What's uuuuuuuuuup? I'm finally back. I haven't written a blog entry for the last three weeks, so it feels good to be typing again.​ Of course, the fact that I haven't written for that long doesn't mean that I've been absent, since I've posted my regular weekly sketches. I think that having some kind of variety in any given routine is what keeps things fresh: stepping out of my blogging routine keeps things fresh as well. 

And since I'm in the topic of variety, I want to write about a tool that is somehow new to me, when it comes to my artwork: YouTube. Just a couple of days ago, I posted a video on my YouTube channel... yes, I do have a channel, a pretty rough and scarce one, but a channel indeed :) Anyway, I uploaded a video, featuring a quick sketch that I did based on Ariella Ferrera. This video also featured a song performed by The Animals (Don't let me be misunderstood). I did the edition myself, and even though it was a very simple one, I was proud enough of my little video to uploaded it to YouTube, as I've done in the past.

The publishing of the video went smoothly as usual... until I was told that this wasn't visible, at least not to everybody. It turns out that the fore mentioned song had viewing restrictions by the copyright holder: it was viewable everywhere except United States. First strike.

I decided to edit the video again, and quickly remove the song "Don't let me be misunderstood", replacing it with "Paint it black" by The Rolling Stones. According to my research, that song was viewable worldwide, with no restrictions. Well, apparently it does indeed have a restriction, not based on the countries where is played, but rather based on the devices that can play it. I say "apparently", because even at this moment I'm not sure what exactly the restriction is. All I know is that not everybody was able to view the second video (some people were unable to see neither video). Second strike.

Finally, I decided to upload a third version, this time featuring no music (or audio at all), just to make sure that the issue was the music and nothing else. Sure enough, this time everybody was able to open the third upload. Doing a little more research, I learned more about restrictions due to copyright regarding songs. I used to think that YouTube would allow the use of any copyrighted song as long as credit was given. Wrooooooong!, but hey, the important thing is to learn from experience.

Now I'm a bit more informed, and even though I still have a lot to learn, I feel good because everything has a beginning. I am having mine, as I'm in the process of trying to build my YouTube channel, where I'll probably do my blogs, or at least my sketches in a regular basis. That's why this experience was a good one, it allowed me to learn about tools and aides when it comes to YouTube. Again, this is a new territory to me... and, if you know me, you know that I love to get out of my comfort zone and try new things, explore new territories. By the way, if you want to visit my YouTube channel, click here. I cannot get a custom URL because I don't have 100 followers yet... aaah, see? I told you I am learning about how YouTube works! :)

I am posting the three versions of the fore mentioned video along this blog entry, I hope you like them... and hope you can open them as well. Please let me know of any issues you might find, or any tips you might have. I look forward to get more of my artwork on YouTube. I've been asked many many times about my work process, and this is a great platform to show exactly that.

Thanks again for reading this entry, and also for your support. June is almost over and I am truly excited to start the second half of the year, where I'll be delivering more and more artwork. If you like my work and would like to support it, please visit my Patreon profile, where you can become a patron and support my artwork directly. Interested? Just click here. See you next time!
~Pops.

​What's uuuuuup? I'm back, much later than usual, but back indeed. The topic of this entry seems to be "being late". Not only I'm late posting this blog update (usually I post by Monday-Tuesday), but also late posting the video featured here. This footage is part of a video recording that my brother made one year ago (yes, one year ago, I told you I was late), when I had the opportunity to showcase my artwork for the first time in Mexico... at my hometown (Ciudad Obregon) to be more precise. Well, a lot of (good) things happened this past year, which kept me busy, preventing me from getting this video ready for sharing... until now.

I am happy to share this video with everybody following my work. By the way, this is not a professional video or anything of the sort (not even close!). However, I wanted to deliver something that would be easy to watch, easy to listen and easy to understand. A video displaying my method of work, even if it's a quick version of it. Hopefully this short clip will be entertaining, and maybe even inspiring to anybody who's thinking about getting into airbrushing... or artwork in general.

So, what's the story behind this painting? Who? Where? Why? How? As I mentioned, this painting was done while showcasing my artwork in my hometown, at the local yearly fair. It was the first time that I had the opportunity to display my work in Mexico. For that same reason, I didn't want to leave without displaying my airbrush work, so I decided to do a live demo, basically at the last minute.

The beautiful woman whose portrait I rendered is Maria Felix, "La Doña", one of the biggest stars of the golden era of the Mexican cinema. I chose her as a subject, not only because of her beauty, but also because she was born in my home state as well, Sonora. A pretty nice match, since the theme of my showcase was indeed state pride. The reference photo shown in the video was great for the purpose of this quick portrait (which is the reason why I chose it). The first factor was the absence of color, a photo from the b&w era. That allowed me to render the image fairly quick, since there were no colors to render. The second factor was the quality of the photo itself. Even though the reference I had was a low resolution copy, the quality of the lighting from the photo itself allowed me to work without any problems. A good reference photo means a better and faster finished artwork.

Watching this video made me remember many things from last year, mainly the feeling of accomplishment that derived from being there. Being at this local fair wouldn't seem like a big deal... but it was. It was my opportunity to return to the place where I grew up and show what I learned during all the years that I've been gone. Not in a way of bragging or showing off, but really just sharing. Sharing the passion I feel for my work, while listening to the opinions and thoughts from the local visitors, was indeed what I wanted to achieve. And that's exactly what I got. By the way, if you would like to read more about the fore mentioned trip from a year ago, click here to go to the blog entry where I talk about it.

Last but not least, I want to point out a seemingly unimportant piece of the footage, something that wouldn't seem relevant, since it's not artwork related. Assuming you already watched the video, the part to which I'm referring is on 0:46, where I stop to drink a soda. Well, this part made the final cut because, contrary to what you might think, it is important. I wanted to show how rendering artwork is supposed to be fun ... at least in my opinion. If you like what you do, it will seep through your artwork, through your lines, and that's the quality I like in my work (and apparently my fans like that as well). So, the "soda" part of the video is not an accident, or a filling of any kind. All the contrary, is an important reminder of how art shouldn't be stressful... again, at least in my opinion. Happy cheers, with soda and all! :)

​I hope you liked this blog entry, and as always, I invite you to leave your comments and feedback. I will be back soon to deliver the weekly sketch. In the meantime, if you would like to support the work that I do, digital and non-digital, please consider becoming a patron of my work, at Patreon. Just visit patreon.com/popeyewongart to read more about it. My patrons allow me to keep working as an independent artist... so don't be shy and join the fun ($1 a month will do the trick, no commitments). Thanks again for your support, and see you next time!
​~Pops.