One day, a very sweet lady wrote to me to have a portrait done.

Her name is is Keri Zamora.

She’s a lovely lady with an exquisite sense of style.

I was pleasantly surprised when she expressed that she appreciated the anime influence in my work! When I asked her for visual pegs she would like me to draw inspiration from, she sent me images from the Studio Ghibli film, Spirited Away. I knew then that I would definitely enjoy working on this portrait.

One of the scenes from Spirited Away that I found visually striking was when Chihiro was running through the field of flowers. Perhaps you’ll see its influence on my painting when I show the final work at the end of this blog post!

I started out with soft washes, going from light to dark.

 I chose warm, sweet, summery colors that I felt Keri would like. I had also started adding the gold ink at this point.  I chose to outline some details in gold because it’s an element I really enjoy when looking at yukata or kimono prints.

They add a whole other dimension to a piece because of how it can look different when it catches light a certain way.

Chihiro was wearing traditional Japanese clothes, so I thought to draw Keri in a kimono. As I’ve mentioned, she really wanted me to incorporate the anime influence in this portrait so she was very game about being drawn in a kimono.

I filled in the colors of the flower details first, because I would base the color of the kimono and obi on their overall look. They are such big areas of color that I needed to be very careful with how I treated them so maintain the balance of the composition, as well as to compliment the colors of the smaller details around them.

 Here are the colors I decided on for the obi. And another look at the different qualities of the gold detailing based on the way light hits them.

 After coloring in the obi, I went to work on the rest of the kimono.

 I selected mainly shades of peach and pink for the kimono. I added some smaller bursts of similar but darker colors on areas where I needed the details to stand out more. It also added more balance by reflecting the color of the obi.

One of my favorite spots to work on.

Keri. Watercolor and gold ink on aquarelle paper. 15 x 20 inches.

And here is the final work, my portrait of Keri.

Rather than having her simply wear a floral-printed kimono, I wanted to add a bit of dimension and touch of whimsy by having the flowers growing out of the print. I also had her hold a chrysanthemum because it’s a flower that is traditionally given to mothers during Mother’s Day in some cultures, and it is also said to attract good luck in a household.

I’m very happy that she loved the painting and was such a wonderful client to work with! I hope somehow it does bring more good fortune and happiness to her home. :)

I’m currently open for commissions, so please feel free to send me an email (josonjin at gmail dot com) or use my contact form if you’d like to send an inquiry!

Thanks for looking!

A pair of ghostly hands I drew some time ago, for a creepy shirt design idea I had. I looked at x-rays as reference, and drew everything in Photoshop. I shared it on my dA page, and submitted it to a couple of shirt websites where people vote on designs to get them printed. So many people expressed their interest in owning the shirt, but it never quite made it through to printing.

However, one day I got an e-mail from T-shirts.com saying they had seen my work, along with an invitation to be part of a project they’ve been working on. And I’m now one of the artists they selected for their Artist-Designed Collection for which they selected illustrators around the world to make shirts of our artworks. Very honored to be part of the roster!

While my previous attempts to get this design printed may not have been exactly successful, sharing it with people and getting it out there still led to T-shirts.com to finding me. My arrangement with them is even better, because now I can design whatever I want and they can print it without me troubling people to vote for it first!

Let this an example of how things might not always work out quite the way you planned, but life may just surprise you with something better! Work hard and be kind. :)

See all my designs so far in this page!

Forever and Always is available in several color variations and on both men’s and women’s tees! (You may click on the pictures to be taken to the store, where you’ll also find a couple more of my designs)

I’ll be creating more designs over the next several months! If you like, comment to let me know what you’d like to see!

“They say that dreams are only real as long as they last. Couldn’t you say the same thing about life?” — Waking Life

Here’s my illustration that was featured in the Graphika Manila 2012 Book. In preparation for a series of paintings I’ll be doing, I wanted to work on something that explores the concept of dreams, mixed with emotions I’ve been observing.

With this piece in particular, I wanted to depict those moments when you’ve just woken up and are trying to find your bearings. Your mind is cloudy, and you feel confused about what’s real because your dream reality is mixing up with real life.

There may even be those times when you’ve just gone through some life-changing developments which might not be the happiest, and you contemplate hindering your brain from piecing together the truth you may not wish to face. You find yourself wanting to sink back into the comfort of uncertainty in some alternate dream world, or the peaceful void of unconsciousness. But you’ve got to pick yourself up and keep living.

In case you were wondering — The quote below the artwork is from a film called Waking Life, which is wonderfully thought-provoking. The animation can get a little too trippy sometimes, but you can choose to just listen to the movie since it’s basically a series of conversations. I have very fond feelings for this film. It caused a big shift in my perception of certain things, made me feel like I wasn’t such an odd schmuck for thinking a certain way, and helped keep my mind open to possibilities beyond my wildest imaginings.

Sketching into the wee hours of the night. My spirits were kept up by a cup of hot chocolate with rainbow marshmallows.

The artwork in its earlier stages. The final piece was rendered with graphite, watercolor and digital.

Despite my rainbow marshmallows, I feel this post is a bit too serious. Now I feel this would be a great time to share a recent dream experience. I usually don’t remember much of my dreams, but this one I recalled quite vividly. I typed out a very long description of it for my friends, but I’ll spare you guys and share the abridged version. Some of you might have read a bit about this on my Twitter, hahah.

The other day I dreamt that I was at Comic Con, and I was dressed up as some sort of fighter. I kind of remember it looking like something out of Granado Espada. I was partaking in the usual convention fun, and then SUDDENLY THERE WAS AN INVASION OF EVIL CREATURE THINGS. And to my surprise, the people whom I thought were just dressed up as wizards suddenly had actual wizard powers. Given the way I was dressed, I was asked to fight with them. And I distinctly remember yelling, “I HAVE NO DISCERNABLE FIGHTING SKILLS!” Even in my dreams I’m an awkward human being.

After the worst of the invasion was over, I was suddenly attacked by a lizard man (in Renaissance clothes that matched the aesthetic of mine) who was angrily screeching how he would not let me foil his plans again. While I should have been pondering about when I might have previously foiled the reptilian gentleman’s plots, I was rather preoccupied as he was strangling me and at some point had bitten my right leg. When I shut my eyes in pain, I discovered I had a skill interface in my head — the sort you’d see in turn-based RPGs. Surging with adrenaline, I somehow managed to use these skills, and with incredible might and magic bashed the reptilian gentleman’s head in. And then I woke up, and my right leg hurt where he had bitten me. The end.

In other news!

Here are some newer ways you may keep up with my updates, should you want to:

• Follow me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/artofjinjoson
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• Alternatives in this post!

Sorry about the silence back there! I’m working on a lot of things, but hardly any I can make public just yet!

As always, thank you for taking the time to take a peek over here! Hearing the simplest things from you guys makes me happy, so feel free to comment if you’d like to!

Come Along With Me — fan art based on Adventure Time

(Though I do keep wishing for an episode where they show more of Marshall Lee)

In this blog post, I’m going to talk about my thought process for this drawing, as well as the progression from sketch to the final work. :) It’s going to be a moderately long post, but with lots of pictures and animations of my progress!

Recently, I had been missed the feeling of making fan art — learning the art style of a show and trying to keep the style while I make my own composition and add a bit of my own style as well.

I’ve been watching a lot of Adventure TIme. It’s a show that’s awesome to kick back with after a long day. Aside from the kooky storylines and subtle hints of dark humor that seeps through its candy-colored world, I actually really appreciate it for its visuals. It’s been a while since I’ve been drawn to a cartoon style, but I found Adventure Time inexplicably appealing despite its simplicity. Something about the colors and way the lines flow is just so fascinating to me.

(Wow, it’s kind of weird writing about Adventure Time as if I were doing a paper on it. Moving on!)

My favorite episodes are the ones with Marceline the Vampire Queen, so I decided to draw the gender-swapped versions of Finn and Marceline: Fionna and Marshall Lee.

Reference: Fionna model sheet

Reference: Marshall Lee model sheet

These versions make an appearance in “Fionna and Cake”, an episode in the show’s third season that features gender-swapped versions of the characters. Genderbending is such a fandom thing, something I usually only see in fan art. So I was beyond delighted when I found out they made a legit episode!

While deciding on what to draw, I just knew I wanted to include scenery from the Land of Ooo (or rather, the Land of Aaa in this case). I’m a sucker for scenery! Especially candy-colored ones. Then came the decision to draw Fionna the Human and Marshall Lee the Vampire King. With the latter being a vampire and all, it would have been uncharacteristic of him to be out in the sun.

So I imagined that maybe Fionna invited Marshall Lee to go adventuring with her during daytime, forgetting that sunlight is kiiiiinda bad for vampires. And maybe he decided to brave it out in the sun for a friend  just this once. What a nice vampire. Then came the idea to draw him with an umbrella, and an outfit that would cover up most of the exposed parts of his skin. I also wanted to keep the color of this clothes dark to emphasize how out of place he is in the blazing sunlight.

(Cake is in the drawing too. She’s hiding in Fionna’s bag because vampires freaks her out. Hahah!)

I kept Fionna’s original outfit because we hardly see Finn in different clothes. For Marshall Lee, I decided to draw him in a new one because Marceline is always changing outfits and I wanted to draw him in something apart from that red plaid shirt. The outfit I drew was inspired by Marceline’s outfit in the episode “Henchman”, Gerard Way’s outfit during Scream Awards 2008, a little bit of Dark Shadows, and the fact that a penchant for red boots seems to run in Marceline’s family. Hahah!

References for Marshall Lee’s outfit:

Gerard Way at 2008 Scream Awards (photo Credit: Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos)

Marceline's outfit in the episode "Henchman"

Now on to my artwork progress!

1.  I started with a pencil sketch on a small sketch pad. Since I planned to ink over it digitally, I decided to just take a photo rather than scan it. (For convenience more than anything, really)

2. Using a normal round brush on Photoshop, I went over my pencil sketch. I didn’t fully line Fionna at this point because I initially planned to render everything in a more painterly fashion (but decided against it later on hahah).

3. I then laid down the flat colors, all on individual layers so it’s easier to adjust if needed.

4. Added a dark grey background to check on how clean my flats are.

5. I doodled the landscape (badly) just to get the feel of where things are supposed to go.

6. I refined the doodles a bit then drew more refined outlines on a separate layer. I also added Cake at this point.

7. I hid the background doodle layer to check on the cleanliness of my lines.

8. I hid Fionna and Marshall Lee to focus on rendering the background.

9. As with my sketch for the subjects, I laid down the flats on individual layers.

10. I made Fionna and Marshall Lee visible again to see how they look with the cleaned up, colored background.

11. Added some basic shadows and a sky gradient to get the feel of how it might look after the final rendering.

12. I did some color editing (which you might find I will end up doing a lot, hahah)

13. I started adding cel shading to the pink trees on the left side.

14. I colored the black line art. The change is subtle but it makes quite a difference in the end.

15. Added cel shading on the clounds, and I changed the color of the farther hills so that there would be more focus on the foreground.

16. I refined the shadows, and changed the color of the hills yet again.

17. Finalized most of the main background cel shading, and fixed the shadow positioning so that they wouldn’t look too static.

18. Added grass detailing which actually helped a lot.

19. Not yet the final work, but almost there! I eventually decided on what I felt was the best color for the hills, and added the stripe texture on the sky (which is something I admired in Adventure Time backgrounds). A few more changes and I had the final work, which you can see on top of this blog entry!

This was so much fun to do, and I look forward to drawing more Adventure Time fan art! Thanks to all of you who read through all of this, and that perhaps you learned something! Please feel free to comment/share this post if you wish!

| (• ◡•)| (❍ᴥ❍ʋ) WHOO!

My new Facebook page for art updates: Art of Jin Joson

Like/Share/comment if you wish! I love hearing from you!

Whenever I make new posts or have pictures to share, I’ll be posting there. :) I’m still working on additional coding for my blog in my free time, which includes adding ways to keep you guys updated. For now, here are a few other ways you can follow me:

• follow with FeedBurner
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Katrina Teh / Facebook page / WordPress blog

When I think of Katrina’s work, the word neoclassical comes to mind. Something about the way she renders forms makes me think of sculptures made by old masters, but she breathes a new sort of energy and life into her compositions that makes her style all her own.

Bianca Lesaca / Facebook page / blog

Bianca’s illustrations and paintings, very much like her, are whimsical and pensive. She makes worlds full of flowing shapes and colors, and curious characters and creatures.

Valerie Chua / Facebook page / website

Sandra Dans / photo blog / Facebook page

I don’t have enough words for how much I admire Sandra’s photography. She’s usually a wedding photographer, but I also particularly enjoy her travel photos. She’s got an incredible sense of composition, changed the way I look at negative space, and captures life in a way that makes you feel like you’re looking into her memories.

Hope you enjoy looking through our sites!

I’m working on several new artworks now. I also managed to squeeze in a bit of time to do some fan art for fun. I’ll be posting it along with the process soon so please watch out for it! :)

We were commissioned to make artworks based on the theme “You as a work of art“, while using Clinique products in the creation of our pieces. They gave us stuff like foundation, lipsticks, eyeliners, and eyeshadows.

This is how my sketch started out. Doesn’t really look like much, hahah. I sketch very, very lightly.

Slowly establishing more detail.

Final line art. The face was inspired by Zooey Deschanel. (For some reason I now kind of see Anne Curtis too.)

I kept images like this in mind as a peg while I worked on my coloring.

To stay true with the visual identity of Clinique, I incorporated a lot of white space with bursts of vibrant color. Here’s a preview of my artwork in its earlier stages. I established very light colors with watercolor washes, and for certain parts I used the provided makeup to build up the color. I used some foundation on the skin, the tinted lip balm on the lips, and the eyeshadow cream around the eyes and cheeks.

Our artworks were unveiled  in an exclusive VIP event held at Whitespace last January 19, 2012. The night was a celebration of Clinique’s new makeup collection that captures women as works of beauty and art. (Article)

The lovely and talented Valerie Chua, part of the four featured artists. I took this photo of her beside her gorgeous painting,  “I Rise at the Caress of a Kindred Spirit”. I had a lovely time at the event with her and Miguel.

Val having a look around the gallery.

My painting, “Bloom“.

I was inspired by the way the provided Clinique products were made to enhance a person’s natural features, rather than paint a whole new face. Everything was sheer and natural, so I wanted to keep with the fresh, radiant vibe of the collection. Bloom may seem a bit too straightforward a title, but that’s what feels right to me. It’s a word that inspired my composition on many levels.

It was such a great honor and pleasure to be part of this, and I look forward to more collaborations of this sort. :)

I used watercolor, gold ink and colored pencils. Normally, I tend to use every color I have available on my compositions. I lovingly call my usual color scheme “rainbow vomit”. Haha! I’m fighting that instinct to keep to the sweet, summery palette that I had in mind for this painting.

The earlier stages of color buildup. For me, it’s always a bit of an adventure using watercolors. It’s the most temperamental out of all the mediums I like to use. I feel like it behaves differently every time I paint with it.

It is a welcome challenge, though. It constantly provides me with opportunities to learn. I always find myself a little intimidated at first due to the relatively unforgiving nature of watercolors (as opposed to say, painting on canvas with acrylic) but it’s always a great feeling as I gradually ease myself into the process.

These kimono pattern details are a lot of work, but I’m enjoying every bit of it.

Looking at my kimono references for the painting got me wanting some Japanese sweets. Luckily, I had chanced upon a box of dango. Is it okay to think an item of food is cute, and feel the urge to pet it?

Sometimes I can’t help eating with my eyes as well.

After taking these out of the container, I had to admire the colors and texture first before eating them.

I also enjoy preserving these moments with my camera.

I have kind of an embarrassing number of photos of my food, but I’ll end with this one. I liked this shot for the simple reason that the background happened to have the same color scheme as the dango.

A peaceful afternoon with wonderful weather, a nice view of the sky, and some sweets — sometimes these little things do so much to keep me going.

What simple things do you get inspiration from?

“While studying sound engineering and classical piano at the Robert Schumann conservatory in Düsseldorf, Behringer found the university had limited equipment for student use, so he started to build his own products. His fellow students requested equipment from him too, and soon he was receiving more orders than he could handle himself, leading to the creation of Behringer Inc.” (Source)

I invite you to read The BEHRINGER Story. It’s a very inspiring and heartwarming account of how he found his calling (by accepting that his first choice may not have been the right one), followed his passion, and came to be the founder of one of the world’s largest and most successful audio equipment companies.

My classmates and I had an excellent time working for him. And when our paintings were done, his home with our artwork was featured in the newspaper. It was a very rewarding moment for us.

Last year (years after our previous meeting), Mr. Behringer was having another home done and he searched for me again to ask me to make more art for him. It was a wonderful surprise to hear from him again, and a meeting was arranged for us to meet when he flew back to the Philippines. We pitched some ideas back and forth to figure out what visual style he’d like for the new series of artworks. He was delighted when I asked him what elements he would like to see in the paintings. His eyes lit up and he wanted instruments because “It’s all about the music”. Since there were to be three pieces, he chose a piano, a saxophone, and a guitar.

Thumbnail sketches

The canvas size required for the paintings was 1.2 x 1 meters. That is a relatively large scale, and it would be difficult to do a lot of trial and error straight on the canvas. It could damage the fabric as well.

So I started out by making rough thumbnail sketches on a small sketchpad. These are very small drawings that help me figure out the composition for the artwork. I also use them to block in light and dark values to get an idea of how to get a good overall balance for the final work.

Sketches on canvas

When I’m satisfied with my general compositions, I take my time to recreate them on the large canvas. I like to be very detailed with my line work because I tend to feel more confident when it’s time to bring in the paint.

One day's work on the guitar piece

I decided it would be best to use acrylic and oil paints for this triptych. Here’s the first night’s progress with acrylic paints. It’s not very pretty right now, but that’s what’s great about this type of paint — it doesn’t have to be neat because you can just keep layering as you figure things out. (And that layering can make the final work look better.)

Close-up on layering and textures

This photo shows the different opacities and textures that can be achieved with acrylic. Its qualities depend on a number of factors, including brand, pigment, and the amount of water used. It’s always fun buying a new tube of paint and experimenting to see what can be achieved by it.

Progress on two pieces

More establishing washes on the guitar piece, and the beginnings of the saxophone piece.

Early stages of the saxophone painting

I started with establishing washes and texture on the saxophone piece, then started rendering the sax with very diluted black acrylic which I treated like watercolor. It makes the final rendering a lot easier.

Underpainting and Initial washes on piano painting

Vertical wash texture on the piano painting, again achieved by diluting the paint in a lot of water. This will serve as the base for the textures I had in mind for the composition.

Piano painting progress

This shows the very early stages of the wash guide I painted for the piano. Looks a bit like random smudges, doesn’t it? Sometimes at this stage of the work I have to fight the feeling of being discouraged that my work isn’t looking good. I just have to keep at it until it looks the way I want it to.

Saxophone rendering progress

Here is the transition of my saxophone rendering, from the initial wash guide to the final render with oil paints.

Nearly finished

And here’s how the finished saxophone looks on the composition.

More texture work on the saxophone piece

Ever since the first commission, Mr. Behringer expressed how much he appreciates texture so I made sure to incorporate lots of it into the new paintings.

Guitar piece nearing completion

Textures were almost done. Just missing the final rendering on the guitar details and torn paper effect (which was achieved with gesso and paint)

My workplace

Here’s a look at my workplace during the final stages of the artwork. Ah, the bittersweet feeling of commission work nearing completion. It’s always a little painful parting with my work. (Hahah, the TV is on with Hey, Arnold! playing on Nick. I always have a show playing while I work.)

The final paintings

Here’s a look at the final works. (Higher resolution will be available when I’ve finished fixing up my gallery.) The colors and textures I chose for each of them represent how I feel the sound of the respective instruments would translate visually.

They were successfully installed on concrete panels made especially to hold them in Mr. Behringer’s home. I hope you enjoyed this post as I enjoyed working on this project. :) A lot of love and sleepless hours went into the creation of these paintings. I’m very happy with what I came up with, so it was all very much worth it.

These pieces are among the selections currently up at the store as prints or gadget skins.

Some of you guys have been asking how you may subscribe to this blog, so here are a couple of options for now:

• Follow my blog with Bloglovin
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I’ll be adding more later! Please feel free to leave a comment if there’s a method you’d like to suggest!

As always — thank you for reading! I’m looking forward to sharing more!

I’ve been actively blogging for a while now, but I had been holding back on writing about my art. I guess I’ve been waiting for someplace that I can really consider my own.

It's a little scary having a .com attached to my name, hahah

Now I’ve got my little place on the web, for which I have to thank Karol See. I came up with the layout design, and she made it come to life! After she put down the foundations and programmed everything, I tweaked it a bit more to my liking, and here we are! Apart from having a gallery, I really wanted a clean and simple blog because it’s important for me to be able to write about my work. There is still some sprucing up I want to do, but I’m happy to be able to welcome you here now!

As you might discover should you decide to follow this visual diary, I dabble in a lot of mediums.

I invite you to read more about me and what I do on my profile.

I’ll be uploading more work and writing about them on this blog in the coming weeks. For now, I’ve got some work up at my external gallery that you could flick through. I also have some new pieces I’m currently working on that I might post progress of.

I shall excuse myself now, as there is a painting that requires my attention. :) Thank you for taking the time to have a look! I hope you’ll stay with me!