First finished illustration of 2010...

I've been lusting after thigh high boots for a while, but this is one trend I will just have to let pass. Those tall shafts tend to come with HIGH heels, and my wonky left ankle cries just at the sight of those four inch stilettos. Unfortunately, thigh highs with flat bottoms are just not my thing (they make me look like a stumpy troll).

So, I do what I always do. Make something I can't have mine by drawing it. (*SIGH*) And, here's the result:

A larger view is available here.

I love my black boots, but would love to see a few pairs that explode with color. This especially applies during winter, the time when New Yorkers are covered with black pea coats, black leggings and black boots. I love walking through the blend, murky pedestrian crowd during winter time and catching a bright spot of red or blue.

Close-ups of the textures I made using Gimp's "Galaxy" brush tool:




I liked the way that this piece turned out, but my hate for GIMP has solidified into a black hunk of stone wedged in my heart. As a gift to myself, I will make use of my student discount privilege and buy a damned copy of Adobe Creative Standard. I look forward to not having to deal with the Gimp's wonky kinks on my computer.

(On the other hand, maybe I shouldn't dump the Gimp just yet. My doctor informed me my blood pressure is on the lower end of normal, but the frustration of having to click the erase button ten times before seeing a difference has probably raised my blood pressure just a little.)

Anyway...happy 2010, peeps. :)

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HAIRsticks, not the eating utensils

For a brief period during my time in junior high, there was a "chopsticks" craze. Tween girls would purchase cheap, colorful plastic sticks with glued-on gems and stick them in their hair. I, too, was part of the wave until other kids started asking me if Chinese women really did put their main eating utensils into their hair. Annoyed, I stopped wearing my glittery sticks and waited for the trend to be over.

Almost a decade later, I'm thinking about the hair accessories again because, during a session of random browsing, I found several sites featuring HAIRSTICKS. Surprised, I clicked through, awed by the large selection, and saw some genuinely pretty items. I was also a little overwhelmed because each site had LOTS of items to click through.

Anyway, I settled on a favorite site, Long Locks, and the following images are from there.

Another nice site to browse through is Crystal Mood, which has an appealing selection of wood and jade hairsticks. This site's items tend to be less expensive than Long Lock's stuff, which seem to hover around $70. Screenshots of Crystal Mood below:





Think that this can be a trend again? Wouldn't they make a nice little holiday gift?

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Lucky Wang

Caution: ridiculously cute kiddies' clothes ahead. I don't have a mini-me and am not planning to have one soon, but I still find Luck Wang clothes super adorable and very eye-catching.

The one kimono one pieces are probably the cutest. I think $36 is a little steep for something the wearer will inevitably poop in, but I assume Lucky Wang targets the kind of parents who can indulge. Besides, the cute little pieces would make wonderful keepsakes long after the kiddies have quickly outgrown them. They would be nice for gifting and special occasions, too.

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I just wanna hold a bird in my hand

I saw this clutch on the White House Black Market website and I liked it. But, I wanted MORE feathers! I wanted to hold an entire ornate bird in my hand!

I had some time to kill, so I opened up Gimp and played around, making the design of the purse increasingly elaborate. Here's the result:


I wasn't entirely sure what feathers these would be (haha) and in the end, I don't know if they look very feather-like...but I just knew I wanted to sketch something ornate and Golden Age of Hollywoodesque. I'm fairly happy with the result; for once Gimp wasn't being a total bitch (it doesn't run well on Macs, and the version I have is definitely wonky). Clicking on the thumbnail will take you to a slightly larger picture. I'm still working on figuring out how to post larger sized pics on blogger.

Thoughts?

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