christina dacanay

Magic Knight Rayearth had mechs, swords, elemental powers and romance. Seriously-- what else could you want? 

This is my contribution to Cluster, a CLAMP tribute zine with a bunch of cool artists in it. Thanks to Clare and Lydia for organizing! 

How resilient are you? A new one and some spots for a Nautilus quiz-- I barely scored into the highest resiliency level, wooho! Big thanks to AD Len Small for being a real cool guy.

The Indian in his Solitude - N. C. Wyeth 

Spring - Andrew Wyeth

Today me and my co-workers from the Society of Illustrators visited the beautiful Brandywine River Museum in Chadds Ford, where we were given a tour N. C. Wyeth's family home and studio. The pieces above are two of my favorites from the impressive permanent collection. 

Aloneness

Here's an illustration for Nautilus magazine about taste aversion. After doing a bunch of cockroach studies I find them cute! 

I've got sympathy for gorgons. 

First post of 2014! Yikes, I'm late. 

The months after graduation have been pretty hectic. I moved to a new city, lucked into a wonderful job at the Society of Illustrators, and subsequently lost a) my access to a scanner and b) most of my desire to draw digitally.

The conversation about style and voice is so frequently repeated in art school that it's a cliche to say "everyone has their own voice", but we talk less about how you can mistake other's peoples voices for your own. For a person whose preferred drawing style fluctuates, or who isn't as confident in the way they like to make marks, it's very easy to get sucked into a "correct" way of drawing that is more similar to your peers / your teachers / what's trendy. This isn't anyone's fault, and homogenization is typical in an educational setting, but as an artist you should really be the person responsible for getting to know yourself. 

That being said, I've gotten to know myself pretty well in the months of quietly working in my sketchbook without anyone's critique but my own. It hasn't culminated into any finished pieces yet, but I think I'm getting there. By the end of my senior year I was unhappy with most of my portfolio because I didn't much enjoy the process of making my work, and it showed. These small, private drawings have been very liberating. I've been messing up a lot, learning a lot, and being very happy about it. Now I just have to make a new portfolio. *wheezes*

To the followers, thanks for following. Thanks to Noelle for the plug; I don't really miss art school but I sure as hell miss you guys. 

After a summer of sketchbooking I've been a little weary of my tablet, but with all the packing paper and cardboard boxes around my apartment (I'm moving, by the way) I wanted to stare at a screen and nothing else for a little while. 

Jake Wyatt's Necropolis looks amazing so far, and The Third Sword's design makes a girl want to cosplay with a fury. I'm excited to see her bash more flaming animal skulls.