it's 2017 already

[listening to "rise" by katy perry]

happy new year everybody!!! not sure how it turned into 2017 without me noticing, but it totally did! probably cuz i was working on new year's day trying to meet a deadline this week. which i met, i'm happy to say. but of course i'm unable to show cool stuff like that online since it's all still hush hush. SO, i've decided to start the year off right by posting some Moana doodles from a couple weeks ago. the first one is little sketch i gave as part of a christmas gift. i only used my black pocket brush pen and some colored pencils for the red parts. the others are a series of sketches of Maui that i drew while watching the clip of his song "You're Welcome" (thank you, the Rock!) on youtube. i just love those little moves he does! and the last one i posted before but i figured it's Moana so i'll post again. that one was done as a Patreon reward for one of my awesome supporters.

if u know me or follow any of my social media outlet, u'll know that i loved Disney's most recent movie Moana. not only cuz it's a flippin great adventure, but it's a pretty huge deal for me to see a Disney Princess that kinda looks like me! for the longest time, i've had to resort to Mulan and i'm definitely not Chinese. (yeah i know she's not technically a princess.) and before that, Snow White was the only black-haired Princess that wasn't evil. otherwise, it's been varying shades of white girls and 1 ethnic sample of certain regions of the world. i'm Filipino, which is considered Asian but we're also a set of Pacific Islands. Moana is as close to hitting home for me as it will ever get unless somehow they create a Filipino folk tale. I'm not gonna hold my breath on that though. this movie holds a very special place in my heart and i can't wait until i see little kids dressed as her next year.


quick personal note: i know that the song "rise" by katy perry may be considered a little cheesy or hammy or whatever colorful word one wants to use. i think she made it for the Olympics that just passed. but i find that it's quite motivating for me. it's a tiny reminder for me not to give up my art/career goals no matter how much i doubt myself. cuz, frankly, nobody sings cool songs about being a quitter, and i don't wanna be that song nobody sings.