Hello everyone! 

I've been so MIA for more than half year on this blog. I've actually had this blog since 2013 and every few years it evolved into something different: lifestyle, makeup and now art. There have always been some breaks in between and it makes me feel strange every time I don't post for long periods of time, especially since this blog has been used to document my life ever since I started it.

But I digress.

My schedule has drastically changed since I started working on my field of study. I can be busy for weeks straight, including weekends, and have most of the following month free... I never know what's going to happen. This has been very hindering in terms of having a proper schedule because there are days when I don't even feel like looking at my laptop, thus my lack of posts.

On my free time I've been learning how to code (I have something planned to release until the end of summer!),  posting some finished digital paintings on my Instagram and now I'm making an effort to get back into blog action!

Hello guys! 

Phew, I finally finished the commission requested by a good friend of mine! It was a fun challenge since I never painted two characters in the same painting. She requested a portrait of them both, as a gift for her friend's birthday, and I tried to paint them in a semi realistic style, which is what my style essentially is. My friend is a cosplayer, hence her outfit on this piece. You can check out her IG here!

I won the contest that I meantioned I was participating in a few blog posts back! :D You can read it all about it here! 

The website is in portuguese, but feel free to translate the page into EN and check out the other winning entries as well! :D Here!

I don't think I have won anything in these last few years, so I am very happy about this recognition. Sometimes I feel a bit unsure about my skills and what I put out, so this came just in the right time to boost my confidence!

IG | YT | DevianArt | Gumroad

This last summer I made a goal to myself to learn how to use Photoshop. I wanted to have another skillset that could be of use in my future whether it would be professionally or just for me for fun. I started to watch a bunch of tutorials and would do some fun things along with them. For example, here is Oli being a carrot gangster!

You can find more about my guinea pigs here. Unfortunately these furry babies of mine passed away some months ago which has also taken a toll on me. I plan on writing about it some time in the future and also introduce you to my new pets.

While watching the tutorials some digital paintings videos would appear on my recommended videos and I became fascinated with what you could create with such apparent ease. And my love for art came alive once again. I used to draw once in a while throughout all of my life, but never with the intention of being actually good at it. It was just for fun. And although it is also for fun nowadays I actually want to become good and, who knows, maybe do something useful with it.

At first I would draw with my mouse because I didn't have my digital tablet yet. And the results of a beginner drawing with a mouse... Well, you can imagine the results. However I wasn't discouraged. So in September, with the money I have earned throughout summer by doing some translation work, I went ahead and ordered a digital tablet.

I was so pumped to actually start to draw the way I wanted without having to breath in while using my mouse so I was able to make a simple straight line.

I started to watch even more in depth tutorial videos and would be doing my own experiments. My favorite digital painting artists that I would, and still do, watch were Ilya Kuvshinov, Kienan Lafferty and webang111 on Youtube.

I also started to upload on Youtube! It will be fun to every year revisit my oldest art and watch my growth - or lack of! - in technique, etc.

Feel free to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/user/danielavasc/ 

and also my Devianart: http://starlingsnow5.deviantart.com/

Here's my latest video!

Have fun! See you on my next post *