Ambling along the Andes, adorable alpacas are awash with… Well I ran out of words that start with “a” (and my name’s Adesina lol), so let’s just say: Who doesn’t love alpacas??
And did I mention they are downright delightful? Yes, yes they are.
But there is more to the almighty alpaca than just good genetics and slinging saliva! These Peruvian cuties offer a spiritual impulse for those whom they inspire. According to SpiritAnimals.org, alpacas represent “focus and inner strength.” And CareSherpa.com offers a litany of symbolic underpinnings that alpacas may embody: from adaptability, to fortitude, to stamina.
It makes sense, because alpacas can survive in almost any environment — there’s your adaptability and fortitude right there! And as for focus, well… I visited a herd of alpacas at the Bronx Zoo last year, and they were extremely focused…on the food I was giving them. Not a one of them could be bothered to accept head scritches in lieu of munchies!
Either way, if these past few years have taught me ANYTHING, it’s that focus, adaptability, and stamina, are necessary components to survive in this post-pandemic landscape. If you agree, maybe all of our spirit animals this year, should indeed be the admirable alpacas.
I drew this one a couple months ago in March, and only now have I decided I am willing to part with him. He brought me luck and focus while I was dealing with some crazy deadlines, so if you’re going through a moment where you need a bit of focus, or you just want some luck on your side, now you can make him yours! 🙂
Artwork arrives under an archival protective film, inside an included white cardboard matte whose outer dimensions are 8″x10″ (suitable for an 8″x10″ frame — frame NOT included)
*$40 includes tax and USPS Priority Mail shipping within the contiguous USA. NO shipping outside of the 48 states.
Happy New Year! I’m so happy to ring in the new year with a pencil in my hand (actually several lol!). For my first drawing of 2023, I decided I wanted to bring some color into this wintery northeast weather, and I drew two fluffy, cuddly sun conures in love, snuggling together on a branch. Awww :).
When I first started sketching, I actually wasn’t even sure what kinds of birds I was going to draw; I only knew that I wanted them to be some kind of parrot. But as they started to take shape, I realized Valentine’s Day is coming up, and wouldn’t it be nice to get some reds and warm colors in there? And then the perfect bird came to me: sun conures!
It was so much fun using colored pencils and ink to bring them to life. I just love their little yellow bodies and the warm reds and oranges that punctuate their plumage, and I hope you do too! If you’d like to purchase this original piece (and maybe give it to your love for V Day?), feel free to get in touch via this form (opens in a new tab), and I’ll message you with the price for the original, or you can purchase a print right now, below!
Artwork arrives rolled in a cardboard tube; please unroll and flatten under a book before matting or framing.
*$22.35 plus tax and shipping. NO shipping outside of the 48 states.
In the meanwhile, check out my Instagram to watch a time lapse of me drawing it, and let me know what you think!
Best wishes for a prosperous new year,
Adesina <3
Above drawing: Cartoon Portrait of Star Ruiz by Adesina, 4.5″ x 6.5″. Copic Markers (all colored areas), Sharpie (large black areas), Sumiiro brush pen (black lines), white gel pen (white highlights), & watercolor (gray in eyes & teeth), on heavy weight drawing paper.
So I’ve been meaning to try out Copic Markers for the longest, and I bought a couple packs a few weeks ago, but I didn’t have a chance to open them up until now.
Copic Sketch marker sets – aren’t they beautiful? 😀
Well was I in for a treat! These markers are so much fun to use; nothing like the regular markers we all played with as kids. First, they blend really well – if you color in an area all at once, you get almost no streaking, and if you layer a light color right next to a dark color that is still somewhat wet, you can blend the edges together to create an almost watercolor effect.
In fact, that’s what I would compare them the most to: watercolors. Like watercolor, they also bleed through regular paper. I used pretty heavy drawing paper for my drawing, but the next page in my sketchbook still had lots of bleed through on it, so next time I will put a piece of scrap paper in between. Also, I noticed that any area you color bleeds a bit into the adjacent areas, especially if you are heavy handed, so in future I will not color right to the edge of my lines, but instead I will stop maybe a millimeter away, and let the bleed carry the color to the edge.
Also, I discovered a few things about the colorless blender. I thought it was something I could use similar to the way you use the colorless blender pencil with Prismacolors: layer two colors one on top of the other, or side by side, and then rub the blender on top to make them one solid hue, or to create a seamless transition. Nope. The markers themselves actually naturally blend on their own. Layer colors one on top of the other and they will create a new color (and not always the color you anticipate either, so test it on scrap first lol), and as I said before, if you use one color right next to another that is still wet, they will also bleed into each other naturally.
The colorless blender is actually more like an eraser of sorts. You can use it the same way you would use a clean brush dipped in water, with watercolor. It can lighten colors, and I was even able to use it in order to clean up some edges where the markers bled excessively. But if you are too heavy handed it can also cause the paper to warp, and colors to bleed even more, so be careful.
Timelapse of my drawing:
And, similar to acrylic paints, these markers dry lighter than they go on. Which made it a bit confusing when I was trying to touch up some of the shading on areas that were already dry — it was hard to tell if I was actually making the area darker, or if it just looked darker because it was wet compared to the dry areas. I think in future I will try to only work wet into wet when I am shading, or at the very least, make a mental note of what colors I used where, so that I can either match the color, or pick the right darker color to shade it with.
And finally, I definitely understand now why people buy so many different colors. Although they do blend, the colors they create are not always intuitive and some unexpected results can happen. If you really want a specific color, you need to buy it, because chances are, you won’t be able to mix it perfectly with just the primaries. So I think I’ll invest in a few shades of gray, as well as some secondary colors, next :).
If you want to try out these markers for yourself, here are the ones I bought, below (I think the skin tones are sold out until May, but the primaries are avail now):
Copic Sketch Markers – Perfect Primaries
Copic Sketch Markers – Skin Tones
I also bought the colorless blender (Number “0”) and a loose marker, RV25 “Dog Rose Flower” which is a hot pink.
xo,
Adesina
