"From Trash to Desk": An Art Progress Story

As I promised from my comeback blog post, lo and behold! We have our "trash to desk" art progress story (though I think it's going to be more of a museum than a story since it mostly includes the visuals). Let's say this out loud before anything else though: I'm not really an artist per se. I just draw from time to time but I don't really take it too seriously. Like, hello? That's why I'm doing blog posts. It's because I'm a writer before anything else. It wasn't until I ended up as an art student in the University of Santo Tomas, Music, Arts and Design strand that I dove myself a little deeper to the little painter and artist in me.

Fair warning before everything else though: Please don't expect too much with my artworks because, really, I'm only trying as hard as I can to do something good from them. I wouldn't even call most of them artworks, to be honest. But because, like some underground artists out there, I'm insecure but I want to overcome my insecurities with my art and show you guys what I'm made of (whether you guys care or critic about it or not). I'm just hoping some people will actually understand and see the importance of this beyond my art style and whatnot; of doing your best in one thing to reach something worthwhile in this world. And that in this life, we have to make the most of everything.

Another one thing to add here is this:

No matter how absurd other people think about your art, if it comes from the heart, it's something worthwhile... I promise you guys. Someone will appreciate what you do. There's only one of each of us and the things we do; so, there will also be one of each of us to appreciate the other.

Okay, enough pep talk! Let's line up my artworks right below. Starting from...

2014

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I remember drawing this on the notebook I bought at the Kyobo Bookstore in Seoul. I didn't draw it at Seoul though. I was only able to draw it in school, while still thinking of our first trip to South Korea.

I drew this after our discussion of The Little Prince in our English class with Ms. Zosimo.

It's still drawn inside the notebook I bought at Kyobo.

2015

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This drawing was actually done because I had a dream the night before and I tried to sketch the guy in the dream for my friends to see. It didn't represent the person in my dream that much though.

 

I tried to do anime character sketches. Turns out, I couldn't do it. My style wasn't for anime characters, after all. But it's fine. What happened was even better... I got to find my own drawing identity.

Here's another one of my anime character drawing attempts. I really suck at it. I didn't even use the write tools. Like, I used blue ballpen to put color on my character's hair and crayon for her shirt. I didn't even try to draw her eyes and just closed them. Meanwhile, the anime character I drew at the back's definitely ermfff. I don't even want to talk about it.

2016

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*bada bum tss!*

Say helloooo to my new drawing style!

Hell yeah, I tried doing realistic drawings. It didn't work as much because I'm impatient at coloring afterwards though. I'm just good at sketching.

Meanwhile, this is how I tried realistic with coloring...
It didn't work out as realistic as I thought it out to be though. But it's still nice.

Now this one drawing has a special place in my heart *irony*.

I've always loved drawing the heart and ripping it apart in the process.

I also enjoy sketching hands. So the love of both is shown here in this sketch.

If you thought I didn't have the guts to go digital, well, I did. But I didn't use the big software (AKA Adobe Illustrator) very amazing, talented and patient artists used (I think you need these traits to survive using Illustrator, on my personal opinion). I was only ever able to be patient with Autodesk and that was actually after I installed it the second time.

(The first time I installed it, I was able to try drawing a sports car and the mainstream meadow. The car was okay but I wasn't able to save it while the meadow looked like total crap, I wished to never use the app again after)

Deleting the layer with their names, these are one of my best digital works. I'm definitely proud of my Eleanor drawing and I'm not afraid to say it! I truly put a lot of effort on her face, that's for sure. And I don't think I can ever pull her off the second time around... at all. To add to that, like I said earlier, I'm not really good at color... Eleanor proved that I can, with a little patience (because I normally have none which proves that I have zero career chances for actually being an artist more so, a designer. I'd rather just do it for fun).

 

With these digital drawings, my grandmothers were my muses. I could remember drawing these when we were visiting a funeral in Bulacan and I had nothing else to do while they were talking to the elders. I guess, I made them a tad bit too youthful than how they look like in real life but I showed these to them and they actually thought they were fine. They looked like their sixteen-year-old selves, as my aunt pointed out.

After all the digital drawing madness, I tried painting as well.

I made this one artwork for UST Mediartrix's "Payong" Musical. I got really addicted to it that I even downloaded all the songs from their musical play and painted this painting (to have it featured at our SHS Week Art Exhibit with two other paintings I made, by the way. It felt really nice to have it there).

2017

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My painting career ( w o w... career) continued up until 2017. My mum and I literally had a painting session one time that she had her day off and I told her I'd be painting. We made really good artworks and this one was mine. Not only does it mark my progress for acrylic painting but it also marks a memorable painting session with Mum.

Whilst the painting sessions (mostly because it was required for most of our subjects), I did a lot of movie marathoning, resulting to lots of fan art (whether traditional or digital). One of these fan arts include the one right above here which was inspired by Kita Kita.

This next ink sketch right here was made for a comic character design project in one of our subjects. I'm fairly proud of this one because our professor, Sir Chester, complimented me on this project of mine. He said I had a unique character and that I'd make it big with my drawing style for comics right away. I found his comment helpful especially because I literally have Herza Granada's whole life story planned out on a long yellow paper (I kept it for keepsake... I might be able to continue my comic career). Who knows, right? Our professor might turn out to be right. I've always loved drawing by ink.

This next one is actually just a remake of a Renaissance drawing. It was also for a project we had to do (with the same professor I had mentioned before this drawing). He said it was a good first-time drawing for remaking another masterpiece. I'm not really proud of this one because I kind of played it safe but the results were not that bad, really. Still worth being on this trash to desk story.

2018

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To continue in my fan art making, at the start of this year, I did these Dear Evan Hansen character cards using Autodesk on my phone and Snapseed for the text. I'm surprised I was actually able to make these without using a stylus. I didn't even think I had the patience to actually tolerate finger-utilized drawing. Nevertheless, here it is! I also have a set of character cards for Wicked but I guess I'll only show the Dear Evan Hansen version for now.

And last but definitely not the least...

How would I even forget to mention my #DailyEleanorQuests three-panel comics?

I've only just started them but you can wait up for me on my Facebook page during Mondays and Wednesdays for updates. Fridays are especially important too because I randomly post extra stuff. Just click on the hashtag before this to be redirected to my Facebook page, Eleanor Sky. Like it please... Huhu, I'm not really good at advertising. I don't have the right charisma for it.

So there we have it, guys! Thanks for reading this "Trash to Desk" art progress story and I hope it helped to inspire all of you out there who don't really think their art is going anywhere. Trust me when I say this, art is never a waste. Your art will always go somewhere. If not for the benefit of others, it can be for your own happiness and self-assurance. Have an awesome day!