Combatiendo a la resistencia

Procrastination is a big monster that attacks me from time to time. So, every now and then I have to hit it back hard so it stays away for a while.
The sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project is barely getting finished right now, and it's a fact that I didn't make it to the tour. To be honest, I didn't make it on time because I had to choose between finishing my shortcut - that I needed for my professional exam - and making the sketchbook. Obviously, it was postponed. For quite a while.


I like the way it's turning out, though. I still need to finish three pages and the cover: once it's done I'll post it here. However, this could be considered a little sneak peek.

I don't know whether the fairy is turning the critter into something else, or if she turned something into the critter. But I love that we have to wonder.

Normalmente pospongo mucho las cosas que tengo que hacer, y eso me impide terminar proyectos. De vez en cuando tengo que golpear a esa resistencia bajo para que me deje en paz por un buen rato.

El sketchbook para el Sketchbook Project apenas se está terminando, y ya es un hecho que no alcancé el tour - pero para nada! Tuve que elegir entre terminar el corto para mi tesis, que era para poder titularme, y hacer el sketchbook. Obviamente, me fuí por el corto y el sketchbook quedó relegado un muuuuy buen rato.

Me gusta mucho cómo está quedando - ya ni lo quiero mandar! - , me faltan nada más tres páginas y la portada. Una vez que lo haya acabado, lo voy a postear - por lo pronto, esto podría ser una especie de avance.

No tengo idea de si el hada está transformando al animalito en algo más normal, o de si ella es la responsable de que se haya vuelto esta criatura rara. Pero realmente me encanta que tengamos que adivinar y que cada quien pueda tener su propia opinión. :)

Voytek - o Vojtek, según prefieras

There's this pretty awesome website, Badass of the Week, that my boyfriend linked me to some time ago. That's when I found out about Voytek, the Polish Bear who fought at WW2. Since then, I've absolutely adored him and tried to learn as much as I could about him. He was in battle against the Germans, lived (and marched!) as another soldier and had as much beer as them - and was even condecorated. So, when it was time for me to pick a subject for illustration I went directly with him.

I have tons of sketches - about 13 pages full of them! - but this particular one had the most potential, since I could - and I tried to - fill it with symbolisms about his story: the cannon ammo he carried, the medal shaped as his battalion emblem, Polish colors everywhere -and of course, the beer. :)

Who doesn't love an animal this awesome??

Mi novio me pasó hace un rato ya un sitio web fregoncísimo, Badass of the Week, donde hacen reseñas de diferentes héroes - algunos desconocidos - verdaderos y ficticios. En él, encontré la historia de Voytek, el Oso polaco que peleó en la Segunda Guerra Mundial; y desde entonces he estado tratando de averiguar cuanto puedo sobre él: resulta que estuvo en batalla contra los alemanes, vivió en un campamento junto a otros soldados con quienes incluso marchaba y tomaba cerveza y fumaba igual que ellos: incluso fue condecorado por atrapar a un espía ruso. Por tanto, cuando tuve que escoger un tema de ilustración para otro taller me fuí directamente con su historia.

Para este hice mil bocetos - como 13 páginas llenas - pero este dibujo en específico es el que más me gustó por la cantidad de simbolismos que podía meter: las municiones que cargaba, la medalla con el emblema adoptado por su batallón, el casco Nazi, los colores polacos - y claro, la cerveza :D

Dénle click al link que lleva a su historia. Está increíble. :)

De vuelta con paraguas en mano

"In the end, all that matters is how fully you lived, how fully you loved and how fully you learned to let go"

"Al final, lo que realmente importa es qué tanto viviste, qué tanto amaste y qué tanto aprendiste a dejar ir"


Acrylic on wood, 15x15'' - Illustration created at Mr. Glaubitz's illustration workshop at the Centro Cultural Tijuana (CECUT) in December, 2009.

I'm currently catching up with my blogging ability, since the animated shortcut (NOW FINISHED :D) literally took away a year of my life. Thankfully, it's done and I have a BA now :)

So now life took me to an unexpected place. I'm now the one doing the teaching, working at the local University of Baja California, teaching illustration. So now I HAVE to keep up. Funny, how school's always one of my main reasons to work and be pressured to create stuff. Not that I'm complaining, though. :3 My friend 1102 (it's hilarious to refer to him like that!) and I always complained of the teachers that taught and didn't do a thing about the subject themselves: so, as Mr. Glaubitz told me when I told him I'd teach, "Destiny is wise. He's given you the chance to prove you can do otherwise. Or not."

Many things to post ahead: sketches, particularly those of the Sketchbook project (that I haven't finished for obvious reasons, but I'm currently working on), illustrations and of course, LOADS of conceptual art, backgrounds and a very short shortcut. Keep tuned. :)

Esta ilustración es el producto del taller impartido por Mr. Glaubitz en el CECUT en diciembre 2009, donde se nos pidió que ilustraramos el mantra budista de arriba.

Apenas estoy poniéndome al día con mis prácticas del blog, ya que como muchos saben, el corto animado que constituía mi tesis me robó (literalmente) un año de mi vida. Afortunadamente YA ESTÁ, y yo ya estoy titulada, así que no me estoy quejando n.n Mi amigo 1102 (XD XD Es graciosísimo hablar de él de ese modo) y yo siempre nos quejábamos de cómo los maestros que enseñaban tal o cual materia no la ejercían, y sin embargo sermoneaban sobre ella: pues bien, Mr. Glaubitz lo dijo el día en que le conté que iba a dar clases: "El destino es sabio, y te está dando la oportunidad de demostrar que tú puedes hacer lo contrario. O no."

Y para no variar, la rueda de la fortuna giró y ahora yo soy la que está enseñando: So now life took me to an unexpected place. Me tocó lanzarme de apagaincendios a la UABC, a enseñar Ilustración - así que ahora TENGO que ponerme al día con la ilustración y ante todo, mantenerme activa. Es bastante gracioso cómo es que la escuela normalmente es una de las razones principales para presionarme y crear cosas.

Añitos :)

I collaborated during the last month with a mural painting that was going on at my old school. One of the concepts I proposed was accepted, which meant I got to paint anthropomorphic flowers on it :)

This is the sketch I created when I proposed the concept:

Bond, 8.5x5.5'', Graphite

Durante el último mes colaboré con la creación de un mural en la que solía ser mi escuela. Uno de los conceptos que propuse fue aceptado en el boceto final, lo que significó que pinté flores antropomórficas en él durante un bueeen tiempo :)

And here's a Baby Faun :D

At Sketchoholic last july we were assigned to create a 'baby version of a movie character' and I automatically thought of Guillermo del Toro's Faun. I intend to color it, but for now it'll have to wait as a quick sketch: I was actually late for this session and created this in 20 minutes XD
Linen, 5.5x8.5'', Graphite

¡Un fauno bebé!!
Antes del Comic-Con, en Sketchoholic el tema fue 'una versión de un personaje cinematográfico en bebé'. Llegué tarde a esa sesión y tan sólo me quedaban veinte minutos, por lo que actué rápido y me fuí por el Fauno de Guillermo del Toro. Realmente quiero pintar esta pieza, pero ahorita tengo un buen de cosas que hacer.

And finally, my boyfriend and I had our two-year anniversary last sunday. While he took me to the San Diego zoo, I gave him a watch and hung this at his school yesterday. He was quite embarrassed when he picked it up in front of everyone, but he really liked it :)

Digital, Photoshop - 1x1 mts

Y ya para terminar, mi novio y yo cumplimos dos años juntos el domingo. Él me llevó al Zoológico a ver gorilas, y yo le regalé un reloj y colgué esto en una lona en su escuela. Le dió muchísima pena quitarlo enfrente de todos, pero le gustó bastante :D

Procrastinando

This whole animation for my thesis business is creating me some sort of double personality: whenever I'm animating I can think of about 78 different ideas for illustrations, and whenever I'm painting I can't stop thinking of how much I still have to animate. And what is worse, my time is running out - even though it was supposed to be less.

Luckily, the moment I'm done I HAVE to illustrate my arse off: not only do I have to manage to sell my illustration works; I also joined the Arthouse's Sketchbook Project, so I have to send my finished sketchbook filled with Nighttime Stories by Halloween.

Este asunto de la tesis me está generando doble personalidad, o algo así: cuando estoy animando se me ocurren 87 (cambié el número por variedad XD) ideas para ilustrar, y cuando ilustro no puedo dejar de pensar en lo que tengo todavía que animar. Para acabarla, mi tiempo se acaba.

Por suerte en cuanto se termine, tengo (TENGO) que ilustrar intensamente: no solamente ocupo comenzar a posicionar ilustraciones en algún lado; también me uní al Sketchbook Project, y tengo que llenar mi sketchbook con Nighttime Stories (el tema que me tocó).

(And Perry, 'cause he's awesome :D)

In the meantime, here's a comission that took me just three days to paint (four, if you count sketching time) and a year and a half to actually do. I know, I know. Talk about procrastination. (And animation!! It's absorbing me!! D:)

To make up for this, I'm also sending her an extra sketch to thank her patience. At least I rather like the final result n_n

Por lo pronto, una comisión que me tomó tres días hacer y un año y medio decidirme a hacerla XD. Soy una verguenza, pero por lo menos voy a compensar el tiempo perdido enviando un sketch extra :D

Regresando

Long time no see n.n

The animation isn't done yet - I've got thirty more seconds to go, and my final deadline is June 25th. So I should go upstairs, turn my lightbox on and keep doing that.
But I've neglected my blog for quite a while, so I guess it's about time I post something - and since I was rather pleased with yesterday's exercise for Shut Up And Draw! at Sketchoholics.com, I'm showing it.


The goal was to illustrate Eosop's fable of The Fox and The Stork - you know, that fable where the fox invited the stork to have soup on flat bowls, and then the stork payed it back by asking the fox to dinner and serving the soup on long-necked vases. It was done in one hour, so there's still some work to do with it - and since I liked it, I should finish it.

But after I'm done with the shortcut. n.n One thing at a time.

Adios decadita

Xmas birdie - and the inks of that. I actually like the inked version better.

Last post of the decade!!! My God, you never realize really how old you are until you start talking in those terms. XD

This has been a good year - and the next one promises to beat him badly :). I should start working on the animation for my thesis project, of which I've already worked out most of the pre-production - I actually intend to blog about the process so I don't forget anything whenever I write it down (in spanish though - I need to think in those terms since I'd be describing the process as it will be on the thesis). Once I'm done with that, I might actually go to Ireland - since my parents mean to pay it for me as a graduation gift. :D

My best wishes: Hope you all have a GREAT DECADE. :3

Love, Erika*