Friday, December 15, 2017

Happy Holidays and Raving' Retailers

Finally with some money coming in, I'm taking time to go to any events that catches my interests.  The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto during early November had always been a favourite due to the animals.  If people aren't a challenge to draw as it is, animals are fairly similar.  At least they don't get touchy about being drawn, just some about being petted.




Wanting to finally see it in person for myself, I went to see this year's, Toronto's Santa Claus Parade. It was a bit chilly (luckily I thought of packing a wool blanket & hot coffee in a thermos) so I tried my best to sketch in the cold. I've ended up taking a few photos and videos.  


Two more sketches from my last TOUSK group meet up at the CF Eaton Centre. Not too many showed up due to large holiday shopping.


 And this last one on my own time (just before my extra shift at work)

The holidays I have to say are definitely keeping me busy, between extra work hours, winter house chores and personal side projects. I'm doing my best to keep it all balanced though I do admit, I have to put some things off at home for a couple of days at least. Frankly, our Christmas Tree isn't even put up yet. So hopefully after the holidays like New Year's Day, there'll be more time at home to get creative again.


Friday, October 20, 2017

Busy, busy, busy, like a bee!

It's been a few busy weeks for me.  First of all, I'm done with my job-hunting because I FINALLY GOT A PERMANENT JOB!!!!! It's a part-time cashier job where I've been working approximately 20 hours.  So far, it's been good except dealing with my SmartServe Certificate. I'm waiting for my Ontario Photo Card in order to take the test for the certificate so I can start selling the alcohol grocery items at the store.  All I can do is keep studying the material over until I get that card in the mail (4 to 6 weeks their site said) and it's been 2 weeks now. :b

So with all that stuff of my new part-time work, I haven't been making much art lately.  I want to be doing some ink works for Inktober but I'm having other chores around the house like water sealing the back porch for the winter.  Well, I'm going to get some free time for this and my other projects soon, hopefully.

Relaxing at a Starbucks after my interview
Been trying out a new RED marker with my latest sketches. A Buick Marker brand, double-tipped with a wide and brush ends. No problem with fluid flow but it can soak thru the paper. It's probably better for thicker papers like illustration board.

Performance Art @ OCAD's Onsite Gallery Opening
Not much I have to showcase here this time.  I haven't been posting up my art video uploads on Youtube so here are the links now.  Hopefully next month, I'll have more artworks to show and also get my SmartServe Certificate at long last.

Youtube Links


Single-Serve Bag, 2017
GingerMan Cookie, 2017

GingerWoman Cookie, 2017

Saturday, September 9, 2017

Summer Break is Over (For most people)

Well, now it's after Labour Day and for most people, it's back from summer vacations and either to work or school!  Then again, work and school aren't really restricted from September to June in Canada or online.
Artscape Wychwood Barns, Farmer's Martket

While practicing my art and self-study my Udemy courses, I'm looking for part-time work! Applied to a few locations already but no luck as of yet. It's not so much as finding work you can do adequate but also being able to travel to a workplace in a reasonable commute time.  Unfortunately, finding creative jobs in Toronto is harder than online when you have to travel about an hour each way to a studio on transit.  One of the pitfalls of living in a suburbia like Scarborough, even when it's in the most South-Western end of it.  I would honestly like to live closer to the downtown where it's more of an artist hub and as soon as I can get enough steady income coming my way, the better.

Customers @ Tim Hortons
Anyways, as far as beefing up my portfolio, I've made some game graphics assets with the intent of a Match-3 game. I've even gone as far as record my work progress on these, made fast-speed art demo videos of them and have their links down below. Some on them aren't posted yet on Youtube as they auto-scheduled for weekly updates.  It's still ongoing the project but I could turn them into my first game, maybe on my own or if I team up with a game programmer that knows Unity or similar. Not right now, but maybe soon or just sell them as assets on a game graphics store.

Pigeon @ Sugar Beach Park
Got other examples of works up for the month, so browse around and I'll be back soon (in October) with any new works or sketches for the month. Hopefully with a job.



Splash Pad @ Sugar Beach Park

ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) @ Queens Way & Bloor St West

Photo of ROM Sketch Site


Youtube Links
Flower Cookie
Meringue Cookie
Icing Topper
Flower Cookie, 2017
Star Cookie, 2017
Meringue Cookie, 2017

Icing Topper, 2017


Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Working out what works best for myself! - Early August

Hi y'all! I've been busy awhile with my artwork and other odds and ends.  Working on filling up my portfolio in genres that I've lacking recent pieces in.  I got some lingering ideas and DIYs out of the way, I'm also working on some of my social media sites, improving them for promoting myself.  And here I'm sharing some of the samples.
Azeem lectures his genie, 2017
Vector Feather Pattern, 2017
Vector Animals, 2017
Vector Animals, 2017
JULY 21, 2017 - DeSerres @ Danforth & Coxwell
Triangular Sandwich Box Template, 2017
Black Box Easel, recently fixed up, 2017
What I'm hoping to get done very soon is create a bunch of assets that I can sell for some income.  Also getting hired on by a temp agency for some regular income to afford professional promotional materials (my printer won't print in black right now unless it's photo paper which I only got in postcard size) :(.  So I'll be busy doing that and hopefully have some news of my successes soon.

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Staying Productive for the Summer - JULY

Well, I'm trying to do more things outside of the house while the weather is mostly pleasant.  Seeing the festival sights and sketching them. Also trying to get some part-time work nearby to keep myself above water while I get thru my current projects and online courses.

I don't know why I have the hardest time getting a job just in this city compare to working illustration jobs over the internet. That's why temp agencies seems much easier to apply for temp work verses getting permanent jobs with big corps; you only have one interview, get hired and then just be assigned job placements without having to always be prepping to sell your skills for each one.  I know that doesn't sound like being a reliable way of living but many people change jobs or even careers throughout their lives. I just need to get my foot inside the door and start making some headway instead of such a slow crawl toward a better lifestyle than forever living with my parents and I know that's not permanent.

Anyways, here's what I done in and out of the house. Feel free to comment on anything here:
Giant Inflated Ducky at HTO Park, Harbourfront.



Tim Hortons' Small Titbits Box




Unknown Foreign CD Tri-Folder Sleeve

Sunday, June 18, 2017

3 Amazing New Works - Pixel Art + Video and Watercolours

In the effort of getting back on track with my artwork, I've been busy making promos in categories that I'm lacking good examples in.  Also I've been busy making more memory room for my computer, especially when I'm making art videos that takes up Gigabytes in my Mac Mini.

First up is the new pixel artwork, Underpass Rain. These are 600 times enlarged from the original file size (108 to 648 px).  I've made it based on a video clip I took on a day trip last fall. It started rainy on me when I pit-stopped at around Dufferin and Queen West and being in the underpass of the railroads' bridge as it was pouring, saw an interesting scene with the bright light, the rain and the creeping plant growth. So I decided to make a pixel art from that clip.

After checking out the works below, there's also an art video demo of Underpass Rain on my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvKxZ3jaiQQ

That'll be it for now.  Come back again soon for more new works soon.

Underpass Rain - Wall Background (No Rain) 
Underpass Rain - Final with Raindrops
Underpass Rain - Animated

Oh, and lastly here are a couple of watercolour urban sketches from my recent day trips. Since buying some floral water vials with rubber caps and making wire clips for them to clip to my portable watercolour kit, I've been trying to do more urban sketches with watercolours rather than just colour pens and highlighters.



Thursday, June 1, 2017

A-MAY-ing Sketches & Box Templates

It's been rather eventful this month for me:

  • Strained my left knee while hauling two buckets full of beach pebbles for Civic's old pen, turning it into a garden planter. Probably after buying those strawberry plants and the extra soil.
  • Went to the TCAF - Toronto Comic Arts Festival and bought 4 volumes of Octopus Pie.
  • My brother Jason and my niece Caitlin visited for about 2 weeks; his rowdy, bouncing daughter wanting to always play with me over my parents. Helped her somewhat overcome her fear of pets.
  • Went to another TOUSK Meetup at Berczy Park, sketched the new dog fountain on display.
  • Got a bad stomachache last weekend, making me have to stay in bed about 2 days except for going out to buy antacids.
  • Been catching up on emails, online surveys, book reading, course studies, exercises and miscellaneous after I've gotten better.
So yeah, busy.  I'll be getting even more busy now that I need to get back into my working rhythm. 

Now to show some of the work I've lucky got done over the month:






Vector Template of The Beer Store's Card Stock Carrier




Vector Template of Random Trapezoid Food Box