Gaby Can't Draw

19-year-old illustrator/designer from Manila. All artwork © Gabriela Serrano 2012 unless otherwise stated. Please do not distribute my work without crediting me.

[kyletwebster]

** REBLOG AND WIN ** - At long last, after nearly a year of experimenting, my Art Marker brush set for Photoshop will be released on April 28th. Please reblog this post for a chance to WIN A FREE SET of these custom brushes. Three winners will be chosen at random and announced on April 29th. I believe this will be a wonderful addition to the other quality brush sets from my shop, and I’m excited to offer them to the digital art world. Thanks, as always, for your continued support! - Kyle

[gabycantdraw]

2.0

Sorry for the lack of, well, anything on my Tumblr this past year, but HI! I’m still alive! And I figured a little hoot was in order in case anybody thought otherwise. I've got something big in the workss that I hope to unveil within the next few weeks or so! So that's that! And stay tuned.

‘Til then, here are my other ~internet spaces! Updates soon Portfolio: gbrlsrn-portfolio.tumblr.com Twitter: @_Gabzillaaa Instagram: @gbrlsrn

[gabycantdraw]

Chico picking in the summertime (at Daet, Camarines Norte)

[gabycantdraw]

You should have your own Facebook fan page for your works. Pretty please make one? Pleeeaaaaase? I'm a frustrated painter/photographer and your works are my inspiration for my projects. You're the fresh air to my artist's block.

Thank you!! I’m so flattered :) I don’t think my stuff is big enough for a Facebook fan page though haha! Sorry I haven’t been updating this if you’ve been looking for more work (I’ll start blogging again soon though) but I am active on Instagram and I post drawings there every now and then, so check me out if you want.

[gabycantdraw]

Last bit of dry brush practice for the night!

[gabycantdraw]

Warm-up ink wash ladies

[gabycantdraw]

heeey do you know where i can get brush pens? i can't seem to find them in national bookstore :(

Hi, sorry, all the brush pens I have were given to me by a friend who ordered them online, I think. I've had no luck finding one in a store (especially at National) except for that one time I visited Konikuniya in Singapore and saw some on display. Using a small brush and a pot of ink is a bit more of a hassle though it is a GREAT alternative for using a brush pen. It's really fun and I highly recommend it.

[gabycantdraw]

Do you like Carson Ellis?

Big fan! She's a beast.

[gabycantdraw]

WHY

[gabycantdraw]

Just a few messages that've been sitting in my inbox for a while. I figured it's about time I got back to the people who sent them in:

luteti4 asked: Hello. I'm really interested in the BFA ID course of ADMU. But what exactly do they teach in that course? Thank you! :)

Hello! I'm not the right person to ask about that. I applied for that course based partly on the fact that some very good designers graduated with that degree. For details I think it's best to read this.

nothingplaces asked: greatest inspirations in art and illustration? :)

The absolute best for me are:

My dad! He's a visual artist and creative director and not to mention totally boss. I can always count on him to come up with (often and initially weird) ideas that end up really working. I cannot fathom what goes on inside that guy's head. And I'm not just saying all this 'cause he might stop feeding me if I don't, but seriously! Da man's a legend.

Jillian Tamaki!

Kali Ciesemier!

Andrea Kalfas!

Meg Hunt!

Dave McKean!

Marlo Meekins!

The dudes over at Vahalla Studios!

Tim Biskup!

Dan Matutina!

and Chris Thompson!

These are all just off the top of my head, but there are TONS more.

Anonymous asked: just wondering, is this a font or did you make it yourself? :) /post/26145762664/lo-and-behold-heres-the-cover-i-made-for-a

Made it myself :)

venotsoy asked: Oh hi Gab! Dropped by and I was amaze that you are so creative at your age, and that is sooo awesome!!! Sorry for being so OA, I am a noob from being artistic though I'm 18... coz I obviously suck at it. Anywayyyy, I love your pretty Merida hair :D

Oh hi! Thank you so much! Well don't beat yourself up about it. Everyone's got a little creativity deep down inside. Creative juices are like abs. If you work 'em out everyday you'll end up with a 6-pack, so if you think you suck at being artistic then I suggest you start get'n yer doodle powers on! And thanks, haha!

[gabycantdraw]

Sometimes when I shower I like to read French words off shampoo bottles in my best Parisian accent and pretend I'm Amélie.

[gabycantdraw]

I know Christmas is, well, TOMORROW, but for the record, here's a list of things I've been jonesin' to see under the tree or stuffed in a sock on Christmas morning:

Haruki Murakami's 1Q84: 3 Volume Boxed Set 

Field Notes Plain Paper 3-Pack

Ro's Argan Body Conditioner from Lush

Smith's Minted Rose Lip Balm

Pentel Pocket Brush Pen

Diana F+ Camera by Lomography

Singer 3323 Talent Sewing Machine

Benetint by Benefit

In The Light palette from Stila

Rachel Comey Penpal Boots in Camel

These (SOLD) vintage Tortoise Cateye glasses *sigh*

Adam Green & Binki Shapiro Vinyl

Boss RC-3 Loop Station Pedal

Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM lens

Chance Eau de Parfum from Chanel

Stay All Day Eye Liner by Stila

[gabycantdraw]

Gaby, your Highs On Lows poster is one of the coolest things I ever come across. It is truly a stunning piece of work- you are going to succeed in whatever you put your mind to. Your physical science brochure was also amazing- so professional and visually coherent. Best of luck with the college search!

Wow, thank you so much! I don't think I've ever had anyone call my work stunning and stuff, so it means a lot :) Thanks!

[gabycantdraw]

where do you plan to study college?

I took the liberty of including my program choices just in case you'd want to know

On the "We're being realistic" scale:

Information Design at the Ateneo

VisCom at UP Diliman

Multimedia Arts at the School of Design and Art at Benilde

On the "If I had enough money for tuition via winning the lottery" scale, however, Illustration at the following, in no particular order:

SCAD

Ringling

SVA

MICA

Art Center

Parsons

Camberwell

[gabycantdraw]

For art class at school! The point was to create a "stationary decorative object" and incorporate a logo you made in the previous term into your design. Nearly sliced myself from all the X-Acto knifing but through it all I have trained myself enough to become a pro samurai should zombies attack me (and if said zombies were half a foot tall)

I didn't know I'd end up putting this logo on a lamp when I made it so I had to make do with what I had. It was either this or "SugaMama Pastry Shop" -- 'nuff said.

Considering I've never made anything legit-legit like this lamp before, I guess you could say I was pretty happy with how it turned out! Definitely gonna try making another when I'm not too busy.

[gabycantdraw]

Angie did the research, I did the pimpin', and we ended up with a schweet project for our Physical Science class! My marks for this subject aren't very high, so when I found out we'd be designing a brochure as an assignment, I jumped at it - hopefully I did a good enough job of making the words Butylated Hydroxytoluene less exhausting to look at.

Pre-made-clip-art free and type-heavy: those little doodle squares were drawn by me and all the fonts I used came from extended periods of bombarding Lost Type Co-op. Click the second one for hi-res and enjoy!

[gabycantdraw]

I helped shoot and edit this trailer** for High on Lows, a short stage production my section is presenting this Monday! In front of tons of people! Can you say exciting!? It's only a term project for English class but each section's going head to head in the hopes of winning Best Story/Trailer/Poster/Theme Song (give ours a listen!)/what-have-you and the competition's been pretty intense. Needless to say, I can't give the entire story away so I'll leave it to you to try to figure out what happens.

I made our poster too!

* That is an unfortunate thumbnail (dang it, Youtube) * Song: Intro by Alt-J (∆)