Tuesday, November 13, 2018

ctn 2018

[listening to "sleigh ride" by tlc]



CTN Expo, the animation expo that happens here in Burbank, CA, is happening this weekend already! this show always manages to creep up on me every. single. time.  and i think it's come faster ever since we moved out to California. haha!

we'll be at TABLE T-083! my crew and i had some new, smaller banners made just for this event. we haven't shared tables in years but we do it for CTN. but our current banners are way too huge for the space. so i took my version of an ice queen to put on my banner. we'll only have a select few prints there, mostly non-fan art in nature, because the audience there is VERY different from comic cons. i'll have my art book there as well. and of course, we'll have copies of THE BLUEPRINT 2 with us.

if you're looking to meet some industry professionals and other super talented artists, i always tell folks u gotta make it out to this show. it was truly transformative for me and contributed heavily in my growth as an artist when i went to my first one. being surrounded by the high level of art and skills really opened my eyes to bigger possibilities.

anyways, go there! haha!

Friday, October 19, 2018

leia day

[listening to "successful" by ariana grande]




as promised, i wanted to share some quick WIP shots of my newest print - Leia Libations at Lamplight Lounge. i drew this for a Leia Day event at my favorite local comic shop The Perky Nerd here in Burbank, CA on Saturday Oct 20, 2018 from 4p-6p. along with having 5 Leia voice actresses for a signing, they're also doing a Leia art show to celebrate Carrie Fisher's birthday. this is going to be one of a handful of other pieces from other artists centered around Princess Leia. go to their facebook page for more info on the event - https://www.facebook.com/theperkynerd

i haven't shared much progress shots recently. i definitely need to get back to doing it but because of the usual secretive nature of most things i'm working on, i can't post most of that stuff. anyways, so i started with the sketch of course. the first wip shot is more of the cleaned up lines. this is about as clean as i'll take these lines before going straight into coloring.
recently, i've started to do just a quick grayscale mockup of the finished piece. this has really helped me to make sure that my color values don't end up super flat, which it has a tendency of doing cuz i really suck at that stuff. i think i'm supposed to color over these grays, but i don't (cuz again i suck at that). instead i use it as a guide for when i'm coloring, reminds me about where i want the midtones, the bright lights and the darkest darks. since i wanted to work with a darker-than-usual background, i decided to get most of the background colors down before going into flatting the figures cuz that's gonna affect my color choices pretty drastically. after i lay down the flat colors for the figures, i get into shadows and highlights. i also applied a blur on the hanging lights and the banister in the foreground, keeping the focus on the ladies.

the theme was supposed to be Leias Having Lunch, but i put a little grown-up twist to it. so instead, they're havin dranks! the hubby and i went to the new Lamplight Lounge in Disney's California Adventure side. we got seated outside with a great view of the new Incredicoaster. loved the ambiance of that place immediately. but i REALLY fell in love with their drink menu cuz all the drinks were illustrated and it just looked like fun. SO, each of these Leias have a drink from that menu. from left to right: 

  • Leia on Hoth - Nectar in the Rye
  • Leia from "Star Wars Rebels" - Open Ocean with a Splash
  • Leia on Endor - Over Budget
  • Leia from "A New Hope" - Infinity Fizz
  • Leia from the royal award ceremony - Sizzle Reel
if u ever get the chance to go to Disney's California Adventure, check out the Lamplight Lounge! it's so neat in there! the wait to be seated is pretty long, but so is everything else at Disney so whatevs. i will say, the Infinity Fizz drink is super cool to see, BUT it doesn't taste that great. tastes like a melted down ice popsicle. get dem mini donuts tho, they're yummy!

Friday, October 5, 2018

captain marvel

[listening to "dance to this" by troye sivan ft. ariana grande]

Captain Marvel Little Golden Book published by Penguin Random House
B&N preorder listing
i am finally able to share with the world what i have been up to all summer long. looks like CAPTAIN MARVEL is not only getting her big-screen debut, she's also getting a Little Golden Book and i had the amazing honor of drawing the whole durned thing! the book is up for pre-order now on Barnes & Noble website, directly from Penguin Random House online, and Amazon as well (image for hardcover copy should hopefully be updated next week). it will be available early January and will be sold wherever you typically find these Little Golden Books. =)

this book was a whole lot of work but i am super proud of the end result. it's kind of a milestone for me. i think if i tried to draw this book 2 years ago, maybe even 1 year ago, i would not have been ready. and the editors really gave me a lot of freedom to draw this in my style. well, as much as Disney would allow them. haha!

if you're near the Burbank, CA area, The Perky Nerd comic shop in Burbank will be having a signing event with ME when the book is released. the shop owner is a huge Captain Marvel fan and she's just an all-around awesome lady. more on that as it comes closer.


on a separate note, i just wanted to give a quick apology for letting this blog be poorly updated. i've really gotten more work than i've ever had since we've moved out to Los Angeles and it's been great. however, that work has prevented me from updating this page as much as before. i've even had to close down my Patreon page because it was getting more and more difficult to update that as well, especially with all the Non-Disclosure Agreements i am constantly having to fill out. but now that my Patreon page is closed, maybe i can go back to posting on here more regularly. fingers crossed!

Monday, April 16, 2018

super video games

this is the most recent addition to my pinups that i bring to conventions with me. originally this was a commission for a client who wanted to see my version of Superman and Wonder Woman from when they were having a coffee break but now are just chillin playing video games together. i thought the idea was super neat and since my hubby and i play video games together all the time, i just immediately connected with the idea. the original commission has aKent Farm box full of Daily Planet newspapers in place of Krypto the Superdog. that version is exclusive to the commissioner and will never be sold to the public.

this was drawn completely digital, from start to finish. i'm getting more and more comfortable sketching directly on the computer versus doing it traditional, then scanning. (this may have something to do with the fact that since i've done the large move, i haven't had a printer/scanner yet.)
 

i debuted the print at WonderCon this year and it has immediately been a greatest hits. =D i've listed a small handful of my etsy shop as well so if you're interested in getting one, head on over there (click the SHOP button up top).

on a side note, i just wanted to give a huge THANK YOU to those of you that continue to check out my page. between all of the different social media platforms, plus Patreon, i haven't had much time to update this page as well. freelance life has always been a scheduling battle, even more so with social media. i'm definitely continuing to update this as often as i get a chance. this is still my online hub of all things Peng-Peng. so thank you for your patience and support!

Thursday, March 1, 2018

black panther premiere looks

[listening to "i ran (so far away)" by flock of seagulls]

Danai Gurira
Janelle Monae


Lupita Nyong'o

if you haven't seen Black Panther yet, you are doing yourself a huge disservice. please, close this website and run to your local movie theater to remedy that. if you have seen it, you know that it's awesome!

after i saw the pictures from the premiere of the movie, i was so blown away by the dresses on their purple carpet. they were more visually compelling than anything i've seen at these award shows this year. i only had time to tackle three of my favorite ones but i loved all of it. i wish i had a chance to draw Chadwick Boseman's fly suit. maybe i will someday.

on a separate note, sorry for the huge lack of updates on this website. i really hate it when others do that and i really didn't mean to have that happen. adjusting to this new living situation in LA is still a bit of a challenge. i've been keeping up with my social media outlets tho so if you're on Instagram or Facebook, please follow me on there if you aren't already.