Mall on Rogue Magazine

Mall

Self-Portrait Drawing

Graphite on Paper

(psstt, yes I have a real scar above my eyebrow and brown freckles)

Featuring "The ART ISSUE" 16 Top Illustrators and their Self-Portraits on Rogue Magazine, November 2009

Anjo Bolarda, Dexter Fernandez, Kristina Collantes, Brian Vallesteros, Bjorn Ending, Kristy Anne Ligones, May Ann Licudine, Juan Solon, Apol Sta.Maria, Joshua Agerstrand, Ivan Despi, Niel Quisaba, Kneil Melicano, Luis Lorenzana, Dan Matutina and Rommel Joson

Too curious to see their self-portraits and interviews? It would be better and greater to BUY COPIES on Rogue Magazine! And also they will be posting their UNEDITED INTERVIEWS online at Rogue.ph ! NOW NOW NA!

Anyway, hmm I'm like a talkative celebrity reporter here, hehe. I'm sorry for not being active on my art blog because of my crazy busy art schedule. I'm so surprised that I got more hundreds of visits in my blog statistic everyday. Thank you very much for supporting me and my art! Don't worry, I'm still alive, hehe! I have finished creating my new pieces for the upcoming art show, "Paper Pushers" in Gallery1988, San Francisco, California in December.

And I have my new photography blog, please visit it! This is about I use my new camera toy LX3 Lumix and I love doing my documentary photography! ( Don't get mad at me, my dearest Nikon d90! )

That's all folks. I need to finish my crazy art projects, so I might not active on internet this month up to December. I miss you guys and see you!

Kirkus Pocket Mirrors!

I received pocket mirrors! It's $7 each item. It's adorably perfect for your pocket / purse and bag. It's easy to check yourself out in anywhere! This will be also be a perfect present for your boyfriend, hubby, friends/s, family members, loved ones, circus lovers... or fans of Mall (hehe!)

Only 4 images of my pocket mirrors (my beloved characters Babu & his kitten Abu and my past work, "Parade") I have listed them on my shop, please visit Kirkus shop! Hope you guys like them. :)

I'll work on my new commission for my client Dary and other art projects soon. That's all folks and have a creative wonderful day! 

Sara's Interview with Me

I'd love to share my dearest friend Sara Hawley's interview with you guys. Hope you enjoy reading! 

Your full name: May Ann Lumbang Licudine
Your age: 28 years old
Your location: San Fernando City, La Union, Philippines

When did you first become interested in art? Was there anything specific that prompted this interest?
- My interest in art started when I was in my kindergarten school and was prompted by the awards and attention I earned from my works. During those time I was not accepted by my classmates because of my hearing impairment but with my skill, I was recognized. Moreover, my parents told me that they have observed my interest in drawing when I was just 3 years old. 

What sort of training did you receive in art?
- In my high school years, I took summer art classes for oil painting, charcoal and pastel. In my art college, I took up in Certificate in Fine Arts-Visual Communications for 3 years. Then I also took up in Fine Arts-Painting for 1 year.


What inspires you to create your art?
-Other artists (Hayao Miyazaki, Winsor McCay, Maurice Sendak, Helen Hyde, Mary Blair, Edward Gorey), nature, music, dreams, nightmares, photography, and God.

Has your hearing deficiency impacted your art in any way? Does it inspire any of your pieces?
- I don't think so. As a matter of fact, It help nurtured my skill because it allowed me to concentrate on my work and made my other senses keener that normal. It also made my ideas and concepts more creative and dreamlike.

You were interested in realism for a while. What prompted your focus on children's illustration?
Yes. I was initially interested in realism but then I was not contented with my work which were comparable with the work of other artist. It other word, my realism style is common. My friend suggested that I try illustration. I tried it and I was able to express my ideas and style freely. Most of my works are focus on children's illustration because for me..childhood days is the most wonderful time in a parson's life since your mind is very creative and free to dream and imagine. 


Can you describe your early jobs in the art field?
- After I graduated in college, I worked as a freelance face painter, henna tattoo artist, mural painter, caricature artist, prop artist and art teacher for homeschooling kids. After some times I was hired as a textile designer for 6 months. My work as a designer honed my skill in color mixing, details and the ability to work under pressure.

You have worked on a huge range of projects, such as children's book illustration, advertisements, gallery shows, and even a commercial. Is there any type of work that you prefer to do? What do you like about it?
- I prefer art commissions and gallery shows. I must admit that I like more art commissions more than gallery shows because I enjoy doing every new challenge what clients request about theme, medium and concept, it is also less stressful because of few revisions. For the gallery shows, I love to exhibit my art in gallery shows since it allows me to show my work with other known international artist. 

What was it like winning an award for your children's book? Do you hope to illustrate more in the future?
- It feels great! I like to do more children's book illustration if my schedule permit it. I also dream making an animation movie.


What message do you hope your art will convey?
- I wish to convey Hope, Love and the pursue of one's dream. We must keep on dreaming in a child-like manner coz it will help us cope with our chaotic and constantly changing life. We need to escape once in a while.

How does art affect your work life? Your personal life?
- Art is actually my work life at the moment. It is my main source of income. However it has a bigger impact on my personal life since I relate to other people via the internet..and my work limit my interaction with other people not in the art world.

Please leave comments on Sara's blog. Thank you Sara!

Floods in my house + new piece for the October art show

BRRrrrrrrrr.... I thought typhoon "Pepeng" disappeared. Yesterday, we got floods because heavy rains didn't stop from 5 p.m - 6 a.m. Then we got no 24-hour electricity, eeep. The flood length of the lower house ground floor (stock / junk room) is about 8 feet, it's like a swimming pool. The flood length of the first ground floor (garden, cement ground)is about thigh length. At least we're okay now, but still, the floods hasn't ended yet. I took few pictures today, my feet were super cold. It's still super cold here in La Union, just like Baguio City.

This is my living room. Oh no, my family portrait mural painting is already cracked and dirty. Maybe in the future, I'll create a new mural painting...

Hi! It's me, Mally! Aiyah, my feet is damn cold... Glad my Nikon dslr is okay. Believe it or not, I haven't taken a bath for two days. We have no water until now, hu hu. Dang, I smell so stinky. I wanted to swim in my beach... but I can't, big seawaves might attack me!

Tsk tsk tsk, my old bigger paintings are already wet. I don't worry about them, I don't like my past works, hehehe... *Mall admits and blushes*

My garden got floods, hu hu hu! So I keep my terra-cotta pig sculptures in my room.

Oh no, I found a new kitten! AWWWWW! Poor kitten. My sister Erica takes care of her. We haven't named her yet.

I'm still worried about my friends especially fellow artists from Baguio City and Pangasinan, I really hope and pray that they will be okay. Please pray for Filipino victims. Sorry, I was so late to inform you guys about the October art group show which I'm participating with great artists, "Ghosts and other Transparencies" in Snowmonkey's House of Monsters Gallery, Seattle, USA. The art show is now open, it runs through November 10. Hope you guys visit there!  

This is my old sketch. But I changed it for revision, it looks better than one.

Unseal the Spirits

Graphite & Oil Pastels on Wood

8" X 12.5" *

*I can't remember what the exact measurement*

I love to do a vintage-mood style artwork. If you want to buy my new piece, please contact Curt curt.waller@comcast.net . I got more emails / comments, eepp. I'll try to do my best, I hope my net could be faster so I could reply to all of you soon. Thank you for understanding! Anyway, I have to sleep now. I didn't sleep for 24-hour 'coz of the typhoon... yeah, I kept alert during typhoon. @_@ Goodnight my people! ZZZzzzzz.....

Bewilderknits commissioned work

My lovely client Gwynne has been staring at my blog for months so she enthralled with my work. She waited for me longer because I closed my art commissions. But she gently asked me to make digital illustrations for their Bewilderknits knitted products: website lay-out, price tags, business cards and any small prints. She needed my art commission before October. So I chose digital medium because they can easily use separated Photoshop layers / elements on website lay-out, price tags and business cards, it's up to themselves like fixing elements, editing, go on. We discussed a lot about the art requests, colors, textures and retakes. Before I started working, I observed their knitted products, pictures, shops and faces on their sites. The medium I use was Adobe Photoshop CS3. I just scanned my rough sketches and purely colored them with two default brushes on Photoshop... honestly, without any photo manipulations / effects. It was like, I used crayons on coloring book, ahaha... so fun, anyway.

This is a work for Cora. Gwynne asked me to re-create my past digital work, Babu's Happiness. I adore her red freckles and hair!

This is a work for Gwynne. Hehehe, of course, I changed the boy character into mini - adorable Gwynne. I loved communicating with her thru Gmail emails. She's quite cool!

This is a work for Karen. Sweet smile and innocent eyes! 

And the last one, a snail pulling a cart of yarn balls. 

Whew, I thank you very much for everything, dearest Gwynne. I'm sure you guys will enjoy using elements on Photoshop. I can't wait to see their business cards and stuff!

I enjoyed booksigning with my great friend Zeus and of course meeting great people and adorable kids in MIBF, Mall of Asia. And hooray, I have done my latest piece for the October art group show, Ghosts and Other Transparencies, in Snowmonkey's House of Monsters (yep, his new gallery is baby fresh. So I'll support owner Curt and his new gallery!) in Seattle. I really hope people will like my new graphite + pastels artwork, I'll post it on my next blog entry in October. 

Good night to all of you. I'll reply to many emails later plus my net is so slow, sometimes I can't log in on Gmail and other few sites! Nowadays, I'm feeling sick. A fresh flu. ACHOOO! *Mall sniffs and jumps into a warm gray cloud and flies to Slumberland...* ZZZZZZzzzzz

BOOK SIGNING!

Adarna House authors and illustrators including me will be book signing at the MIBF ( Manila International Book Fair ), Mall of Asia, Pasay City. Please see the book signing schedule below. My friend Zeus Bascon and I will be there on September 17 at 10AM - 12PM. See you guys soon! 

My new original drawings are for SALE!

It's time to sell my original graphite drawings! I got a few emails from my fans, they wanted me to re-create my new pieces, just like my past personal ones "My Art Diary". I really understand that they can't afford my colored paintings, hehehe! Anyway, each drawing is 7" X 7" including white borders, USD $100.

"Nature's Daughter I"

(SOLD) thanks for the quick email, dearest Amanda!

"Nature's Daughter II"

(SOLD) thank you very much, Aaron!

"Nature's Daughter III"

AVAILABLE

And also my small original pieces are for sale too! The size is 6" X 6" including white borders. It's USD $70 each. She's Aya and the other one girl, Cat Guardian.

"Looking back at the past"

(SOLD) thanks for the quick email, dearest Amanda!

"Provoking me?"

SOLD (thanks my dear, Georgia!)

"Untitled"

(SOLD) Merci Merci Merci, Benjamin!

Free shipping (special airmail, just 10 days - 2 weeks). I'll list them in my Etsy shop this Friday or Saturday, hopefully. OR if you want to email me quickly for reserving my original pieces, contact me then. :) Good luck, my wonderful art collectors!

And wish me luck, I'll finish my new 4 commissioned digital pieces in Photoshop this week, hopefully! Goodnight my people!