Some cast studies and 1-minute poses from posemaniacs.com since I'm stuck in the middle of rural Wales atm!

Besides baking treats, occasionally I like to make presents for family and close friends so they can have something more personal and so I can have the opportunity to dabble with something outside drawing to keep me sane! I grew up making things all the time - sculptures, toys, little outfits for my Barbie.....because I had no interest in actually playing with it but liked to design and make clothes for it, hehe. I'm a bit of a nerd for the whole process of planning all the parts and thinking of how to put it all together 'cause it gives my mind a different, more hands-on kinda workout.

A present to my boyfriend for our first anniversary.......it's an in-joke. :P Excuse the poor photo quality - I'll update it when I get back to his place.

A little graduation present for my friend Ben. I made a pocket-sized Japanese-bound sketchbook with assorted paper and a stamp of his Chinese name on the front cover.

This was for my nephew's first birthday a few weeks ago. He was born in the year of the bull and the design is based on the one I drew on the baby book I made for my sister last Christmas.

I made some masala chai for my best friend one time and she loved it, so I made a tea set for her so she can make it at home. I designed stickers for each pot that contained spices so she'd know what they're called and how much to use per serving. I also designed and constructed the greeting card and instructions.

Here's my simple contribution. :) I started painting it but then it kept looking less and less like me (having a mirror would help but I've changed locations today and am now in a mirror-less house). Ah well~

Last Saturday morning someone decided it would be a ruddy good idea to set my car on fire. I guess staying in bed at 7am during the weekend just isn't all that appealing to today's young arsonists but there we go. My car was completely burnt down, leaving absolutely nothing that was salvageable.......or so I thought! After the initial stages anger, confusion and distress, I decided to sieze the moment and take some truly authentic texture shots before it was taken away by the insurance fairies.

Also, as much as I'd love to take credit for this idea, it was actually a suggestion by my friend Liz after she and her sister (an old high school friend) came to comfort me over some coffee.

.....I had cake. It was good.

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Here are some shots of the car itself if you're curious:

And here are the more decent texture shots I snapped up. They're completely raw so feel free to play around with them and use them for whatever. If you use it for something commercial or generally feel so inclined then I'd appreciate donation(s) so I can save up for a new car!! I accept PayPal. ;)

I have a normal snappy casual camera so these might not be super clear but hey....it's something!

I've started a new personal project where I'll be redesigning my main team from the ol' days of Pokémon Blue. :D The idea popped up whilst clearing up all my old drawings and collectables at my parents' house so they'd have more space for themselves. As with most 90's kids, Pokémon was a huge part of my childhood and I wanted to do some sort of tribute to help maintain/learn new painting skills whilst updating my portfolio. They'll mainly be interpretations of how I perceived them to be when I was a child.

The only Pokémon I know were definitely on my team so far are Venusaur, Starmie and Gengar. I'll have to fish out my GameBoy Colour to find out the rest....

Gengar was one of my strongest Pokémon. Looking back at the original design he actually looks quite round and cute but as a child I thought he was more cheeky and menacing.

Many thanks to Paul Chadeisson for helping me out with direction with this one when I was stuck. :)

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Four more to go!