3/15/15

Happy Belated Pi Day!

Where were you, and what did you do yesterday, 3/14/15, at 9:26:53????

I had lots and lots of pie

Thanks for the picture Katelyn!

Not pictured pies: lemon meringue pie, key lime pie, two gluten-free pies, pumpkin with dark chocolate pie, and many more I forget.
Every year day should be Pi Day hehe. Oh and we had cookies and ice cream too!

3/12/15

Roof top

I went to my apartment roof for the first time yesterday.
I think I built a phobia for heights, but so it took a while climbing up the 90 degrees ladder,
but this is the view I saw.


Anyone one to join me for a drawing session on my roof?

3/11/15

Flower names

I had a tea and the name translated to "Thousand sun rouge." Pretty name.

3/9/15

Musical kick!

I watched Aida last night at my friend's son's high school and it was great! Definitely inspired.
Speaking of musicals, "Chicago" is coming to Baltimore. Anyone want to go see it with me?
With that I'm going to post a drawing I did inspired by the sexy cigarette smoking ladies with raspy voices.

3/5/15

Snow day!

Hurrah! It's snow day!!! And guess what? I have ANOTHER snow day tomorrow!
With that said, so many sketches are being done and I will be completing a tattoo design for my friend S soon. Stay tuned. <3 p="">
Happy Snow Day y'all!

3/4/15

Audrey Hepburn from Funny Face

Michael's is having a contest!!! They're taking you to Paris if you win! The theme is "Springtime in Paris," and you can bake, draw, do floral arrangements, blah blah blah. Check out paris.michaels.com.

Anywho, I did an illustration of Audrey Hepburn from the movie "Funny Face." It's only appropriate to draw a character so in love with Paris for this submission. What do you think?


3/3/15

Website update!

Hello all!

Since last post, I have been directing a musical with the music teacher, painting and drawing more, and overall enjoying my life.
To show case that check out my updated website:

mikajnakano.com


11/8/14

Happy November!

Hello.
Every entry is "whoa it's been a while" entry, so I'm just going to cut to the chase.

I'm officially moved in to a new apartment and I'm all on my own! It's beautiful and wonderful. My house is all decorated with Halloween decoration. I have everything, except for things to sit on. Including chairs and couches and cushions. But on the flip side, my housewarming party became a cocktail party where people had to keep standing, so it was great!

Happy Fall everyone. Stay warm!

5/24/14

Portrait #1

Portrait of my friend


"Laraba" gouache and pen.
Piece for Blooms of Nigeria, http://bloomsofnigeria.tumblr.com/

Beautiful project where female illustrators were names of the abducted girls from Nigeria to illustrate with a single flower.
I had "Laraba," which means "Wednesday daughter."

1/23/13

Woody Allen

I finally watched Annie Hall; the movie was so great!
There were so many great quotes and moments on how people interact. Woody Allen sure is a genius at capturing human nature and life. One of my favorite scene is when Woody Allen and Dianne Keaton (Annie Hall) are waiting in the line to purchase a movie ticket, and the guy in front of them is critiquing a particular movie on and on, and Allen is annoyed by the way the guy talks with fancy words without much of a point. Allen breaks the 3rd wall and points out to the viewer how obnoxious the guy is.
"What I wouldn't give for a large sock with horse manure in it. ...What do you do when you get stuck in a movie line with a guy like this behind you? It's just maddening." Hilarious.

This is a portrait of Woody Allen from the first monologue:


1/22/13

HURRAY RAVENS!

Congrats to Ravens!!! I am so excited to be living in this city filled with so much excitement.
To honor the Ravens and my pride for the team, I painted Ray Lewis in my sketchbook.
Wishing them great luck and amazing victory for the Superbowl!

(Sorry for the bad quality - I really should get a scanner so I don't have to update my illustrations using Photobooth).




12/28/12

Testing dollar items

Yesterday I went to a Japanese dollar store called Daiso.

They have amazing stuff there! And I found some brushes, watercolor, and air dry clay.

This is me testing out the clay.

Pretty snazzy.
Can't wait til I get to paint 'em!

I only got the black ink, but they turned out pretty cool!


That page was my last page for my sketchbook. Gotta find a new one.
Until then, I'll be drawing in paper napkins and such. You know, the usual art people paper.

12/13/12

Dana Scully

I've been waiting for so long, and now that I've had the chance, I totally forgot to show you the final drawing of Dana Scully!
Last week was the opening reception for the Light Grey Gallery; it's too bad I couldn't make it because from the pictures on flickr the reception seemed like such an amazing event!
Here's some information about the gallery I had the opportunity to contribute in:
"Curated by Light Grey Art Lab's own Lindsay Nohl, Francesca Buchko, Chris Hajny and Jenny Bookler, Girls: Fact + Fiction is a spectacular new exhibition that celebrates women from history, literature, film, music, culture, politics... and everything else!"

View their gallery for more up coming events and information regarding the gallery: http://blog.lightgreyartlab.com/

To purchase a print or a booklet with many other amazing works by illustrators, visit http://lightgreyartlabshop.bigcartel.com/product/pre-order-of-girls-fact-fiction-book

Thanks! :)

11/16/12

Persephone #2

I forgot to upload this! But I redrew Persephone with a whole new concept.

This is it ladies and gentlemen, Persephone:


Quote #1

This isn't a quote, but today I witnessed a 6th grade boy take a plastic knife and started cutting into the milk carton.
Must be drawn.
Here it is folks:


Another excuse I have for not uploading drawings is the fact that I haven't connected my scanner.

This is a drawing of Ghostface, Julianna Brion's cat. It's mostly from memory, which may explain the odd body shape.

11/9/12

School Days

I have to be honest; I haven't drawn at all like I originally planned, and I keep blaming it on school, but truthfully, I'm enjoying my life right now. Maybe it'll take the whole year to settle, but I want to make a promise to keep up the drawing.

So starting today I'll do tiny doodles just to get my days going.

There are quotes I want to remember students say to me or in class. That will be the basis of my drawings. We'll see what exciting, lovely messages students can inspire me today!

Stay tuned.

9/28/12

Dana Scully drawing

Hurray! It's 3:20am and I officially finished drawing for the Light Grey Gallery!

The Light Grey Gallery is holding an exciting exhibition where they will hold works by many illustrators in creating artworks of women both fictional and real.
Here's a link to their site for more information: http://blog.lightgreyartlab.com/2012/08/call-for-art-girls-fact-or-fiction.html
Sorry, I should have mentioned this earlier to share this opportunity with you guys. I'll let you know more cool shows next time!

I was accepted to illustrate Dana Scully from the X-files as part of the Fictional female character.

I can't upload the whole image until the gallery opening, but here's a little tease to show you her face!





Thanks for checking in!

8/24/12

I'm back!

Hello my friends!

It's been too long:

May - I graduated! I successfully finished my Masters with Arts Education and am well on my way to teaching children.
Speaking of which, I have finished an interview last week with an independent non-tuition Catholic middle school academy and will be interviewing with the president today. Which basically means I am hired...but not officially. The president needs to give me the thumbs up. Wish me luck!

I have done some drawings though.

To start off with, I have been focusing on job-hunting for part-time teaching so please excuse the lack of up-date and art-making.

To build my portfolio, I made a personal project to do illustrations for the Greek mythology Persephone.

This is my in-progress work for one of them:


I'm hooking up my scanner today, so more doodles and whatnot will soon be uploaded. :)

3/7/12

Print Punch!!!

Folks,

I have been student teaching and have not been able to do art AT ALL.
I can't wait to be able to sit down and clean my desk to just draw. Oh do I crave it so much!
My sketchbook however, has been filling up with tons of words and doodles, so maybe I should scan them in.
It's more about the time though...I'll figure something out.

BUT
CHECK THIS OUT

PRINT PUNCH

My works are now available on PRINT PUNCH!!! What is it? Well..

"Print Punch is a Los Angeles based company offering high quality, affordable single run prints from around the world. Print Punch was created by artists, for artists and art lovers alike, with the goal of connecting exceptional artists with sharp collectors, at prices anyone can afford."

Check it out. It's AWESOME and the other artists are crazy awesome too.

here's the site!

http://www.printpunch.com/



Thanks for checking in once in a while for those who have...I'm still alive and surviving.
I'll give you more update on my art life soon though!