TJ's Giveaway: And the Winners are...

Hi Everyone!

Say CHEEESE!!

I shall keep this post short and simple and go straight to announcing the winners. So what I did was the following...I threw your names on my drawing desk (couldn't find my Magic Hat -_-) and these were the ones that I picked out:

Ms. Nicola Ellen

Ms. Maylin Gonzalez

Mr. Dailybeerreview

Ms. Dani Heart

Ms. Katy Kern

Congratulations!!! *throws around with confetti and ribbons* I'll be contacting you in the upcoming days. To everyone else, please do NOT be disappointed. There will be a new giveaway very soon as an important date is approaching (my...birthday.) and I always do a giveaway to celebrate this with you all. I am already pondering about the price! ^_^

As for the questions, I replied to most questions in the comment section. However, some questions do deserve their own post, so stay tuned for that. I will be tagging you on Facebook, Twitter or send an email if I answered your question in a post, so you will know when it's...well answered hehe.

This is it for now. I think my next post is going to be either a new commission post (got a few lined up for you all to stare at!) or a rambling post...got lots of stuff in my draft folder for you.

Enjoy your Sunday!

*waves*

TJ's Giveaway: It's here! It's finally here! (closed)

GIVEAWAY is closed! ^_^

Finally.

The Giveaway arrived. Did you hear my dramatic voice? I totally did a dramatic voice.

It's funny. I decided to do a giveaway when my page on facebook would hit 300 likes. Now I'm already at 459 likes and for this big increase a HUGE thank you goes to the lovely Carmen from "Paying it Forward - One Day at the Time"...every time when she shared my page, quite a lot of happy souls found my page and I couldn't be more grateful. It only means I can share what I love to do most with even more people and I hope it will put a smile on their faces as well :D

As I was thinking about a lovely prize/prizes, time flew by and work got crazy busy and now...now I can also announce proudly that I entered my third year of blogging as well (June 14th, to be exact!). Goodness! Where did the time go? I'd never thought to be blogging for this long already and as each year passes, my blog gets a different purpose, well not an entirely different purpose as my Art has always been my biggest focus point. You won't see a post with without a doodle or two. However, blogging gave me a new perspective on life, a new way of living and doing what I love to. I learned how to write better posts, capture my thoughts, most importantly I got a better insight in myself as a person and what I really want to get out life. You could say that I'm aware of how I live my life and how I want to live my life...up till a while back, I basically took most things for granted and did things others expected me to do so....I should stop talking as you guys probably think "TEEEJAAAY!! I want to know about the giveaway!!"

You were, weren't you....? Oh my gosh!

Hehe. As always, if you want to join, do read everything and please follow the rules.

So what can you win this time? I won't have 1st, 2nd or 3rd winners, where the prizes go from big to small. No. Instead of this I have 5 sets of 2 prints and I will pick 5 winners! Obviously hehe. Oh. There will be an EXTRA surprise when one receives his/her package, but what this is....I am not going to tell ^_^.

The prints of the Inky Ladies with black frame can vary as I have 13 different ladies, but for picture purposes I grabbed a few random ones. Okay, so what do you have to do?

1. Leave a comment. It's as simple as that, but it is a MUST. Plus, I do have two questions this time. You do have to answer them please.

What would you do if you'd meet me in person?

and

Ask me a (random) question.

This could be anything from art to fashion/beauty (yes. you ladies can ask me e.g. about the make-up I wear, about my hair etc.) or you can ask my thoughts on a certain subject or just a totally random question. I'll  use these questions for future posts and it's a fun way to peek in your minds as well ;)

For EXTRA entries, you can do the following:
2. Be a Facebook Fan and/or a reader of my blog (either by Google reader or e-mail subscription) and you get 1 extra entry.
3. If you spread the word about my giveaway, Etsy shop or Fanpage, you'll get 1 extra entry.

Just remember to list ALL the things you did in your comment, along with your answers and if you'd prefer the Inky Ladies or the Cupcakes. The Giveaway is open till September 1st (2012 hehe) and then I'll announce the winners. I'll create a permanent link in the sidebar that leads to this post as it will vanish slowly into my blog past as I will add new posts, plus I'll add a little reminder in every new post as well.

That's it! I'm so excited to see your answers ^_^

Ciao!

TJ's WIP: Floating Cupcakes.

Hello Hello!

Here's a little WIP for you again ^_^. Ms. Doodologist correctly pointed out "Rapunzel of the Cupcakes"...something like that hehe. Either way, I found a cool concept sketch of Rapunzel on the internet and used this as a reference for the character and voila...floating cupcakes were born. I already showed a little peek a while back, but I did snap more pics while I was working on this one as I showed peeks on my fanpage, so I figured to placed them all together and create a little post for you guys! Hope you like it and have fun staring!!

 

 

 

You know, with this little painting it really was all about subtle details. After the two bigger washes of color, I just added colors here and there, to bring out certain characters. I think if I added too much watercolor layers, the painting would lose it's "floaty-ness"...I have no other word to describe it, sooo I hope you get what I'm trying to say haha. I also didn't re-line every thing with black either. The final picture has been edited a bit in Photoshop, just to make sure the colors are brought back to life again. Can't have dull pictures, now can we?!

Hope you liked this little WIP!!

TJ's WIP: Koalas, Koalas, Koalas!

Hi there!

Big thanks to everyone who read last post! It really means a lot to me and I'm glad that I wrote and shared a bit of my Aunt's story with you. I have a bunch of posts lined up for you guys, but let's start with a staring post. I haven't showed a new WIP in a loooong time, so I snapped some pics for you when I created the Koala illustration. From sketch to final painting...let the staring begin!

As you can see, the differences towards the end are quite subtle and unfortunately the camera doesn't really captures this. In real life you can see it all much, much better!

Keep a close eye on my Etsy Shop please! I know I haven't been persistent with promoting it, got a lot going on the last few weeks and I'm juggling my time the best I can, but I will update it with new art, original work AND there will be a discount coupon thingy ^_^

Until we meet again...Ciao!

OH! I selected this post to be featured on my blog’s page at Illustration Blogs. Stroll by if you have some time to spare, please

An Etsy Shopping Update!

Ciao Ciao!

Finally an Etsy update for you guys! My shop is up and running! For now I added a few prints and greeting cards in it, but it's a start right?! They make lovely gifts for e.g. birthdays or...for yourself. Plus, the cards can be easily framed as well. So far most people don't want to part with their print haha.

I will slowly add more products like original art, buttons and magnets to it. I will tweet about this and mention it on my Facebook fanpage. I will mention it on my blog every now and then as well, but if you really want to stay up to date, make sure you'll "stalk" me on there as well hehe. Of course if you are an Etsy person, you can add me in your circle.

All prints are on high quality matte photo-paper, glued on heavy card stock and comes with an envelope. They are also all signed and shipped in a sturdy envelope.They come unframed as this reduces shipping costs and you can frame them however you like.

Have a browse around, if you know people who would be interested, pretty please refer them to my shop. Ooooh and one request, I'd love looooove it if you would pin it onto Pinterest if you like the illustration and you collect illustration images. I am kinda addicted to that site (maybe I should leave the 'kinda' out of my sentence...) and to see my images float around there would be so cool. Next to that, it's such an easy way to collect and share inspiration.

Like I said, there will be more things available, like prints of a special illustration that I did for my latest column. If you haven't seen it yet...please click on this 'Magic Word' and share it with others please. People shouldn't stop dreaming ^_^.

I added a permanent tab for my Etsy shop above. If you click it you'll be magically transported to it!

Now...I shall watch a movie! Enough laptop for today! Till next ramble everyone!

TJ's Projects: A Cupcake Tutorial

Hello helloo!!

Hmm that was said in a weird opera voice...in my head anyway.

So, no recipe this time, but a drawing tutorial! A while ago, I got asked by the lovely Marieke Bos, if I was interested in participating in a creative project. It's for the site Swap-bot and here lots of creatives swap handmade goodies with each other. The group Dutch Swappers magically transformed the month December in an online advent calendar and every day a creative swapper reveals his/her gift.

And yes, you guessed it right, today is my day and I decided to create a quick tutorial on how I draw my cupcakes ^_^. There are really just a few basic lines and by switching up the expression you can create a new little cupcake in a few seconds. This is the first time writing a step by step tutorial and I will record a short video how I draw and paint it soon. However, the quality isn't THAT great. I will re-upload it soon again. My laptop shut off while I was saving the tutorial, so I lost some of my editing. Not a big deal...until I noticed that the file had become corrupt. The horror. I had a deadline to upload it a bit after midnight on December 13th, therefore I couldn't re-create what I had, so this tutorial is a quick version.

If something doesn't make sense, do let me know. I can keep this in mind for when I create the right version of this tutorial. I have another way of drawing a cupcake and if you guys like this one, I'll show you the other one as well.

Oh! I do have a cupcake recipe for you guys soon...hehe. Until then, don't forget about the Limited Christmas Cards and my Zazzle shop.

Have fun trying it out and if you drew it and want to show it...let me know! If there are enough cupcake doodlers, I will create a folder on my Facebook page so people can post it there. I'd love to see it :D Feel free to experiment with the frosting shapes and faces. I'll show lots of cupcake examples soon!

Ciao ciao!

Tales from an Illustrator: One of My Next Steps.

Hello!

Hmm it seems that I am blogging quite frequently lately haha. But that aside, I have some excting news to tell and some of you may have seen it on Facebook yesterday!

Susanna from Trade Your Talent and I will write a...children book. Well, I will illustrate it haha. I can ramble about it here, but I'd rather have you visit the blog and hopefully you decide to follow our journey over there. The posts on that blog will cover various subjects about finding an app developer, creating character sketches, what we find fun to do, what we find difficult etc. Some posts will be from her alone, some will be mine and some will be combined, like you can see in our first post. Hopefully it will be of interest for people who want to start something for themselves too! To find the blog just click the image below ^_^.

 Meet Migwi the Monkey!! :D

 Everything is still in draft mode, so hopefully seeing it all change and grow will be fun and interesting for you guys!

Writing/illustrating a children's book is one of the steps that I want to complete in my second year as illustrator. I could wait till a project falls in my lap or that I start when I'm signed by an agency...however, I know that sometimes you just have to act pro-active. The story is there, the illustrations are floating around...we are willing to invest our time and energy in this....so why wait?? We believe in our project and to me that's all that matters.

But! Getting signed by an agency is another one of my goals! And in order to create a great promotional package I will join the Zero2Illo challenge '4 Week Promotional Mailer Challenge' I already joined a Zero2illo Challenge in the past, but my thesis took up way too much, so I had to stop after 5 weeks. However now...no more pesky thesis! Not that I have all the time in world though, but this challenge is too interesting to set aside.

Big Thanks to Jonathan and Lea Woodward for giving everyone the change to develop and grow as an artist! *bows*

Till next post everyone and have a fabulous weekend ahead!

Ciao!

Tales from an Illustrator: Reflect and Move Forward.

Ciao Everyone!

First! My column, TJ on Illustrations, is up and I will post the new column every Friday. I will do more of these types of posts over there as it’s also like my personal diary type of thingy, but less rambly. To stay up to date, do hope over and subscribe. I promise, you won’t be disappointed ^_^

Okay, with being official and all, I knew that I had to come up with a more solid plan. You can’t just say ‘Oh I will start a business and sit back and relax or skip around being happy’ No. Next to that, my budget isn’t big, so I looked into other ways to get myself more noticed and get to know other creative people. That was my main focus point, to let others know that I’ve entered the Illustration World! What’s the point in being an artist if no one knows about you?

Quick doodle

I'll the most important things in a nutshell, because I can’t write every little thing down. It would probably bore you to death. This year has been all about being seen, getting noticed, working on more commissions and researching lots of things.

There are a lot of free portfolio sites and I signed up for several of them. Sounds good huh…but the real deal is that you have to keep them updated. I did pretty well for a little while, but then more projects and commissions started coming in and well…I started to update less. You see, when I registered as a ‘one lady business’, I got a few responsibilities, like a quarterly VAT registration and an hour registration. The horror. I had to set up my own administration and it takes some time to get used to it, because you don’t want to get in trouble with the Tax people.

Even though I didn’t update as much as I wanted too, I did have an increase in views and in subscribers. Though a Big Thank You goes out to everyone who shared and re-tweeted everything I did!! This played a huge part as well.

The Frosty Ladies (2011)

Next to this, I also signed up for Zazzle, Etsy, Redbubble & Society6. I did mention Zazzle last year, but the reason why I never mentioned the others on my blog is that I didn’t have anything good to sell yet. Or at least not good enough in my mind. I kept telling myself to schedule more time for personal projects, but with my already existing commissions and the fact my grandad got sicker…I really had to juggle with my time. I did my best to keep an eye on my time management, sometimes I just didn’t have the time to do everything I wanted to do. I will have a shop soon though, but this will be in a different post :-)

I started to use my Twitter and personal Facebook account for work and staying in touch with people. And you know, I did get a better view in interest when I created my fan page. Next to this, it also makes sure that I keep updating more regularly (Doodle of the Day!!). I have fans to entertain...hehe :D

So looking back, I definitely worked on more and bigger commissions and I got to know lots of lovely people. I also got a clearer view on what I want to do and what steps I need to take in order to get there. I added all my experiences in a rapport for a fund application as well. Up till a few weeks ago, I didn’t feel confident enough to send it in. Why? One of the requirements is an art diploma. I don’t have that, so by collecting everything I did in a year on my own, is hopefully enough to convince them to grant me the fund. Fingers crossed!

Hippie Lady (2011)

My learning points? Not doing waaaaaay too much! I easily said yes to a few projects and afterward I thought 'Whyyy did I do that?!' Also, knowing went to let things go and start anew. I can ponder about an illustration for too long and sometimes…you just have to let it go. Third, it’s best to stick to a limited number of social media and update that regularly. It is really time consuming to keep it all up to date!

I hope this was a bit interesting for you to read. It's probably best to do a quick update post every now and then, because doing it like this just make the post super long! And I don't want you guys to go like 'read, read, read...oh look birdies!!'...hehe. Birds are lovely though...

Take care everyone and you can still join for the Birthday Doodle Giveaway! Just comment on the correct post and not this one...

Ciao!

TJ's Projects: Get in touch with your alter ego!

Hey everyone!

How are you doing? Enjoying the weather so far?

Today I shall tell you about a project that I've done a while ago. Whenever it's possible I shall tell you bits and pieces of the things that I'm doing. Sometimes I can only tell you more when the project is finished as things need to be kept a secret ;). For this project I collaborated with Blogcatalog and created a bunch of avatars for you to choose from when you create an account. I personally like it when you have different types of avatars to choose from, especially since I often wander around my imaginative world and pretend to be a superhero hehe. So if I can switch things up when I want, I am happy.

Here are the currently available avatars:

Let me just tell you, I could have created a whole lot more! You can easily choose a personality that suits you. I added some snapshots for you to see, plus a few avatars in a bigger size. I hope you like them as much as I do.

 

I figured circling them with red circles or squares worked better...hehe. It is funny to see them pop up on the forum! Sorry for the blurriness of the screen shots though. Here are a few of them in a larger size! I hope you clicked to enlarge the images.

Ooh so curious what you think of them as well! It was a fun opportunity. So a huge - Thank You - to Blogcatalog! Also it is possible to commission me if you want to have yourself turned into an avatar! You can email at tjlubrano@live.com. You can also use this email if you want to commission me for other illustrations or want to know the prices. I will add an estimate of prices on my blog soon, so you have an idea what I charge. However, it's always fun to receive email from you guys ;).

And lastly, I have my first Facebook Giveaway! I passed the 100 likes. Thanks to everyone who joined! If you want to join, you have to leave a comment on the note on my page. If you comment here, it doesn’t count ;).

Till next time everyone & Remember to Smile!

Ciao!

A Look in the Past: Old Drawings & winner of the Giveaway

Hello everyone!

Before I do anything else, it is time to announce the winner of the Giveaway! *drum rolls*

It is Alejandro from 'Raising Amelie'!!! Woohoo. Congratulations! I shall contact you as soon as I can. A bit about Alejandro...he is a man with many names and personalities. One day he is Darth Vader, the other day he is Superman. I kid you not. He has a personal blog with lots of stories and Amelie is his cute little princess. He is really cool and I always have to laugh when I read his comments, even when he's serious. Yeah, I can't explain why. I just hear a funny voice in my head (Sorry A hehe). Do visit his blog when you have the chance ^_^.

I thought it would be fun to share some drawings from the past with you. I cleaned up my drawings folders and came across a few oldies. Well, I sort off clean up as I just made another pile hehe. I probably have a bunch more though. These drawings are done somewhere between 2001 and 2006.

 
I haven't got a lot of colored drawings from when I was younger. Correction, I don't think I have colored drawings. The thing is, I walked around for a long time, thinking that I would mess up my drawings if I colored them. I really believed that I couldn't do this and felt more comfortable working with pencil alone. Oh how things changed over time haha.

In the past, I really just re-drew art work. Nowadays I use it only as a reference to create my own drawings. Yes. I watched a lot of Dragonball and Dragonball Z. Let's just say, I watched a lot of anime. Hehe.

I often stare in shock when I see older work and I notice a LOT of mistakes *sigh*. Though as much as I want to toss it away, it is cool to see how my style developed over time. Also funny how adding color now feels like a second nature. If you would tell me I would be doing what I'm doing now I would stare at you like this -_-' saying 'Yeah Riiiiigghhht'. Kid you not haha.

I hope you liked this little peek in the past. Till next time!
Ciao!

Storytelling Time: Theft in the Cake shop.

Heey everyone!!

Okay, first of all you can still join the Giveaway and in order to do so please click this Magical Button and comment on the that post. If you comment here, you won't be added in the giveaway. The winner shall be announced on June 21th, 2011!

Next! I proudly announce that I'm an official columnist for the site Broowaha! Edit: I have my own column now, which you can find here, TJ on Illustrations. I will post something regarding the illustration business every Friday, starting next week. I will post some of the articles here as well as you need an account to leave comments there. So for the ones who only read my blog, this is the place to be. For the ones who are interesting in writing and connecting with other writers, do check out Broowaha. It's such a fun & friendly community. You won't be disappointed.

So now it's time for the flash story! A while ago, I was participating in another writers community and before it vanished into thin air ( I have nothing to do with it...) I spent a few fun weeks with other writers. Every week there were 5 prompts to choose from and you got critique and feedback on it. This story won :D. So exciting!

Theft in the Cake shop

As soon as Tess opened the door, Sandy burst in.
“Oh my god! Tess!”
“What? What is it?
“Oh my god! Really, you never gonna believe what happened”
“What! What has happened” Tess had all sorts of drama visualized in her head as they walked to the kitchen.
“Really I was shocked…”
“Come on! Just tell me!”
“There was a theft in the CupCakery Bakery!”
“There was a theft in CupCakery Bakery…oohkay this is shocking because…”
“He only stole the tops!”
“The tops? What tops?”
“The tops of the cupcakes!”
“Really? Only that?”
“Yeah! Apparently he said, ‘why steal it all, if you only like the tops’, marvelously said I think”
“Dude’s got a point there. Want to have some tea?”
Sandy just kept nodding with a big smile.
“But how did he do this? How was he able to only steal the tops?”
“Well, he had a special spatula and with one swift movement…” Sandy made a demonstration, “…he could place it under the frosting and scoop it right up. Oh yeah! The other end of the spatula made it possible to slice of muffin tops. He liked those too. They are crunchy.”
Tess tried not to laugh, this was the strangest story she ever heard. “Okay the muffin tops I can understand, but why the frosting?”
“He liked the swirly patterns.”
“I see. Well I guess that makes sense.”
“I guess that makes sense indeed too.”

So. Who wants a cupcake now :D?

Hope you liked it as well & Till next time everyone.

Ciao! *waves*

Do you like me? And a Doodle Giveaway! (closed)

Ciaooo Everyone!

First of all, I got such a lovely response on my previous post! Thanks to everyone who read it & left a wonderful comment! Also big thanks to the ones who shared it with others.

Meet the Deadly Gorgeous Ladies. Yes. This will be a new series of mini paintings. I created the ones above for a friend who is an excellent writer, mr. Bill Friday. Do visit his site when you have the chance, It's Always Friday.

For the ones who don't know it yet, I have a Facebook Fanpage! I (finally) created one as it's an easy way to keep everyone up to date with short rambles, new illustrations, sneak peeks and other news. While I tell longer stories on my blog. On the page I can also ask quick questions or feedback, so everyone can get creative there. There's a 'like' button in the left corner of my blog.

Okay, I do have a favor to ask from you. There is a review page in the menu on the FB page. I would love to have a review from the people who have an illustration by me or who has worked with me. You would really help me out with this as I try to build up my customers/client network. I think it would be like an extra motivation for future clients to commission me as an artist ^_^. If you don't have an artwork by me (yet) and you want to say something about me as person, you can do that as well haha. Thanks so much in advance!
 

Doodle Giveaway! (closed)

It's giveaway time again! Do a little dance everyone ^_^. This time no real rules as last time a lot of the participants were already subscribers hehe. If you're not, I'd love for you to subscribe to my blog or like my page or both. However, I leave the choice up to you. The winner can choose out of the following subjects for an A5 illustration (give or take): pirates, underwater, anime, pin-up and creepy cuteness.

If you want to join, just leave a comment on this post with the subject of choice and I'll use the random.org site to pick the winner. I'll announce the winner on May 31th (2011, just in case you were wondering 2012. Hehe.)

There will also be giveaways via my Facebook Fanpage, so if you miss your chance here, keep an eye on the page, because you can have another chance soon! Warning: There will be a giveaway when I reach 100 likes...

 

Pink Fluffiness for the little princess of my friend Paul Groom

This is it! For now anyway. I've so much to blog about as I also got a new award from two lovely people and lots of new art is on its way! So I need to break it down, because I can easily write a super long post for you guys haha.

Stay tuned & Till next time.

Ciao!

Compassion for others, Compassion for yourself

Hmm I’m not sure when, but I think over 2 weeks ago I started to see the word Compassion on Blogcatalog (a forum that I stalk hehe). The word compassion is intertwined with an individual, a man called Mr. Patch Adams.

  

Perhaps many of you already know a bunch about this kind & humble man, I on the other hand didn’t. I haven’t even seen the movie Patch Adams (just in case some of you wanted to point out that there’s a movie called Patch Adams hehe). So what is compassion? The general definition is that ‘one suffers with another’. You recognize and understand the suffering of an individual and you take action towards it.

Personally, I can get emotionally attached quite easily. Especially with kids. I can’t really stand suffering and if someone suffers, I try my best to help this person, but afterward it can me sad and I probably needs some time to process it. That’s why I’m not sure if I could ever be e.g. a nurse or work in a hospital in general. 

This is why I admire Patch Adams. I don’t think that there are that many souls on this world who has the amount of compassion that he has. He strives to help others without passing judgment, strives to ease their pain with compassion & love. This is what drives Patch Adams to make the world a better place. 

I’ve read a bit more about Patch and I listened to an awesome interview done by the lovely ms. AskCherlock. I find that the work of mr. Patch Adams is remarkable and I’ve huge respect for his beliefs and actions. I won’t go into much detail about the interview as I strongly advise you listen/read it yourself.

I’ve always believed that the highest reward is hidden in the simplest of gestures. A simple smile can brighten ones world completely. No need for money, no need for materialistic items. You already possess the ability to smile. This got me thinking. If you already possess the elements that one needs to show compassion, why is it so difficult? It should be effortless. That's why, I think that you also need to show compassion towards yourself. After all you are the one who takes action, who wants to make a difference. You need to be content with how you are, before you try to help others. Create a healthy starting point, be happy with who you are and stand for what you believe in. Again, this got me thinking.

Do you think that people are afraid if the answer to a better place is hidden in the simplest of things?

I think, in how society is built, it seems that there is no room for truly thinking outside the box. Well one might think that they are doing things differently. But when you pay close attention to it, one sees that it’s restricted in existing systems & rules. So for me you are not thinking outside of the box completely as one is still being led by something that’s already there. The mind of the human being is being clouded by e.g. materialistic elements,
One man is trying to bring more compassion to world, to let others understand that it isn’t that difficult or expensive in the end. For me, the most powerful actions are hidden in the simplest of things. I’ve experienced it myself, the power of doing a simple act. In my case it’s giving away drawings. It makes people happy, it makes me happy and because I’m happy I have more energy to do things for others again. It’s a never ending circle of positivity.

And that’s what we need. Rays of positivity in a world that’s mostly led by negativity.

Petition to declare May 15th International Day of Compassion
Interview transcript by the lovely Ms. AskCherlock: Part 1 & Part 2 
Listen to the actual interview
 
Want to read more articles regarding this matter, just visit BloggerUnite. Feel free to share your thoughts about this. You know I love to hear from you :D. Thanks for reading this slightly longer post and have a great start of the week.


Ps.: The drawings were for a mug design for a dear friend of mine, Mr. Nothingprofound!