Webcomic Website

So I decided to move my webcomic and its archives to its own separate website. Take a look!

http://naranjapanda.webs.com

Life's hard when you're a glum plum.

I totally remembered that I have a webcam! Its not perfect, but at least I can still take pictures! Here's what I've concocted the other day! Its a glum plum. HAHAHA. XD I know. I'm so poetic. :P These are also hand-embroidered art prints. Signed and limited edition of 50. As soon as I get my Nikon back, I'll list them on etsy. :D

Don't mind my dorky self in the background. 

Apples to apples

What a slow week its been. Feels like its been dragging on! I've finished a few more art and stationery projects but alas, I will not have my trusty Nikon for the next week and a half so I can't upload pics of them yet. I'm itching to though. I'm really excited about them. :D

In the mean time though, this was the last project I photographed. They're apple shaped hair barrettes I sewed out of felt. :D Again, I've come to that fork in the road of indecision where I can't decide whether I just want to keep them and use them or sell them. Why must I always come to this conclusion? 

In other news, despite having gone through four years of design school and learned the pitfalls of printing, it seems that no matter what I try to do to print my art prints on my home computer, things go terribly wrong and I end up with a bunch of un-useable prints in the trash. On one round, the paper gets jammed. The next round, I accidently place the finished print on something wet and it gets ruined. Next round I realize that my printer scaled the image down so it was not at the correct dimensions! OH MY GOD.... somebody SHOOT me in the face! The paper I'm using is not cheap either. And neither is the ink for my printer. *Sigh* Its like I'm in college again... crying over my project that can't seem to print right and it happens to be due in three hours.  

Typography Tuesday... even though its actually Monday.

I thought today I'd have some fun and search for random images that just have cool typography. This has been something I've done since I took typography in college and it always amazes me how flexible type can really be. You can stretch it, manipulate it, twist it, texturize it, shake it up and throw it against the wall, and it still spells something. No matter what you do to those simple strokes that make up the structure of a letter, you will still be able to "read" it as a letter. I am particularly in love with hand-drawn type though. 

Here is just a snapshot of some creative possibilities with type. 

Paper and thread: Hand embroidery!

The other day I thought I'd try my hand at embroidery work. I must say that it gets quite addicting for some reason. :P I sort of figured it out on my own but you can find tutorials online on how to do embroidery work on paper. That's what I did here. 





This is just a basic hand-embroidered greeting card. Not so bad for my first time, I must say! I had some great little brass brads to attach the embroidery to the actual folded card. Made my life alot easier, and it looks pretty classy! I can't wait to try this on textured watercolor paper!





I also did the embroidery work on this art print I was working on for the etsy shop. It looked boring before I added the embroidery work. All of a sudden, it perked it right up! Fun stuff! I don't know why it took me this long to actually doing embroidery work. :P Paper and thread were meant for each other.

Panda better hold on to that kite! Its gonna blow away!

Panda loves to fly kites. Especially his bamboo-themed one. :P I've decided to introduce art prints to my etsy shop this week. Very exciting. I have one more to unveil that uses embroidery techniques but I'm still working on it. :P These will be limited edition prints. Only 50 will be made. They are signed, numbered and dated. :D

"Go where the wind takes you"

5" x 7"

Digital Illustration on Heavyweight Matte Paper

The sun hurts my eyes but I keep staring anyway...

Some new items for the shop today. The printable greeting card will have two messages on the file that you download from me. One that says Thank You" and another that says "Happy Birthday" (not pictured). I figured people always need those two types of cards on hand at any given moment. :P

These were also fun to make as well. These little guys are a new shop item and they are typically used for collage or scrabble tile pendants for necklaces. Apparently they are the rage on Etsy so I thought I'd throw in my two cents. I gathered all of Panda's little friends! :D These are also printable, but of course, you can request anything in my shop to be printed and shipped to you under a custom listing. Just convo me to let me know.

New Webcomic: "The Indestructible Fly"

[CLICK IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW]

I have a love affair with folded paper.

New card designs this week! I haven't listed these yet as I am still working out the kinks in the PDF files, but I just couldn't resist posting them right away. :D These are shaped cards. A little more intricate to cut out but still pretty fun to make. Hope people will like these. :) 

Inspiration: Embroidery

I saw these while cruising etsy today. Embroidery + Paper = Love. Great work from King Popcorn.

Hello hello helloo

I've been incredibly busy as well as incredibly lazy this past week. I've mostly been working on freelance graphic design work as well as new items for my etsy shop and haven't had a moment's peace! So here are some of the new items for the shop!


Rainbow Brooch!


Strawberry Brooch!


Printable Birthday-Themed Collage Set!


Printable Octopus Stationery Set!


Printable Yoyo Stationery Set!

I'm introducing brooches to the collection! They're so much fun to make! I've been pinning all sorts of things on myself. :P I'm also working on something I call Felt Art Patches... but more on that next week!

Besides working on some new projects for the etsy shop and my design clients, I've also recently signed a contract with Juna Studio. I'll be designing all sorts of pattern designs and graphics to be sold to retail markets and buyers. I hope it works out well. I'll be busting my ass around here trying to submit enough designs every month. Wish me luck! 

Awkward young designer...

Today is my 23rd birthday. I remember when turning 20 was a big deal and both my dorm-mate and I felt like things were gonna change dramatically between being a teenager to being a 20-something. Whether or not I feel dramatically different... I don't know. I think being an early 20-something in this day and age is really quite similar to being a teenybopper. You're still confused as hell. You're still running around wondering what you should be doing.

If I was born a few generations back, I would most likely have some kind of stable career choice in mind or at least working full-time by my age. I might even be married and already have a baby on my arm. Adulthood came fast for my parents' generation, but it doesn't seem the same for my generation. That period of feeling unsettled, unsure, and (for my current situation) unemployed seems to drone on...

I'm not very happy about my birthday actually. Because it only reminds me that another year has passed and I still haven't felt like I've grown up into adulthood. I still live with my parents. I can barely drive on my own (I'm a terrible driver). I still don't have a real job nor do I even know how to properly search for one. And for the most part, people take care of me. I'm still baby Van.

This has caused me quite a bit of stress after I graduated college in the summer of 2008. Its usually expected that I run out of the classroom and straight into the office. Straight into my line of work where I get a nice cushy salary and health insurance. Where I can finally watch all my time spent getting my degree actually pay off. I guess its these expectations that are really bogging me down more than anything. Do I want a job like that? Do I have to be like everybody else in my graduating class who ran out for internships and open slots at fancy design studios? I'm just intimidated by all of that.

Don't get me wrong. I like my degree in Graphic Design, but the thought of spending every day in the office staring at computer screens moving pixels around... it kind of bothers me. I guess I've been sort of hesitant about jumping into the workforce because I'm afraid I'll get sucked into that 9-5 soul-sucking kind of job. I dunno. I think I'm just at a stand-still right now. I really don't know which direction to move forward that will make me happy.

On the bright side, I do like my etsy shop, and I do like the freelance gigs that I've been doing to keep myself afloat these past months. I've even been given an opportunity to be a freelance illustrator for a NYC-based print studio just a few days ago. So... I know that my talent is being wasted. I know that I like being creative and I love to make things. So I wonder if this would be the right career path for me. Somebody self-employed. Would it be successful? Could I live off of what I make on my own? The prospect at least seems exciting to me, but I do have my never-ending string of doubts about self-employment and failure. I just wish I had a cohesive plan.

Milk Dud

[CLICK ON IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW]

You can find my older webcomics here.

Rain rain go away...

I saw this in an etsy listing. I wish I could find the original link. I thought it was just too darn cool not to share with others. I wish I had a tree like this infront of my house. :P

Love is in the air...

Its finally February! The month of my birthday. The second month of the year. Hopefully it will be a good month! 

Today I worked on some more Valentines stuff for my etsy. It feels like this past month has been nothing but Valentines stuff, so hopefully after this holiday I can move on with other less thematic stuff. Hahaha. I'm not all hearts and roses all the time. :P Anyway, I designed some printable collage images today. Great for decorating those Valentines day cards and envelopes, letters, and scrapbooking. :) They should be on my etsy by tomorrow.