New Etsy Banner!

Just sharing my new Etsy banner~

You wouldn't know it from my wardrobe, but I'm really drawn to pinks and blues.

One of my first digital drawings was of a girl hugging her knees wearing a pink dress. It was my avi for my personal blog which was robin's egg blue with 'deeppink' accents:

Illo: Yoga Girls for Yani

Sometime before Christmas last year, Yani asked me to draw her and yoga friends. I wanted to do a scene with the characters scattered around but interacting with each other, plus some props here and there. But this week she mentioned trying the Metro mag cover pose, and I thought that was hilarious and clever that I went with it.

Hola!

Drew this string of santan flowers using only my fingers on my laptop's trackpad heh.

These were the ultimate 80s/90s kid thing: getting the santan flowers one by one, sucking the nectar out of them, then stringing them together to form bracelets, anklets, necklaces.

I don't see them a lot anymore. Landscaping probably has trends, too, that I'm not aware of. Santan is probably the succulents of those decades.

Anyway, I've decided to revive this blog to share my journey pursuing illustration, graphic design, and art in general. It's not exactly jumping from a whole 'nother career path from fashion design/marketing/merchandising (which I took), but it's a scary leap nonetheless. If, before, Palette Pursuit was the brand under which I marketed my hand-made jewelry; now, Palette Pursuit feels more apt for the type of work I want to do onwards.

I've a sizeable body of design work I wish I could share but I wasn't meticulous in keeping record; I never did think I'd take graphic design seriously. Those bad Photoshops would have at least given me a good laugh (and motivation) when I needed them today.

I'm taking baby steps towards my new goals, and this blog I shall keep as a (mostly) visual diary. I'm excited.

Just My Type

I've had these posters saved in my hard drive for a while now. They're by Maddy Nye, who is a columnist at Design Love Fest, and regularly designs these insightful messages using palettes from all sorts of photos and references.

I didn't immediately notice that there was a 'type' I kept going back to. My favorites tend to be those with sunny pops of color, but are muted and low-contrast, almost matte like ceramics right before they're fired in the kiln.

I think it's great practice to compile a lot of things that capture your attention, and then try to pin down what ties them together. For me, it works as a sort of compass that I use to guide my creative work. 

(I know Pinterest does the same for others, but personally I'm having trouble keeping up with all the social media lol.) If, like me, you're still struggling to find your voice as an artist, this might be a helpful little exercise.