Quick two Announcements: 1) For the new year the blog will get a new look, and it will be connected to my illustration website too. 2)There will also be an online store! 3)So I'll be working hard on that for the next two weeks, so I'm taking a little vacation from blogging so I can get all that ready for the new year! :) Continue reading

I finally finished the cards I will send to my family here it is: A) The envelopes were done from paperbag shopping bags from the stores Gymboree and Charlotte Russe. B) Recycled paper was used to put the type and an area for where to write the address. C) Cereal and Coca cola boxes were used for the illustration, which was done in cochineal. There were two kinds of cards, the bookmark/Tree ornament and the framed one. This holiday I encourage you to do your own Christmas card or to buy one that's handmade. Continue reading

Here is this weeks ecollustration. Done with cochineal (the natural dye that I'm exploring and experimenting). I found so many interesting articles online about the red cochineal, different ways to be used, techniques and how to obtain different shades. I plan sometime later this week to go to the library and find some books on natural dyes, maybe some in botany ( if you know of a book feel free to recommend). To summarize cochineal can change its color by changing its ph, since I can't do that since right now my materials are very limited, I can add some... Continue reading

I'm talking about David Goldin, this week's ecollustrator.I'm a big fan of his work, they have a colorful and playful sense to it , and if you like Waldo you'll enjoy looking through his work pondering and fascinated about all the items he used to create his piece. His work uses materials such as those used tickets from arcade games, newspapers, cigarettes, matchboxes, bottle caps, squished soda cans, stamps, stickers, candy wraps and you get the idea. As they say "A man's trash can be it's treasure" and sell it for goods and deliver good messages. He also works on... Continue reading

If you love things in miniature you would love this weeks from my library to yours' book: This books contains such beautiful ideas on making miniature books, but not into your usual open and flip pages. EAch piece has a unique way of opening and each piece is an unique piece of art. I love how the authors/ book designers incorporate illustrations in their work. They also show you how to recycle materials to make your books, per example an old camera, matchbooks, old maps and even toys. The first section of the book introduces you to techniques, phrases and... Continue reading

So while yesterday I was looking to see if they made any soy ink pens, I did not find one. I did read that is more eco friendly to buy a fountain pen that you can always refill, that way you won't throw away pens every time you run out of ink. I'm not into fountain pens, hence why I use alot of fine tip pens. So I plan to invest on a Rapidograph pen, and from now on, just buy refill inks. The pen I want, yay for christmas!! I did come across a few biodegradable pens at this... Continue reading

Still playing with cochineal ink. I Like this style with my prismacolor marker and the cochineal. While I was doing this, It came to my mind wether they have soy ink pens. Must find out. Continue reading

Heather Smith Jones is this week's ecollustrator. She creates beautiful work with the help of a needle. Creating a visual imagery of patterns inspired by nature. It creates an interesting look and I'm sure it creates a braille feel-texture to it (if a blind person were to run its hands over them they will feel and see the beauty she has created). I loved how she tried her technique over leafs. Love it :) Also I love her Wallpaper Pinhole Project Her project was to create a large scale pinhole wallpaper. Meaning she will poke it all up by herself.... Continue reading

The title is not misspelled, I just wrote great instead of greet, because I think greeting cards are great. Anyway, the holidays are getting closer, and so is the perfect time to send a thoughtful card for christmas, new year, a christening, a birthday, a happy new year and/or a hello card. Also, cards for the gifts to let the person know who has a good taste in giving gifts (oh thank God not a weird shirt!). This brings me to this week book from my library to yours: It was given to me on my birthday by two dear... Continue reading

No D.I.Y project today, but rather wishing you all a happy thanksgiving with an x-tra ecollustration done with my watercolors and typewriter. Hope you share this holiday with people you love and with yummy food. Continue reading

Here's this week ecollustration, where I tried a more detailed ecollustration and used only pencil, pen and cochineal on a normal sketchbook page. I'm about to embark on a journey of discovery of how far can I go using this natural dye. As fort he ecollustration itself I did a little tribute to red riding hood and how the wolf found her. Continue reading

I am talking about this week featured ecollustrator Kazuo Akasaki. His medium to create beautiful paintings are leafs! I guess in that case his work should be are called leaftings? nah too cheesy. How about ecollustrations YESH!. He uses different shades of leaves to create different tones in the ecollustration. He's a patient man, his work takes from 6 months to a year and it shows since he pays attention to every detail. There's something dark and sinister about his paintings due to the brown shades of the leaves, but the subject he does on his ecollustrations fit the mood... Continue reading

This week from my library I'm sharing a book that gives you good reasons to keep your old game boards, gift cards, potato chips, wallets, and anything you never though you could reuse. Ladies and gentleman I'll bring you *drums rolls* Written by Jeannine Stein (thank you Jeannine!) who has been creating beautiful books for 15 years, not afraid of experimenting and trying new techniques. She's also an award winning journalist and has written about paper crafts. There she's a great source, so you won't be disappointed at all. The book is not hard to read, the instructions are clear... Continue reading

In my household we are milk lovers, so we finish them fast and end up with lots of milk cartons. I'm loving making projects with them, but for now I will share how to make a necklace in the shape of a polaroid. So when you are done with your milk don't throw it away! wash it and let your creativity begin. Remember you can see the steps by seeing the milk-polaroid necklace photo album. Continue reading

As artists we have the ability to change the way a person sees an everyday object. That bring us to this week ecollustrator Yuken Teruya. A friend of mine introduced me to Yuken Teruya's beautiful work when I was going through a phase of cut out illustration. By just cutting and folding he's transforming an everyday object such as a toilet roll, a paper bag or even a pizza box, while at the same time delivering very strong concepts dealing with consumerism, the misuse of natural resources, globalism,cultural traditions and identities. My favorite projects of his are: THE CORNER PROJECT... Continue reading

This ecollustration is not done with carmine watercolor, or ink and neither acrylic, but with "Tlapanochestli." Which stands for Cochineal in Nahualt(an aztec dialect). Cochineal is parasite insect of the "Nopal". The Cochineal produces a natural red coloring known as carminic acid. I was first introduced to this parasite, when my elementary school in Oaxaca, took us in a field trip to the Cochineal farm, also known as the "El Centro de Difusion de Conocimiento de la Grana Cochinilla y Colorantes Naturales". It was fascinating and I'm still fascinated by it. It is one of nature's gift and is free,... Continue reading

I love being an artist because my inspiration gear is always on the go. I get inspiration from stories, moments, words, blogs, and my favorite source books. I want to share every week, a book from my library that has given me a wonderful case of inspiration as well as motivation. The first book I introduce is: I call this my quickie book, because is the quickest way to learn about the many possibilities you can design, from making a book, starting a blog, creating a business card, personalizing your stationary or beginning your unique photo album. And is always... Continue reading

One of the best way to get inspired when you can't go out because is raining, and you don't have an umbrella is to surf the internet. While I was surfing I came across this ecollustrator. That's right I'm not the only ecollustrator and it has become my new mission to find others and share it with all of you. I'm talking about Cheeming boey. He also combines recycling with illustration. Main items styrofoam cups and sharpie pens. No really that's all he uses, quite simple. Simplicity can be amazing check it out We all know about styrofoam cups, the... Continue reading

If you ever want to send a postcard to a loved one, it'll be more meaningful if you make it yourself. Is so simple and you'll have the freedom to have the illustrations you want. Here I used a cereal box from costco, they are huge! and from it ten 3.5"x5" postcards were made. Can't wait for them to get it, each of the illustrations of the postcards represents a specific trait of the person I'm sending it to. For the illustrations, which I kept very simple were a combination of pencil, gouache and watercolor. Continue reading

Thanks to technology my father has no use of his typewriter. Thanks to technology it was given to me. I love it! I plan to play with it and incorporate it into my illustrations. Here is the first try :) This ecollustration is an union of symbols that represent who I am and thanks to the typewriter it can be explained. Continue reading

This has nothing to do with ecollustration, but I wanted to share with you the beautiful Altar my family and I put together for the day of the death. I love the process and the collaboration to set this up and later remember those who we put the altar for. I am so blessed and happy to be born into this culture :), and I'm looking forward to eating some "pan de muerto" tonight accompanied with some hot chocolate. Continue reading

"Here lies a magical box that contains everything you need. P.s. Or so I hope Good Luck" That's the phrase in top of my new box, where I put all my materials. Since I noticed that my scissors, little rulers, pencils and brushes were roaming loosely, I decided to make a little box to keep them together. I used fall leaves that I collected to celebrate the fall season. This box can not only be a material box, but a memory box as well. A little side note, I used glue to add protective layers. I recommend that at the... Continue reading

The reason as to why I haven't updated as frequent as I usually do, is because well I was packing literally my life to move to a new town. So here I am in a new town: Houston, Tx. Yes, I was sad to leave behind a good place, good friends and family; but sometimes you got to see where life takes you with a positive attitude. I am excited to explore this city and see what it can offer me. I already yelped a couple things to check out. So when you are not completely settle in, but you... Continue reading