Summer and a Slice of Pizza
I just returned from the overnight Ecosoc Planning Seminar (or Semester Planning to some orgs) in Antipolo. And I am proud to say that, in a rare display of self-control, I successfully eschewed meal seconds and the unavoidable midnight junk snack. There's always that tendency to disregard one's diet regimen when going away on a trip. Often, I behave as if the non-home environment and break in daily routine exempt me from my body's daily calorie counter. I didn't use to be chubby. Believe it or not, I was a skinny waif before puberty. Whatever drastic hormonal changes occurred, I do not know, but all of a sudden I had a gastronomical appetite and a metabolism going at a snail's pace. If I'm disciplined enough to exercise and not overeat, it is only after three weeks that I will begin to lose weight! And even then, it would only be two pounds. It takes longer to lose five pounds and then worse, it just plateaus somewhere along the way. Then comes the regular out-of-town trip during the year, and before I know it, I'm back to square one (which is somewhere beteween 130 to 135 pounds) Tsk. It's a vicious cycle.
Deviating from the gross subject of my weight, I've recently tried adding color to my drawings. I love it when I try something for the first time and it comes out nice.
testing colors
watercolor pencil, brush-tip markers, and ink
on old telephone directory cover
[click on thumbnail for full view]
My folks thought it was part of the telephone directory's design, until my mom actually picked it up for scrutiny. Anyways, after that, she brought it to work to show off to her colleagues. My initial reaction was, "No way! That's just a draft...a testing of color application. I can do a more polished one!" To which she argues that it's "sobrang ganda kaya!" I just realized that that counts for a lot, coming from my mom, because though she's my biggest patron, not every illustration I unleash is met with positive remarks.
A lot of people who don't practice drawing, you can easily fool with highly stylized work, even if it's anatomically or technically rife with errors. I personally know only two people who can see the technical malaise in a highly-stylized work. One is my friend, Aries, and the other is my mom. Sometimes, even my eyes get used to a drawing I'm working on that I do not recognize the mistakes anymore. Until my mom quips, "Ang pangit! His head is too small."or 'Bakit maikli yung arms?" Recently, she's always looking through my drawings, so she can pick out one to show off in the office the next day. When we're at a family function, she's always excited to show off my sketchbook (much to my embarrassment). She wasn't like that before. I mean, if my mom finds my illustrations brag-worthy now, then I guess there is a bit of improvement in my work, after all. ;)
--
Side note: May I just remark that Linkin Park deserve an applause for Minutes to Midnight. It's a more mature-sounding third effort, and I like how they've experimented with their sound this time. Not the 'Mike Shinoda raps a verse, then Chester screams the chorus' pattern that's typical of Linkin Park. And lyrics-wise, not every song is a throwing around of pointless anger and anxiety.
Deviating from the gross subject of my weight, I've recently tried adding color to my drawings. I love it when I try something for the first time and it comes out nice.
testing colors
watercolor pencil, brush-tip markers, and ink
on old telephone directory cover
[click on thumbnail for full view]
My folks thought it was part of the telephone directory's design, until my mom actually picked it up for scrutiny. Anyways, after that, she brought it to work to show off to her colleagues. My initial reaction was, "No way! That's just a draft...a testing of color application. I can do a more polished one!" To which she argues that it's "sobrang ganda kaya!" I just realized that that counts for a lot, coming from my mom, because though she's my biggest patron, not every illustration I unleash is met with positive remarks.
A lot of people who don't practice drawing, you can easily fool with highly stylized work, even if it's anatomically or technically rife with errors. I personally know only two people who can see the technical malaise in a highly-stylized work. One is my friend, Aries, and the other is my mom. Sometimes, even my eyes get used to a drawing I'm working on that I do not recognize the mistakes anymore. Until my mom quips, "Ang pangit! His head is too small."or 'Bakit maikli yung arms?" Recently, she's always looking through my drawings, so she can pick out one to show off in the office the next day. When we're at a family function, she's always excited to show off my sketchbook (much to my embarrassment). She wasn't like that before. I mean, if my mom finds my illustrations brag-worthy now, then I guess there is a bit of improvement in my work, after all. ;)
--
Side note: May I just remark that Linkin Park deserve an applause for Minutes to Midnight. It's a more mature-sounding third effort, and I like how they've experimented with their sound this time. Not the 'Mike Shinoda raps a verse, then Chester screams the chorus' pattern that's typical of Linkin Park. And lyrics-wise, not every song is a throwing around of pointless anger and anxiety.