Corona Kills

I'm working on a collaborative project with a Graphic Designer, which is a fancy way of saying I'm working with my roommate on his assignment for Package and Design 3. He has to redesign a beer bottle and add a theme to it. He asked me to help him illustrate a Day of the Dead theme for his Corona bottles. These are the finished inked versions, so I'll be posting the colored versions as I finish. He needed 2 designs....regular (darker) beer and lighter beer. So I came up with the idea of the light (sun) and dark (moon) opposites. We have Tonatiuh, the Aztec Sun God, which you've all seen at the center of the Aztec calendar. Then there's Coyolxuahqui, the Moon Goddess. He wanted one more but didn't know what so I suggested the Goddess of the corn and wheat and basically harvest, since beer is made of wheat. That would be Tlazolteotl. After he realized he wanted the actual God of Death so I drew up Mictlantecuhtli. It's been fun and I can't wait to get color on them.

Feels good to play, even if its with La Llorona

So, I've been doing these Weekly Challenges with some friends, but I haven't taken out my paints since I was in Mexico. I took them out today and I lost track of time. I know now that nothing beats this!
Cuando yo era pequena, bueno mas pequena que hoy si es que se lo pueden imaginar, mi Tia Gabi nos contaba de la Llorona. Yo le tenia un temor, mas que al mismo Diablo. Ella decia que tenia unas unas largas, largas, largas y si no te fijabas al voltiar un esquina obscura, ella estara ayi esperandote. Y en un instante te sacara tus ojos, porque claro su platillo favorito son los ojos de los ninos.

When I was small, well smaller than today if you can imagine that, my Aunt Gabi would tell us of the Llorona. I was so scared of her, more than the Devil himself. She would tell us that she had long, long, long nails and if you didn't watch where you turned a dark corner, she would be there waiting for you. And in an instant she would pick your eyes out, because clearly her favorite dish were children's eyes.

Baby's tree

My first wall mural. My brother's friend is having a baby but did not want the conventional baby room. So she hired me for this modern twist on baby's room. I brought in my skilled artist boyfriend to help speed up the process and made it a collaborative project. It was smooth painting. I designed it a day before and called him in to follow me with a paintbrush. He massed while I detailed and he second coated while I corrected edges and smudges. A perfect team. I wouldn't have it any other way. In less than 5 hours we had already cleaned and finished. There is nothing better than having a partner who is skilled with the brush, for he is an instant help when you need him.

I really enjoyed this project and the experience I got with drawing and gridding and painting on a larger scale with another artist. I think it looks satisfying, simple yet complex. So much fun I had. Fun I had. Had I am.

My sister's wedding

My sister is getting married! She's not only the first but the youngest of us 4. She asked me to do this for her reception and I can't believe I'm done. 1 week before the wedding so now I'm off to buy a frame. (ps- no more traditional stuff for a while....I need to start having more fun on these projects)

Just wanted to share this with you guys. I haven't been completely inactive, just doing other things, such as wedding stuff and trying to launch my own company. I'm working on the marketing and nitty gritty right now but I'm trying to get into kid's face painting.

Wish me luck and lets see how this new adventure goes.

Back from Mexico!

I have been gone for as month and I've been everywhere! Puerto Vallarta, Sayulita, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Mexico City, Morelia, Patzcuaro and Jalostotitlan. My family is from Guadalajara and I went to go visit, since its been 4 years since I've been there. I tried to paint and draw while I was there but I must was traveling for the most part light. I got to paint and draw in Vallarta with my sister, but that's because all she likes to do is relax and that gave me PLENTY of time to at least draw something and paint with watercolors and salt water. Yeah I wonder if the salt will have any long term effects on my mini sketches?
I found this lady and her granddaughter in Vallarta particularly funny with her umbrella hat and all, but she moved quite fast so I didn't get enough time to capture detail.
In Guadalajara I got a few minutes in front of a fountain but unfortunately I drew with my thinnest pen....AAAARRRGHHH....and it didn't scan at its best. But I still really like the water in this drawing.
This was at my aunt's roof of her 3 story apartment. So, my beautiful Grandmother (also Elba) left the 1st floor to 1 aunt, the 2nd floor to my mom, and the 3rd floor to another aunt. All sisters. I can't wait for my mom to finally take her place in the 2nd floor Enrique Rodo.

I had a wonderful time and wish I could wake up everyday to feel the warm rays of the sun on my face in the most beautiful, colorful, and liveliest place I know of. Mexico.

Dichos y Refranes

Ok, so this is the beginning of a big project. I'll have to get better pictures of these, but for now this is all I have. They are now in the hands of the Illustration department ready to be judged for spring show.

So what's the story? Like in every culture, Mexico is full of wonderful sayings. My mom always uses them. Her and Roberto compete to see who knows more. One day I realized, that although I am Mexican I was not born in the sacred land of my people. And I vowed, like all Pochos do, to be more Mexican than my fellow Pochos. (For those that don't know the term: Pochos= Children born in the USA from Mexican parents). I figured a good place to start was by really learning the sayings (dichos). I couldn't reverse my birthplace but I can speak like I was born in Guadalajara. Between my mother and Roberto they gave me a list of almost 200 dichos! I'm working on illustrating a book and these are the first I have done. The characters at the corners are the characters of my book and are none other than the 2 people that provided me with all those dichos. Thanks to them I am becoming less Pocha.

Boca cerrada no entran moscas= Literal translation: Mouth closed, flies don't get in. Basically, it means to shut your mouth and not to gossip or tell secrets. Or just plain, shut up.
Cuentas claras amistades largas= Translations: Clear dealings makes long friendships. In other words, if you record and sign all your monetary transactions with friends and family, your friendships will surpass time and money. Very important! Trust me!

Guess who

Here's something that I'm working on right now. Its just a sketch, but you guys might know who this is. If you guess, I'll give you a cookie.



OK, so nobody guessed. We're a week into May and a week past this original posting. Here is the final version and maybe this will help you guess who this is. Any kind of cookie you want. Mmmmm....

Burning One Roomate at a Time

My make-up class continues. Burn victim. Supposedly, I burned 2 of his fingers to the bone and the rest are blistered from the heat. But if you know me the you know I always want to go the extra extra extra mile to make it work. In the words of Andre "Designers, make it work." I kept trying to really light the chicken bones I had glued to his fingers on fire, but they wouldn't catch! We finally taped a match to the back of it and put his hand to the stove and I took the picture just as the gas lit the match. Its a rare thing to catch those tiny moments. The other picture is with the flame and the colors were mesmerizing. So this is me burning one roommate at a time.

Selfless Gene

An editorial about altruism in the genes.

Thank you Marco and friend for your help on this one. I really couldn't have done it without you guys. You 2 rock! ...Marco, do you see what I just did? Go back to that sentence. Translation, U2 rocks! Yes they do. Rock on, little brother.

Leather Canvas

So I'm taking this one class, as sort of a relaxer, since I'm taking 3 illustration classes. I've been having such a good time doing the homework here that I thought I'd post the transformations. Its a special effects make-up class. When I was a kid, apart from the many other things I wanted to be when I grew up (doctor, model, detective, zoologist, mud wrestler, etc..) I also wanted to do movie make-up. It all started when I saw Mrs.Doubtfire and all I dreamt about was making prosthetics and painting people's faces. Now I paint canvases, which I've had as a steady dream since I was 4, but its always fun to get a new surface to paint on.
So here they are....my models. I tried to put them in order by the 1st to last I did. (In order to protect their privacy, I won't use the model's names....but if you know me then you probably know these people by association, so tough luck)

Introducing, my roomate...clean cut guy transformed into drug addict.
Followed by my mother... average happy woman first gone sexy momma then aged to about 200

And my sister...modern social to 70's chick.

My boyfriend is my next victim... good looking and young suddenly frozen dead and old geezer.

Then a good friend... from simply fun to Russian doll fun.

And the other sister... from beautiful lush curls to nothing.


Last but not least... myself from plain to wounded and zany.

Life of Pi Work in Progress

This is a work in progress I'm doing for book illustration. Its a cover for Life of Pi. If anyone's read the book, hopefully they understand what it is. If you haven't, then you should! Its a good book, read it in a couple of days.

My scanner is not as big as my ink drawing and I was being too lazy to scan the bits that were cropped, so poor turtle and poor hair of his chinny chin chin. Boohoo. Sob sob. Stay tuned to see the big picture. If you don't get it now....don't worry, you will soon my lads.



Ok ok ok. Its almost done. So here is the colored version. I'm putting it down until Sunday. I'm at the point where I can't see past the paint and lines. Its just paint and lines to me at this point. Happens to me a lot when I'm working on a piece for a long time.

Ali Baba- Open Sesame!

Another book illustration piece. I did 3 for Ali but didn't like them as much as this one. I needed a character for Ali and based on the story I wanted to depict him as an older, more experienced man. For casting I remembered 1 incident I had at my Junior College. I took a picture of all my family members to class and my art professor, Barbara Bouchard, said to a picture of my father:"that's Sadam Hussein." I couldn't convince her it was my dad so I decided to give my dad the role of Ali. We drove around San Jose looking for the perfect spot until the one spot we absolutely loved was on the side of the road and he kept yelling OPEN SESAME at the top of his lungs. Everyone just stared at him like he was insane.

You might recognize him from my family portraits. You might also recognize my sister Gabi in the lingerie piece.

The Toad King

I usually don't post my thumbs because I always think my thumbnail process is so messy and uninteresting. But this piece for book illustration is interesting in that I worked and reworked this composition and in the end came up with something that I was really happy with. Here is the first idea sketch. Very boring.


Then I realized I should probably make it all about the King. So I changed up the comp. I got a model and played with the other elements. But its changed many times after this still.






"There was no doubt the toad was king. His guards, the lizards, watched over him as he dined on wine and French bread."

For No One

Based on the song by The Beatles. The tile was my favorite part to do. Making all that watercolor bleed and splash.

What I took from the song: We are not all what we appear to be to others and in the long run when we are hurt we become inaccessible to those that hurt us. There comes a breaking point where we choose to surrender. Eventually, you weasel out of your cookie-cutter image and choose to live again. Listen to the song; you might not see what I saw.

Camino Seguro a la Inseguridad

Ok, so this is one crazy story. I was invited to see a lingerie show because my sister, the hairdresser, was doing some of the girls' hair. Being the tight knit family we are, I went WITH MY MOM, to see the "hair."
The title of the piece says it all. I saw the girls, their hair and their everything else but what I took home with me was the physiological aspect of the experience. Camino Seguro a la Inseguridad.
Its about relationships and the psych that some women endure. Or do they willing put themselves through it?

Now meet my Family!

Ok so the biggest part of where I came from is mi familia. I have a good size family and I always tell everyone that the best part of my childhood were my siblings. They can vouch for this. We grew up in a time where kids still played "pretend." We would become Robin Hood, Kings, Princesses, Mario and everyone in the Nintendo world. Lets see, If I remember correctly whoever was our guest, usually the boy across the street, who we met by throwing sweaters in our tree, now he was usually the main character. Mario, Robin Hood, The Prince. Gabi, the eldest, well she was always the princess. My brother, Marco, was always the bad guy. Bowser and whatnot, whatever pretend game we were playing. Now, I was a calmer child, spent more time drawing and reading so I took the lesser roles. I was sidekick to the hero. Luigi, or any supporting character. I mostly held ropes and followed the big guy making sure Princess didn't get hurt. I always secretly wanted to be Princess, especially when Robin Hood took her away on his white horse...actually is was a bike, but back then a kid's mind was impressionable. Then there was my kid sister. She was lower on the rung. Sorry, Mersay. She was the sidekick of the bad guy. So she just pretended to be a part of the game. Usually it would be me and her going at it, in a good way. I mean, the sidekicks were really no one but the extras.

My parents? Well they just made sure no one was tragically injured. Sort of like the creative directors or the producers....they let us do our thing, run around the yard and take off to the park.

So here they are. Half of them fell asleep during the pose. I drew from life but I guess that problem would have been solved with a photograph. Come to think of it, they all look pretty upset they had to sit there for an hour or 2.

Just to get this started

I've been working non-stop on a few illustrations for about 3 weeks now and I think that I finally came to a point where I can relax. I figured since I have about an hour until midnight and my computer turns into a pumpkin I might as well get this blog started since I have had it since December. Everyone welcome to my world. I should start by introducing myself. Here are a few self-portraits so we can get that out of the way.