← design by susan


Yesterday I made a move into the city itself.

Welcome home in San Francisco.

Otoro Totoro, rororo?

Otoro Totoro, rororo?

Insta-tokyo. See it all »

Photoblogs forthcoming.

These three watercolor pencil sketches are probably amongst the most favourite things I’ve ever produced. It’s part of the ever slow growing set of Fantastical Date Ideas.

Tachikoma illustrated first last Thanksgiving. Totoro, sometime in between. Labbit this past month. All polished with Copic Opaque White when Labbit was drawn. I use a set of 14 or so Derwent Watercolor Pencils.

Having done freelance myself for nearly a decade, it was a very nice experience commissioning someone else to design my avatar’s full alter ego.

Why have someone else draw your character when you’re an artist yourself?

I don’t know if this is a convincing argument, but try it for the small shift in perspective. Let yourself become the client. It’s interesting how your own experiences (good and bad) may shape requests as you work with another artist. It’s so hard to remember that those sudden changes in plans usually bubbles up as inspiration, just that, your client likely isn’t an artist or designer, so he/she may just be untactful about bringing up that inspiration.

The artist is @herogear most places online.
Get in touch with him for a piece of your own.

Slice of life lately.

I was looking through my harddrive and found my anime hoarding folders (this was before Pinterest). Totoro gifs were “rare.”

Sorry Tumblfolk, I haven’t been sketching much lately because I’ve been heads down into a few freelance projects and a larger project of my own. That, and finding another fulltime gig.

Still, I can’t help but to waste time doodling. Here a few favourite form the past few months pulled off of instagram. I’m @susanl if you care to follow.

Made with Paper. “When I’m using Paper!” Yeah, that’s pretty much what my face looks like.

Made with Paper. “When I’m using Paper!” Yeah, that’s pretty much what my face looks like.

Made with Paper; an experiment to see if negative space could look good. I think it does. Or maybe it’s just the Totoros!

Made with Paper; an experiment to see if negative space could look good. I think it does. Or maybe it’s just the Totoros!

Made with Paper; moonlit music. I get genuinely sad sometimes because I know they aren’t real.

Made with Paper; moonlit music. I get genuinely sad sometimes because I know they aren’t real.

once upon many times, people asked me for photographs of my dwelling. and these are the kinds of photographs they get. :)

Found this old sketch! Circa 2008.

Found this old sketch! Circa 2008.

Illustrator’d: Totoro, Totoro hats & Self
Totoroko Totoroko_doodled
See the full gallery on Posterous

In the search for a highres photograph of myself that I could stand, then coming up empty handed, I decided that I’d stick with the illustrated route. And with my newly found option+click skills, this is what became of that experiment.

It’s not often I add the blog url into the image, but when I do, I think it’s when something actually turns out better than expected. This is refreshing - Haven’t been producing at my best as of late.

Look! The body and hat shape are the same! I can still do negative space proper! Art majors!

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Last note, the texture in the presentation image is “Old Wall” via Subtle Patterns: Best. Design. Resource. Ever.

WANT cations: Totoro Cappuccino (by WilsonB)

WANT

cations:

Totoro Cappuccino (by WilsonB)

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