Mariel's Art and Sketches: illustrator

, by Mariel

Be kind, always

All it takes is one look at this earth to realize just how wonderful and unique it is. The world is such a lovely storyteller and artist, is it not? Just one look, and your heart strings are pulled to the blue horizon, the dancing of oceans, the brilliance of the night sky, the laughter in the wind, the caress of the meadow, the soul deep within each creature's gaze. A longing stems from inside you, hoping that you'll always see and experience all of these forever. One might be so compelled as to protect it. And protect it, we must.

In this age of products, there's always a demand for progress. But progress should not mean the cutting down of trees for new factories, the drying up of bodies of water for new houses, or the production of items that does not seem to follow the natural cycle of nature. True enough, it's alright to invent new things, to make way for innovative inventions and companies. The problem lies in the way we progress. What we take, we must give back, even in the littlest of things.

As an illustrator though, I consume paper. Paper that comes from trees. And as an artist who sells her work through Etsy, I use packaging materials and participate in overseas shipping. This leads to the question -- how am I doing my part to keep my consumption from nature to a bare minimum?

Let me tell you a story. Back when I was in high school, I'd consume one sketchbook per month and also countless pieces of paper filled with random, unfinished sketches. While compiling them at one point, I found out just how much paper I've wasted. I felt horrible. There I was, a young nature girl who consumed too much paper on random sketches that could have been filled with more sketches than what I have drawn unto them. I was then resolved to erase all the mistakes I made so as to not waste paper. I realized that I not only saved paper, I also trained myself to be brave enough to erase mistakes and make a new beginning. It felt great. Fast forward to today, I only consume less. The only ones I still find myself consuming at a regular basis are on post it notes. But that is changing now, too. I use the front and back of them. I still have a long way to go, it seems.

Moving forward to 2016, I started working from home. I also started selling my illustrations to friends. After that event in high school eight years ago, I was hesitant to use plastic and lots of paper. But I wouldn't want my art prints to bend -- that would be a huge no-no. So I decided to use my curiosity into its fullest. I made my artist portfolio brochure from scratch using only thick paper in 2013. The design was made to showcase a bit of my portfolio along with my resume and I suppose it worked because it did help me land a good position later on. Now in 2016, it seemed my curiosity has helped me once again and I decided to use reusable hardy light brown envelopes for shipping, and for packaging, I wrapped my artwork in Japanese paper, tied in twine and a little note on a brown paper with my stamp on it. Plus the improvised backing board (a.k.a. used cardboard boxes) proved to do the trick of not bending the prints.

But the Japanese paper would often tear and it's hard to come up with recycled backing boards and the envelope I bought was often too heavy that it might increase the price of international shipping and it doesn't prevent bending. And so I came up with another solution.

As my new backing boards, I use cheap thick cardboard sheets that would sandwich the art prints in between. A nice string of twine to wrap it all together makes it sturdy and durable for the travel time it will take to get to its destination. A little note is also important for me as sending a parcel to someone feels like sending a letter. It's very personal. Of course, the paper is recycled and the thank you note is a stamp I designed and later carved by my friend, Marz Today. You must check out her craft, she's really good at it! She even hand carved my logo stamp and I must say, every thing was in perfect detail.

For the envelope, I bought a roll of tracing paper, cut it into the design of an envelope I thought would be optimal and ta-da! I immediately fell in love with it. Though obscuring the art print from inside just a bit, it still offered a peek inside the envelope. I liked the effect of it looking like a veil.

As for my gift tags, I tie them all together with twine. I then wrap them up in thin recycled brown paper and tie it in twine again. Add a little note and viola! It's ready to go.

For local orders of two or more zines, I wrap them first with brown paper before wrapping with twine then off it goes inside the courier's envelope.

The only plastic that appears in my packaging is the bubble wrap. It does hold all the items inside safely. I was looking for thick brown envelopes in local shops but I couldn't find a store that carries it here. If it becomes available here, I shall switch to it. That way, there would be no more backing boards and bubble wrap envelopes. Only the translucent envelope and twine plus the note would remain. I did notice that my packaging did involve more materials than I had hoped for. But since the materials themselves are biodegradable, I suppose it's better than plastic. One plastic sheet would take so, so long to dissolve. Again, I do hope there are thick brown mailer envelopes from where I am, since that would be the best option.

I do hope that in this little step of using less plastic would somehow slow down the growing amount of plastic waste in the world. Let's help keep this world clean not just for our life time but for other people and life forms as well. After all, we're sharing this place with lots of living beings, so let's do our part to keep them alive as much we are alive right now.

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Etsy shop: SunlitCuriosities
https://www.etsy.com/shop/SunlitCuriosities

Marz Today:
https://www.facebook.com/MarzToday/

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, by Mariel

In artvsartist, digital illustration

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, by Mariel

In art, artwork

The Woman Of No Origin

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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.