Jesus In India

Hi Panda People,

I watched an off broadway theater production of Jesus In India last week with an old friend. The production was put on by Mayi Theater Company NYC and it was at the St. Clement's Church. I haven't gone to see a semi musical indie theatre production since I was in high school. I used to be an active theater goer as my high school and many of my friends were amazing actors/singers/actresses/comedians/etc. The actors were amazing, the writing/dialogue was witty and HILARIOUS. 

((SPOILER ALERT))

I'll give you a short narrated synapsis of the production. The play covers the years of Jesus' life that are not captured in the bible. So after he goes to the temple as a kid and proclaims God to be his dad but BEFORE he starts performing any miracles. So he's roughly in his adolescent to early 20's years.:

Jesus runs away with a girl named Abigail. They get mad at each other and JEsus takes the camel and leaves Abigail in the desert. He meets GoPal and they talk about doing things and seeing the world and shit.

Abigail gets picked up by one of Jesus' new friends' slave, Mehari. Abigail mistakes Mehari for Mother Mary whom she had been writing back to about her and Jesus' whereabouts back in Galilee. 

Jesus and Mehari have a "thing" going on and Mehari gets pregnant. Jesus and his new friends GoPal and Sushil made a band and traveled all around India. They just had their best show ever but Mehari tells Jesus she's prego. So he leaves the band.  

Jesus and friends commence to hug. GoPal is really sad he has to go back to his family's farm to be a mungbean farmer. Sushil is sad because he doesn't know how to run his country. 

Abigail comes back to find Jesus after the birth of Jesus' son's birth and helps to convince Jesus to return back to Galilee with her. Jesus sings a sad song and leaves his family of friends behind. 

Jesus goes on to be the Jesus we know him to be. 

The END. 

And Goodnight!

Love, Erica

Sketch Dump from my outting with Caroline Hadilaksono

Hi! Late Sunday evening for posting. I just wanted to blog these sketches I did today while hanging out w/ my new friend I met through the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator's winter con this past 2 weeks ago (which I am still intending to post my sketchbook notes from! Look forward to them soon as I get them colored!) I did some sketching in the subway, some doodling thoughts from the bathroom at Books of Wonder, and some kids sketches and quick watercolors from Strand Bookstore and Books of Wonder. hope you enjoy. These are the only pages I was willing to show. :] Some good, some bad, some just existing in my sketchbooks. 

Til next post! I'm working on some new illustrations about animals and plants and anatomy and got some Vampire Diaries fanart coming too! And some old character designs that are in the process of being colored! Lots to do and see coming soon. :]

Happy President's Day Weekend everyone! Hope you all had fun. 

Love, Erica.

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

Something really cool that I'd like to talk about. TATTOOS!

Good Evening/Morning Panda Readers & Followers! 

Yes, it is insanely late/early to be posting, but not like that ever stopped me before. I work equivalent to a bat. I work and am more focused at night when there's not something as tempting as daylight and sun and beach and beautiful walking weather outside my window to tempt my distracted mind already for the pleasures that are living life OUTDOORS. Hah!

Well, this week was busy mind, body and soul-wise. My lil' sissy-in-law came into Sarasota to spend some time w/ my bf and I. The first half of the week was so rainy and messy, we really couldn't do much else but go out to the movies and eat out. But we went bowling and towards the end of the week, the weather cleared up and became so warm, we got to spend an afternoon on the beach! Water was warm, and so perfect, though a lil' murky from the leftover debris from Tropical Storm Debbie. And we finished the week off at Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. We made sure to say hello to Harry, when we were there. ;] 

But amidst all the fun-having, life living activities this week I did get a lot of applications sent out to a surfeit amount of anonymous companies over on the west coast and mid-west. I'm so eager to just MOVE and get to where I want to be right now, that I got a lil' ahead of myself. I found some more clarity, as I seem to have been doing ever since I graduated in May, and re-wrote some of my art goals. I am now going to focus more on creating more and better art and trying to work on projects that will cross into many different genres. Too obvious of a goal you think? Well, I will admit I've been a bit jumbled as of late and to just focus on my art and projects is really a bit of peace of mind, because I've been making all these plans for everything else in my life, I just need to tell myself to sit down and draw/paint. :]

Now, to the point of this post. I recently drew up a tattoo design for my cousin, Alexandria, a couple months ago. And she just got it done a few days ago. I did an initial b&w sketch of it and did a few color variations. But this is the final tattoo, and I'm okay with how it turned out. I'm not quite sure if it was even possible to needle the wispy, misty lines of my sketch thinner, but probably not, a needle can only be so thin while holding ink. But considering that it is not on my back, but hers, I am very satisfied w/ the results, but still question and would like to see the portfolio of the person who inked it for her. lol. Whatevskies. At least they evened out the sizes of the sun-star points, still wish they could have found a way to emphasize the 3 stars like in the sketch, and thinned the lines for a more stylized swirl in the middle. That is my critique of it there, but I'll shut up now, because all in all it turned out beautiful. And I'm so excited/awed that she used my design in the end for a permanent piece of body art. WAY COOL!

Love, Erica.

p.s. Until next time!

Chibi's Boba Tea

Hello Everyone,

I'm back from my trip from NYC. It was a rather hard reality check for me. I suppose graduating from college gives graduates some kind of an ego, an outer armor of some sort that blinds most of them into thinking that it will be easy to get a job. Unless you are one of the top 5% of top talent or amazing cover letter/resumes or someone who knows someone within the company, the likelihood of you getting a call back or being hired from a studio/agency is pretty slim. And I learned that the hard way. 

But alas, that does not mean I will stop trying. I will keep applying everywhere, and keep showing people my artwork, and keep putting my manuscripts out for people to read an give feedback. As depressing as this economy is job-wise, I cannot fall into the depressing funk that most college grads seem to be trapped in. I'm glad to have a big supporting family behind me and a handful of amazing friends who inspire and encourage me to do my best. And so that is all I can do: do my best and keep doing what I do. :]

To end on a more light hearted note, this past father's day was AMAZING. Here's a picture that will probably embarrass my other lil' cousins, but says in one picture what a thousand words cannot explain. I'm so blessed to have my loved ones in my life. 

Til' next time.

Love, Erica

p.s. I neglected to add that the above character silhouette studies are for my cousin's new start-up company Chibi's Boba, an anime/bubble tea cafe that I was given the opportunity to design its logo and subsequent art/illustration/graphic content that they will need for (hopefully) years to come. And it all starts from these thumbnails. More to come from this logo as it progresses along. And much more art to come. I'm currently trying to revamp my carbonmade account and looking into exploring different social media forums to display my art. And well much more art in general. Thinking about diving into the whole patterns design craze. Anyhoot, tty real soon!