INCURSION Works in Progress

 Hello Enthusiastic Panda Lovers!

Any hoot, I'm happy to present to you my final revised thumbnails for my INCURSION paintings. I'm shooting for 8 in total. I shoot high for the moon lest I fall among the stars. They will be a series of paintings that are about a Princess who is tired of her daily routine, and her tailored/guarded surroundings, so she goes in search of her own adventures and meets new friends and a new way of living.

The first painting's final pencil drawing. Got excited over lighting due to my purchase of a giant new kneaded eraser and new set of graphite pencils. :]

Til next post. Look forward to the next drawings in the series and for color studies. :] Also look for some upcoming color studies and work in progress shots for the new dog portrait I'm starting. 

Love, Erica

INCURSION into Another World: Gallery Show Poster

Preliminary thumbnail sketches (left) and revised thumbnail sketches (right).

2nd round of thumbnail sketches for the decided pandora's box concept.

Panned out view (left), worm's eye view (center), bird's eye view (right) and labels for bird's eye view (below). You can tell the last view was fail since I had to tell not show the viewer what was going on. Haha. But I wanted to see if I could try to capture that view anyways. It was hard to convey, needless to say.

Visual development sketches of objects/symbolism I wanted to specify in the drawing. Dragons to capture the yang (darkness) of a new world; lanterns to be the yin (light) of the world quite literally; the cherry blossom tree to ground the piece back to earth but is a symbol of duality of it's also likeness to clouds (the sky) along with its association with the tree of life and death itself; the kites to symbolize flight and exploration of a new world; the butterflies again bringing death but also encouraging symbols of accepting change gracefully; floating lanterns symbolizing celebration of life; and the tree banners symbolizing celebration as well. 

All these symbolic icons were chosen to illustrate a balance of good/bad, light/dark that comes in every world. I wanted to illustrate the essence of Incursion and encourage viewers to explore the new world gracefully and with courage. 

The word INCURSION itself meaning a sudden, brief and aggressive entering into a new territory or world. 

In progress (left) and final color studies (right).

Work-In-Progress of the tree.

WIP of the dragon and plane and inverting some values to explore the possibilities of lighting in the piece.

WIP adding in the boxes, lanterns, kites and butterflies.

Detail shots of the Dragon tail (top left), Dragon head (top right) and a fan service panty shot (bottom center).

Greeting Night/Early Morning Pandas,

So this is the process work for the poster design of INCURSION a gallery show that will be showing at City Arts Factory. I'm going to have a few series pieces in the show myself and will have a few friends from the area of Orlando showcasing as well. Please come out to see the show as it will be open for a whole month from Jan 17-Feb 15 and it is totally FREE. Opening night will be amazing, all the featured artists will be there, food, and fun! Also we will be selling extra prints of the poster opening night as well, so come get an autographed copy of it while supplies last! 

Spread the word fellow Floridian Pandas and I'll see you there come January 17. I'm so excited! :D 

Come back soon to my blog for some preview WIP of my pieces that will be in the show this whole next month leading up to the opening of the show. 

Love, Erica

P.S. Visit and "Like" INCURSION's Facebook page here: http://www.pandaerica.com/2012/12/incursion-into-another-world-gallery.html

Help support Orlando, FL's local Illustration Community!

Graphic Design come to Fruitation

Woot! So cool seeing these graphics become super swanky business cards for the local Kissimmee businesses I branded for this past summer. I can't claim the FINAL layout of the CFCSI layout, but I helped in the work in progress designs, not shown here.

Any hoot, that is all. :]

Love, Erica

Holiday Special Dog/Pet Portrait Service

Base pencil drawing, color studies and roughing out charcoal on w/c paper.

1st + 2nd layer of watercolor on w/c paper, WIP-charcoal face/ear, WIP- chest/front le

Framed-Final

Final-color, Final-b&w

Hi Panda People,

Been a long time. I got seriously screwed up after the Hurricane Sandy blew over NYC. Not necessarily any property or bodily damage, but really a lot of shuffling around and being here then there then not again. But I've got a bunch of paintings and work I haven't posted that I should've over Oct/Nov and I will be attempting to catch you guys ups this weekend. :]

But for now I am offering a ::SUPER SPECIAL HOLIDAY SERVICE::

And it starts with this cute little poochy, Remy portrait above. I am now offering my illustration service to all pet owners who would love the perfect present for their loved companions. It is not limited to dogs or cats, but the invite is extended to all pets - hamsters, snakes, bunnies, turtles, skunks, you-name-its!

Portraits of frame sizes 8"x10",  8.5"x11", and 11"x14" are going for $100, frame/matt included.

Portraits of frame sizes 12"x14", 16"x20", 11"x 19", and 11"x17" are going for $200, fram/mat included.

And Portraits 18"x24", 16"x20" or bigger are $250+, mainly because buying frames that large are expensive and a pain to ship to you! :O

I offer all medium types: watercolor, prisma colored pencils, graphite pencils, charcoal, ink, gouache or any mixture of the above are more than doable. Full blown color or Black and White. 

I would just need a great picture of your pet or a number of pictures of your pet from different, clear angles. If any of you are interested please send me an email at: Ericadechavez@gmail.com or shoot me a message on www.Facebook.com/PandaErica . 

Happy holidays Pandas! That's it for now.

Love, Erica.

The Process Behind "The Sky Plumber"

Hi Panda Bears,

I've been busy with moving to the tri-state area and a whole bunch of freelance work. :] Overall, I've been pleasantly busy while in my search of a full-time art job. As I've found a bit of free time in the midst of all the chaos, I present to you all the process work that went into my most current personal pursuit: The Sky Plumber.

It all started with this first sketch of a very Mario & Luigi-esque sketchbook doodle. The idea for the sky plumber originally came from a fun bout of cloud watching with my boyfriend. We playfully bounced the idea around of what controlled the rain clouds? We came up with the idea of a "sky plumber".  

Here are the rest of my plumber sketches.

Rough sketches.

Details from the rough sketches captured via Instagram.

Value and color studies.

The original warm/cool color studies pre-final painting.

Color study details via Instagram.

Work in progress photos.

Voodoo tiki hut detail shot.

Final watercolor painting of "The Sky Plumber".

And there you have it! :] Hope you guys enjoy the process. This painting has found a happy home with my past colleague at Ringling College of Art + Design, Robyn Wren, who luckily was the 100th liker to my facebook artist page @ : http://www.facebook.com/PandaErica

Til next time! :3 

Love, Erica.

Lost And Found: A Tail of Two Friends

Hi Pandas,

Another day, some more art. This isn't new art, but it's revised art. I will be re-releasing finished paintings/drawings of direct pages from my dummy for "Lost & Found: A Tail of Two Friends" (**I just thought of A Tail of Two Friends part now. Sounds like a good change in title.). So if you guys are fans, and you would like to see this published sometime soon in the near future somewhere, you can follow the previews of the book here, over the next few weeks. 

I am still in the process of sending out the manuscript and dummy out to publishing houses. No great news back yet. But I'm still optimistic. If nothing by the end of the year, I feel strongly about self-publishing this baby, and moving onto my next story. 

But enjoy my first baby story for now. It's my precious. 

Love, Erica.

P.S. All art and content on this blog is copywritten by Erica DeChavez. 2012.