It’s Easter Monday today and time for another bunny theme. And how cute, Little One enjoys dressing up and today she’s a kawaii pink Easter bunny! She made this costume from old clothes she had grown out of. Very resourceful! And great way to spend the spare time during the home-isolation, getting creative as well as constructive. And to add to the fun, she experimented with some pretty make-up. So of course I had to paint about it!
Another Exciting Tutorial
It was yesterday when I came across this tutorial on FB which was perfect for this theme. Ady Almanza is an artist from Mexico living in Germany so I feel some affinity given I myself am from Japan living in the Netherlands. With her specialties in art journaling and illustrations, I’ve always admired her pretty doll drawings. A bit chibi-style with the big eyes but sophisticated. And thus I was thrilled to discover she was giving tutorials on FB to keep us fellow artists going during this outbreak.
Pencil Sketch
In this tutorial appeared a step-by-step approach to sketching the face and properly adding highlights and shadows. I’m not very good with light and shade techniques so the lessons helped. Whilst Ady used a piece of craft paper, I used some tan-toned paper (a page from Strathmore’s sketchpad). Both are great for producing skin-tones. Also, the tutorial called for Caran d’Ache Luminance aquarelle pencils which I didn’t have so I substituted that for the Prismalo, also aquarelle pencils by the same brand. Although she began with sketching directly with them, I needed some confidence so firstly did my draft in white chalk pencil. Then I traced it over with the pencil. Colouring in the face was not as bad as I envisioned! I closely followed her steps which she talked through very well. Now I’m happy to have managed, although I do need more practice with it.
Painting Away with Acrylic
And now painting the kawaii costume! Ady typically uses lots of markers in her work, namely Uni Posca pens and in some instances Ecoline felt tips. Thus for her Bunny Girl, she coloured the costume with a large Uni Posca marker. It looked really good when she did that, but I myself prefer to paint instead for larger areas. Firstly I don’t have large-sized markers and secondly I tend to leave unattractive streaks when colouring with them. Improvising came about as I chose pink acrylic paint which was then mixed with acrylic medium for smoother brushing and a glossy finish. Once that was dry, I went for the hair which was firstly drawn in with the aquarelle pencils before lined with various shades of brown acrylic markers. Then with the markers I coloured in the lashes and the whites of the eyes.
Adding Some Bling
I could have stopped once I finished painting the bunny costume a pretty pink. It’s Easter though and with this somber mood during the COVID-19 outbreak and not being able to celebrate it properly this year, I felt a bit of sparkles would give a more festive feel. Some glitter glue was applied on the eye-lines and lashes as well as on the ribbon. Then with some white acrylic marker, I dotted in part of the bunny ears and the ends of the jumpsuit. I didn’t want to make it too over the top. And now I think it looks just fine!
Awww, I think Little One looks really cute, don’t you? I also had a lot of fun with this challenge, especially with the shadows and highlights of her face. The best part of being creative is also improvising with what you have and don’t have. For instance, I substituted the Aquarelle pencils with my kind and chose paint instead of markers. Then going a step further and embellishing with glitter glue. I will definitely be following more of Ady’s tutorials. And of course there is also Ana’s. With spare time for the coming weeks, I’m looking forward to learning more!
My Kawaii Quarter 