Take a Chance

Here is the little guy that kept me busy last weekend - Chance, the grey cat. It's sad though because this is a pet memorial. Projects like this always remind me of my own dearly departed pets. Their pictures keep me company everyday. 

At least, even in a small sculpture, Chance's human companion would have a keepsake that sits like the adorable cat I'm sure Chance was. 

Black Petal cover design

The big reveal, cover of the upcoming book: Order of the Rose

More revelations await us in the next series of Order of the Rose: Black Petal. 

Watch out for it. Coming soon in Amazon. 

"Forsaken Petal" now available in paperback

Just got great news from Joshua Hoyt, the author of "The Order of The Rose: Forsaken Petal", the book is now available in paperback. "Forsaken Petal" has been on Amazon for about a month now in the Kindle version (or any digital reader). This update would be welcome news for those like me who prefers turning real paper pages.

I had to change the layout slightly for the paperback version, just a little tweak here and there to fit the print requirements - had to move the author's byline to the top and add an extra layer of black at the bottom to accommodate the main title better.

So just like before, click the book titles above and follow the link to the book's page on Amazon. 

Cover artwork for "Forsaken Petal"

From December to January, I've been working on the cover for the first in the series of the fantasy adventure novel "Order of the Rose: Forgotten Petal". And I'm happy to announce, the novel is now published and ready for sale on Amazon.  Please do check it out. :D

Cover artwork by Ria Mendoza of OrangeJar.com

Amazon Book Description:

In a world where only women have been able to wield magic for centuries Tom Alerio, a young boy, soon realizes that his unique ability of wielding magic will change his life forever.

Tom’s mother is forced to send him away in order to protect him from the sisterhood she belongs to. The sisterhood fear magic returning to the hands of men and seek out and kill any that do.  

However, Tom learns that magic must be shared by men and women alike and in order to do this he must restore The Order of The Rose, an ancient order that controlled magic before it became corrupted. If he is unable to do this the new technologies and opposing forces will rip the world apart destroying all he has come to love and care for. 

Comics for Manny De Castro

Comics finished early this month to support Manny De Castro, candidate for Silang, Cavite Mayor!

Caricature for Dea

My friend from high school treasures the month of February in her relationship. It's not just because it's the worldwide month of love but because it is the month when their love for each other was first officially acknowledged and from then, steadily strengthened.

This year, in celebration of Valentines and the month of Feb, she commissioned a caricature of her and her husband, Chef Andrew, as a surprised gift. In it are all the wonderfully significant things and places in their early relationship - a bag of chili dilis (small crispy, chili fish), telephones, a shower (because according to the rules of the universe, the phone will ring when you're in the shower, and that much-awaited first call did come when she was in the shower!), Big Boy, Starbucks, Figaro Cafe, Galo's, Slim Jims and finally, a treasured message that her hubby wrote on a piece of paper.

It was fun creating this piece - there were lots of details that built up to the lovely, loving couple they are now.

Happy anniversary Dea and Andrew!

Watercolor portraits

Happy New Year!

Just before Christmas I received a rush order for a caricature, and the client opted for a fully hand drawn caricature. So here's my style with a hand drawn and hand colored one:

And here are some watercolor portraits I made which went out as Holiday Gifts:

Argh. Gotta get back to work, but going to New Year lunches seem more enticing! Cheers! Hope you all have a great one!

Ate Maria caricature gift

Just taking a quick detour on my to do list today to post this.

Got this photo in the email yesterday, a photo of OrangeJar caricature being given to the recipient, Ate Maria. Feedback was, she loved it and was very happy to receive a caricature as a going away present.

Ate Maria

Good luck in your new life abroad Ate Maria!

It's so heartwarming to hear feedback- big thanks to Bernie, for letting me know and sending the photo.

Star Wars set is done!

And just in time too!

I did not imagine it would take me more than a week to create all nine characters. Granted I had stuff to do in between, but I really thought this set would go faster.

I am so proud of my babies - is this vanity? I love each one to bits! I almost don't want to see them go. Doesn't help that I love Star Wars. That's the reason why I created the kawaii versions that I displayed at ARTE Time Square two Fridays ago. That's what my client saw and that's why he ordered a full set.

While I was painting last night and earlier today, I've been listening to Etsy Online Labs - they've got a lot of testimonials, workshops, tips, newbie tips, seller guidelines that are really worth listening to. It was quite cool that I'm finishing up an order and learning how to keep my shop up, specially since I'm a newbie on this selling platform and need all the help I can get.

Alrighty, right now, I'm going to take a break. Well, clean up my stuff first, my computer table is a mess - splattered paints and all. Take more photos of the ST set - this is the last time I'm seeing them :( and pack them up for delivery. Hmm... that break must wait. Quick glance at the clock and it's almost five, and delivery is at 6. Sigh. No time after all. Oh well.

They're done and I'm happy.

Star Wars set

This is just a quick update on the Star Wars set I've been working on. It's going slow because I have to balance it out with other projects on my table right now, but I'm still happy with my progress. There are only two more characters left to do: R2D2 and C3PO. Yup, left the robots for last.

I found that working on those teeny weapons were quite fun! I also tried something new. I usually form everything together and bake it all together if they are just in one piece - for example, Darth Vader with his light sabler. But because the weapons are becoming more intricate, I was afraid it would droop and become sorry little pieces of machineries and ruin the whole piece. So I experimented with Chewbacca's crossbow first. Here I used plain wire armature to keep the lines straight then I baked and colored it before attaching it to the unbaked Chewbacca. This way I was able to wrap his fingers around the weapon and the weapon did not warp from the pressure because it has already been cured. Worked great! I might do this for other itty bitty details in the future.

Funny thing though, I was so excited about this set that I didn't even realize Chewbacca was not on my client's custom order list!

Hopefully, C3PO and R2D2 will be finished tonight and I can set tomorrow for painting. Then that will give me the time to finally face the video editing I'm helping my friend out with.

Too many projects too little time. But keep them coming! 

DealGobbler & Wedding tokens

This was a busy time last year. One of my projects included a partnership with DealGobbler.com where we offered 50% off on caricatures.

There were 15 clients who bought vouchers - I know it's not much but that was still more than a dozen! And it was my first time to enter such a partnership. Most of the clients redeemed their voucher towards December making that month even more hectic.

Screenshot after the deal was done

Which leads me to another client...

Wedding tokens

Caricatures can be used for so many things. The design can be used for invitations, greeting cards, stationeries, mugs, and so much more. So around this time too last year, I was approached by a lovely couple who were about to be married. It was to be a small wedding - yes, they know each and every one who will be there, and they wanted a caricature for each of them. The artworks served as name cards which they could take home as wedding tokens.

After our meeting, we settled on the price, the style and the type of paper they want. I drew 90+ pen and ink caricatures on A6 quality drawing paper for them. My clients would send photos with complete descriptions of what they wanted in each artwork - which of course, made researching details and drawing each piece easier.

Pen and Ink is my first love so I really enjoyed going back to this medium. And I'm happy to report, even if it's a year later, that my clients said they were extremely satisfied with my work, in fact, I was the only supplier for their wedding that they were happy with (that's what they said! and I'm happy they're happy! Hmm that doesn't say much for Dubai wedding suppliers though - but they did not elaborate so I have no idea how their deals with the others went).

Seeing those caricatures as I was cleaning up my external harddrives made me long to make more pen and ink artworks which I loved to create when I was younger. Hopefully this would push me soon to start doodling and sketching and creating more artworks in this medium.

Client feedback

It's always great to hear feedback from happy clients. This just came in email today - clients are from Abu Dhabi - and with pictures too!

THANK YOU RIA.

Another Happy Client.  

We are all glad we met you.

Best Regards,

Bernie

Thank you Bernie for the repeat order. Always a pleasure working with you.

Mother & Daughter

Commissioned oil painting. Given as a gift. Worked on this for about two months, on and off. The photo this was based on was taken in a hotel room with the wall, curtains and windows clearly seen. I had to edit those out so that your eyes go directly to the mother and daughter.

Backdrop design

Congratulations to Ernie and Leslie! They're about to have their first baby - Elizabeth Luna.

Photobooth backdrop design by OrangeJar.

Book Cover

Also finished last week: book cover design for self-publishing author Josh Hoyt. You can find his writings at The Blog That Helps You Diagnose Your Characters.

Mabuhay Enterprise Logo

Another project done, for a Canadian company this time.

Brief:

Mabuhay Enterprise is an online/home-based registered business in the province of British Columbia. Our goal is to provide the Filipino-Canadian community in the Greater Victoria area the following goods and services:

* Money remittance (Money Accord)- available for door to door, bank direct deposit and pick-up at outlet locations
* The Filipino Channel (TFC) cable box and subscription
* Sari-sari store online
* Philippine travel and tours
* Other services and Philippine imported goods to follow.

 Initial studies:

They emailed back that they like the flame but with the text on the side. They sent a rough sketch of how the text should look. Based on that, I gave them these choices:

 

From there, they chose flame 2, text 4 but with a smaller font size for 'enterprise'. 

So, the final logo:

Swinging 60s bday party

Finished off a bday invitation design. This was used as an ecard invitation. Some details blurred for  client privacy.

 

They also wanted a poster that will serve as a bday poster for the venue and something that they can hang at home after the party. So I designed this collage for them, with photo editing included of the vintage photo at the center (original photo at the bottom):

Pawan in the house!

Haven't had much time to update the site - but this is one fun work I finished recently: Pawan Manghnani dubbed Sheikh of Stand-up comedy!

You can check out his FB page here. 

Compilation of some of my works

Going away gift

Another commission done and dusted.

Thank you Romela for sending these pictures!