Title: Black Swan Yeah: 2022 Medium: Alcohol Marker, Watercolor, Colored Pencil, and Gel Pen Size: 11″ x 17″
I really liked this art piece, but I grew quite sad while looking at it because it will always remind me of my last semester in college. It was the best I’ve ever had. I believe the pandemic definitely made me love the connection with people I missed so much. To be in college, or school in general, during the Covid 2020 to 2022 lockdown was something else. Almost something totally unreal.
I wonder what caused the entire thing, or perhaps in a decade we will all look back at this chapter in our lives and see exactly what caused it.
For specifics, I used prismacolor colored pencils, prismacolor alcohol markers, winsor & newton cotman watercolors, and sakura gel pens. Paper: Strathmore 300 series Bristol paper.
What is it about unfinished work that makes it so satisfying? Every time I work on a drawing, it feels so good to fill up every part of the blank canvas.
I hope everyone likes aliens, because I definitely loved doing this piece.
My question for the world when I post the finished work: do aliens think about heaven?
Anyway, don’t mind my cat who thinks it’s okay to walk wherever she wants.
The Good Alligator By Priscilla Flores Created in Procreate
Blogpost 2/11/2021
Sometimes I think people assume all myth and magic is completely absent from the United States. I don’t blame them either because when enormous buildings are surrounded by other massive metal structures, you assume if something can be made, it’s engineered by geniuses and put on display. So, when I make art, I feel that myth is looked into a lot—classical myth—like Leda and the Swan, or Perseus and Medusa, because there’s nothing around us now days that are fantastical. Right?
We have buildings that touch the sky.
I was originally going to draw a young girl with a dragon because I wanted to make something out of this world. But then I really thought about it and began looking at textures of alligators to reference reptile skin. I couldn’t believe how big these animals are. Like, they’re freaking huge, so huge I can’t believe they’re still walking around. It’s almost like they’re meant to be in some long-ago prehistoric Triassic period. It’s so odd, they seem so out of place, but it could also be because I live in California city-valley where the weather is the same and all the animals are cute.
It’s just, what I want to say is that I thought all the mystery was gone around me, but as I saw the alligator, I realized there’s still magnificent things around me. Because of this, I ended up making a girl with the alligator, because maybe one day alligators will be long gone and merge in the chapter of myth.
Procreate is a pretty amazing program and I’m glad I can use it to draw digital art.
There was a lot of thigs that took me to other worlds and eventually sneaked into their way of Lightning—my book. One of the huge ones was the Electric Universe theory, a theory some people may not think too much about or not take seriously at all, but still a theory. The main part I like the most is the idea of seeing the planets as close as the moon. To see Mars, Venus, and Saturn all close up and intertwined into each other, I don’t know, I just like that idea.
Anyway, I drew this a while back and it’s one of the illustrations in my book.
Medium: Alcohol Markers, Markers, Colored Pencils, Micron Pens, Gel Pens
This one took quite a while.
When I first began to pick up drawing, I never thought I would put so much time into it. It gets to the point I have to compromise with myself that sometimes my drawings may never be seen. Yet I’ll spend countless hours on an art piece. It’s interesting when I tell myself that.
For this piece, it started out with me wanting to draw crystals and vaccines. I thought nothing of it at first, but as time went on, the subject of vaccines became more and more common. Every day I’d heard about on the TV—even though I don’t have cable—or I heard it at college, then I’d hear it at the store, and it got to a point it was almost in ever conversation. It was hard and I know I’d be talking about it too, but I tried to talk about it as if it wasn’t a big deal. It’s crazy how things get like this, huh?
Over time, the subject of vaccines became its own thing, where it was like you were talking about a religion, or a niche college major you’re working on. I feel it turned into a “You’re either with us or you’re against us,” kind of topic.
And on both sides.
People who didn’t like the vaccine thought you were crazy and low key wished death on those who have gotten the vaccine. On the other hand, there were people who loved the vaccines, posted photos when they got it, and would eventually post how everyone who died of covid low key deserved it.
Same vibe form both sides. It was really hard to listen to.
So, I saw the shots as a new age religion, much like crystals and candles, but the vaccines seemed to be part of a newer age—the transhuman age—where you’re not seen the same with or without them. It’s so odd, so, so, odd.
Maybe I’m thinking too much into it, but just like everyone else, the subject was unavoidable. Perhaps in time this will all just be a painful memory. A memory where we will all wonder why we were acting this way. Either way, as some certain people say: It is what it is.
This is what my first drawing was for October! I scanned in black and white so there would be no distraction in the hair. Speaking of hair, I always love to draw hair whenever I get the chance, but I definitely get scared or overwhelmed the longer I work on hair. I am going to post the other examples of scanning in different ways, but in the end I simply wanted Black & White.
Whenever I work on an art piece, I try to do something that I have never done before and in this case it was the line background. (I am pretty sure I never did it!) I think so deeply into what is going to be around the person/object/animal and I think it causes me to stop working in a piece. Then from time to time, I look at my favorite manga or manga panels and many times the characters are in a white or gray background. I want to try that now. I want my characters to be looked at and nothing else.
Of course, I say that and I may change my mind tomorrow!
Anyhow, I have been saving up a lot and getting a bunch of new art supplies. I am definitely going to have fun working on them!
Note: this is going to be part of a 32 block of ink drawings. Can’t wait to see if I actually finish this.
Look at the other examples of my scans.
Scanned in Gray ScaleScanned in Color
Observe my scans in grayscale vs color. In the color version you can almost see odd tones that are not actually black. At least in my computer screen. The grayscale loses that and you see literally shades of gray, mostly black actually. My top example is scanned in black and white. No variation in tones. If the scan picked up something dark, it was changed to black.
Author Priscilla 