AprilFable

Illustrations by Vivien / IG @aprilfable_

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Enjoying some reading after dinner

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Not derpy axolotls

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I loved Kubo and the Two Strings! :D

This is a piece that I got to contribute to the Laika 10-yr Exhibition at Gallery Nucleus. There are lots of other beautiful pieces up if you are able to make it. The show is up from Oct 29 to Nov 13, 2016.

Gallery Nucleus is at: 210 E. Main Street, Alhambra, CA 91801

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“Dracarys”

Trying something a bit different... also eagerly awaiting S6 :)

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A blue girl with her exotic bird~ Digital watercolor illustration

If you’re interested in getting these brushes, check out Kyle’s Brushes

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A piece for Q Pop's Unicats and Caticorns show at the Q2 Gallery! If you're itching to see more of these magical glittery beasts, come down this Friday from 7-10 pm at: 312 E 2nd St. #121, LA, CA 90012 in Little Tokyo. It's my first time submitting to a Q Pop show and there are some pretty fantastic artists in the list :)

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Your Madeline series was absolutely perfect. It was so delicately handled, the lines so graceful and flowing. Absolutely stunning! Thank you, on behalf of all Madeline fans.

^

How I feel right now… :3 thank you!  

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Oh my gosh you guys. YOU GUYS. I am extremely touched and overjoyed by the messages I’ve received. It’s an indescribable feeling to know that you share the same fond childhood memories with so many others. In art school I went through so many periods of doubt, but I knew as long as I was doing something I loved, I couldn’t go wrong. 

And yes, there NEEDS to be a Madeline movie.

*sends cyber hugs to you all* Gonna answer your questions individually, thanks!

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“In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines

Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines

In rain or shine

They left the house at half past nine

The smallest one was Madeline.”

-Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline, 1939

I would like to share a sampling of the graduation project that I had so much fun illustrating! It’s an old series, but one of my childhood favorites. There has been a TV series and a live action film, but never a modern-ish animated feature, and it was a bit of a passion project to imagine what it would look like, down to the character designs and the actual scenes.

Also, I might have some good news to announce soon… keeping my fingers crossed in the meantime! ♪

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Yesterday I officially graduated from Art Center College of Design! After four years of hard work, I could not be happier! This year my friends in Illustration were all so amazingly talented, I can safely say that our department shone the brightest of all ;D

For my graduation project, I reinterpreted one of my favorite children’s book series of all time, Madeline, as if it were a feature animated film. In the spirit of the Christmas season, here is one scene of the twelve girls and their dog Genevieve leaving the house in winter outfits. 

More to come soon… and now for me to go into hibernation wheeee

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Ahh, I haven't updated in the longest time! I've been working on getting my stuff together for graduation and things have been pretty stressful.

Just to say that I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, here is a sketch from recently! It’s for an Egyptian-themed project roughly based on Sleeping Beauty. 

Also, has anyone here gone to CTN Animation Expo? I went today and had an awesome time meeting fellow artists. I managed to get a good portfolio review from Disney, but the highlight of my day was speaking with Dice Tsutsumi. And he said one of my paintings was beautiful, that made my heart swell 1000 times. Yeah... today was awesome. I'm just so happy I get to be doing what I love to do every day.  

Check out some of my talented friends' sites, and stop by their booths if you're in the Burbank area!

http://redrustgauge.tumblr.com

http://chloebristol.tumblr.com

http://maximusquack.blogspot.com

http://stanleywongart.blogspot.com

http://sunmininn.tumblr.com

http://sadie-sj.tumblr.com

http://tenyai.blogspot.com

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Sending out a round of prints today! 🐱🐟

Thank you guys for your support <3

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Another witch sketch I doodled a few weeks ago. This is Cassandra and her Bat Brew friend :) 

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Playing around with textures... the girl's costume is based on China's ethnic Miao people.  

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What books did you start out using? I want to be able to better illustrate, and your illustrations are fab-- how can I get to be as good as you? :)

Hey, thanks so much!

I was lucky to have a lot of books as a kid, and I guess I started drawing ever since I can remember. Of course I grew up with the Disney classics, and I’d try drawing the characters after I’d watched a movie. For a while I used to be obsessed with Arthur Rackham and Brian Froud, and did lots of copies of their work using watercolors and Prismacolor colored pencils (until I realized I didn’t know what I was doing at all.) Then I discovered Lisbeth Zwerger, who is now one of my all time favorites. There are countless other artists who’ve inspired me that I can’t begin to name them all. 

When I got into high school and college I did lots of figure drawings, studied anatomy books, and all that academic stuff. Now none of the technical stuff has stuck with me, but the drawing mileage helped me be comfortable with plain drawing and getting my characters to look believable. I guess that’s when your drawing begins to look “effortless”, a term I’ve heard used a lot but could never really define. I’m still learning tons every day and it’s pretty exciting to think where we could all be 5 or 10 years from now!

Just draw a lot every day, and look at things that interest you. Not necessarily just art, but anything and everything that you find inspiring. You’ll find yourself getting better, and after that just let your imagination lead you. Good luck! :)

*Edit: Additional books and artists I think are great to study, if you want to start on a traditional approach: Andrew Loomis’s figure drawing lessons (available for free if you search online), "Spirit of the Pose" by Karl Gnass, “Color and Light” by James Gurney if you’re a painter, and Claire Wendling’s amazing drawings. Doing master copies of your favorite artists is very helpful too!