Dracula Vampira again.

I want to show off another progress shot of "Dracula Vampira", just 'cuz I really like how she's looking.
I would like to reiterate that I started her sometime last year, after I returned from Conexión Drácula, an artistic residency here in Panama. I had an image of her, as the residency came to an end, I think, but I was really iffy about what medium to paint her in.
I had started out with watercolors, because I'm usually more comfortable with them, but in the last couple of months, I've really gone in with acrylic paints, specially when I painted that cartoon portrait of Trent. Here's the entry: A Demon Possessed. I painted it with acrylics, because they dry so fast.
I'm actually really glad that I'm beginning to work with them, they're clearly a super versatile medium, but they require a lot of learning. At least, for me, because they dry so fast, I'm so used to being really comfortable with how slowly the oil paints dry and the nice degradations and blendings I can make with them.

So, yeah, here's a progress shot.

I was trying to work with some colored pencils yesterday, because I feel like I have more control with that; but I've kept working with acrylic paints, trying to tread carefully.

Gabriela Handal Arte - Facebook page. Like it.

FIRST POST OF THE YEAR OMG
Picture of "Ojos de Búho" and close up of the little sea landscape.

And two more things:
1. My facebook page, that you gotta like and share with all yo' friendz: Gabriela Handal Arte
2. I'm having an individual art exhibit that opens on the 16th of January at Restaurante El Manchego. Here is the event in Facebook, but we're still fine tuning a couple of things and there will be new information coming on it, but you gotta go: Exhibición: Gabriela Miscelánea
Thank you for reading and I hope your holidays and your New Year were absolutely fantastic!

Water Nymph Ondine

I did some pictures at the end of last year in collaboration with Grace Solarte (the makeup artists) and Sofía Rodriguez Riba. They have this very cool project of reproducing a piece of whichever local artist they like, with the artists somehow involved in the picture.
I'm the first and, so far, the only one they've done. They chose my drawing "Water Nymph - Ondine) and we reproduced my drawing and the story of Ondine. I'm going to show off here the drawing itself and the the pictures that I liked the most of the photoshoot.
So this is the drawing, I used pencil, colored pencils and watercolor over paper
I seriously liked all the pictures, but these four are some of my favorites. I think Sofía used a Minotla camera, I honestly don't know, but it's a manual camera, where you have to manually gauge and judge by the lighting and all this shit that I think it one of the things really gives a photographer his/her validity and talent. So these pictures have such richness, and they're flat, but I feel like I could reach out and touch everything in each scene.
I think my favorite picture (although I'd like to emphasize again that I really liked them all and I love looking at them and their gorgeous green and blue predominance and richness), is the pregnant one. When a nymph becomes pregnant by a human, she loses her immortality and begins to age at a very rapid rate. I LOVE the facial expression in that picture, the protective gesture of her hands and arms on her bloated stomach, it is so palpable to me that she's very aware of her choice, there is some fear maybe, but there is so much determination and pride in her facial expression.
I've linked the pictures so that you click on them and you see a bigger version


So, yes. I've been meaning to do an entry about this for a while. Please, remember to like my Facebook page, as that's where I do updates on my stuff the most often: Gabriela Handal Arte
Thank you very much for reading.

Collaboration

I met Andi Soto at the restaurant where I work.
It went that I tended to her and then she wrote to me in Facebook, which I loved, and we talked, she saw my work and I saw her work; and I progressively liked this broad more. The day she'd gone to the restaurant, she'd gone to collaborate with another gorgeous artist, Camila Bernal.
This is what their collaboration looked like:

Andi has this super clean and neat work, clean, confident lines. The little dolls stare out of the paper with big eyes, they seem somehow innocent and childlike; but it's like those creatures in the movies or in manga and anime, their mouth starts opening more and more and the creature happens to be a crazy and horrifying predator. It's what I see, anyway.
So, I suggested faster than a speeding bullet that we should mothafuckin' collaborate and we did and it was too cool.
Here are two shots of the two of us working on it and the end result:
And the end result:
So, I've linked up there to her page in Facebook and Camila's, because both their work is very much worth seeing. And here is a link to my page in Facebook, because you ain't forgettin' 'bout me: Gabriela Handal Arte

Milla

I'm a pretty big fan of Milla Jovovich, but I've not drawn her very often, I think it's been twice, including the drawing that I'm going to show off now.

This is my reference:

This is the end result:

I used two pencils, a mystery pencil and a 3B Faber Castell pencil. The mystery pencil, is a mystery pencil, because it has no information about what it is on it, it's yellow like a Mongol 2, but the graphite feels silkier and I also had no issue drawing over it with the 3B, like it has happened with the Mongol.
It was also considerably dark, when I applied pressure, it was rather nice. So nice, that I considered finishing the drawing with the mystery pencil. HOWEVER, I only have that one mystery pencil and I have no idea what it is, for me to get another one, so that was stressing me out a little bit lol!

Since my reference leaves out a fourth of her head, I decided to leave that part really sketchy and have the face and part of the hair real proper detailed, 'cuz I thought it would be cool and fun and it turned out very cool! =D

I drew on a Strathmore drawing book, smooth surface, 80lbs paper, 11 x 14 inches.

ALSO, I mentioned Milla at some point, with a progress shot of the drawing AND SHE REPLIED TO ME and that's how she made my entire month/year/probably life. So I screencapped that shit, posted in everywhere, retweeted it and then I exploded. So here's the screencap, because it's related.


I also mentioned her with a picture of the finished drawing, but she didn't reply to that one. I can't imagine how many times she gets mentioned lol

So now that I've shown that off, remember my Facebook page, which you should seriously like and share with your friends if you haven't yet: Gabriela Handal Arte

Thank you for reading, guys!

Burns like incense

This piece was relatively quick, it took maybe two or three days. It would have been one day, if I didn't faff about so much.
I used pencil, colored pencil and acrylic over a Strathmore 18 x 24 inches and 80lbs drawing pad.
I have to say that it came out almost exactly as I had her in mind, I'm aware that there's some sensuality/sexuality to her facial expression and the entire piece itself; but it's really more about passion, and they're not necessarily together by default.
I see some comic in her, some illustration and still some art. It's one of the few times where the use of acrylic is essential in the piece, rather than compliment, as I use it normally.
The burning of the edges of the paper, also to do with the whole theme of the piece, I think is a nice addition.
Here's two pictures, one of mid-process and finished.
Also, I participated for the first time in an artistic residency, the only one so far here in Panama; it was a crazy great experience. I'm refraining from showing pictures of the pieces themselves, for now, so that they can be seen in all their glory in the art exhibit.
The opening will be on July 18th, 7:30pm at the Edificio de la Gobernación and after that, it'll be open for a week. The pieces are definitely for sale and you are more than welcome to go and take all of your friends to the opening or the art exhibit itself. Here is a link to the Facebook event: Conexión Drácula 2012
Here is a link to the residency's page: Residencia de Artistas Conexión Drácula. The residency is once a year, for now. This time around, they put out the open call and they chose eight visual artists, a photographer and a writer.
It really was an incredible experience and you shouldn't hesitate to apply next time they put the open call out again.

And last, but not least, remember my Facebook page: Gabriela Handal Arte. You should like it and share it with your friends.
Thank you for everything and see you next time =D

Decadence

I finished this drawing yesterday, she's titled "Decadence", it's 3B pencil over paper and 18 x 24 inches. It's probably one of the biggest drawings I've made willingly so far. That I can remember, anyway. I've definitely been wanting to make bigger drawings, the 18 x 24 inch drawing book is the biggest one I have right now. Here she is: Here's a couple of close up pictures. So that's "Decadence", I really like how she turned out. The only thing is that I used some stupid Mongol pencil for the sketching part and I don't know what it is about that pencil that was having some kind of issue with the Faber Castell carbon, it was kind of a pain in the ass. That's all for today. Please remember to like my page in Facebook, that's where I put updates of things much more often, here's a link: Gabriela Handal Arte Thanks a lot for reading <3

Finished

So I finished the drawing that I talked about in the previous entry.


And I wanted to show my reference, which is an image I stumbled upon in tumblr:


What I like best of this drawing are the abstract that's coming out of her mouth and her hair, with the combination of sharp angles and flowing curves, I like how it turned out =D

That's going to be all for today, don't forget my Facebook page, which you should like and suggest to all of your friends: Gabriela Handal Arte
Also, do remember my work is for sale, and if you're outside of Panama, the transaction may take much longer than if you were here, but it's definitely possible.

Don't hesitate to contact me for any questions or comments you might have or just to say hello =D

Drawing with a 6B pencil

Today I'm doing a drawing with a 6B pencil, with a reference that I found in my tumblr. I used to think that I really LOVED those high B pencils, just because they're so DARK! but that's kind of a double edged weapon, because it's really easy to stain your piece, if you want to erase, there's probably going to be a little carbon smudge left behind and you might have to sharpen your pencil like a million time, because the lead is so soft.
It's like you're drawing with velvet lol

Anyway, this is what I'm currently working on and I hope to finish today =D


It's a girl with an abstract coming out of her mouth. At first, I was thinking of using as reference another picture I found in tumblr, which is one of those really amazing pictures of tinted water being dropped into transparent water. This picture in particular, the tinted substance is SO. DENSE. The texture in the whole picture is pretty amazing. That's something that I'd like to draw at some point as well, though.

So, that's it for today. Remember my Facebook page, remember to like it and share it with your friends =D Gabriela Handal Arte It's up to 1266 likes, I'm pretty proud of myself =D!

"Butterfly Face" v. 2.0 and 3.0

I'm working on two other "Butterfly Face"s that I started last night. The profile one is my favorite of all three and for these last two, I'm using as model the wings of that butterfly that uses owl eyes to intimidate predators.

Right now they're only pencil and colored pencil over paper, but there's probably going to be some watercolor in there sometime soon, they complement each other well.

This one's "Butterfly Face 2"


And this one's "Butterfly Face 3", their numbering based on the order in which they were drawn, first was the three quarters one, then the profile one and then the front one.


That's all for now! See how much I've been posting? Ain't you proud of me? XD
Here's my Facebook page that I would seriously like it if you liked and suggested to all of your friends, because the more the merrier <3 Gabriela Handal Arte

Some Kind of Wig - Self-portraits

Self portraiture in Wikipedia

This is my most recently finished drawing, finished today lol
It's based on this picture, that I took of myself, wearing the wig I meant to wear for "Drifter", but didn't in the end.
I like how the picture turned out, the facial expression and most of the lighting. I tried to ignore the light from the computer flash. Also, that wig is weird, it's like really bad plastic or something, or maybe it was on purpose that it looked so weird, because it's a witch wig.

So here's a couple of pictures of the process of the drawing and the end result will be last.
I don't know wether I consider it a self-portrait or not, I'm always really close to getting into a discussion with whoever about that. I guess, by definition it's a self portrait, but I also don't feel like it's me in the drawing. I have been the model for several of my drawings or paintings, but I don't call them self-portraits lol Like this one, I definitely don't call this one a self-portrait.
It's titled "Some Kind of Wig", it's 11 x 14 inches, pencil over paper and it's not for sale.


Finished:

Close up:


I really like the facial expression in the original picture and I like how it turned out in the drawing, there's a mixture of defiance and passivity in her face.

I'm working on a series of monochromatic paintings, where I only use one color in the painting and I'm working on making an individual art exhibit out of them. I presented the idea to this gallery and I'm waiting to see what they say about it, I'll keep you posted on that!

Remember that I have a page in Facebook that I update pretty often, you should like it and suggest it to all your friends! Link: Gabriela Handal Arte in Facebook

Thank you so much for reading <3

Onyx

1. I finished my Alek Wek drawing and I'm pretty proud of myself.
I was seriously intimidated by this piece, because I don't think I'd ever drawn a black person before and because I felt like shading her was backwards from how it's usually done.

The picture that made me want to draw her. I'd heard of Alek Wek and seen her pictures and what not and I always have liked what she looks like, I LOVE how long her limbs are, I've always pictured her as a hunter and in my mind's eye, she runs across a savannah with a spear in her hand as she chases her prey. It reminds me a little bit of Janet Jackson's video "Together Again", there's a scene similar to that. There's a picture of her, that reminds me of a panther sitting on a branch resting.
I seriously LOVE how DARK her skin is, I can't get over that and it's one of the things that I really wanted to take advantage of in the drawing, make her look as black as possible.


Close up of same picture, for better reference of her face.
I don't consider her to be beautiful in the same way that I consider Milla to be beautiful, but I still love her features and her body <3

What I used for reference for her ear


From when I was first starting out the drawing


Just about to finish!


Finished piece! <3
Close up

Another close up, I seriously like how her ear turned out XD


I'm pretty proud of myself with how it turned out. It's a 3B pencil over paper, 9 x 12 inches and she's most definitely for sale at USD90.00.

2. Remember that I've added the share buttons at the bottom of each entry, so go ahead and share this entry on your twitter or Facebook!
Also, remember that I have Twitter now, just look for @gabrielahandal
AND, last but not least, remember my page in Facebook, like it so that you can always keep up to date with my work and DO suggest it to your friends with the share with friends link that is right under the profile picture. The more the merrier! Here's the link: Gabriela Handal Arte See you there! =D

Barbarian

Today's entry is about a drawing that most people have disliked, but I SERIOUSLY like it XD

I like it, because I like the end result, I like the colors I used and how they turned out, I like what it's about, I like the character's body, her facial expression and general attitude; although I have to agree with viewers on her body's position being awkward and her body itself being awkward considering the amount of strength she's supposed to have. But that's who I visualized it, I can't help myself.

This drawing is meant to be a barbarian woman, that wields a double handed sword and said sword is about her size, if not a little bit bigger. She's some sort of mutant for her time, because of the amount of strength she has and that's contradicted by her body not manifesting her strength: she's not very strong looking, but very feminine, young and tight.
I don't really know what Vikings looked like and what they wore, because I haven't cared enough to look for that information, but I think of her as some sort of Viking.

We see her in the drawing, at a moment in which she's just picked up her sword and is holding it in a confident, but sort of playful manner. I wrote a little thing concerning the moment of the drawing, I hope I'm not mocked about my poor writing skills XD

I used pencil, water color and colored pencils for this drawing, it's 9 x 12 inches and I don't know if it's for sale D:

This is the drawing:


This is the passage:
The sword is almost as big as her, maybe bigger
She lifted it up, with her arms stretched out in front of her and her muscles are tense and she feels them contracting, but she's more than used to it and she lifts the sword with ease
She turns her head, her brow tightly frowned in concentration; her eyes directed and centered to who she's cutting up next, but the corners of her mouth a little bit raised in confidence and enjoyment
The wind blows her long orange hair and her loin cloth, but it doesn't distract her eyes from where they're pinpointed.
The smooth, svelt and economic body of the barbarian walked decidedly in the next chosen direction and she swung her sword in fron tof her like it was merely an extension of her arms and sliced accross three men at a time, cutting a path through the bodies, tearing them down like they were trees.

So that's it. I really like this drawing and I like what I wrote about it.
The group in facebook is up and running with a very wide selection of drawings, paintings and other things; it would be very nice if you went in the group, saw my work, joined and invited other people that you think would be interested in it! See you there! :D

Gabriela Handal Arte
http://condron.us/