral Pop II'. Acrylic on canvas. I made so many colour changes on this and thus it took longer to finish.

First colour change.

By this time it was the 5th colour change I think.

Final piece closeup with varnish on. I changed my Daler-Rowney Artist's Clear Picture varnish to Daler-Rowney Soluble Varnish Gloss for acrylic. Also purchased the Matte version because I've always felt gloss had too much glare, so will try that out someday by mixing the both!

Available in my Etsy shop: 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/75117456/floral-pop-ii-original-acrylic-canvas

FLORAL POP - PAINTING

Yup see I've been busy lol. Entitled 'Floral Pop', there will probably be a few more similar flower girl paintings coming up. This is, as usual, made with acrylic on canvas. It came out slightly different from my sketch (which was more manga) but that's alright. One thing good about acrylic, I can change the colours as many times as needed. The flowers were a pain to do but have always wanted to do something like this for years. This is inspired by art nouveau, 60s psychedelia & flower power and 70s shoujo manga - ain't I greedy.

Work in progress snapshots:

Available in my Etsy shop here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/74521022/floral-pop-original-acrylic-on-canvas