Miriam Tocino

Mama. Student. Teacher. Coder. ✏️  🖥  🎨  👶🏻  Writing stories for kids about computers one drawing at a time.

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I just published “How I Make Time For My Side Project Being a Mom”. Link in bio. . . . #ZerusAndOna #momlife #sideproject (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

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Zerus Smileys. Yesterday I posted the first of the sketches within the #100DaysOfZerusAndOna series. One of the goals I set for this quarter is to dive deeper into their world. Finally I found a good motivation to join #the100DayProject and sketch everyday! . I saw people around me doing it and always loved their posts and see their progress. Do you have something in mind to put into practice? Then it might be something for you too! . These are the guidelines: - Center your project on one theme – it can be a broad as you like. What would you love to explore for 100 days? Write it down. Let it be the North Star that guides your Project during the 100 days. - Commit to doing something hands-on each day for 100 days. Keep it fresh, let it go where it takes you. - Flow is the key word here. - Don’t get caught up in quality. Consider this a first draft in the creative process. - Relax your standards and expectations. - Find a buddy or start a group to share your experience with. . . . #drawing #cartoon #ZerusAndOna #makeartthatsells #computerscience #computers #childrensbook #childrensbooks #motherhood (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

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It is no suprise that #ZerusAndOna ‘s favorite recipe is “Hexadecimal Soup”. . . . #the100dayproject #100DaysOfZerusAndOna #drawing #cartoon #makeartthatsells #motherhood #childrensbooks #childrensbook #computers #computerscience

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These are the first sketches of this year. I never got this far with any of the characters that I designed before #ZerusAndOna. Interesting things are happening this time... . I started by drawing only the scenes that I would be using for each of the stories. But somehow I need to keep drawing them in any type of scenario, discovering how they like to spend their time, their favorite places, their friends, the world around them... It may be that only when we know each other good enough all the stories will florish! . It makes me think of an article I read the other day about creating characters for a novel, in which they said that even though the name of someone didn’t appear in any of the pages, the writer should still know it. So I guess you need to know everything about your characters even though you don’t tell the rest of the world... . Does it make sense? Did you have a similar experience in any of your projects? . . . #sketchnearlyeveryday #computerscience #childrensbook #childrensbooks #motherhood #sketchoftheday #computers (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

[miriamtocino]

It looks like Daddy and Mummy are not the only ones that feel exhausted! These holidays we discovered that travelling with Little One can be tiring. I could barely check in with #ZerusAndOna. Back at home now, getting some rest first and back to work! . Are there any tricks out there to make it easier to travel with babies? . #childrensbook #childrensbooks #sketchbook #scienceandart #computerscience #computers #motherhood #momscancode (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

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This is the #timelapse of the drawing of my previous post. I will upload a slower version of it in some days on Youtube. . I like to see how painting with a #wacomcintiq feels more natural in every new drawing I make. And also see the progress in the characters of #ZerusAndOna. . . #computerscience #childrensbooks #childrensbook #motherhood #speedpaint #gouache #digitalpainting #watercolor (at Córdoba, Spain)

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I would like little boy to know all it’s needed to use the internet in a safe and responsible way. Let him know that he might meet bad people when surfing the web and show him how to recognize them. . I am looking for real examples to include in one of the stories of #ZerusAndOna. Did you have any bad experience that you think I could include? . . . @childrenswritersguild #gouache #watercolor #gouachepainting #digitalpainting #watercolorpainting #watercolorpaint #motherhood #computerscience #computers #computer #childrensbook #childrensbooks (at Córdoba, Spain)

[miriamtocino]

While #ZerusAndOna spend these days playing with the snow, I’m working on the stories and defining their content. . My mum always makes the hardest questions about the book. Do you know that moment when you just told her all excited the last idea for one of the stories and she looks at you and says... “Oh, that’s wonderful! But...” followed by THE question. So you go home and cannot stop thinking about the answer until you found one! . One of her last questions was “What if little boy (or any other kid) doesn’t like programming? Would these stories still be relevant?” . The answer came this week while reading “D is for Digital” by #briankernighan. He says that in that book he would like to write all about “What should a well-informed person know about computing?”. . His approach is similar to the one I would like to accomplish: “What should kids know about computing?”. Answering my mum’s question, #ZerusAndOna won’t teach kids how to program, but will give them tools to live in a world surrounded by computers, whether they decide to do programming for living or not. . What do you wish you knew about computers as a kid? Viruses? Colors? Motherboard? . . . #illustragram #childrensbooks #childrensbook #computerscience #computing #motherhood (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

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After a long day playing in the snow #ZerusAndOna are going home. I hope you had a nice real winter day today. Little boy stared at the window for a long time. He looked excited as if he knew it was the first snow of his life! . . . #motherhood #sketchnearlyeveryday #computerscience #childrensbooks #drawcember (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

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F R E E Z E When your computer freezes #ZerusAndOna go ice skating! . Coming from the south of Spain it took me almost 10 years to see the snow. I still remember the feeling that day! It only took little boy one winter! . . #drawcember #drawcember2017 #sketchnearlyeveryday #sketchbook #iceskating #childrensbooks #childrensbook #computer #computerscience (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

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S H A R E These days I am sharing my workspace with the best colleague ever! Little boy likes to sit next to me and play around with his toys + my notebooks + my pencils while I try to get some work done on #ZerusAndOna. Some days feel more productive than others... He doesn’t feel so interested in binary numbers at the moment but I hope he does soon! . . This is how I try to get things done with a baby around the house. Which are your tricks? . . #motherhood #workspace #childrensbook #computerscience #wacomcintiq (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

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Last week my sister suggested that videos would be more “edible” if I would add some music to them. So this is the first #timelapse with audio! Do you agree with her? . It shows some of the first #ZerusAndOna ‘s hobbies: poems and castles. Music: “Flic en Flac” by @andrew_applepie . . You can find a slower version on YouTube. . . . #speedpaint #childrensbooks #computerscience motherhood #drawcember #drawcember2017 #hobbies (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

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Today remember to hug🤱🏻. I am doing it all the time! . Giving a shot to a couple of binary trees, as suggested by @ . Thank you! I was thinking about the idea behind, that maybe trees are the source of information for #ZerusAndOna, since binary trees are most used for searching. The place to go when they need to know sth, kind of “wise trees”. What do you think? 👾🌳 . Any other “techie” ideas to draw trees around the world? . . #drawcember #drawcember2017 #motherhood #hugs #sketchbook #childrensbooks #childrensbook #computerscience (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

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T R A V E L . How many times did you start a project, fell in love with it and saw it die softly like a candle? . For me it’s been quite a few, but this time I want it to be different. I want to overcome my fears and doubts. Get over the bad days, lose track and gain focus again and again. Finding new ways every day to keep the candle lighten. Using paper this time is making it more real! . Finding the purpose behind all of it, words and meanings that I can hold to. . Sharing all these with you is part of the adventure (completely stepping out of my comfort place here) so if you are still there... thanks a lot! And know that you matter these days. It feels that I am not travelling alone, wherever we are going! 🚀 . . . #ZerusAndOna #drawcember #drawcember2017 #computerscience #childrensbooks #motherhood (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

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ORGANIZE This month I am going to try a new thing! . The other day I was talking with @yannschaub about how I started to work on #ZerusAndOna and how I wasn't actually looking for a project to work on but instead the project found me. So there was no plan at all, I told myself "just start and keep moving". I am still here, trying to figure things out, shaping things around, full of questions, looking for answers. But this month I want to try something new 💫. While preparing my #bulletjournal 📒for December I asked myself how an ideal month would look like when it comes down to sharing/doing things on the project and how it would influence the process. This time I'm going to track the results too! . Tuesdays ➜ 🎥 I realized that #timelapse videos are the most loved posts around. So you can expect one of them every week! They are also a great learning tool for myself, so I totally encourage you doing it if you are up to sth on your screen. Whatever it is! . Thursdays ➜ 💡I am learning a lot these days, whether it is about Photoshop tricks, tools to boos the cresative process or organizational skills. And I'd need to share those too. . Saturdays ➜ ⚖️ My free weekly morning (oh yes!), time for reflection when I like to read some of the articles that I collected during the week. And do some writing... (like this one 😉). . If you follow me on Instragram, I am also joining #drawdember2017 so I will be posting sketches (almost) daily and sharing "espontaneous" stories, probably with more videos, questions, polls and sneak peaks! . I hope you like how all this look like but... if there is anything else that you'd like me to be sharing more (or less)... I'm curious, so let me know! ❤️ #childrensbooks #computerscience #momlife #motherhood #artistsoninstagram #authorsofinstagram (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

[miriamtocino]

Joining #drawcember2017 with this one! These Christmas the family is growing 💫 . . . . #ZerusAndOna #drawcember #childrensbooks #sketchbook #computerscience #motherhood #pencildrawing (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)

[miriamtocino]

Baby steps! Getting some work done in the trees 🌳🌲🌿 . #ZerusAndOna #computerscience #childrensbooks (at Amsterdam, Netherlands)