Happy Holidays!

Hope you all had a wonderful christmas, and let me wish you a happy new year 2012. I leave you here with a video of the laser show they are doing in Oaxaca for the holidays. Enjoy!

                                

Teorico-Practico de Especializacion para Ilustradores

This is the second workshop that I took in CASA. In this class we worked on how to illustrate a poem. You can see most of the process through the photos. It was a great class where I learned a lot about some of my habits(Good and bad habits as well! ) as an Illustrator and worked to improve for the better. We learned that we as illustrator are in control of what we want to do, and that we should let life influence us not just illustrators we like. I also learned to not be afraid to do something out of the ordinary to come out with a different style.It was a fun and intensive 4 days of class, now time to enjoy the photos.

The Poem

The Sketch

The Final Piece!

About Gerardo Suzan: He was born in Mexico city, studied graphic design at the UNAM in Mexico. He's been professor for more than 20 years. He won the prize IBBY Mexico in the category of illustration in 1985.He has illustrated numerous books and he also directs the postgraduate class of illustration at the Academy of San Carlos. Gerardo works in various mediums,but mostly in Acrylics.

Check out his blog ( and remember google translate is your friend) @ http://suzanilustrador.blogspot.com/ 

Enjoy the rest of your week :)

El Esqueleto de los Cuentos

"El Esqueleto de los Cuentos" is one of the workshops I took in CASA. It lasted 4 days from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM. I learned a lot about what takes to start a story, we worked here a project of a simple book of 7 pages for little Children. A children books doesn't always has to have a morale, it can be meant for inspiration, entertaining, bringing a laugh  out of you or just sharing the simple things of life. We learned about styles, style doesn't has to be just drawing it can be anything that you want it to be and that you enjoy doing it. Here is a photo of the dummy book of my story, about a little kitten that runs in the morning and one day encounters a big, BIG dog. Enjoy:

About Antonio Santos:

Antonio Santos is a Spanish Children illustrator that works with different mediums from paper cuts, sculptures, ink, printmaking. He has published numerous books. He was 2nd place in "Nacional de Ilustración de Libros Infantiles y Juveniles"in Spain and also won the daniel Gil prize for best illustrated children's book in 2003. He also represented Spain at the Bologna Children's Book Fair. Feel free to visit his blog @ http://santos-lloro.blogspot.com/ to see more of his work(It is in spanish, but with google translate you can read it in English)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Centro de las Artes San Agustin

During four days I took two illustration classes held in Centro de las Artes San Agustin aka CASA. CASA is located on the outskirts of the city of Oaxaca in a Pueblo call Vista Hermosa.

CASA is such a beautiful place and it has strong history.It used to be a textile factory, and you can still see some of the machinery used. The factory closed in 1989 and it was abandoned, until one of Oaxaca most know artist Francisco Toledo proposed saving the building, hence it was restored and brought back to life  as a space for artist to learn and communicate and create wonderful pieces of work. It is truly a palce to find inspiration, and learn new things (I truly did) and I plan to come back many times.

Please visit the website for more info @ http://casanagustin.org.mx/

Now some pictures for you to enjoy :)

I took two classes the ones taught by Antonio Santos and Gerardo Suzan,
I will talk about each class in the next two blog posts! 

Mi Ciudad...My City: Oaxaca de Juarez

I truly love where I come from, and I'm glad i'm getting to know my city again. Here is a great video of Oaxaca by ViveOaxaca.

I have finally installed internet in my home, so updates will be happening more regularly.

Renata Liwska

I love Renata Liwska's Illustrations, they make me want to hug them and cuddle with them. Her characters are so friendly! and I love her rendering style :).  I was surprised to find out she used photoshop, it really doesn't look very digital, I like how she worked out a style where she combined the  traditional with the digital! but you really can't tell! you can see the process of her work thanks to amazon.com HERE. I really need to get some of her books in my library.

See more of her work at her website, while there check the sketchbook section! @ http://www.renataliwska.com/

Yes, she has a blog, enjoy it @ http://renataliwska.blogspot.com/

Instrumenta Oaxaca 2011

At the beginning of November, Oaxaca Instrumenta 2011 Began, which mean all through the month of November there is free and paid concerts all around downtown of the city. It's a great opportunity to sketch and listen to music :) Being focused on the sketches made me forget to take lots of pictures (shame on me), but here are the few as well as the sketches from my sketchbook.

The Hidden People by Cory Godbey

I Highly recommend to have this small jewel on your library. Not only would you have an amazing piece of work, but you will also be supporting a fellow and very talented illustrator. The format of the book reminds me of Brian Freud and Alan Lee's book "Fairies". The one of an explorer/anthropologist cataloging a new world. I love seeing the different variations of his sketches. His style, characters and imagination are fun to see and read about. I also like the care he took in setting up his book with chapters, descriptions, studies, close ups, sticking to a constant set of lettering, the process and the epilogue. Enjoy the sneak peeks!

Check out Cory Godbey's website @ http://corygodbey.com/
Check out his blog @ http://lightnightrains.blogspot.com/
You can buy the book @ http://www.etsy.com/shop/corygodbey
And finally check out his portfolio @ http://www.behance.net/corygodbey

Happy Day of the Death

Yesterday was day of the death, but I was happily seeing all the altars, the sand carpets, visiting the cemetery and seeing all the celebrations that I didn't have time to wish you all a happy day of the death, but like they say better late than never :)

Oaxaca, Mexico

As you know I'm back in my hometown Oaxaca, Mexico. For those that are not familiar with Oaxaca, I hope that through my blog you get to discover the place where my roots are and where most of my inspiration comes for my illustrations . Oaxaca is a beautiful town full of colors, music, art and delicious cuisine. Here I share two videos that show just the tip of the iceberg of what Oaxaca is, but that will give you a beginning of an idea of what Oaxaca is about. 

Here Are 3 blogs that I love to follow about other people that live and experience Oaxaca:

Oaxaca: The year After : http://oaxacanyear.blogspot.com/

View From Casita Colibri : http://casitacolibri.wordpress.com/

Oaxaca Cultural Navigator : http://oaxacaculture.com/

Irina Vinnik

Yes, you can close your mouth now, it's quite jaw-dropping. I love Irina Vinik's illustrations, from the one's in her sketchbook to her graphics in the computer, all those details, and swirls it reminds me of art nouveau. She started as an architect, then web designer and she's now an illustrator. I'm showing here my favorites, they are mostly her botanical illustrations, but she does some cool letterings too.So go check out her website at http://vinnik.net 

or visit her BEHANCE

Right Side of the Brain

The right side of my brain is definitely the dominating one,
 but i do have my left side of the brain moments :)

I came across this AD by Mercedes Benz, and couldn't help but post it and share it here :D

Hola from Oaxaca, Mexico!

I apologize for abandoning my dear blog, but settling down is always time consuming, and the lack of internet doesn't help either but thank god for little cafe shops with free internet and a grandma with internet too! So here I am back in my hometown which I'm loving to get to know again. Here are some photos for you to enjoy and will do my best to update more regularly.

I love the skies here I never get tired of looking at them,have a great week everyone :)