During the holidays I try not to do work but I always need to doodle, craft, or create something with my hands. I bought decal paper many years ago thinking I was going to make my own decals for whatever I could put it on. After Thanksgiving my cute little Western Digital hard drive was sitting on my desk, looking all blue and naked. Right under my desk was the decal paper I recently found. It was destiny.
I wasn't sure what to make at first but I remember I had made a Monster Hunter Felyne decal for a pumpkin I didn't get to use. I transfered it on paper. Stuck a small sheet of decal on the hard drive and carved out the cat with a blade. My X-acto knife was chipped so I used a pocket knife. It took about an hour and now I'm happy with my custom Monster Hunter hard drive. =3
Got another model kit post for ya! I can't quite remember the order of when I did these models but Misato from Evangelion here might have been my 5th one. Even for having done a few prior to this one, the whole painting and putting together resin model kits was still fairly new to me. Back in my high school years, there still wasn't a lot of info I could find on the internet about it so I had to learn on my own and whatever I could figure out from looking through Hobby Fan magazines.
Misato is 1/8 scale. I sanded down the rough parts and used no primer before painting. Yup, learning everything on my own. I usually start with lighter colors first, usually the skin tone. I used an airbrush the get most of the color down and masked off parts I didn't need colored. I then go in and paint the details with a small paint brush. Since my first plastic kit model with Cloud and Aerith, I vowed never to use decals for the eyes. I enjoy and take pride in painting the eyes myself.
The paints I used were Tamiya Acrylic paints. I used a glossy red for her jacket so it would look a little more like leather than the rest of her outfit.
Some detail I started using for this kit was wire for her hair. Yes...I thought about using metal wire for strands for hair before I realized I need it to pin pieces of her together. In the end, I think I only used the metal wire to pin her hands.
All in all, I was happy with the way the kit came out. It was still a learning process for me so stick around and check out future posts of my resin model kit adventures. Eventually I'll get around to posting some model kit tutorials!
King Con has past and at first i thought it was a little unorganized but in the end it worked out. The Lyceum where the con was held felt like it was still under construction but for some reason I thought it was a good representation for Brooklyn. Lol!
I shared a table with my Estrigious gals, Becky and Hwan, and also our friends, Vanessa and Robin. The table was an 8 foot table so luckily there was just enough room for all of us!
I didn't take any pictures myself but do check out the post I made over at Estrigious!
For those of you who bought the Rapunzel mini, I'll be posting up the rest of the pages shortly.
Thanks for your support and all of you who came by.
The Chromaengine dudes have been looking at the new Revoltech figures coming up for the next few months but among all the figures was something I never expected... Professor Layton!! What more could a fan girl want? A poseable Layton with his book and tea cup? I'm in heaven. All that's missing is Luke. Luke where are you!! Revoltech, thank you, you have my money. <3
I can't help it. Back when Street Fighter 4 came out on the home systems, I just had the urge to draw fan art for Crimson Viper. I really like her design. I actually started this illustration months ago. I took some time off from it several times but I finally sat down and finished. I even made a little tutorial for it over at ChromaEngine. So check it out if you'd like to see the work in progress.
It's October and that means a lot of things but the one thing in particular that got me excited was carving a pumpkin!!! I took my niece to a pumpkin patch and not being able to say "no" to an adorable 9 year old, I ended up getting 3 pumpkins. Two we painted but the biggest one we saved for carving. After much argument over what to carve, I chose a character from Persona 4; Teddie.
She thought it was creepy but hey its Halloween, but now that I think about it, I should have let her choose what she wanted....Lol! I guess I got carried away, I haven't carved a pumpkin in over 20 years so choosing an elaborate image to carve was probably not a good choice. I give credit to all those pumpkin carvers out there. It ain't easy. So after I chose my image, I had to determine where to make the cutouts. Basically, making it a black and white image and figuring out how the pieces will stay together. As my niece would say, make sure there are no "floating" pieces.
After I sat down to carve, I realize a kitchen knife wasn't going to work. I ran out, bought a cheap pumpkin carving set and went to work. After gutting the poor pumpkin with my niece, 3 and a half hours later I was done. Not the best but I think I got it to work.
In case your wondering , my niece did help some but I ended up making another image for her to carve on the smaller pumpkin. <3
I have tweeted. Somehow there are many Melissa DeJesus's so trying to do a combination of mine name proved difficult. I ended up with MelissaDejesus1, because I am number 1. >=}
I needed an avatar, so what better way to make one is create a whole new illustration! Yup, that is the sole reason I drew this. Lol. Anyway, I had a sketch like this in my mini sketch book and i thought I'd practice my coloring some more.
We actually started at 12am Saturday, which might not have been a good idea, being that Hwan came from work and we've all already been up during the day. We struggled through the night, and crashed one by one. By late morning we where all up again, refreshed (sorta) and went back to comics.
There were 8 of us in total; Becky, Vasilis, Vanessa, Eve, Hwan, Robin, Rob and myself, and several cats that distracted us with their cuteness. We worked steadfast and everyone results were awesome! I managed to pencil 5 pages of my Rapunzel comic and inked 2! Here are the incomplete pages.
Oh man, I just came back from the Small Press Expo this past weekend and it was great!! I went with my gal pals Hwan and Robin. There was a lot going on and to be honest a bit over-whelming for me at first. To see original creators and their works really inspired me. Their innovativeness really impressed me too. On Saturday I walked out to the hall for a breather and on an empty table in front of me stood a tiny paper figure. A yeti to be exact. A sucker for any type of mini figure, I picked it up and put it in my bag.
To my surprise when examining the paper figure later, there was a reward offer posted on the back for his return. A bigger sucker for things like this, I went back to Expo the next day, found the Last Dollar Comics booth, and returned him. I got a reward, a cardstock paper with more paper monsters to make! So much fun!!!
The highlight of course, was Hwan, Robin, and myself managed to put a mini comic together!! We've planned for months but was able to put it together at the last minute. I was only able to put in the first 6 pages of my Rapunzel comic, but it was still finished by pure determination!! Check out Hwan and Robin's blog to see the cover and their sample pages.
This coming weekend is 24 Hours comics day. So I plan to finish up my Rapunzel comic. Hopefully i can get a good amount done!
Let's start with a brief history: For some reason, when I was a little kid I felt compelled to draw and color on the faces of my dolls. Little plastic toy figures got full make-overs, including a small bugs bunny figure I painted black and white. Around the age of 11 I got a ceramic Santa and painted him with much love and care...only to be knocked over by my parents while it dried on the room divider, breaking into several pieces.
Time went by and my hobbies turned to comics and video games. One particular time i remember running to the magazine store with my girlfriends after school(one of them being Hwan, lol) to drool over the long awaited sequel Final Fantasy 7.
I can't quite remember where, possibly the store 'Anime Crash' that I used to visit, but when I walked in, there was a Final Fantasy 7 box, and to my amazement, it was a plastic model kit. With my hobby reborn, an obsession started.
I had no prior experience or knowledge with these type of kits so I learned along the way. I knew enough to find a hobby store and purchase the paints listed in the pamphlet the kit came with, some putty, and glue. The store might have actually carried the paints, I don't recall, it was a long time ago. Remember, this was a time where the internet was different from today. No youtube to look up tutorials. I had to go to Japanese bookstores, follow the pictures in the magazines and learn Katakana so I can read names of kits, colors and such. Anyway, here they are, kits 1 and 2.
My first kits. I was 16 years old. Aeris was actually the first out the 2 I painted. I didn't put much concern into the base so I left it as it was.
Blurred the corner so you don't see the junk in my house. Lol!
The kit came with decals for the eyes. The first and only time I've ever used decals.
Cloud and Aeris where painted entirely by brush with Tamiya paints. I used most of the colors out of the jar and only used putty around Aeris' waist. I had no sanding tools but the kits where clean enough.
This weekend Becky, Hwan, and myself will be at Thats Entertainment, 244 Park Ave., Worcestor, Massachusetts for a Women of Comics gathering. The trio will be joining Tara McPherson, and Hilary Price for an afternoon of signing, sketching, and demonstration! This fateful day will be Saturday 12th! So be there!
Aye...I finally finished the animation I've been working on for the last few weeks. I barely went outside, I haven't spoken to anyone but the animation is done.
Toward the end I rushed a bit, and when I look back I can see some things I'd like to fix and add to it, but overall I'm happy with the way it came out. After I animated the scenes I handed them over to Rob who put the scenes together and did all the editing! Thank you!! ---<3
I wouldn't have finished without help but it was a fun project and it made me realize I need to brush up on my animation and take it a bit more seriously. It's definitely something I won't give up.
The animation short is a teaser trailer to the 8 page comic I did for Zuda a few months back. This one was also submitted for another contest on Aniboom where Fox was looking for an edgy holiday short. The writer, Ed Power (who also writes the MyCage comic strip) thought the comic idea was perfect for the animation contest. I have to admit, it seemed like a great opportunity at first but I really debated on wheher it was something I could pull off. But one thing I've learned over the years is that if I keep turning down opportunities, I'm going to get nowhere fast.
Believe me, I thought about giving up a few times but I managed to pull it off and I'm glad I did. I have another animated project under my belt and it's something I stuck with to the end to finish. So I feel good about it and I hope it keeps me on a productive path.
Since the clip itself has no credits, I'd like to thank Roberto Flores, Albert Li, Sean Callahan, and Alex Shum for the help, (even if a little provided), in getting this done. Thanks guys!!
Now that the animating is over....back to comics!!
Okay, so it's just a stop motion animation made with some Figma toys and Gundam mechs, but it's done so well, that it scares me. The girls look especially creepy when they move all around all girly like. (I think what really scares me is the room filled only with boxes and toys.)
Maybe this kid had to much time on his hands...but I do have to admit, he did a really good job with the stop motion. I do like it a lot. Reminds me of the good ol days when I was able to do so much with my time. Ah youth.... I shall use it as inspiration to continue my hobbies! ..though less creepy. :-)
When I don't have time to play with my cats, I give them my handheld games to play on. Leon is on the DS and Jasper, my sister's cat, is on the PSP. I don't know what they're playing, I was too busy taking the picture. :-)
Here's a scene I decided to "pencil test," though the scene is already complete. It's a good thing I did, I was really rusty and it took me a while to relearn the program again. I used an updated After Effects and even the most simplest tasks gave me trouble to figure out. It's only been about 2 years since I've used it....so I guess it's enough to drive me crazy. The scene does need some fixing, so I'll go back and correct the timing a bit, but the actual drawings in the frames are going to stay the way they are. It would be great to go back and smooth out the animation but I have to move on to other scenes. Practice makes perfect!
I finally started on the DvS animation and, boy, do I have a long month ahead of me. What I decided to work on first are the scenes that were not in the original comic. This included Dracula, who didn't appear in the first 8 pages of the comic. Good thing is, since this is Dracula's first appearance, I've put some good effort and his scenes will look the best, cuz when I get closer to the end I know I won't be able to keep up with the quality. Lol, God help me, I haven't pencil tested.
I remember seeing this when I was younger. Thought it was catchy. Now that I'm an adult, and the word "count" is censored, things appear so much more clearly now. Good Lord....
Ed Power and myself worked on Santa vs Dracula (or Dracula vs Santa) for Zuda a few months back. Read it here if you haven't done so already. Though we only came in 4th place we still have plans to finish it. There's a lot to be worked on it but for the rest of the summer we're going to be doing an animated promo for the comic. Here is an initial design for Dracula that many readers of the original 8 pages wanted to see, and a redesign of Nick Fury. More work to be done!
I'm celebrating my first anniversary! Boy does time does fly. I got some great gifts that I still use today but the most special ones to me, where the ones made by my friends. I don't like getting mushy but it did bring a tear to my eye. Many tears. Of joy!
These comic strips were made by my bestest of friends, who have known Rob and myself for a long time as a couple. They actually represent true incidents. Atleast the ones that involved me. Heh.
To Robin, Becky, Risa, Vanessa, Eve, and Vasilis: Thanks guys, love you all!
So I'm working on a project with my Estrigious girls and this was a sketch I drew for that. It's a really small sketch but I inked it digitally and decided to practice some coloring on it. I think no matter what medium I use, all my color works tend to look the same. Hmm...the color here appears to be a bit different than how they looked while I was working on it. o__O
My Cage official started it's little online store! Whoo! You can find merchandise for sale at www.cafepress.com/mycagecomic. There, you find find t-shirts, mugs and mouse pads featuring artwork by me of some of the My Cage characters!! Check it out and buy something. Also, if any readers or fans would like to request a character, feel free to do so!!
Wow! It's been 10 years now since Estrigious was established. We've been through ups and downs but overall did some amazing things together as a group. We've self-published two books, did artwork and even hosted a panel at a convention. We've even worked on the animation scenes featured in the live action movie Super Troopers. Most importantly, we've created this website to feature our work and support each other as friends and fellow artists.
Things have changed and now so has Estrigious. We will continue to respect and honor the things that made Estrigious what it is today, but to reflect change and the growth made over the years, Estrigious will gradually blossom in something more representative of what we are today.
Be ready to check out the site to see changes made, and news on upcoming projects.
Some people have been asking me about Sokora Refugees Volume 3, while some others still ask about Volume 2... Unfortunately, at this moment, Sokora volume 3 will not be printed. Why, you ask? Things happen and things don't happen. It's a choice made by Tokyopop and I've put my work on it on hold. I've only managed to finish the first chapter since then and I've chosen some random pages for you to see, including a double page spread. The pages are incomplete leaving out tones and dialogue. Maybe one day I'll get back to it, but in the meantime I've been working on other projects. ~Peace
Ed Power, the writer for My Cage, came up with this idea for Santa versus Dracula. It sounded like so much fun, and as a side project I thought it be great to work on a colored comic. Ed wanted to submit it to Zuda.com so I had to work on it in their measurements which was a little tricky. Once I read through a script, I scribble what I visualize on the side and then arrange them on a page in panels. These sketches here are the original layouts and they are actually very small. I think I stuck to them quite well. If you want to check out the finished pages, go to Zuda.com and click on Dracula vs Santa. And while you're there, sign up here and vote for me! It IS a contest. :-)
