Sunday, November 17, 2013

The holidays are heeere

I have all the winner's addresses from the last giveaway and will mail the prizes this week!
For now I leave you with this one photo Mickey fedora tutorial, only thing not pictured here is my hot glue gun and my second degree burn... seriously, I'm that clumsy.
I made this just in case we go to the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade taping.
Andrei looks great on it.

Monday, November 4, 2013

And the winners are...

Moonlup! - You have won Ursula!
Bethany! - You get Scar
Dana! - You get the Evil Queen
Charissa! - You get Hook!

Send me your mailing addresses at drawingsaudadeblog@gmail.com so I can slowly, but surely, get those out to you.

Thanks so much for playing you guys, loved reading about your favorite villains and candies or treats :)

We had an awesome Halloween and got to actually hand out candy this year, we always lived in apartments and never got trick or treaters before.

Andrei and Cyber took care of greeting the neighborhood kids:


Cyber was a big hit and everybody loved his bat costume. He is just too cute for words and loves people, so he played the perfect part.

I have a ton of doodles I need to post and I am about to begin a project, have you guys seen doll repaints? It is when people buy off-the shelf toys/dolls/action figures, remove the factory paint and re-paint them to look more like the actual on-screen characters.

I have been obsessing with the process for the longest time, and decided to buy the dolls for the princesses on the upcoming Disney movie, Frozen and try my hand at the whole thing.

I will document my process and share it with you guys, hopefully I won't mess them up because they are super cute. Wish me luck!!!

Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween!!!

Drawing Entry is CLOSED

Please hold onto your hats, will announce the winners tomorrow!

 

 Happy Halloween!!! I hope you guys are having a great day and awesomely spooky night.
Today I decided we could celebrate by hosting a giveaway!!

I was very lucky and  participated on a Disney Blog Meet-Up earlier this month, during the meet-up we were gifted several Disney villain posters, which are pretty nifty. Andrei and I got a set each, so I decided to spread the wealth and give away the extra ones we received.

There are 4 in total, Scar, Hook, The Evil Queen and Ursula.

How can you get your mitts on one of these you ask?

Well, all you have to do is tell me what your favorite Halloween candy is, which villain you love to hate most and why, and I'll pick a winner at random from each villain category!

I'll wait for everybody to answer on the comments section until Saturday at 7:00 a.m. ET and then announce the winner, since some of you might be out and about all of today and tomorrow I'll be working and out myself.

And yes I'll ship them anywhere since I know we have international readers and it sucks when you can't participate, so no worries!


Friday, October 18, 2013

Keeping busy

Hope my ghost story didn't freak you out too much and put you in the Halloween spirit... all pun intended LOL

I have been busy, but always make time to doodle during the week while I have breakfast, I also have been crafting a bunch of stuff. We attended Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party one last time and Andrei went as Dipper from Gravity Falls... if you haven't seen this show, it is pretty much the only thing I watch on the Disney Channel apart from Phineas and Ferb, that is, I watch it because I love it, not because of work lol.


It has a lot of cool humor, the animation is much better than some of the shows out there now, the story is a lot of fun and has a ton of suspense in it. It is on its very first season, so it is still a bit obscure even with Disney Cast Members, the kids and teens in the park recognized us inmediately, everybody else had no idea what we were LOL, same happened the first year we went in as Agent P, nobody knew what we were, and then the next year, everybody was a platypus or Phineas and Ferb.

I like to stay avant garde with my costumes, so it pleases me. I went as Mabel, I haven't downloaded my photos yet and I generally hate to be in them, but I'll try to be brave and add them later.

Here is the book prop I made for Andrei, I made it the same day of the party using a blank sketchbook, acrylics and mod podge. I will probably make two more and a tutorial.

Cover Sketch
Finished... along with puppy nose!
I drew one of the spreads really fast for more authenticity inside.
I was in a really, really long meeting one day, I doodled a bunch so I counted that as creative time along with work time:


And now, some doodles I do while trying to wake up every morning. My set up looks like this most of the time:
 

 Yup, coffee, breakfast and blank pages... somedays I can actually draw something, others I just space out due to lack of sleep...

 

And now, randomness that I have been up to. I work close to the Magic Kingdom, every day I am the lucky girl that goes under the toll plaza at Magic Kingdom on her way home. I love it, and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. I always have to fight myself from going straight into the park, truly I would always be in there if it were up to me alone, but I still have to come home, have dinner, walk my cute doggy and take care of my freelance before going to bed... still, I do go in there at least once a week.

Right now they inflate these super cute pumpkins whenever they have a party scheduled:
 
I also finished my Nightmare before Christmas wreath, it is inspired by the ones in Disneyland and made with a pre-bought black wreath I found at Target this year, Christmas sprigs of holly and berries from JoAnns, Model Magic, acrylics and mod podge for the skull and finally the ribbon is all made with duck tape.
  
And finally a random doodle I made yesterday night because the decor at Tokyo Disney Resort is amazing and I wish we had it here, this is pretty much a drawing of a sculpted Daisy they have in the park, she is perfect!
 

Friday, October 11, 2013

It is October, so this should be fun to share.

Don't worry, I am drawing and crafting and running around having fun, but today I remembered something that happened while in college and thought it was the perfect type of story to share during this time of year:

The professors warned me about the fine arts building once… it was a vague warning that didn’t go past a: “You don’t want to be here alone at night”, said in slightly hurried and furtive tone.

I dismissed it, I was just on my second year of college, working two jobs and with a full load of classes, I didn’t have the time nor patience for silly ghost stories, overall with finals looming and about 5 large and extremely complex art pieces left to finish.

If I had to make a nest out of discarded canvases, discarded cloth and sponges, so help me I would and I would sleep an hour or so in it to finish my projects.

Juvenile silly superstitions and stories weren’t going to even bother me a bit.

And so, after my second job I walked back into the building, hours after the sun had set and classes had ended. I had my very own key, (the only student with one at the time), and so I made sure the doors were locked, put on my headphones and started to work on silk screen prints…

One hour into things I decided to take a short break, the prints needed to dry between color passes, and I was starting to get sore feet.

I stopped my MP3 player and heard voices coming from the hallway. I was happy, finally some company! Maybe one or two of my classmates had come by to work.

I waited, the voices came closer to the room I was in, I could hear footsteps… they were by the door, I could hear them clear as day, but then… silence…

Odd… I stood up and walked on over to say hi. I pushed the door open, and found no-one there.

Then I remembered I had locked the doors, maybe it was a professor? I walked around the building, checked the doors, all still locked, nobody was there at all.

I felt so silly, I shrugged and went back to work, before I could start again my phone rang, my husband wanted to come over and keep me company, he would be there shortly with food. So I went ahead and unlocked a back door.

I cheered up and pushed through more work.

Another hour passed, I was messing with water and chemicals, so my player sat turned off on a table.

I heard the main door open… I didn’t give it much thought, I was on a roll with my prints and expecting company after all.

I started to clean my hands as I heard someone coming up the main staircase, I was hungry and looking forward to dinner.

The footsteps got all the way to the door, the doorknob made the sound of it turning, and then… nothing.

Had my husband turned around? Did he forget something in the car?

I went over to check, but again, nothing, and then I remembered the main door was still locked.

Maybe I was too tired and hungry and hearing what I wanted to hear. Still, I went about quietly and sneaking about to make sure nobody was in the building and trying to play a prank on me.

Nothing, and all doors were still locked, save the back one I had unlocked before.

I shook it off and turned around to go back upstairs… but as I opened the door I heard someone running up the stairs, then stop and shuffle in the first landing.

"HAHA! Very funny! I got you now!" I said triumphantly

I bolted up the stairs, but nobody was there and the door to the second floor never flew open to let anyone out.

"OK… that was a bit weird…" I said to myself.

And then, the voices started again. Clear as day, two people were having a conversation down the hallway and walking away casually.

I peeked through the small window in the door, but the hallway was empty. I opened the door, the sound stopped again.

I looked out the windows, walked out onto the connector between buildings outside, not a soul was walking around, I could only hear the wind and a distant car passing by in the middle of the night.

There had to be an explanation, I tried to forget it, but was careful walking back to the print making room, just in case a stranger had weaseled his way into the building.

I turned all the lights on on the hallways as I went and sat down for a second, listening.

Nothing… but then… laughter… someone was laughing somewhere, then a cough, and walking again.

I looked at my phone and wondered where my husband had gone off to and why wasn’t he there yet.
Things were getting rather creepy, I didn’t feel safe.

And suddenly, the sound of the main door slammed open and shut, and a set of footsteps furiously ran up the main stair case, the stair case door flung open violently, the footsteps ran towards my door and I stopped breathing for several seconds.

BAM!! Something slammed against the door, and at the same time, the back door opened.

I gasped, I couldn’t move from my chair, the door knob rattled, then stopped, and suddenly it flew open.
 
"Hi!" said my husband walking in casually.
"Holy freaking cow man! You scared the poop out of me!"
"Huh? What? Why?" he said half laughing at me.
"Was the main door open? Why did you run up the staircase? Did you smack yourself against the door? What the hell man?! It is too late at night for that!" I barked.
"Wow… what?! I came through the back door and just walked in… what are you talking about?" he answered in an annoyed tone.

We argued for a bit, I explained to him what been happening all night, he laughed at me, we went around and checked all the doors again and inspected the place. All the doors had been locked the whole time, nobody was around.

I worked for several more hours, we talked, played music and I tried to stop being freaked out about it, but I never worked there alone at night again.

On time to time classmates would try and stay there alone, but they had the same experience, some would hear screaming and crying, if we had to stay late we would come in as a group and play loud music, because you could still hear voices and footsteps even if you weren’t alone.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Sketching it up

I'm sick, somehow I caught a cold, the cold turned into bronchitis and well, I am trying to get better asap because I have a ten mile race next week... look, I thought it was a 10K race when I signed up... 

Am I ready?
Nooooope.

Am I giving up?
No. I am going to start it and if I end up being swept, so be it LOL

Anyway, here are a bunch of doodles I worked on for the past 2 or so weeks.
I normally doodle at the cafe in the very early morning hours... and sometimes I fall asleep right in the middle of drawing, but I keep on trying:

Monday, September 16, 2013

The not so complicated case of the disappearing Saudade

Wow... sorry about that, I stepped into the world, the world grabbed me by the foot and took off with me faster than I could say Colepiocephale (try it, do eet!), and I dropped out of the blogosphere.

Now, since I last updated you guys I am happy to report that... I have kept up my doodling! Yay!

Also... I got a job! Double Yay!!!

And the job is with Disney... Triple Yay!!!

I had been working as a freelancer for a bit, but freelancing can be stressful and jobs can take a while to trickle in, so I kept on looking for a steady gig. I applied to everything I saw, got some nibbles, but the jobs were 1 to 2 hours away from my home, and well, Andrei and I STILL share the same ride, so some things just can't be done.

Finally, one day I was contacted by Disney for a nice little design gig (nothing fancy, but I like it), and many interviews, background checks, rain/job dances, sleepless nights later, I landed the gig.

I have been a Cast Member (the official Disney term for employees), for nearly a month now, and I adjusted to the company easily... now my routine, still has some kinks...

Let me preface this by saying: I AM a morning person... truly.

I begin my day at 5, in theory....

In theory I take the dog out at 5:15.

In theory I come back and start the getting ready song and dance by 5:45...

In theory I am ready to leave by 6:15

And then... I wait at a coffee shop close by my office from nearly 7 until around 8, when I go in to work...

Why? Because Andrei gets in to work an hour earlier than I do... so I spend an hour of my day like so:


Ah, such grace, such poise... That's me there... yes... I am asleep in the middle of a deserted coffee shop, clutching a latte, pretending to watch silly youtube videos, plopped on a pool of my own drool... and yes, if you look to your right top corner, that's one of the baristas, they all call me "Andrei"... because that's the name the system pops up on the loyalty point card, and I have been both too socially awkward and asleep to even try and correct it... so from 7:00 in the morning until 8:00 I go by Andrei and I am a narcoleptic.

 
So, in theory things are working out like that at the beginning of the day, but sometimes I go to bed at 2:00 a.m., sometimes I don't get up until 5:45, sometimes the dog decides doing his bizz is not as urgent as chasing bunnies who... really do NOT care if they get eaten by larger animals, because they just don't run away... which of course makes me late, and then the baristas ask me why am I late?

And I just giggle in a deranged way because... I don't even get to clock in for another hour after that, but I feel like I am late to work when I am actually way early.

Anyway, you wanna know about my job?

My job is pretty cool. I get to browse image libraries filled with some of my favorite things, I get to play with photos and make things look awesome, and I get some pretty sweet perks... like getting into the parks for free, which is going to save me some money, hey, I have a problem, I know, but you have to see Magic Kingdom in the fall, it is so pretty it makes you want to cry... while eating a caramel apple and drinking a pumpkin spice latte as fireworks shoot up in the night sky.

True story.

By the time I get off work I am either on "LETS GO TO THE PARK DAMMIT!!!" mode or "IM SO HUNGRY! I NEEDS FOODZ NAO!" mode...

either way, my evening is gone and by the time I make it downstairs it goes like so:


You can guess I have been putting little to none will power into choosing Room A... also I don't sleep pretty, sometimes I wake up and I look like I am part of a midnight fight club and I just sleep walk my way into matches... and apparently I loose a LOT.

So THAT's what's been going on with me, that and a LOT of social interaction, outings, cool park time and running around to the point that I have destroyed two set of capris I wore all summer and a set of sneakers...

Anyway, I am back and ready to start updating more often.

Let's make it a date then, I'll see you guys here every Monday and Friday!

Now I am off to sleep because I don't want to fall on a pastry and have the baristas laugh at me again tomorrow.