Quick update at lunch. I have a very awesome friend that loves kitties probably even MORE than I do… which I admit is no small feat. I drew her as a mermaid with her scuba kitty Leondegrance. I call him ‘Leondegrance in his underpants’ when I see him in a sing-song fashion or Leotard because he’s objectively kind of a naughty kitty. BUT CUTE, and fuzzy, which is pretty much all it takes for me to like something!
OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD
August 18, 2014
So I am entering a two week brainstorm session. This means 8-5 all day meetings around a light table. It means I have NO idea how I am going to draw anything blog related. I guess this is what lunch is for. So in essence I have the next 9 minutes to pump out a drawing, eat lunch and write a blog post. Good thing I am fast. So this is my office. It sums up pretty much exactly how I feel about Mondays. Like… oh you have work to do? Too bad, Ima watch cat videos until my eyes bleed.
This cycle repeats itself every Monday and sometimes Friday. Since I am in an all day meeting THIS Monday, I feel funny and like I might need a hug.
Sia-Meows
August 15, 2014
I love cats. Fact. I mean really really love them. I should have been a vet, but then can you BE a vet if you only wanna work with kitties? I was enjoying looking through Ronald Searle drawings this morning. His style really seems to be trending in the animation and art community. I think it’s somewhat of a renaissance for the pen and ink drawings of the 1960’s. That rather delightful scratchy pen scribbles coupled with the softness of watered down ink or watercolor can be seen in current artists like Jeff Turley and Shiyoon Kim. If you haven’t seen some of their sketchbook musings you’re missing out. Naturally though, living in the quick turn around world that we live in- these amazing modern day artists use digital tools as well as traditional ones. Never forget those traditional skills.
Searle drawings are pretty amazing. Expressive, energetic and rugged. This morning I was a little burnt out on drawing Cars and the world OF Cars so I though I’d just have some fun, take a 10 minutes break, not worry about things being pretty and scratch out some cats. I used a digital pen that as closely mimics a fountain pen as possible. It’s good to not get too precious with your drawings. Eventually, through sheer volume of practice ALL of your drawings look like like they took time even if they didn’t. I’m not there yet… maybe some day. 
Part of your world
August 15, 2014
Fish Biscuits is the little mermaid that no one wanted to make a movie out of. She has a winning personality though.
Mermaid Maladies
August 14, 2014
Mermaid maladies and other deformities. Fish Biscuits could have friends… but she’s generally less attractive than they are, except maybe Sea Pig.
Fish Biscuits never wins a swim-a-thon
August 13, 2014
Life is hard when you’re a deformed mermaid. At least she tries. Swimming isn’t easy when you’ve got legs under the sea.
Hawaiʻi ʻŌʻō
August 13, 2014
While I was working on Disney’s Aulani I studied Hawaiian culture, ecology and geological formations of the islands. When you’re an artist and story teller it’s vitally important to understand your subject. While I am not Hawaiian, I very much put myself in the place of Kama‘aina (resident local). I became fascinated by native Hawaiian birds while working on designs for Hale Manu (house of birds) retail store. I ended up painting quite a few extinct Hawaiian birds for friends while I worked there (sadly there were several I didn’t photograph). The store itself is decorated with over 40 hand carved and painted wooden birds. The pieces of art hang from the ceiling and are perched on casework. Above the birds are 3 HUGE canvases painted with native Hawaiian flora, symbolizing the birds natural habitats. The coastal and sea birds in the store are set against the ocean, which you can see if you just look out the windows. It’s a very neat space and I hope if you’re in Oahu and see it, you’ll think about habitat conservation. In fact, if it’s still there, there is a hidden Mickey” bird poo behind the counter under one of the large birds. hehehe. Team clean kept scrubbing it off… probably because it legitimately does look like a bird poo.
This particular bird I painted- called the ʻŌʻō has been extinct since the mid-1930’s. The bird was hunted liberally by native Hawaiians for their plumage. Feathers were a huge part of Hawaiian ceremonial and cultural heritage. The ʻŌʻō’s plumage was used for ʻaʻahu aliʻi (robes), ʻahu ʻula (capes), and kāhili (feathered staffs) of Hawaiian nobility. If you look at this bird, while it’s fluffy yellow feathers are remarkable in color… they’re not in great quantity. It probably took a LOT of birds to make a cape. There were small differences to the species of ʻŌʻō on the islands of Hawaii. The one I painted above lived on the biggest island in the Hawaiian chain, Hawaiʻi. Though they were hunted extensively and this largely let to their extinction. It is also theorized that an avian malaria wiped out the remaining population. 
6×6 acrylic and gold leaf on mansonite panel.
Cupcakes
August 12, 2014
You know how you get fixated on something? That’s me today. I feel like if I don’t have a cupcake I might just give up on life. That is all. 10 mins in photoshop brought you this gem.
I’m on Blog Lovin’
August 11, 2014Makeup Monday- Lorac
August 11, 2014
I scored an gift certificate to Sephora over the weekend. So I bought the Lorac Pro palette. I die. Gawd I love makeup. Give me all the make up. If you were a kid in the 90’s there was this AMAZING Toys-R-Us challenge on Nickelodeon where you got 5 minutes to plough through the toy store with a basket getting whatever you wanted. I wish they would do that at Sephora. Honestly I’d probably die of pure joy if I won and I wouldn’t even live to do the challenge. If I did though, I’d do some DAMAGE.
So the scoop is… Lorac Pro in the matte shades on top- with Cream, Taupe and Espresso. I was going for a relatively simple natural colors look so I just used 3 colors, brow-bone, lid and crease. Nothing fancy here. Not shown is the little tube of Lorac’s eye primer that comes with the Palette- of course I used it. The Lorac palette is beautiful, the colors are wonderful and the actual shadows are well pigmented and apply easily. The darker colors are difficult to blend as they are so pigmented, I would recommend blowing on your brush to get rid of some of the shadow and preventing a ton of fallout. I can already tell this is going to be a daily use sort of palette.
First time using Benefit “They’re real Push up Liner” Man, that stuff is interesting. I like it, I could do with the product was a little thinner, and that seems to be a common complaint with all the beauty reviewers. The product tends to ball up if you don’t work fast enough. I recommend starting with the inner corner of your eye first because that part isn’t as forgiving. You don’t want to build that part up thick. I hadn’t practiced with it before so I just sort of went at it and in hindsight would have been a little more careful to get it on straight. However weird it is to put on at first, it does get very close to your lash line with it’s weird base shape, and a pointy wing is very easy to make because of the angled tip. IT’S HARD TO GET OFF! Therefore uh… try not to mess up or you’ll be stuck with janky eyeliner all day. Mascara is just Maybelline Great Lash. I have about a gazillion different mascaras. From YSL Babydoll to Benefits “They’re Real”. I always go back to it because I think it works the best for me and hooorayyyy! it’s cheap.
Too Faced candlelight stuff is great! I feel all aglow. I don’t often use a highlighting powder but this one is subtle and doesn’t look like you’re wearing glitter. I’m not a fan of glitter all up on my mug. It’s very soft and feminine. 10/10 will wear everyday.
Lips are a sample of Bite Beauty Luminous Creme lipstick cream duo in Musk. It’s a sort of natural or nude for me, the other side is called Lychee and it’s a little lighter and pinker.
Face is ONLY Sephora pressed powder in Medium and I used a the Half Baked bronzer by Urban Decay as a sort of contour powder/blush.
Das it, Makeup Monday!
xoxo -Tracey