Graphics and Design

This was in class on friday :)

Sunday is a day for me to relax, well kind of. I do sleep in, eat in my bed, stay in my jammies and watch movies and jam out to music, but I also try to squeeze in blogging and my art. In between eating pizza and watching E.T. (hehehe) I designed my new blog banner. I had thought I saved my work, but then the comp died, so lost my first design, but this one is way better than the original. So, maybe it was a good thing it died on me.

I dont need to post that pic, because you can see it above! I worked for hours on this bad boy and I really love it. It has all the things I am interested in and the stars and moon and some of my makeup photo shoots all incorporated in it.

I managed to do my makeup-for no particular reason other than to pick up hubby from work. I finally am able to put on false lashes by MYSELF! Which is no easy task! I usually have my hubby do it, or a friend.

I am working on a memorial piece that I mentioned a few posts ago, I just have the line work right now which I am in the process of inkin it right now. I got the design approved from my client after I drew it in pencil, so she loved it! I worked on it a lil bit while the kids were playing. We all had slurpees. They had a mixture of wild cherry and berry and I had Pina Colada.

My necklace and bracelet reflected the suns light onto my drawing which I thought was appropriate considering it is an angel memorial tattoo piece. This looks pretty plain, but once I am completely done, it will look really nice. I hope to be done with it hopefully tomorrow.

That was my day for today, it is nearing 2am, so I am gonna stop and go to bed. Tomorrow will be another art-filled day! Thanks for stopping by!

Quote of the Day:

Seeking to be fulfilled and happy is probably one of the most important goals that we should aim for throughout our lives. When we learn about ourselves earlier on in life we then realize who we are and what we are passionate about. Whether we choose to pursue these passions then falls on us.

Sure, there is a plan for our lives, but there is also a heavy responsibility on us to actually make the right choices and to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead of us, that we feel in our hearts are actually for us. No one wants to go all the way through their life, and then realize at an old age that they were never really fulfilled. You have to live take risks, follow your heart, laugh, love, and most importantly be who you are, who you really are at your heart�s level. By doing this fulfillment and happiness will come by default!

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

LOVE HATE

My grandfather has the words LOVE and HATE on the inside of his wrists, and I have always admired them. I even drew up a tattoo design a few years ago that I am thinking about getting tattooed on my forearm.

these rings are sooo cute. I found them at here

For me the love and hate represents relationships, the good side and the bad sides of any relationship. It doesnt even have to be about a marriage or a love, it can even be about friendships, or even be a metaphor for other events, like for me, can represent my feelings about the Army when I was enlisted. I loved many things about the army but hated it at the same time.

I never asked my grandfather the meaning of his tattoos...so I finally called him and asked him what the meaning or story was behind it. He told me he was drunk and he got it with a buddy of his and he couldnt even remember the other guys name. I couldnt help but laugh at him. It was really funny and we laughed over the phone about it.

Its interesting to learn about your family and the stories they have. I look up to my grandfather so much. He served 20 years in the US NAVY as a CW04 and then served 20 years as a correctional officer in Lakeland, FL. He is also prolly the biggest Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan ever. Not only is his house painted in BUC colors, and has every type of sports memorabilia ever, he also has various buccaneer tattoos. I look up to him in so many ways, so in a way this is a lil tribute to him.

Love and hate, Ce Cilia

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

BOUND by Ink

I have found my new favorite tattoo magazine: BOUND BY INK! I picked up this baby when I splurged at Border's going out of business sale. What caught my attention to this mag, besides the gorgeous Queen Esther on the cover, was the design of the magazine (enter graphic design geek mode), the cover itself is nice and smooth and is a thicker paper which is nice because I like to take magazines with me everywhere and regular magazines get ripped easily.

I am starting to lean more towards magazines that feature stories about tattoo artists, or people with hella ink.  I like to learn about people and their walk of life, their background, the reasons why they get inked. I just love it.

I really enjoyed reading the article about Queen Esther, a model that made a name for herself and went on to open her own modeling agency. What impressed me is that she is not only a strong, beauitful, independent woman who owns her own business, but she accomplished all that with 5 kids! Yes, I said 5 KIDS!

I just wanted to share this with you and hopefully you will be inspired like I am

Thanks for stopping by as always!

Quote of the Day:

Seize the day that you are living in. When we make it a habit of putting off doing what we love, we send a message to ourselves basically saying that we aren't important. Life is really too short not to love every moment of it. Spend time exploring who you are at your heart's level. Make time to follow your dreams, and achieve the goals that you know you want to achieve.

Don't let the tough parts of life discourage you, for we all experience them. You are the master of your dreams, and only you can achieve them, nobody else will achieve them for you. Putting off the pursuit of your dreams will lead you to a dead end on Unfulfilled Street, and before you know it your whole life may have passed by. It is never too late to start going in the direction of where your dreams, and goals are located. As long as you are at least in the pursuit of your dreams by the time that it is your turn to go, the odds are better that you will be more fulfilled than if you would of never tried!

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Tattoo Book

With Borders going out of business, Jermie, Nique and I headed there a few weeks ago to grab some book marked down 40-60% off. I mainly wanted to get some tattoo books, not just magazines, but an actual technique book. I found only One book, actually Jermie found it for me. Its called "Advanced Tattoo Art How-to Secrets from the Masters by Doug Mitchell. Its taken me a lil bit to read through it, I only have time to read it on my lunch breaks at school, but I gotta say, I really enjoyed it. It doesnt give everything you need to know to tattoo, but it does give some good tips on the type of needles an artists uses, outlining and shading.

I finally finished reading it from front to back and I just wanted to share a good book for anyone interested in it.

This picture above was the last tattoo of the book and was prolly my favorite one because it resembles my style of drawing. Someone asked me what my style is yet, and I am not sure. I wanna say I am more of a classic style, but not sure because I like all styles. I guess with each drawing I do, I will discover my style.

I hope you enjoyed this post! I am off to go put some stuff in my storage unit and then get to drawing that memorial piece.

Quote of the Day:

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Thought Process

When someone asks me to draw something up for them, there is usually a process I go through. First, I get the basic details such as what they want, colors, and size. If it is a tattoo drawing, I like to know where it will go on the body so I can visualize it.

I have been watching tattoo shows such as L.A. Ink and Inked on Netflix, and just been basically obssessing about the tattoo culture. I have been paying attention to every detail I can, becoming a human sponge.  Last year, when I first moved back here, after seeing an ad posted online for a tattoo apprenticeship at a local tattoo shop, I jumped on it. I gathered all my drawings, all my sketchbooks and went down there and spoke to the lady in charge (of course a female tattoo artist) and she told me straight up about what it was all about-she didnt sugar coat it. (enter quick story)

She told me that an apprenticeship is tough work, it isnt paid, you have to be there everyday and it takes months before you can even pick up a machine. And trust me, this didnt scare me away, but I realized that it just wanst the right time for me. I needed to get a job, learn a trade I can work soon and fall back onto if I needed to. I told that manager thanks for the info, but that it just wasnt the right time. Enter going to Cosmetology school. I have been attending since January and will be graduating in December. So now, I am back on the tattoo track.

okay, okay- back on where I was going with this- and I think I remember where I was going with this. Oh yea- so when I am drawing up a tattoo, I get into the whole thing. It is not just a drawing, I love to hear the stories behind what it means to that person. I place myself in "their" shoes, when I draw, I imagine it as if the drawing is for me, as if I was getting that tattoo inked on my skin. Thats why I love watching tattoo reality shows, because the artists on there feel the same way I do about the art they are putting on someone. I feel more and more like I am meant to become a tattoo artist. With each piece I draw, I am one step closer to my goals.

So, for this next piece, is a memorial tattoo drawing. A friend of mine lost both her parents when she was young and as a tribute to them, she wants to get inked and she needed help coming up with something. I suggested two angels holding each other and the dates in scrolls under them.  This is my next piece I am working on.

Here are a few reference pictures I am using and going to take what I like and create my own version of what I think would be an amazing piece for her.

I hope you enjoyed this post on my thought process and how I help to create drawings. Sorry that I rambled on in a lil tangent. I am off to bed, I am not going to stay up until 3am again tonight.

Quote of the day:

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Cities of Night Fashion Show

My friend, Nick who just graduated wants to put on a fashion show at the school where the theme is "Cities of Night" and fashion,makeup and hair will be focused on the trends of New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and London. We had a casting call for models last night and only a few of us showed up. So, we all put our heads together and just dived into planning this bad boy. Since Nick has graduated from the school, My friend, Jinaki "Naki Saki" are going to help head it up while he is working at a salon, since we both still attend the school.

We set the date for our fashion show which will be September 25th, Sunday from 6pm to 8pm. There will be a $5 admission fee, which half of that will be going to charity.  We are hoping to have 20 models, (4 models per City) but of course the more the merrier.

I am planning on doing makeup and background props and now I volunteered to help with the flyers and programs which I love to do! I get to indulge in my graphic designer geekyness side!!! lol

So, I just got done putting together this flyer above just to start it out, I am sure I will have to tweak it and make a black and white version so that we can get print out flyers in just black and white.

I have always loved planning fashion shows, in fact when I attended the fashion design program at the Virginia Beach Technical Education Center many years ago (10 years ago ), I had directed the shows both years I attended. So, this is right down my alley and I am excited to work on this, which will of course help towards building my portfolio and website (which will be coming soon)

Well, it is about to be 2am in the morning, so let me get off of here and get my butt to bed! Happy dreams!


Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.

Capricorn Tattoo

My good friend, Jak-Jak asked that I draw this up for her. She wants a Capricorn symbol and when I tried to ask details of what she would like, she said "I trust you" and "Do what you want to".  I love when people tell me that because it gives me the freedom to put my own artistic flair on it. I put myself in their shoes and imagine how I would want the tattoo design. She wants this as a side piece or possibly on her hip.

I have been making my tattoo designs big so that it can be framed on a wall or something. So, here it is, the finished rendering of this tattoo.

Here is a fun picture I wanted to share from a fashion show where me and Jak Jak dressed up as "chula gangsta's" lol Enjoy!

I hope you liked it and that it inspired you!

Quote of the day:

Many of us are quick to assume that if we are breathing and functional that we are actually "alive". Being alive is actually being the person who you really are at heart. You might be living your life, but that life may not constitute you being alive if you aren't living as the person who you really know you are. So many of us feel pressure to run our lives as those who claim they love us want us to live it.

The people who really love you will allow you to live life as yourself, and will encourage you to follow your heart, as long as they know that it won't kill you. Following your heart is making a choice to be alive. Following your heart requires you to listen to no one but god and yourself in order to make your decisions. Following your heart will leave you fulfilled and will also lead to happiness. What are you following? Your heart's path? Or the path that everyone else wants you to follow?

Sweet Surrender Art. Beauty. Fashion.