Let me take you on a journey toward the bizarre realm of gods, witches, and spirits.
Spirited Away, will probably be one of my all-time favorite animated Ghibli films and has swept me away up to this day.
With my huge fascination for this movie, last weekend I tried painting one of its most magical and enchanting moments where Chihiru/Sen and Haku (the two leading characters) got reunited and let this moment freeze for eternity in a piece of canvas.
Before sharing with you the progress on how I got this image finally done, let me just do a segway in saying "thank you" to my Kuya (older brother) in dedicating his time making this DIY canvas board using a sack of flour. You are the best!
I always got excited every time I prepare my art materials. The excitement of seeing the image in my mind always entices me. I guess this is what passion is. I ran out of acrylic paints in tubes so I prefer on buying paints from the hardware as a replacement because they are way cheaper than those that are purchased from the art stores, and yet the quality is almost the same. I want to make sure that I can always stick with this hobby without breaking my tight budget.
After preparing all the art materials needed, I turned on the radio and switch to my favorite FM station (where most of the music played are classic love songs), and then let the melody goes with every stroke of the paintbrush --- I'm good to paint. 🎨
The progress..
🔸I sketched first Chihiro's happy face as she hugs Haku.
🔸 And then I drew the black outline on the images.
🔸 Then, started to paint the color of her hair.
🔸And started to paint her skin.
🔸 And then I put a red blush on her cheeks.
🔸 And this time, I started putting color on her t-shirt.
🔸 I adjusted the color of the stripe in the t-shirt. It looks too dark so I adjusted it to a lighter yellow-green. And then, started coloring Haku.
🔸 Next, I added a dark background. But I chose to use dark blue instead of black.
🔸 Then, I added the colorful clouds.
🔸 This one is my favorite part. I used a toothbrush and sprinkled white paint into the background to make it look like the sky glittering with millions of sparkling stars.
🔸 Now this one looks almost done.
🔸 And then I added one big sparkling star in the sky.
🔸 For the finale, I added my signature.
A happy artist, indeed. Through the colorful adventure of my palette, paintbrush, acrylic paints and happy artistic soul, I was able to enter into a whimsical realm that housed a lot of mind-boggling enchantments. It can fly you to where the sky is touched with the magical journey. It was my perfect escape, that for a while, eases my weary and troubled being.