• Artwork

    Sweets & Goodies

    May 16, 2018

     

    Hey dearies, how are you? For this week’s news, I wish to show you two recent pieces of artwork, and some ideas for goodies. I love sweets and warm beverages, which have inspired me lately. As you saw in latest posts, I have been inspired by tea and pralines – now I went with cakes and hot chocolate!

    The first one was inspired by Alice in Wonderland (Alice in Sweetsland now? ; ). I recently ordered some coloured Pentel brushes and Faber Castell Pitt liners, which I tried out on this illustration as soon as I got all of them, then combined it with my usual Copic markers. I have been using Dalbe 120g paper which I mostly use for all my illustrations – just for information, since there were people asking for my favourite material.

    As for the second work, I drew it after going to the Chocolate House in Luxembourg, a place which offers various cakes and chocolate sticks to melt in a mug. There are so many flavours, like chocolate sticks with fruits, tiramisu, sweets… If you haven’t been there yet and if you love chocolate, I recommend you pay it a visit!
    Chocolate House Website

     

    Those latest illustrations also inspired me for new goodies for upcoming conventions. I have been thinking about mugs, as well as tin boxes. Those ideas came to me while I was rearranging my tea corner in my room where I keep on accumulating big tea bags, and I thought it would be much neater to have elegant tin boxes to store the leaves. Since I also love drinking tea in pretty mugs, the idea came to me at the same time.

    I am currently looking into potential manufacturers to see whether I could get an affordable price for it. My biggest concern though is being able to carry those goodies without breaking them during transportation. I’ll see how it turns out, and keep you updated!

     

    Anyways, let me know your thoughts in a comment!
    Would you be interested in mugs or tea boxes?
    Are there any other goodies you would like to see?
    Thank you : D

    PS: Speaking of goodies, there is an ongoing art raffle on my Instagram to thank my first 100+ followers. You can win surprise packages filled with prints and other art stuff, so make sure you don’t miss it !
    Instagram @sabrinak.art

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  • Artwork,  Patreon & Art Lessons

    We love Chocolate!

    May 9, 2018

     

    I have recently been working on a gift project with chocolate!
    On top of the illustration, I tried making a sweet packaging and filled it with pralines. Do you like chocolate as well? : )

    For those who are interested in a behind the scenes process, I recorded a full time lapse video, photographed the references of the material used on every step, and am working on a commented walkthrough of this illustration. Everything will be released next month on Patreon.com/SabrinaK !

     

    Sorry for the weird background music in the video XD I keep on getting copyright complaints about the music I used despite having tried pretty much everything so I just took one of the random audios from my video editor. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on good royalty free music, I’d love to get the link ; )

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  • Patreon & Art Lessons

    Patreon – May 2018

    May 2, 2018

     

    May rewards overview, available for sign-ups during the entire month!

    If you, too, would like to get started as an artist, if there are things I can teach you, or if you are simply interested in my work, you might wanna consider supporting me on Patreon, where you can get your hands on exclusive guides, art lessons and tutorials, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at my current projects. I am currently focusing on two types of rewards: the creative ones with artwork, and the instructional ones with guides and lessons.

    Patreon.com/SabrinaK

     

    Artwork

    For those who are more interested in creative perks, you will find the monthly newsletter, a HD comic and Patreon-exclusive illustration, as well as an illustration step-by-steps, which offers you a commented insight into the creative process as well as the material references in the exact order as they have been used for each step. You can see it as an explanation on how I work on illustrations, or as a guide to help you with your colorations using Copic Markers.

     

    Patreon Blog – Organization & Time Management

    Pblog is a collection of guides covering various art-related issues for freelancers, presenting the more technical and “behind-the-scenes” aspects of an artist’s life which are often underestimated by most people. This new guide is 47 pages long and focuses on organization and time management. It gives you many tips to work faster and better, no matter the area, focusing on advice learnt during my executive assistant studies and personal experience.

    Funnily enough, since I got started as an independent artist, I am spending more time handling non-artistic tasks than anything else: looking for clients, accountancy, administration, etc. Being self-employed, I realized more than ever how important it is to be disciplined and focused in order to find a proper balance between artistic and administrative work. While writing this guide, I was faced once again to the basics of time management learnt before, and analyzed my current situation to implement some small changes – I discovered once again how much time I spend answering emails, why I procrastinate screentoning manga pages, …

    I hope that this guide will help you face your own “weaknesses” to get the best out of you!

    Art Lesson – Linearts

    A new art lesson has been added to the current database and is focusing on Character Design & Shapes. It will help you create visually distinct characters with more impact, who inspire emotion in the reader. We often unconsciously associate character traits with certain shapes and perceive a character accordingly – this lesson shows you how to use that to your advantage.

    As always, you have a video, PDF print-out and exercises to go further and test your knowledge. As stated last month, I have been reworking my entire presentation to make the lessons’ layout more agreeable and switched to a bilingual EN/FR version to help a broader audience. When it comes to teaching, I want my lessons to be complete and easily understandable, so I ended up asking for help for the translations, seeing as I still do many mistakes in English and often translate literally. Art lessons and PBlog files being my most important rewards, they are translated by native speakers from now on, in order to offer you more agreeable tutorials without mistakes.

    Other tutorials and art lessons are available in the shop. You may purchase them directly there if you wish to give it a first try, or receive the files of your choice every month depending on your Patreon tier.

    Join my journey!

    You can join Patreon and unsubscribe at any time. Your subscription also allows you to claim other perks, such as previous rewards, corrections and one-to-one guidance to improve your art, surprise packages, etc. The setup page is in English, but promised, every single reward is bilingual in both FR/EN : )

    Let’s help each other and create art together!
    Patreon.com/SabrinaK

     

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  • Blog Comics

    MuffinMag – Future plans

    April 25, 2018

     

    Opening a new blog section with some comics! I realized I have been drawing comic and manga pages for local magazines over the last 8 years without interruption. My latest collab was with SLAM, which unfortunately stopped its publishing at the beginning of the year. Since I still love drawing silly short stories and sharing them with other people, I’ve decided to post them here : D

     

     

    And you, how do you expect your life to be in ten years?

    If you have anecdotes to share, every day topics you’d like to suggest for upcoming comics…
    feel free to do so, I’d love to hear from you!

     

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  • Conventions & Events

    Workshops & Events

    April 18, 2018

    Hello sweeties, how are you doing? As of late, I unfortunately lack time to update my website more regularly and have eventually decided to post one article every Wednesday and put quality over quantity with more detailed and interesting contents to keep you updated. For more regular posts, I invite you to follow me on Instagram @sabrinak.art, which I am currently focusing on since it is quick to update.

    Anyways, let’s get started for the weekly news!

     

    Upcoming Events & Conventions

    First of all, thank you so much to everyone who came at the Luxcon! I had a fantastic week-end and it was so lovely to see old and new faces again, to talk and laugh with you. As always, big thanks to the orga team for this wonderful event, and of course, thanks to all of you for your visit!

    For more photos, you might want to check out Geeks Life Luxembourg or Luxcon’s FB, they both have great photo galeries where you can (re)discover the con, the booths and the fantastic cosplays.

    Next month, I will be at  Inked Geeks’ Free Comic Book Day in Luxembourg, and Metztoori and Le Rayon Vert in France. If you are nearby, make sure to visit! As always, you can find all my upcoming events with all the details in the Events Section. If you would like to recommend other ones or see me at a certain place, please feel free to tell me and I’ll see if I can attend : )

    Manga Workshops

    If you prefer learning how to draw manga rather than visiting conventions, I am pleased to collaborate once again with the public library in Athus, and the CEPA for the Summerakademie!

    CHARADESIGN WORKSHOP at Bibliothèque Hubert Juin, Athus (BE) – 21/04 from 15h30-16h30.

    • During this workshop, you will be able to discover how to create your own manga character. It will focus on character-design and on more psychological aspects to make your characters unique and authentic. The presentation will be followed by a small art lesson where you will be able to apply the theory into practice by creating a portrait, and will be eventually closed by a signing session. To make the presentation more interesting, I will ask of you to participate during the entire process, so I am counting on you to be there with your usual cheerfulness and good ideas ; ) Anyone can participate, and it is entirely free.

    SUMMERAKADEMIE – 30h Workshop, Hollerich (LU) – 16/07-21/07 from 10h-13h or 14h-17.

    • Such as last year, I have the pleasure of being a teacher for the yearly Summerakademie in Luxembourg, an event offering various creative workshops for both children and adults. Seeing as the manga workshop were full last year, I will be animating two instead of one now. The morning session is planned to be for elder participants aged more than 18, while the afternoon course is for teenagers.
    • Such as last year, the workshop will focus on teaching you the basics of manga drawing, leading to the final creation of your own story – below are some of my student’s work from 2017. Having learned from last year and seen what can be achieved within two weeks, I have decided to add some new elements so that the course offers you an even more complete overview of manga drawing. I hope to see you there!

    Inscription with CEPA, places limited to 10 for each group.
    Morning Workshop – Afternoon Workshop

     

     

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  • Shop & Products

    Aesthetica & Shop News

    April 11, 2018

    I have been updating the webshop during the entire last week, and I am pleased to announce that it is finally set up. There are various sections, ranging from art lessons and tutorials to prints and original artwork. Here’s a little overview of what you can find!

    Aesthetica – Artbook Vol.1

    I am most excited to present you my new book series, “Aesthetica”, of which I just received the copies! It’s been years that I wanted to create an artbook and I eventually decided to publish it in magazine format. The book presents my latest artwork, some of which are still unpublished, as well as some step-by-steps and insights into my private sketchbook, the whole project being in A5-format, printed on 250g matte quality paper.

    Aesthetica Vol.1 will be launched at the Luxcon this week-end. You can already order your copy in the shop, where you will find additional details. Please notify me if you wish to preorder and fetch your copy at the Luxcon; otherwise, the books will be sent out on Monday!

    Preorder Aesthetica Vol.1 in the shop!

    Exclusive Shop Products

    Seeing as I have created more and more products over time and don’t always have enough booth space at events, I have decided to sell some products exclusively in the shop. Among the current news, you will find stationary paper, and limited edition prints, which will be gradually updated.

    I have upgraded my Surprise Packages, which are available both in the shop and during conventions. To change from my elder packages and offer more interesting contents, the new packages will contain mostly exclusive prints, which will not be offered on regular conventions. Some of them are available as Shop Exclusivities, others will remain a total surprise, with a high quality rendering on linen pearl paper (because it’s so beautiful and shiny). Be it postcards, bookmarks or collector’s prints, most will be limited to a maximum of 5 copies, or a single one, depending on the motive. As always, one original A5 artwork will be present in each package, and some special gift vouchers are distributed here and there. So, from now on, surprises guaranteed for sure ; )

    Tutorials & Art Lessons

    Most of the shops news concern my Tutorials & Art Lessons section, where you can find tutorials, art lessons, behind-the-scene projects and more. I have made a proper presentation for each of them and uploaded the download files. Now, for every order, you will immediately receive a download link to get your desired files. Each file,  except for my old online lessons, is available in both English and French. I hope that it can give you an interesting insight into my work, and help you for your own art!

    As always, if you are interested in receiving various downloads, you might want to subscribe to Patreon.com/SabrinaK, where you can receive all those perks at a cheaper rate on a monthly basis : )

    Shop & Luxcon Discounts

    LUXCON – 1+1 FREE ON PRINTS – I also introduced a 1+1 free offer on prints last month on my website, which didn’t work because of the problems encountered. To make up for this, I will uphold it at the Luxcon this week-end. For every poster, postcard, bookmark and A5 collector prints, you will pay once the price and receive two copies of your choice. Don’t miss the event, you can come in cosplay and there are always awesome booths and products!

    SHOP – 50% PRINTS – As for the shop, various prints are available at a up to 50% discount in the Prints&Goodies category. Some of them are unique, such as the A0 Prints, others are low in stock and no reprints are planned, so make sure to get yours before it’s too late 😉

     

    Discover all the news in the shop!

    Just for fun… that’s what my place looks like when I prepare for a convention and take stock of every product I have. It’s a complete mess 8’D

     

     

     

     

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  • Lifestyle & Personal

    K-waii K-fé

    April 6, 2018

     

    Today, I want to present you a special place: the K-waii K-fé, a manga café in Arlon (Belgium). Seeing as it is near Luxembourg, I got pretty excited upon hearing the news of its opening last year, and eventually got the opportunity to collaborate with the store. If you don’t know the place yet, I highly recommend you pay it a visit!

     

    Mascot collaboration

    Before the overture, I met the shop owner Alex and we decided to collaborate. I got the opportunity to create a mascot as well as a bookmark for the café. We wanted something cute – and what’s best for a manga café than a cute maid surrounded by sweets?

    Shop Tour

    For those who are not familiar with the concept of a manga cafe, it is basically a place where you can read manga. Kwai Kfé also offers other services, such as Japanese merchandising and food. Situated in the center of Arlon in Belgium, at 60 Grand-Rue, you’ll immediately recognize it due to its eccentric showcase. I invite you to take a virtual tour!

    Upon entering, you will discover a selection of Japanese food and goodies. The food shelves offer mostly snacks, noodles and tea, while the goodies are more diversified with plushies, stationary, tea cups, etc. You will also be able to buy manga in French, and apparently, new arrivals in German recently arrived, seeing as Luxembourgish customers requested them. Since last week, some of my prints and tote bags are also available there ; )

    Once you have seen the food and goodies at the entry, you may want to go further and climb some stairs. You will reach the counter and, most importantly for collectors, the figurine area. A whole bunch of classy manga characters are awaiting you, and if you want to see more, the shop features its collection on its Facebook page.

    Next to the figurines comes the tea room with cute pink smiling tables (now that’s cute, isn’t it?). You can order delicious food at a very cheap price – most of them cost 2€ only and they are soo yummy! Among the classical snacks, there is bubble tea, dorayaki, mocchi, latte art, etc. I recommend you to try the bubbies, frozen sweets with rice paste and ice cream in various flavours. I also tried a newly arrived vanilla snack because of its adorable packaging with a chick in its egg (it was a pity to open that, it just looked too cute XD).

    Snack orders will grant you a one-hour access to the reading room just behind. Of course filled with manga, you can find an entertaining selection. Be it shonen, shojo, seinen, or even a handful of yaoi and yuri if I remember correctly, there should be interesting series for every taste.

    Worthy to mention for Black Butler fans, you can also take a picture with a life-size panel of sexy Sebastian (I forgot to take one, damn). Moreover, the shop owner Alex loves talking and is always friendly and ready to help you. If you are looking for a nice place with a relaxed atmosphere where you can eat and read to your heart’s content, and talk about Japanese culture with other otakus, you should definitely check it out! : )

     

    Find the Kwai Kfé:

    Grand-Rue, 60
    Arlon / BELGIUM

    Open every day, mostly starting 10′
    For more info, opening hours and photos, visit the café’s Facebook page!

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  • Patreon & Art Lessons

    Patreon – April 2018

    April 3, 2018

     

    April rewards overview, available for sign-ups during the entire month! If you, too, would like to get started as an artist, if there are things I can teach you, or if you are simply interested in my work, you might wanna consider supporting me on Patreon, where you can get your hands on exclusive guides, art lessons and tutorials, as well as a behind-the-scenes look at my current projects.

    Patreon.com/SabrinaK

     

     

    Creative art

    As always, I have focused on two types of rewards: the creative ones with artwork, and the instructional ones with guides and lessons. For those who are more interested in creative perks, you will find the monthly newsletter, a new comic, as well as two HQ illustration step-by-steps where you can easily zoom in to see all the details. One of them also shows the material references in the exact order as they have been used for each step, if you wish to reproduce it or get an idea of how to work on your own colorations.

     

    Patreon Blog – Commissions

    Last month, I introduced the concept of “PBlog” files to my Patrons but never got the chance to properly present it to the greater public. Basically, it is a collection of guides covering various art-related issues for freelancers. I wish to go further  than my classical art lessons and help young people discover the more technical and “behind-the-scenes” aspects of an artist’s life, which are often underestimated by most people. The first file is a complete 46-pages guide, available in both English and French, and introduces you to commissioned work, managing clients, with tips and anecdotes about my own experience. If you wish to get started as an artist, clear some doubts or start offering gigs alongside your studies or job, this file will hopefully offer you the insight you need : )

     

    Art Lesson – Linearts

    A new art lesson has been added to my current database, and is focusing on line art and inking this time. It gives you an insight into different tools, various tips and shows the filmed inking process of a manga page. As always, you have a video, PDF print-out and exercises, with HD manga pages for analysis as a bonus. Since last month, I have been reworking my entire presentation to make the lessons’ layout more agreeable, and switched to a bilingual version to help a broader audience. For those who didn’t like the French only version, you will now get every upcoming lesson in English as well!

     

    Join my journey!

    Patreon also allows you to claim other perks, such as previous rewards, corrections and one-to-one guidance to improve your art, surprise packages, etc. The setup page is in English, but promised, every single reward is bilingual in both FR/EN ; )

    Let’s help each other and create art together!
    Patreon.com/SabrinaK

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  • Artwork

    Happy Easter!

    April 1, 2018

     

    Happy Easter! I realized it is the first time ever I have drawn an illustration for that event ~ I just finished my Patreon rewards (previews following soon) and am getting ready for a meal and relaxing day with family. What are you doing today? Will you go out egg hunting? ; )

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  • Artwork,  News & Updates,  Shop & Products

    Artwork & News

    March 20, 2018

     

    Let’s start with some news for this new website! The entire rebuilt, transfer and administrative issues have been taken care of over the last few days, and I hope you’ll enjoy this new version. There are novelties in almost every section, especially in the “Illustration” area, so feel free to check them out if you’re curious ; )

    Among the news, I am excited to present my 4 Seasons Tea Collection. Since I love tea and always wanted to draw some motives with the four seasons,  I decided to combine both. For collectors, the original illustration of each motive is available in my shop. Overall, I worked with markers and ink and tried to give each season a dominant colour and elements reminding of their ambiance – warm autumn leaves, icy frost, bright spring flowers, and sunny summer days. And you – what do you associate with seasons, and which one is your favourite?

    Though the shop is not totally updated yet, you can already place orders. It now offers more options than my previous one, for instance with the possibilities of paying without credit card with Paypal or bank transfer (and many other nice features I’m currently exploring, such as automated gift vouchers – now that’s some good news for you, isn’t it?). The products will be gradually added and as stated before, a complete French version will also be created – I have just fallen behind with other projects since taking care of this new website’s organization took so much time, so I need to work on those first. But promised, within a month, everything should be in place, and in the meanwhile, there will be weekly blog updates as it used to be!

    If you have suggestions to improve the website, to make it more agreeable, or if you just wish to tell me what you think about this new version so far, I’d love to hear from you ♥

     

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