The Villaluna Sisters Blog

I really admired Abbey's work because of her unique style and intricate designs. So when I found out that she will be having a workshop in Alabang, I signed up immediately! I joined not just because I wanted to meet her, but I also want to learn her workflow.

The workshop was held in Fully Booked, Alabang last April 18, 2015; 1-4pm for Php 2,500. (I think she recently increased the workshop fee to Php 2,700) The fee already consists of the workshop materials and snacks.

I wasn't able to take much pictures from this workshop because the workshop that time started a bit late because the place wasn't completely set up yet by Fully Booked, but I appreciate Abbey's effort for still doing her best to teach us with the limited time that we had.

I don't have a picture of the place but here's a photo of my view...

Once the venue was properly set up already, Abbey introduced herself and her assistant that day, then we each introduced ourselves. It was nice to be seated near someone from my College so I didn't had a hard time finding someone to talk to. Yay!

She first discussed some often-misunderstood terminologies of Type and the materials for mass creation (most of which she uses). Then she made us do a drill for us to understand the differences between font styles. I used the word "stressed" because that's what I'm feeling the entire week and I couldn't express it more than through writing. (Pardon my output, we were under time pressure huhu)

She also shared her process and some tips on making a hand-lettered artwork. For our final output, we are tasked to use quote to make hand-lettered artwork and to help us with that, she passed around some reference books for inspiration. I liked the book by Austin Kleon, "Steal Like an Artist", which is why I used a quote from that book for my final output. Despite of the time pressure, I was still able to finish it on time, yay!

Class picture! You'll notice that I hid myself because you know... hahaha! Hello to the tall girl who was my workshop buddy that day! (Sorry I forgot her name huhu)

Selfie with da senpai! <3

Thank you so much Abbey for sharing with us your knowledge and for being so accommodating!

For more workshops from Abbey, go see her website:

http://artistic-dreams.com/

or her Instagram:

@abbeysy

Googly Gooeys, such a cute name for an incredibly sweet tandem. I have been their fan since... forever. Kidding! I have known Googly Gooeys in Tumblr during my high school days. I was always fond of the colors they used and the comical stories which I can mostly relate to. I became inactive in Tumblr for a while then after a few years (yes, years), the inner fangirl came out again when I discovered that Googly Gooeys holds workshops in watercolor lettering, as well as digitizing! Even though I already attended one before, I just couldn't miss meeting the masterminds behind such an awesome blog. I immediately signed up for a workshop in Alabang. A lot of complications happened that I almost couldn't come anymore, but Tippy (the 1/2 of the tandem), was so understanding that I was able to make it.

The workshop was held last June 13, 2015 in Fully Booked, Alabang from 1-5pm. The fee at that time was Php 2,600, but now it is already at Php 2,700. This already includes the workshop materials and some delicious snacks. Don't worry about the price because the experience is totally worth it!

I don't have a photo of the materials because I was too starstrucked and was just too excited to start. (sorry, huhu) Tippy was the one who administers the workshop and her husband, Ponggo, helps out.

The first part of the workshop was all about the basics of watercolor such as washes, how to expand your palette, and some popular watercolor techniques. So, here's my output... Obviously, I didn't do very well because I haven't really grasped the ideas of watercolor yet. You don't become an expert in something overnight, you know! (defensive much? haha) Good thing Tippy was there to guide us and eventually I understood the techniques. While she was helping me with my glazing, we talked a bit and learned that we both loved vibrant colors, yay!

Here are the outputs of some of my workshop-mates...

The second part of the workshop was about brush lettering. At first, my seat mates were surprised because I could already work well with the brush pen then I told them that I already attended a brush lettering workshop before and I have always loved using the brush pen to practice my lettering. Tippy, herself, also became interested with the way I write as a lefty herself. I also became interested with her way because she writes sideways, which is extremely difficult for me to do, by the way. While we were doing some brush lettering drills, we also ate snacks from Krispy Kreme. (wee!)

Before we started to do the drills, Tippy first discussed to us and eventually demonstrated the points of brush lettering.

We got lots of freebies in workshop. That includes some 300 gsm watercolor papers, and a children's book for watercolor reference. Don't you just love freebies? 'Cause I do!

Class picture! Thanks Sir Ponggo for taking our pic, yay!

I was one of the last persons to leave the venue and I got the chance to talk to Ponggo and Tippy about some stuff and I couldn't be happier. It's a dream come true!

By the way, Googly Gooeys recently held a workshop giveaway wherein the winner would get to attend a workshop FOR FREE! Yes, you read it right, FOR FREE! And guess what? I WON!! Yay! I have joined some giveaways before and decided to give up eventually because I never won. But this time, I took my chance because I really wanted to win this. I don't know the number of participants in the giveaway but I'm sure that it was a lot because it's Googly Gooeys! I chose the Digitizing workshop on November 29 in Fully Booked, BGC. So watch out for my blog post about it. ;)

Even though they didn't get the surname right, it's okay because with the "jeje" nickname I have, I certainly know it's me. Haha! Thank you so much Googly Gooeys for this opportunity, and most especially to God because He knows how much I really want to join this workshop! <3

For more workshop information, visit their website:

www.googlygooeys.com

or their Instagram account:

@googlygooeys

As I was going through my Instagram feed one day, I saw that workshops about lettering in any medium, most especially watercolor, became prominent on people's posts. I became interested and started to look for a workshop. But to my luck, most of the workshops were held in the "North" (e.g. Quezon City)

Then one fortunate day, I saw a post (I forgot where) about a brush and watercolor lettering workshop which will be held in Le Petit Cheri - Molito, Alabang by Anina Rubio on April 12, 2015; 2-5pm for Php 2,500. That time, I did not know who she was or what kind of work she does so I decided to take a look at her website and was in awe of her work, which convinced me to join her workshop. The workshop fee is just right because it already includes all the workshop materials I need, plus! a delicious dessert buffet (courtesy of Le Petit Cheri) P.S. Their food is awesome!

I was so excited because it was my first workshop ever! On the workshop day, I was one of the first participants to arrive because I was too scared to be late and miss anything. Anina was there and she greeted me with a warm smile while she was setting up the place.

She has this part of the room where she showcased her artworks for inspiration and it really did inspired me to do better work!

The workshop started with introductions and I'm surprised that a lot of mommies were present in the workshop. (To justify my reaction, I was surprised because I wasn't exposed before to the fact that mommies also use art as stress relievers.) Then Anina introduced to us the materials that we are going to use and some points on how to take care of them.

We had drills on color mixing and some watercolor washes. Then we also had some drills using a brush pen so that we could apply it on our final output. At first, I was so close to giving up (because unfortunately, watercolor lettering needs a LOT of patience to get great results) but Anina was there to guide us and I was able to comprehend the basics little by little.

Here's a photo of my final output, yay! I was too shy to use the entire page for my output because I was thinking that if I messed up, the entire page would be put to waste, which is why I only used 1/4 of the page. It is a really nice watercolor paper, you know!

Class picture! Hello to the cool moms who befriended me during the workshop! :)

Before I left the venue, I couldn't miss the opportunity to have an autograph from my first workshop teacher!

Obligatory selfie :>

Thank you Anina for teaching us what you know and for being so patient with us. My first "artsy fartsy" workshop was so fun and encouraging to start my own creative journey in lettering.

For upcoming workshops, go check out her website:

www.aninarubio.com

or her Instagram account:

@aninarubio

#ARworkshop

It never crossed my mind that someday I would be feature in any form as a graphic designer. Thank you PortfolioMNL for giving me the chance to share my experience and giving me more exposure. Haha. Here are some outtakes during my shoot for this feature.

Read more about my feature here.
Photos (c) Racquel Castillo

Rica Matilde is a client of my Mom from her events coordination business and she recommended me to be her stylist on her pre-debut shoot. And like all my other clients, I love her! We met a few weeks before the shoot to finalize the looks and I was super excited because we've got 4 layouts to shoot. She wanted to showcase her casual and musically-inclined self in 2 layouts and another for her debut theme as another 2 layouts. We had our photoshoot mostly at the South area, near Tagaytay.