Disney Baby

I'm 100% sure that you know this picture. Yes, I am!! If not, then you're probably a person without any childhood an alien! How can anyone NOT recognize the orchestra sounds, the castle, the fairy dust, the ever famous "Walt Disney Pictures", and the giddy feeling in your toes whenever we're about to watch another epic movie from Disney. I'm a Disney baby and I'm proud of it! I grew up watching Micky Mouse and his adventures with Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Daisy, and yes, the lovable Pluto. I would dress myself up to be like the Disney Princesses I've grown to love, I can even memorize Under the Sea, I Won't Say I'm In Love, and other Disney soundtracks by heart! Who doesn't love Disney?? 

Walt Disney Animation Studios was founded on October 1923 and since then, it has produced 52 feature films up to date! Beginning with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves showed in 1937, the studio has been successful in producing films that have captured hearts of both young and old. Currently, Walt Disney Animation Studios is producing Frozen, their 53rd feature and the studio has been incorporating both hand-drawn and computer generated imagery techniques. However, I would like to focus more on the hand-drawn part of animation. If I haven't been able t emphasize it enough, Disney has been more than just part of my childhood. It brought itself to a very special place in my heart and it was a BIG part of my decision in pursuing arts. I am simply in awe on how much a little idea, a little scribble of sketch, can turn into. A simple drawing of a character, with enough magic, can be real, can be alive. I told myself that I want to be part of something so great and magical. With my passion in drawing, I want to be help create something that one day will affect someone's life. Just a smile from a child, or a memory brought back to the old ones. One simple magical feeling brought by a character from a story. Amazing, isn't it?

 Look at the picture above! Just a simple sketch of Ariel and the actual scene the sketch has been turned into. Gosh, I am so excited to learn as much as I can to be able to do that already!! Here are some pictures behind the scenes of the makings of the films. Actual actors were used to portray some scenes in some of the stories, so that the animators would be able to imagine the characters in details.

To be able to work for Disney is one of the top of my list in my bucket list and I don't know how I'll get there, but hey, we can all dream, can't we? Thinking about working for Disney and to be part of these processes makes me giddy already! However, the point of the matter is, I want everyone to know how animation and illustration can leave so much impact in someone's life. I mean, can you really imagine your childhood WITHOUT those Disney movies? Life would be so sad..hehe. The little things do matter, don't you agree? and hopefully, in the future, I'll not only be able to do what I love, but to inspire and be part of someone's life because of what I do too :)

A Sketch A Day

Here's a new goal I have set for myself : A sketch a day!!

I've realized that I have a long long way to go in finding my own style. Even through I did grow up drawing and joining art competitions, I never really got the opportunity to discover my own taste. All the while, I've been spoon fed on what type of style to draw. I've tried different mediums and applying them to sketching, doodling, still life art. However, I seem to be all over the place. I believe that each artist has his own style in his work. I want someone to look at my piece and say, "Ah! I'm sure it's Princess who drew that!". I've got a looooong way to go, but it's a start. I bought a blank blank sketchbook and I'm excited to fill all those pages up with stories and colors! Keeping my fingers crossed that I'll keep by word and be consistent with my new goal!

The Currently #1

As you can see from my happiness list, I am really fond of lists. Being organized, arranging thoughts, and putting everything into place are sorta my thing. Here's a list of tid bits that is currently happening in my mundane life :)

Reading Mark Zusak's The Book Thief. I've been reading this book and I can't seem to find the time to finish it though. The book indeed gave justice to its award winning title, and I plan to finish the story before the month ends. Random trivia: a movie based on the book will be coming out soon!!

Feeling drained. Maybe because of the lack of sleep.

Loving weekends with my brother.  Like I said, my brother has been working here for 3 years now so I didn't really have much contact with him except through annual family outings during december and facebook chat. Despite of our 8 year age gap, my brother and I seem to get along really really well and I feel blessed to have him around. *cheeseballs* He's been a great pal by listening to my rants about school, tolerating my random surge of energy, and bearing my unpredictable hunger hehehe. On weekdays, he comes home late from work and I'm usually busy in doing my projects. We take the weekends off to go out and try new food or watch movies, and these weekends have been such a pleasure.

Needing healthier choices. These past few weeks have made its toll on me. Lack of sleep and unbalanced diet ( *ahem* overdose *ahem* of *ahem ahem* fried chicken) really drained me and I've been having weird headaches. So I'm planning to sleep earlier and fix my body clock! Make time to run too and to eat more veggies!!

Planning to draw for myself.  To be honest, I haven't been drawing lately and shame shame, I'm studying in an arts school majoring in Illustration!! I guess I've been too lax lately and I just prioritize in finishing my projects alone. I promiseeee, yes, pinky swear, that I'll have better time management. I'll start sketching and drawing just for me, especially since I don't even know what my style is yet. hurrahhh let's do this!!

Wishing for my best friends to fly over here from the Philippines even just for a day or even an afternoon with me. I miss them dearly, I miss the not-so-funny jokes, the annoying laughs, the current updates, the teasing.

Feeling loved. :)

Wanting a cup of tea & a slice of strawberry short cake

Wearing  what I wore since I left the house this morning and it is 12:25 am already...okay, I'll have to change into my jammies.

How Society Thinks

This is a short poem that I've discovered on the internet and it just stuck to me. Growing up, my parents enrolled my siblings and I in various extra curricular activities such as drawing classes, guitar lessons, dance lessons, math classes, cooking classes ( every class which I reallyyy enjoyed, especially drawing and cooking hehehe food) However, I cannot help but to notice that once we grow up... arts, play, and anything not related to business, mathematics, science, and technology are "quietly" shunned. Some say that following a career path in the field of arts may seem absurd because it isn't a "real" job. It's just play. Sure you'll have fun but you'll just end up starving in the streets.

I honestly think that this mentality should change. Yes, our technology is indeed ever evolving, times are indeed much harder and money is of greater importance now. However, the arts shouldn't be neglected and above all, it shouldn't be taken lightly. The arts represent our story of who we are, what we've been through, and what we are looking forward to. It isn't just an expression of an individual, but of a whole community.

Fortunately, I am very blessed to have parents who are very much open-minded and they support me with the choices I had, and will take. I plan to change this mentality and show the world how the arts shouldn't just be set aside. Let's take this one step at a time, shall we?

#nowwatching Finding Neverland

I recently watched Finding Neverland during one of my late afternoon free times and I LOVED it. I grew with the story of Peter Pan in my heart. I've not only watched the Disney animated film of both Peter Pan 1 & 2, but I've read books of Peter Pan related stories as well. This movie is not only outstanding because of the magical and sincere scenes of each character, but this movie did justice and paid a wonderful tribute to where all the magic came from, it is none other than J.M. Barrie himself.

Finding Neverland is a semi-biographical movie about the life of J.M Barrie and his encounter with the Davies family, who inspired him to write his most famous work, Peter Pan. In the movie, Barrie met Sylvia Davies, a widow, and her four children one afternoon in the park. Barrie then proves to be a wonderful playmate and surrogate father to the kids. On their afternoons together, Barrie was inspired by the boys' imagination and hence, gave him the idea of boys who do not want to grow up, especially the troubled Peter Llewyn Davies. Barrie received a lot of skepticism regarding his Peter Pan play because most found that the story would not fit the taste of upperclass theatre goers. During the opening night, Barrie was able to get children from a nearby orphanage to attend. The play proves to be a huge success as the adults too reacted to the children's delight with appreciation of their own. Sylvia was too ill to attend the production stayed at home and Barrie brought the play into their house for her. In the end, Sylvia passed away and Barrie was made to take care of the boys.

Though the plot was short, it was definitely sweet and had a hint of magic into it. The platonic relationship between Barrie and Sylvia was touching. As Sylvia's illness worsen in the movie, it was also heartbreaking to see how her boys grew up fast due to the events happening to them. I would give 5 out of 5 stars to the movie and I wouldn't mind watching it again.

Happy List

I'm going to start this happy list thing to remind myself that there is soooooooo much to be thankful for :) Indeed, there will be days that will drag my mood down, therefore here's a little something for everyone!

Happy List:

1. All-nighter skype session with your best friend

2. Good morning and good night text messages

3. Long weekends

4. Random messages from people just to ask how you are or just because they miss you

5. Seeing old couples still being sweet

6. Cream cheese buns

7. Afternoon naps

8. Funny vines and youtube videos

9. Sweet potato

10. Lovely sunday morning service

11. Devotions & Quiet time with God :)

What's up, ketchup

Selamat Hari Raya! Happy Singapore Independence Day! Happy Long Weekend!

Thank God for long weekends! Four days of rest and catching up time with a lot of homework! As the weeks pass by, our lessons and assignments get more intense and we happen to have our work load pile up. So thankfully, I got to have four days to catch up with my projects, rest, and actually get to spend some quality time with my loved ones. hoorahhhh!! so here's a short summary of how I spent my lovely weekend:

THURSDAY: FOODIE DAY *oink oink*
My brother and I practically woke up around 11 am that day because we've spent a couple of all-nighters during the past few days to watch movies, skype with friends, play candy crush, do work. We suddenly had an urge to eat Indian food so we went to Little India and tried out one of their restaurants there. That was my first time to try other Indian food other than roti pratha and curry, and surprisingly i like it! quite different to the tastes that I'm used to, but very very yummy nonetheless! Afterwards, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the gym and ended the day by....*drumroll please* eating again!! We discovered one chinese restaurant near our place. The day was short, but we went to bed with our happy tummy. hihi

FRIDAY: FAMILY REUNION
On friday, my brother and I went to Jurong East to meet up with our uncle and his family. We spent all afternoon staying at their place, eating home-cooked meals. Oh how I miss home-cooked meals. The things I would do just to eat my mom's cooking again! Actually, that time inspired me to learn cooking on my own and I would gladly share my cooking adventures here too! yayy.

SATURDAY: GIRLS DAY OUT
I spent my saturday with the two girls I met in the NAFA Freshman Orientation. The one wearing red pants is Amanda, and the one wearing shorts is Doris! I haven't really been out during weekends, so this saturday out with the girls is something I've been looking forward to. We had lunch together and eventually spent all afternoon hanging out along the Marina Sky Gardens. Along the way, we had a photo walk and took pictures of architecture, infrastructures, patterns, or any artworks that caught our eye. I'll eventually upload some of the pictures soon enough!

SUNDAY: LAST DAY CHILL DAY
Sunday is probably my most favorite day of the week, next to friday. I spent my morning attending church service and had my usual lunch with my brother! We had japanese food for lunch and I LERRRVVVV SUSHI RAMEN UDON SOBA AND EVERYTHING JAPANESE FOOD!!! and I spent the remaining afternoon doing my homework and finishing up this blog entry.

So there you have it! My 4 day long weekend summarized in few sentences. And..right now, I am currently skyping with a good good friend of mine in the Philippines. What better way to end a lovely weekend,yeah? till here for now then hihi, I hope you had a good weekend too! Goodnight!

xoxo,
Princess

Inspiration Blog

photo above: archive of my inspirational blog

" I am seeking. I am striving. I am in it with all my heart." - Vincent Van Gogh

A good reminder from the famous Van Gogh himself, yeah? Vincent Van Gogh, if you've never heard of his name, is a famous post-impressionist painter. You may have seen one of his most famous works, Starry Starry Night, in a postcard. see photo below

Van Gogh started to draw as a child and eventually decided to become an artist. In just a span of a decade, he was able to accomplish more than 2,000 artworks. Amazing, isn't it? His passion for creating pieces was so strong that he never seem to grow tired of it. I actually researched about his life and I found it really interesting. How he coped up with his mental illness, emotional obstacles, and life experiences through art is really something to ponder on. You can read more about his life here and here 

There are always days when I just feel meh, the feeling of not being in the mood for anything. More often than not, those days would always bring down. I don't want to do anything, but I feel bad for not achieving anything either. It's like PMS-ing on a regular day, and it feels pretty crappy if you've run out of mojo. Inspired by Van Gogh, I plan to seek knowledge where ever I go, even through the simplest means of researching, reading, and even having intellectual conversation with people. I plan to strive for excellence by giving more effort and time. By simply putting my heart into the things I do, I'm sure that I'll be able to go far and this doesn't just apply to my learning for the arts, but also to every other aspect of my life as well.

I've made a blog where I post different artworks from various artists in the creative industry. The blog contains pieces that I gather inspiration from and I hope you can check it out too!

CLICK HERE. oh, feel free to follow too!

Who's that girl?

yes, I just had to put a crown sticker on my head. It was too adorable. hehe.

Hi, my name is Princess and this is my blog for my Creative Thinking class. Honestly, I was actually quite iffy about making a blog when I first heard about it. I mean, what can I possible share to the world wide web? But here I am typing my random thoughts away. Apparently, I can actually blog about everything and anything, so please excuse my scattered thoughts, because I tend to be pretty vague sometimes. In this blog, I plan to not only share some itsy bitsy parts of my life, but I also hope that as I continue this blogging thing, I would be able to document my growth as a person, especially as an aspiring artist. So please, dear reader, join me as I venture out to this new journey full of learning experience with a spoonful of fun, a dash of dear and excitement, and a whole lot of color.

As I mentioned in my first post, I am currently studying in NAFA and I am pursuing a major in Illustration Design with Animation. I came from the Philippines, used to be a business major, and I just made a HUGE life decision to leave everything behind to pursue fine arts. In less than 2 months time, here I am in Singapore, living independently with my older brother, who has been working here for 3 years or so already , adjusting with a lot of changes. Despite of all these changes and a little mix of fear and homesickness, my 17 year old self is actually excited of what is to come. I'm excited to learn and just draw, draw, and draw! Ever since I was a child, I already have the desire for arts. I would always pick up a crayon or a pen and just doodle the hours away. I grew up joining contests and hey, I may not be the best in drawing, but I certainly wasn't that bad either. The fact that in a few years time I would be able to work in a creative industry sends me shivers down my spine. The opportunity for me to be able to not only do what I want, but to live with it as well! I cannot wait to share my work and be able to make it as a part of someone else's life. The mere idea of having my thoughts and making it into something concrete, something to be part of this world, is amazing.

I can say that this blog will be my personal outlet for what I will garner through the weeks, months, and years of my journey starting today. All I ask of you is to hang on with me and see me through.

Goodnight! and I shall post again soon.

Love,
Princess

Hello there

"In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take." - unknown

Here I am, starting all over. I took a huge risk, made a lot of sacrifices. My heart beating fast with fear and excitement when I think about it. I just can't believe it that I'm here. Right here, right now, and I'm on this adventure.

It's been my third week in Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts and things finally have been sinking in. I'm currently taking Illustration Design with Animation. For this semester, I've been taking drawing fundamentals, 2D & 3D Fundamentals, Creative Thinking and Introduction to Visual Arts, a daily reminder that I'm really pursuing Fine Arts as my career path. This is it, and it's amazing.

The offer from NAFA was unexpected, it was just last April when I decided to take it. I gave up my major in Business Management in one of the top universities in my country, I left my family and friends behind, I simply took a leap of faith. Sometimes I do wonder whether the choice whether what I did was the right one, but what the heck right? I am here now. Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of working for Disney Pixar, I dreamed of drawing book covers and walls. I grew up browsing magazines and advertisements, saying, "Damn, one day I'll be an artist." However, I got discouraged as I grew when I often hear people say that I'll just end up being a starving artist. But hey, you've never heard of a starving businessman/ accountant/ engineer, right? I was already happy and settled last year. Friends, academics, organizations, family. I was on top of my world. I choose to set aside those things for pursue this path and yes, I'm scared, but excited as well. Cheers to my journey ahead!

Here I am and here I go. Hello there my friend, I'm Princess.