TamiArt

Blue Girl

2012-01-12T15:30:00.001-08:00

Here's a little doodle I did today in about 1.5 hours.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-17T15:12:00.001-08:00

Putting Aidan to good use in order to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday Season from me and my Wooden Rose friends :)

Angel

2011-11-21T17:34:00.000-08:00

I just finished working my way through the Buffy series for at least the 5th or 6th time. I will never get tired of it! While I know that many prefer Spike as the hottest vampire in the series, and though I do agree that Spike is quite bad a**, I have always been and always will be an Angel girl at heart. And so in honor of him, I could not resist cooking up this little doodle, just for fun :)

Onryo

2011-10-24T16:50:00.001-07:00

I conjured up this little horror art piece in honor of Halloween. Onryo is a spirit from Japanese folklore that returns to haunt the world of the living to seek vengeance, and most of the time it is female. Yes, I may have been a teeny bit inspired by The Grudge ;)

A print of this (and something else) will be on display at the Revenge of Freeky Fright Nights Art Show in Boston this weekend. Check it out if you are around and need something to get you in a Halloweeny mood!

Edward Scissorhands

2011-10-13T15:38:00.000-07:00

I made this for Fanartica's potpourri week - a tribute to Edward Scissorhands. I was obsessed with this movie when I was in high school.

Cranshee

2011-10-05T19:45:00.001-07:00

Here is a recent page from my webcomic, Wooden Rose. It was inspired by illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells, which I am a big fan of. Cranshee is a word I invented for a creature I made up. It is based on two Gaelic words: crann, which means 'tree', and sidhe, which means 'people of the mounds', in other words, faeries. If you want to know more about my tree faeries, read my comic :)

Salsa

2011-09-27T13:32:00.001-07:00

I recently began taking a Salsa dance class and am really enjoying it. I was inspired to doodle about it here.

Adventure Time

2011-09-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

Our current Fanartica topic is Adventure Time! I contributed Lady Rainicorn and Marshall Lee. Seeing them next to each other makes me realize how opposite they are, haha. Check out the fun stuff everyone else is doing! :)

Jane Eyre

2011-09-16T17:24:00.001-07:00

Here's another series that I did for our Fanartica tumblr. The topic was 'classic novels', and since my favorite book - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - happens to be a classic novel, I decided to spend the fleeting two weeks focusing on it alone.

What If

2011-08-29T11:56:00.000-07:00

I just could not resist this bit of fun. He is the doctor after all. What if this was his real secret? ;)

(Wooden Rose + Doctor Who)

Studio Ghibli + Wes Anderson

2011-08-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

A few of my artist friends recently started a fan art tumblr called Fanartica. The current topic we chose is a mashup - Studio Ghibli meets Wes Anderson. We had the option of choosing one topic or mixing them together. Here are my three submissions. I'm such a huge Ghibli fan that I decided to focus mostly there, but I could not resist giving the mashup idea a shot with my Fantastic Mr. Totoro. Go check out the other awesome pieces that my friends are cranking out!

Horsey Doodle

2011-08-09T15:59:00.001-07:00

Horses are my very favorite animals to draw :)

Part of Your World

2011-07-31T19:16:00.001-07:00

"What would I give to live where you are?

What would I pay to stay here beside you?

What would I give to see you smiling at me?"

-Ariel, The Little Mermaid

Beauty and the Beast

2011-07-26T20:53:00.001-07:00

For some reason I felt a need to paint a lion with a pretty lady companion. I had so much fun doing one that I decided to make it into a series. I wish I could have a pet lion in real life without him eating me :P

Rome

2011-07-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

Here are the last of my sketches from Europe: Rome. Please excuse the sculpted stone nudity :P

WTD: Scent

2011-07-15T14:33:00.001-07:00

The word for "What the Doodle?" this week was scent. I could not help thinking of smelling salts. I've always had a fascination with the strange practices of the 19th century. And they make fun cartoons.

See what others came up with over on our Creative Juices blog.

WTD: Enclose

2011-06-27T07:57:00.001-07:00

Here's my contribution to Friday's "What the Doodle?" The word was enclose. We got some great pieces this time around. Check them all out over on our Creative Juices blog.

Festival

2011-06-22T13:03:00.000-07:00

It's officially summer, and summer in Boston never fails to remind me of Japan. It has the same kind of heat and humidity, and sometimes even the same smells. So here's a little nostalgic ode to Japan. This goldfish catching game is common during summer festivals. You get a little paper net that tears easily when it gets wet. If you can catch a fish with it, you get to take it home!

Florence

2011-06-17T16:27:00.001-07:00

More sketches from Europe, this time Florence. All of them are of sculptures, except for the one of the girl drawing, which is my sister, Kay.

In Memory

2011-06-11T07:19:00.001-07:00

I created this in loving memory of one of the greatest wizards of all time, Albus Dumbledore. I always felt like the movies never quite did him justice, so I tried to give him the warmth and sparkle that I imagine when I read the books. And of course he's not Dumbledore without Fawkes. :)

WTD: Mucky

2011-06-10T11:27:00.001-07:00

The "What the Doodle?" word for this week was mucky. Here's what I came up with. Check out what everyone else did over on our Creative Juices blog!

Venice

2011-05-31T20:00:00.001-07:00

Sketches from Venice.

Paris for Real

2011-05-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

I just returned from an amazing two weeks of traveling around four of the greatest cities in Europe with my sister, Kay. We did a lot of walking around, which got pretty tiring, so we made good use of our rest stops by sitting and sketching. Often this happened in art museums, so I have a lot of drawings of classical sculptures. Here's what I took from our first city, Paris. Locations were the Louvre, Musee Dorsay, and the street outside the Catacombs.

Paris!

2011-05-07T09:13:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I'm off to meet my sister in Paris! She'll be flying from Cali, and I from Boston. It will be our first visit, and also our first time traveling alone together, so it will be quite an adventure. We'll also be wandering through Italy, stopping in Venice, Florence and Rome.

Adieu!

Old Art

2011-05-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

Look what I dug up! It's a piece I did back in HIGH SCHOOL when 9/11 happened. Wow, I can't believe that was 10 years ago already...

It's made entirely of newspaper articles I found at the time, which I think I glued onto an old used silkscreen frame.

The Cast of Wooden Rose

2011-04-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my submissions for the Creative Juices Art Show, which took place very successfully at FableVision Studios last evening. Now that it's over I can display it here. It is the cast of Wooden Rose imagined as modern day actors or rock stars.

This piece is now available to buy as a print, along with some of my chapter covers. Feel free to check them out!

More Doctor Who

2011-04-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

I did this quick little doodle in celebration of the new season of Doctor Who. I have to say, the more I see of Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor, the more he grows on me. The first episode was amazing and I can't wait til the next!

WTD: Handrail

2011-04-01T15:30:00.000-07:00

The word for this week's What the Doodle? was handrail. It made me think of those skateboarders who do those crazy awesome jumping tricks on railings and decided to express that in the form of a maze. Enjoy!

And check out what others came up with over at our Creative Juices blog.

WTD: Rushing

2011-03-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

This week's word on What the Doodle? was rushing. Here's mine. Check out what other FableVisionaries came up with on the Creative Juices blog.

Jane Eyre

2011-03-09T15:49:00.000-08:00

Here's a little doodle I did in honor of the new Jane Eyre movie. I am super psyched about it! Particularly because the book, which was written by Charlotte Bronte, is my absolute favorite book of all time. I read it for the first time when I was 14 and have been obsessed with it ever since. I have read it so many times that I know portions of it by heart. There have been a lot of attempts at capturing Jane Eyre on film and every single one so far has disappointed me. No one has gotten it right. But from what I've seen of the new version coming into theaters this Friday, it looks like it might finally be spot on. Check out the trailer!

WTD: Breeze

2011-02-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

This week's word for What the Doodle was breeze. Here's my interpretation, inspired by Marilyn Monroe. I took the opportunity to try something new and had a lot of fun playing with textures. You may be seeing more of this in the near future...

Check out what others did on our Creative Juices blog.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T10:57:00.000-08:00

WTD: Daylight

2011-02-08T14:03:00.000-08:00

We started up "What the Doodle?" once more on the creative juices blog. This week's word was daylight. Here's mine. Check out what others came up with!

Backgrounds

2011-02-04T18:04:00.000-08:00

More work illustration! Here are 3 backgrounds that I created for a project at FableVision Studios. Drawing cityscapes and buildings in perspective is not my forte, so these were definitely challenging and time-consuming, but they were also a lot of fun. I had a lot of freedom to make these imaginary places look the way I wanted - places I would want to visit.

Work Illos

2011-01-18T17:13:00.001-08:00

These are a small fraction of illustrations that I did for a project at FableVision Studios. They ended up as tiny thumbnails about 1.5" x 2", but I worked on them at a much larger scale.

From top to bottom:

Stephen Hawking

Drying Fish

Buffalo

Biker in Snow

A Pipe Shop (to which I added a couple extra elements for fun - Mario and Luigi)

New Orleans

Maya Angelou

Mark Twain

Crab and Clam

Aztec Basketball (Apparently where basketball originated)

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-19T20:20:00.001-08:00

Here's a quick little Wooden Rose holiday doodle - my way of wishing all of you a very Happy Holiday Season!

Ocean

2010-11-16T15:40:00.001-08:00

Folks at FableVision are working on another round of themed art. This time the word of inspiration is ocean. My interpretation stems from my love of mermaids, and also the tragic current conditions of Earth's dying oceans. Check back at our Creative Juices blog in a month to see what others have done!

Paper Girl Doodle

2010-11-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a little WR doodle that I made to donate to the Paper Girl Northampton Project. Someone got this drawing for free and I will never know who it was or whether or not they liked it. But it was fun to do and I made a photocopy for my own bedroom wall. :)

Pumpkin

2010-10-24T11:15:00.001-07:00

In honor of Halloween this year I carved a pumpkin for the first time since... well probably since I left home to go to school 8 years ago. My design was inspired by the movie Ju-on (the Grudge). Here it is before and after being lit up.

I wasn't carving alone. I was at a pumpkin carving party where friends each carved their own design. It was tons of fun! See the other pumpkins here.

This is one of the reasons why Halloween is my favorite holiday.

Photos taken by Bob Flynn.

Tea Time

2010-09-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

I painted this mug at one of those paint-your-own-pottery places. Painting pottery is tricky because you don't know how it's going to look after it's been fired. The colors are completely different in paint form and you can't tell how thickly you've layered it. But it's a very fun way to spend a few hours if you need to blow some creative energy.

Fuzzy Things with Wings

2010-08-23T13:54:00.001-07:00

Had a little too much fun doodling wings in places they shouldn't be...

The 10th Doctor

2010-08-14T05:49:00.000-07:00

Starring David Tennant as the most glorious of all the doctors in Doctor Who. I created this in photoshop and had it printed poster-size as a birthday gift for my friend who is a huge fan of both the show and the actor. Happy Birthday Martzi! :)

Fishy Doodle

2010-08-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

Took a quick doodle break and painted this betta in about an hour in ArtRage. He has the same coloring as my betta but with fancier spikey fins. Bettas are so pretty.

Candy

2010-08-01T06:52:00.000-07:00

This time at FableVision we got to vote on our "What The Doodle?" word: candy. This time, we gave ourselves months to come up with an idea and flesh it out, because this time our interpretations are going to be printed, framed, and hung in the studio. Here's a sneak peek of my candy piece. Come by the studio in a month and check out what everyone else did!

This image is now owned by Tout Sweet Confections.

Drawing in the Park

2010-07-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

It's been far too long since I've drawn from life. Today I decided to start getting back into it and took a field trip to Boston Commons with my sketchbook. The ducks were so cute of course I had to draw them, which turned out to be quite an exercise because they are little feathered balls of energy in continuous movement. I had to draw them fast. These three sketches probably took me a total of about three hours.

WTD: Web

2010-07-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

Here's my contribution to this week's "What the Doodle?" on the Creative Juices blog. The word of inspiration was web.

Munny Dolls Completed

2010-06-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

Here are my Nessa and Aidan finished munny dolls. They were on display Fablevision's Creative Juices Art Show.

I started with 2 blank white munny dolls. I added the hair and dress with a special apoxie clay that self-hardens within a couple of hours, and I painted them in acrylics.

(thanks to Matt Bargar for taking this photo)

Carat

2010-06-18T07:25:00.000-07:00

Here is my interpretation of this week's 'What The Doodle' word: carat. Check out the Creative Juices blog to see others.

The Wooden Roses 2

2010-05-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

I had too much fun sketching out the other WR characters to accompany Aidan in my little fantasy band. I wonder what they would sound like.

Incase you can't tell who's who, we have Lillian on fiddle, the doctor on drums, Nessa on guitar and Aidan on guitar and vocals. :)

Darlingside

2010-05-12T15:48:00.001-07:00

Here is my fan art in support of the local band Darlingside, a string-rock quintet who I saw for the first time live at the Mayfair in Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA. I only had one short glimpse of them, but they stole my heart with their warm string-filled sound, and their energy and talent. I will definitely be there when they return to Boston.

The Grateful Crane

2010-05-05T16:08:00.000-07:00

I did this watercolor painting a couple years ago. It was inspired by the Japanese folk tale "The Grateful Crane".

WTD: Bellying

2010-03-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

I finally found time to participate in this week's What the Doodle on the Creative Juices Blog. The word was bellying.

The Wooden Roses

2010-03-15T16:48:00.001-07:00

Sometimes when I listen to music, I like to imagine my characters as the singers. Weird, I know. So I did this little doodle of how Aidan might look performing in a modern rock concert. If I get any spare time I would love to: (a) do the other characters as well; (b) color it and make it into an official-looking concert poster.

Apolo

2010-02-21T19:55:00.001-08:00

I love drawing portraits. In honor of the Olympics I did this little sketch of Apolo Ohno, the short-track speed skater champion. It took me less than 30 minutes.

Valentine

2010-02-12T11:16:00.000-08:00

Nessa and Aidan wish you a Happy Valentine's Day (via me of course)! I had fun creating this little Wooden Rose holiday painting. I got a bunch of them printed small and handed them out at FableVision for our Valentine exchange. Enjoy!

Tarzan

2010-02-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

I did this painting of Tarzan as an illustration for a story about Johnny Weissmuller for work.

Coasters

2010-01-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

These lovely coasters were created from pages of Wooden Rose. They were made by my aunt Pamela Wicinas.

Doctor Dawson

2010-01-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

Finally got around to painting the doctor from Wooden Rose.

Holiday Doodle

2009-12-23T16:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a special little holiday-themed drawing of Nessa and Aidan. I hope you all have a very happy holiday and new year! Thank you for following my blog.

Recombined

2009-12-04T17:01:00.000-08:00

Here is my contribution to this week's "What the Doodle?" exercise on the Creative Juices blog. The word was RECOMBINED.

Roommate Caricatures

2009-11-30T18:47:00.001-08:00

I don't very often attempt to draw cartoons, but a couple years ago I lived with a group of people so interesting and different that I could not resist the temptation to try to capture them in caricatures. I just dug this up from my old forgotten computer files last night.

Thorne Munny

2009-11-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

I went out and bought one of those blank Munny Dolls to paint - something I've always wanted to try but I never got around to it. After some thought about what to do with it the answer was pretty obvious. I painted it in the image of Mr. Thorne, a character from Wooden Rose. I am quite happy with the result. It's pretty fun to have a toy figurine of your own character.

Aidan Thorne

2009-11-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

A second attempt at painting Mr. Thorne from Wooden Rose. I am much happier with the outcome this time.

Costumes!

2009-10-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

My friends and I decided to all dress up as Batman villains for Halloween this year. We then found out that the Boston comic-con was the weekend before Halloween and the coincidence was just too perfect to pass up. So here we all are dressed up and ready to head off to the con. And we were indeed very popular there. That's me on the far left dressed up as Harley Quinn, followed by Poison Ivy, Riddler, Cat Woman, and Scarecrow.

We all designed and put our costumes together ourselves. I found some of the parts for mine separately, but I made a few of the details myself such as the hat, which I could not find any where. It was the first time I have put so much cost and effort into a costume and it was worth it.

WTD: Pelagic

2009-10-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

I learned a new word for this week's WTD on Creative Juices. The word was "pelagic", which means "of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea". What a perfect excuse to draw mermaids! :)

Trace

2009-09-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

The word for this week's What the Doodle? on Creative Juices was TRACE. Here is my interpretation.

Nimbus Cumulon

2009-09-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

This is a concept illustration and background art that I created at FableVision for the web game which is part of Generation Cures.

Extinguishable

2009-08-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

I participated in this week's What The Doodle? (WTD?) for FableVision's Creative Juices blog. The word of the week was "extinguishable". I painted this little smoke spirit in photoshop, inspired by incense and Buddha.

Kimono Doodle

2009-08-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

For a while now I've been wanting to connect with my roots and try my hand at a more Japanese style of illustration. I finally got around to my first experiment with this little photoshop doodle.

Painting

2009-08-06T12:58:00.000-07:00

It's been way too long since I've touched my brushes and paint so I recently decided to revisit them. I used brown ink and watercolors to paint this, inspired by art nouveau and the Wooden Rose themes. I plan to donate it to the Paper Girl Northampton Project.

Mr. Thorne

2009-07-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

Mr. Thorne from Wooden Rose. This time I decided to post both the initial pencil sketch and finished painting to give you an idea of my process.

Doctor Who

2009-07-13T11:57:00.001-07:00

A portrait drawn in pencil of David Tennant as Doctor Who, which I drew for a friend.

Lillian

2009-07-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

A portrait of Lillian from Wooden Rose.

Drifting

2009-06-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

Another doodle for this week's Illustration Friday topic: 'drifting'. I had fun with this one!

Unfold

2009-06-18T12:35:00.000-07:00

I decided to try and illustrate this week's Illustration Friday topic : "unfold". It's a quick sketch I did from a still life I set up for myself.

The Last Unicorn

2009-06-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

The animated film "The Last Unicorn" by Rankin Bass Studios, based on the novel by Peter S. Beagle.

I absolutely LOVED this movie as a child. I recently revisited it and realized that my feelings have not changed at all. It is a beautiful film.

Years later I can appreciate it in a way I couldn't before. I now have experience designing backgrounds for animation

so I take much more notice of background art than I used to. The backgrounds in this film are stunning, especially the forest scenes.

It gives me new inspiration for my own work.

Shop Window

2009-06-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

I created this to be a full-page frame for my comic, but a few days later I decided I did not like it enough. At least I can still display it here.

Rocker Elf

2009-06-02T10:23:00.001-07:00

I did this one a while ago. Thought it would be fun to imagine a rock star in a fantasy lord of the rings kind of world.

Pretty Dess

2009-05-23T11:59:00.001-07:00

I absolutely love the bustle fashions of the late 19th century, however odd they may be, and I try to put it to good use in my comic. This is a sneak peek from the page I just finished, where I designed this lovely red dress for Nessa to wear. Now if only I could make a real one for myself...

Nessa

2009-05-19T10:05:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be fun to try to paint more realistic portraits of all my characters - to imagine what they might look like in real life. Yesterday I started with Nessa.

Kitsune

2009-05-15T08:09:00.001-07:00

Found this old thing hanging around my computer.

"Kitsune" is Japanese for "fox". It was inspired by those Japanese folk tales about the foxes that go around masquerading as beautiful women and tricking young men into marrying them.

Sketch

2009-05-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

Sketch of the page I am currently working on for Wooden Rose.