Painted over summer

An A5-sized painting done with watercolours and... coffee. I don't drink coffee - can't stand the taste, you see -, but I like painting with it. -coffee abuseCOUGH- The white lace is some sort of rub-in sticker I found from a craftstore.

 Bookmark of a troll lady with leopard hair. Oh how I would love a wig like this!

And I finally a painting of Aria and Aeris, my two Final Fantasy muses whom I find to be very similar as characters. I finally ran out of my supply for this watercolour paper too, I used to use it all the time in 2008/2009 when I was only starting out with watercolours, but I no longer like to use it. The way colours blend on it is kind of iffy. :I

Pretty psychotic

See, I had this drawing board bought from Japan which I ruined by drawing an ugly picture on it, but I didn't want to throw it away so I salvaged some magazine clipping and glued them all over it to make a canvas. Then I drew on it with black brushpens, poured coloured inks all over it, made coffee stains, used white paint... And then placed a previously completed and, on its own, totally boring picture of a military pin-up girl to it. There's heaps of criticism towards social media there too, but basically it was a mad creative process on one particularly rainy day.

And then there's this simple portrait of the Queen Of Hearts, who is one of my favourite Alice-verse characters. I love psychotic female characters; I love crazies in general.

This one I had already gave up on, but I went and improved it later. Boy, am I glad I did.

Girl couples in watercolour

An older lineart I finally finished colouring last week. The colour scheme is a bit odd for me and I'm not sure if I managed that vintage feel I was going for, but that doesn't mean I'm not happy with it. The monochrome silhouette on the background is of Paris.

This colour scheme is more within my comfort zone and overall the illustration is filled with my favourite things; two beautiful girls with long, flowing hair, a hanging garden, see-throught undergarments and a shy kiss on the forehead (I find this the sweetest type of kiss, for some reason!). It seems that this work was popular in dA.

Hello readers, I'm back - with a fractured toe! I had a brief holiday in Jyväskylä and being the klutz I am, I fell down a flight of stairs at my friend's home and fractured my toe while doing so. -facepalm- I'll try to update this blog every now and then, even though I don't have much time for drawing these days.

Jam day with Sipsetti

Sometimes it's good to plan nothing before you start painting. This one was very much fun to work with, and I really like the outcome even though it was totally random. I wanted to draw jam jars and a cute girl with ruffled up hair, but that's pretty much everything I planned beforehand. Everything else - made up as I went. My favourite strategy for everything.

Sipsetti with lots and lots of jam~ The text on the jars says 'strawberry' and 'blackcurrant'. Sipsetti's hair is actually mint green, but it would have looked too out of place here so I made it pale lilac.

What's your favourite flavour of jam, by the way? I love raspberry and cherry. <3 Blueberry is great, too.

Distance

'Though I pursue you
Though I pursue you
I don't reach you
Even though I like you this much'
Nishino Kana - Distance

...That's it. I'm beat like never before. Two straight days of nothing but Thesis seminars left me totally drained, so I'll just share this little sketchbook scribble with you and go to bed. Mine went well, by the way.

This song touched my heart at first listen; the lyrics fit all too well. I can really relate to what she sings about.

You have mail, muffin

More paper-cutting!

Finished an older work just in time for Valentine's Day. I had drawn and painted the girls on a plain ultramarine blue watercoloured background but it looked so dull that I cut them off and glued on shimmery crafting carton. (suomalaiset: jos etsitte tätä paperia, niin kyseessä on siis helmiäiskartonki, jota saa mm. Sinellistä)

For increased cuteness I added some cherry blossom stickers. I bought them from Japan in fall of 2009 and had been wondering where to use them for a long while. It's all sugary and girly, but I like it very much for that. <3

Fun facts: When I showed the work-in-progress to Sadyna last year, she said the brunette reminded her of Belle from Beauty And The Beast. -teehee-

Related Rambles: Mmm... I've never received a love letter but I have given one to someone. A mistake I shall never, ever repeat! I'd rather speak up than give someone a letter nowadays - if only I had the courage to talk about my feelings in the first place. It was my New Year's Resolution to be more outspoken about my real feelings, but confessing that I'm in love with someone is way out of my comfort zone. No can do. What ever shall I do with my infinite shyness...

Red is the Rose...

I've realized that I love anything with roses. You probably have noticed I draw roses on many of my works or cut them from scrapbooking papers. They are all over the place. ^^ I have no idea when this obsession started, but I suppose it has something to do with my tastes in anime and comics.

This is a half-done illustration of the Outer Senshi from Sailormoon (fear my fangirl pheromones!). It's taking forever to complete, but at least it looks good so far. Note: roses again! I personally like Saturn here.

I also like roses on accessories, homeware, fabrics... Here's my favourite rose-shaped earrings and tea cups. The golden roses were bought from a cute jewelry store at the bottom floor of Machida Twins East in Machida, Tokyo, the silver ones from a fashion event in Helsinki. Tea cups and plates found just today from Tarjoustalo. <3 Unsurprisingly, my childhood dream was to live in a small wooden house with a rose garden with someone I love. I also wanted to be a princess, but that's a different story.

Trying out different tools

An A5-sized picture of my Alice-verse White Queen, a character I had not drawn before this. It was requested by another user in dA, to whom I'm doing a watercolour illustration as a prize for winning a contest (I rarely do requests, but I sometimes offer them as contest prizes). I am not sure if I'm giving her this one or another one - I've done two illustrations because I couldn't decide which idea I liked the best. :'D

While the Queen herself was painted with watercolours, I tried a new technique on the background. It's painted with a thick layer of white acrylic and the little stones are attached to it using the acrylic as glue. Acrylic is permanent when dry, so they'll stick to it pretty well.

I had no idea how it would turn out, but it was a funny little experiment. A pain to scan, though, since it has three-dimensional elements...

Shiny, shiny Christmas on ice

Working on something winterish right now. It's still waaay unfinished, but as I don't have anything special prepared for Christmas this year (well, I never do specific holiday illustrations) I wanted to share what's done so far. The paint is still all wet and if you look closely, you can see that it shimmers faintly, too. I've mixed some pearlescent watercolour with normal watercolours, so the outcome will be shiny. <33

It's completely unintentional, but thanks to the colours and all the shimmer it looks like they're wearing wedding dresses. Might go ahead and just make them wear veils too since it's already going to that direction~

Alice and Mad Hatter again, my two lovelies. First time drawing Maddie in a dress, too, but it suits her.

Happy Christmas, everyone! Eat loads of yummy stuff.

I present you a supervillain... Galaxia!

After writing in my previous post that if I am to draw supervillains, I would draw Galaxia I got so possessed by the idea that I actually went and drew her. And I think she came out just fabulously. <3

Out of all the villains in Sailormoon Galaxia is definitely my favourite. Why? She's just unbelievably cool. And closest to being a supervillain from all the other enemies the Sailor Senshi had to face. She was pretty damn close to wiping out all the Senshi in this galaxy - no other enemy ever actually killed any of the Sailor Soldiers. Galaxia was ruthless and powerful, and that's why she's my favourite. And of course she's gorgeously beautiful, too. -has a fangirl moment-

This work is such an overdose of golden watercolour, my supplies won't last long if this keeps up. T___T This opaque paint is from a Japanese brand sold in Japan only, see.

Who should I draw next? More sexy villains or maybe Sailor Senshi themselves? I was thinking about doing a plausible artwork of Uranus and Neptune for a change (all my works of them are pretty hideous if I'm honest). Or if it's villains, then probably girls from the Witches 5. Or Amazoness Quartette when they were still enemies to the Senshi? I don't know, somebody help me! -ponder ponder-

Aah... I really want to draw the Starlights and Princess Kakyuu, too...

By the way, a little tutorial of this work is up in deviantART! Check it out. ^^


Watercolour tutorial: Galaxia by =Aurasama on deviantART

A new postcard design

Finished something small and cute today. <3 This one I'm hoping to turn into a Valentine's Day postcard for next year (a bit early, I know) since it turned out rather Valentine-ish. In Finland, Valentine's Day is celebrated mainly as a day for friends and friendship but since these two are only holding hands they could just as well be close friends. It's up to the viewer's interpretation, after all!

I wanted to make something with a chibi style for a change but I've always had problems drawing chibi, so I ended up looking at Tove Jansson's Moomin illustrations for help. I found this style is much easier for me than trying to draw "normal" chibi characters, so I think I'll stick with this in the future too. They did turn out rather cuddly, I think. -smiles-

I just bothers me slightly that the short-haired girl looks like me, the haircut and colour is spot-on (I drew the sketch before cutting my hair, so it was really a coincidence). Still, I wouldn't mind cuddling with such a cute blond girl! They both turned way more adorable than I expected.

Painted with watercolours. Moon painted with Kusakabe opaque golden watercolour, clouds with another brand's less opaque gold. Yes, it's another one of those works that glitters like crazy in reality.

Don't call my name

To continue our venture to Wonderland, I present you something older this time. I actually did this little painting back in July or something. TwT;; The reason I haven't uploaded it anywhere is, well, I'm not exactly sure if I like it or not. First of all, I liked it so much more as a mere lineart. Secondly, Mad Hatter's uniform turned out pretty blah. And thirdly, her pose seems too stiff compared to passionate little Alice here.

I also had to do some digital postwork to cover up for some of my screw ups, which does not please me considering it was supposed to be a traditional work. -sigh- But then again, I really like how Alice turned out here, and the background in its all simplicity is exactly what I wanted. I thought it would be waste if I never shared this with anyone so here we go, it's not perfect but hope you like it anyway.

Maybe I'll just do a remake when I have the time... I just don't have anymore of this wonderful paper left anymore. T__T Oh bummer.

Finished mushrooms

And it's finished! That was really fast for me, I can take weeks and weeks on one work with my on-off working pattern... A tutorial is now on its way and will be uploaded to deviantART sometime next week. Right now I'm too tired to continue writing it anymore, need sleep. It's already 3 in the morning here. =.=;

Is it just me or did all the redness make this look rather, er, sexier than in the lineart? What is it with red that always makes my works look like softcore porn? Dearie me. I guess it must be my subconscious at work or something. Well. These mushroom girls are supposed to be very sexy and alluring for the sole reason that they use all possible means to tempt the unvary traveler off the road to eat them somewhere more secluded. The forests at Wonderland are dangerous in most curious ways so a smart person should keep his/her mind out of the gutter.

Money, fame and fortune?

Something I'm currently working on. It goes by the project name of "But If I Had You" and if you're getting Adam Lambert vibes right now, yes, you're on the right track. I love his music insanely much right now, it just calls for inspiration. -jamming to his tunes-

If I had you that would be the only thing I ever need.
If I had you the money, fame and fortune never could compete.

This is a watercolour work centering around a young but lonely starlet who has it all - more fans than stars in the sky and money coming in from all windows and doors, but she'd give it all away if she could just be loved in return by the person she secretly loves. What I've done so far is the complete lineart and a light watercolour wash to serve as a base for the rest of the paint job. Still loads to do, though!

Background story
Which do you value more, money or people? That's the basic idea behind this work.

Talking with my friends lately has raised the subject of money to my awareness more often than I'd like. While I'm one of those romantic dunces who count people as the most important factor in their lives, I do know quite a few people who say that the most important thing to them is getting as much money as possible - they claim it's the key to happiness and everything they'll ever need will be accessible with it.

I won't deny that money isn't important, because of course it is. In modern society money talks and if you're poor you can't achieve that many comforts or even afford to have hobbies or, indeed, any free time at all. The way I see it, it's important to have a decent income so that you can live a comfortable life, being able to make choices without having to just settle for the cheapest option, to be able to pursue activities you want and so on. But that's all it is. Money is merely a tool for getting the everyday necessities for the kind of life majority of people aim for (a place of their own, food, method of transportation, etc.) but it can't buy the things that really matter. I'm talking about feelings here.

Call me a daydreamer or an escapist - which I know I am anyway - but I believe money cannot buy honest affection or someone's love. Sure, if you're filthy rich of course you can find yourself friends but dear, they will only befriend your money and the benefits they get from being around you. Some people claim that money can buy love, but what you actually can buy is sex, not someone's honest, sincere interest in you as a person. And if it's not sincere and if it's not about your person, then it's not love, it's either lust or avarice. And they don't compensate for love forever. I'm the kind of person who does want to live in a relationship someday and I'd very much prefer it to be honest affection. What else could someone want from me anyway? I'm not from a wealthy family, I'm not ambitious enough to become filthy rich and I can't think of any other benefits someone could wheedle from me.

The bottom line is yes, money is great and of course I'd like to have the kind of income to make it possible to live comfortably and to be able to pay my bills on time each month but that's not everything. Life in material might give you the sense of security everybody needs, but if it's all about money it'll be a very hollow sort of life. It's lonely on top, after all. I'd rather value friendship and family ties and be poor than be a Scrooge MacDuck huddled up all alone in his manor.

I guess what I'm actually afraid of is that I will eventually be abandoned by the people I care for if they become rich and famous like they intend to. I mean, if it's money they want then there will be no place for me anymore when they're off living their glamorous lives with other glamorous people. I don't want to be cast aside for something so trivial.

Strange how drawing can make you think of so many things! My brain is always buzzing like this when I draw, I can hardly sleep at night if I draw at a very late hour. @w@;; I want a Pensieve for Christmas, hahaha.