Mariel's Art and Sketches: artist

In artist, folktake

Golden Spinsters

The spiders scamper, hover, and spin endlessly until the gold becomes the finest silk.

It is rather ticklish how their sharp pointy legs prick on my skin as they go about their work.

Nothing to complain for I always have the highest quality garments embroidered with spider silk.

How fine, how beautiful!

There's not much to compare against these golden threads. Smooth, velvety, oh so vividly bright in every angle.

The envy of the court, they all call me.

'Oh how you glisten, lady! How refined and elevated you look above us!' they all proclaimed.

Oh, what's that? You wish to have them make you a garment?

No sir, no lady.

These eight-legged masters only create for those they deem worthy -- oh, me?

Hah! It took me centuries to gain their trust. And for one immortal such as I, that is a rather embarrassing feat.

Still if you wish to push on with your wish then I shall say this.

Upon the light of the blue moon, gather about you roses of the reddest color, as bloody crimson as you could find.

Mind you to find the petals soft, too.

On your hands place a piece of gold and a bead of pearl, and a monarch butterfly of the purest white.

Gifts of honor, of gratitude, and as these spiders procure such delicate crafts they must be rewarded with the rarest meal that one can find in exchange for their laborious work!

Their master would be very much pleased -- she is the largest of them all so do be sure to give her the biggest piece of the flutterer.

Upon the stroke of three in the morning, a deathly silence will arrive.

It is deafening, but you must wait.

After all, these spiders take too much time and patience to create such finery.

And lastly, from your lips utter your word of thanks.

But pray care to pronounce the greatest of gratitudes, for as humble as these creatures appear to be, they are as fickle as you and I.

Hurt not their pride and you shall gain the finest garment of gold as you could ever imagine.

My, you could even have hundreds of dresses and coats made nothing but golden spider silk!

Splendid accoutrements, are they not!

What if you fail, you ask?

Well, my friends. That is for mortals to find out.

My immortal soul is bound to their work for all the failures I've had. A price, I suppose, that I was willing to pay.

Who can say what happens to mortals if they do not please the golden spinsters?
Die?

Let me tell you this -- no mortal has ever lived to tell me otherwise.

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, by Mariel

Poppy

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, by Mariel

In artist, artist portrait

"Got a cozy chair and a nice hot cuppa tea? Mayhap you might need a book? A book is nothing short of a delight, especially when read when one is at her or his most coziest. A compendium of magic folks' stories will not only bring forth adventure, but a nice story or two to tell the children."

Philippa

There is something so wonderful about reading books. When you dive right into the pages, they take you to far off places, introduce you to unique and wonderful characters and most of all, give you an unforgettable adventure, that after reading, you emerge as a different person -- all in the comfort of your cosy nook. I've always been a fan. Ever since I was a young girl, my imagination would always run wild, creating stories and sceneries in my head, maybe about three or five, all before I got myself ready for the morning breakfast. Needless to say, I love storytelling. The pleasure of reading stories and writing them gives me a sense of bliss as strong as my passion for illustrations. Illustration and stories always go together for me. Even if it's just a drawing, for me, it has a story. I may not have had written about it, but if one might wonder and ask me about a particular illustration, I shall do my best to tell you the story behind it. Sometimes it is unfinished, sometimes it's just a sliver of a thought. But there's always something there.

Last year, after coming up with more than a couple of stories and illustrations that go together, I thought about compiling them in one tiny book. These are the stories of whimsical fellows who are all in love with nature, magic, coffee or tea and of course, books. It pleased me so much to think that these book-loving darlings will be having a book about them! The bookworm in me is giddy, and the illustrator in me is humbled and excited. I have not really thought I'd be able to create a small book about anything at all last year. It was a far-off dream, really. But when the idea came, it came just naturally. Of course, once the decision has been made, the tedious process of publishing a book began.

I've already illustrated most of the characters and written the stories since 2016, but after much deliberation, I decided to remake six characters' illustrations around October. I had to rewrite or add some more to the stories too. I gave myself a deadline, mind, and there's only barely a month left to recreate them. Not just that, looking for a font that can be used for publication that does not cost a huge sum of money and is free for publication use was so hard to do. Luckily, I got the chance to know of Google fonts, and it helped me so much. Thank you, Igino Marini for the font!

Now on to the printing. I got it printed at Dexact, a printing studio beside my college that I've always loved working with when it comes to my prints. I decided to self-publish this little book, or zine, to be more precise. I've never printed my own book, not even for a school project. I didn't know anything about it. So for the first few weeks of planning and illustrating on the side, I was so confused. I didn't know if I should send over my files as separate jpeg pages or pdf once I will get the zine printed. The color output was also taken into consideration as well as the page borders. The printed outcome, fortunately, was wonderful. Although, there was a blunder on my part about the page borders as they got cut in the binding process. I forgot that once a book is bound together, regardless of the kind of binding, the pages' edges will have to be cut. I really forgot about that one. In the second reprint, the borders are now redesigned and readjusted.

Everything came into intense scrutiny -- the printing, the cost, the overall design and not to mention the proofreading.

To be honest, I knew it was going to be quite difficult for me to be self-publishing my own book. But I couldn't be any happier. I love being involved and hands on with my art and ideas. Knowing how much of a hard work it would require will push me to do it even more. I've come to love the process of creating that requires not just hard work and energy, but also the strong dedication to stick to it no matter what. Taking photos of the zines, I am in bliss. I'm happy for the hard work I've put to it, but most of all, I'm grateful that these whimsical darlings have decided to show themselves to me and tell me their stories. For that, I am grateful. Truly grateful.

The zines have been sold at an Art bazaar last year and much to my happiness, were well-received. The second printing of the zines are now available at my Etsy store, "SunlitCuriosities." For the meantime though, only 8 are available. More shall be printed in the next coming weeks.

Below is a video I made of the zine showing the contents. I hope you can take a short peek at it.

Cheers! Happy New Year too! Let's be braver and stronger and kinder this year. :)

Music credits:

Enchanted Valley by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1200093

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

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, by Mariel

In art, artist

Everyday

Hello everyone! I am so excited to tell you that I've been interviewed by The Wild Juniper!

They have amazing articles to read (which I have read already, haha!) and have featured many artists as well. In the interview, I talked about my journey as an illustrator and where I draw inspiration from, among other things.

http://www.thewildjuniper.com/sketching-in-the-sun-meet-illustrator-maril-ypil/

You can click the link above or you can head on to their Instagram page so you can also check out their feed! Thanks Leah and Heather! X

Writing this now, I have realized how this had made me take a step back to see and understand myself once again. I have been really busy with art among other things that I couldn't have any time to reflect on my journey. A year ago, I wouldn't have thought I'd be able to bounce back from my super long hiatus in illustration. It's not that I wasn't illustrating, mind, but I wasn't able to feel anything whenever I did. It was as if all feeling was away, for such a long time. But last year, I persevered. I became stubborn and pushed myself to keep creating, even though I know my illustration skills have not improved for such a long time. I spent my entire days and nights illustrating and experimenting, allowing my mind to finally be able to play, to listen to my own thoughts.

When October came, I joined Inktober, an annual drawing trend that features ink as the main medium for illustrations. There must be one illustration for each day of the month. It's not required that one should draw everyday. But deep inside of me, this was my chance. I have always made excuses whenever I had the itch to sketch -- too many things to do, so much work, so many errands, headaches and other such things, including the lingering thought that I wasn't good enough. But how does one improve? You must beat your own doubts and excuses. I was too stubborn to give up even one day. If there were no ideas in my head for the day, I'd keep myself busy with other things and then come back to the table and draw again. And no matter how long it would take me to finish one drawing, I didn't mind. I have insomnia (it came handy this time around) and finished illustrations until way past midnight. And in the calmness of the odd hours, the stories came. One by one, they revealed themselves to me. I loved writing stories, but for so long it was as if their voices were silenced, even by my own doing. But like a secret they came back. The night has given me the time to truly listen, to feel again. I'll always be thankful for the silence of the night when nothing stirs but my own thoughts and the pencils and brushes on paper. I forgot how to listen, but now I'm able to. And I'll just have to keep reminding myself that I should do that, always.

Along the way, I've also met so many wonderful people who I never thought I'd meet. I was what one could call a solitary person but somehow, there are some who became a part of my every day life, distance and time zones were never a problem. My family and friends have stayed with me through thick and thin too. I'm always grateful. Those people's words have constantly made me push myself even further and have comforted me like a nice pat on the back after a hard day's work. Or an, "It's okay, you're fine." And most of all, each time someone says that they feel something from my stories and illustrations, I feel like I was out there in a sunlit field, feeling the wind in my hair and the sun's warmth on my skin. Or out under the night, staring out at the possibilities as countless as the stars. I feel like I'm in front of a vast, blue sea too, but I was excited, not afraid.

In short, I felt alive.

I'm still pushing myself these days, but I learned to be patient. I learned to laugh at my mistakes and even love my own shortcomings. I only have to love what I'm doing in order to keep going. It's true that things take time and hard work -- I believe it with my whole heart and soul. I thought I'd be stuck with doubts, but I'm so thankful that I'm gently walking along a path that makes my heart soar in the skies, glowing like a star in the night. I'm still a long way away, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the path I'm walking on and cherish every simple thing that makes me happy, inspired and alive. That's what I yearn for, really. To be truly happy. I'm not as out there as I would have wanted, but I know and feel that I am where I should be. And that is enough for me.