As I've said in the previous post, I collected a good number of colored pencils during my high school days. I have Faber Castell watercolor pencils that I unfortunately never figured out how to properly use and some cheaper Li'l Hands colored pencils that, to the inexperienced and talent-less 13-year old me, wasn't much different from more expensive brands.

Colored pencils may not be for me. It's probably the texture? The amount of control I have when using them is something I miss, but it just doesn't have the look that I want. I don't know if there's a proper artsy fartsy term for that.

The little spray bottle is for wetting the cotton swabs that I use to color with.

Someday I might go back to them. For now I decided to experiment with something else: colored markers! Copics are too expensive (and much like Pokemon—gotta catch 'em all!) and I will never be able to justify buying even just one so I'm fine with a box of Crayola, which is surprisingly fun and satisfying to work with.

Because I belatedly realized that I should have invested on a waterproof pen like a Sakura Pigma Micron or a Uni Pin Fine Line, I picked up these pens with the intention to use them for lineart. They're mostly fine as long as I make sure to use them after everything is properly dry.

These were cheaper than the Stabilo Point 88. They bleed if I'm not careful.

I asked for a silver marker but the lady gave me this Dong-A pen and I didn't read the label. This gray marker turned out useful anyway.

I did eventually pick up a Uni Pin Fine Line (0.1mm), which I'm happy with, though I remember owning one (a 0.5mm) a long time ago and the tip eventually bent in a weird way.


The white thing is actually a battery-powered eraser that I got from Saizen. It was fairly useful for little areas that eraser blocks can't reach, but it's not gentle on the paper at all, so I picked up a cheap dust-free rubber.

For a while I was determined to make the Liquid Paper correction pen work as an alternative to a white gel pen. Don't do it, kids. It clumps and it's not at all easy to control. Now I'm looking forward to picking up a white gel pen the next time I have the chance.

The Faber Castell mechanical pencil has been with me for a long time. So far I've only found 0.5mm and 0.7mm mechanical pencils at National Bookstore, though I'm hoping to try a thinner lead.

My pencil case (not pictured) was also from Saizen, though it's in dire need of replacement because it's falling apart and I've recently acquired more pens than would fit in it.


The gold pen I've had for a while now, while the silver one I picked up because I couldn't find a white gel pen at that time. I found it most useful when I drew this fanart of JKT48's Priscillia.

She wore this outfit at an event and I liked it enough to try to draw it.

I actually don't follow idol groups anymore and I know nothing about JKT48, but I have friends who are fans, so sometimes there are a lot of Ghaida and a little bit of Sisil on my Twitter feed. If they're wearing something nice, I get the urge to draw them. Unfortunately they're apparently back to plaid uniforms for their new single. That's one thing I'm not going to attempt to draw again any time soon!

I accidentally colored her hair black so I had to scramble to replace it with brown, resulting to a ruined paper.

A friend gave me this sketchpad for Christmas around five years ago and I didn't open it until recently when I decided to draw traditionally again. It already has signs of old age, with some yellowing at the edges of the pages, though nothing that's a big issue. The paper is thick even if it's not the watercolor kind, though it's yellowish so it might turn off those who prefer white paper. When water is involved, it wrinkles a little and, depending on the amount of water, it fuzzes terribly, but it's fine if little water is used.

They also have a watercolor pad, which I hope to try someday.


I'm thinking of picking up watercolors again. I've always loved the watercolor effect in digital art so it only makes sense to want to learn it traditionally, right? Watercolors are intimidating, but the more I play with my markers, the more I feel the urge to experiment with watercolors and the different textures and layering I can do with it. Now that I've looked into it a little more, I've discovered so many styles and techniques I want to try. Hopefully the old watercolors I have (from elementary school art class!) can still be salvaged.

My Instragram account has some pictures of the beginnings of my return to traditional art and future works and works-in-progress will be posted there as well. You can also check out the accounts I follow, since I've recently added some very talented artists (or if you like dogs and cats, I follow some cute accounts too!).


Art is a constant learning process. I've only used around ten or so pages of my sketchbook but there's already a noticeable difference in the coloring style because I've been experimenting and constantly discovering better ways to do things. Rediscovering my love for paper, for art tools, and for drawing itself is a wonderful journey and it's been a while since I've had this much fun doing anything I used to enjoy.

That's the end of the other half of Make Art With Love, I suppose, unless there other art-related things you think I should write about to turn this into a series. Write a comment below or on my Instagram, or tweet me for any suggestions!

Back in high school I drew a lot. Things you've produced at thirteen may have been pretty good at that time but when you look back at ten years later, all you want to do is toss them at a bonfire to never see the light of day again. Still, I was thirteen and I thought I was decently talented so I drew almost every day and even dreamt of someday becoming a famous artist or something.

The great thing about my family is that it's full of people who love food. It's not just my brothers who are always on a lookout for new places to dine at, but also my cousins. This time we were taken to Bellini's in Marikina for lunch.

My brothers are much more adventurous. If it were up to me, we'd just eat at the same place every time, but they seem to always have new dinner suggestions. This time my brother treated us to Osaka Ohsho in SM Megamall's Fashion Hall because he wanted to try their gyoza.

Korean food is one of the many cuisines that I'm not entirely fond of. My tastes are of the very plain persuasion, so the fancy flavours of Daehan Minguk do not interest me much. As such, we rarely, if ever, eat at Korean restaurants and I am very unfamiliar of what real Korean food tastes like. Is Bulgogi Brothers authentic Korean cuisine? I have no idea. But I like their meat and that's really all it takes to keep me coming back.

Sunday is always family day for us, and since this week's Sunday also happened to be Mother's Day, I was expected to contribute in the form of cupcakes.

Latin American cuisine is not something we get to try everyday. In fact, I've never tried it before, so when my brother recommended Brasas for dinner, I didn't vote against it.

If the name isn't obvious enough, Mu Noodle Bar is all about noodles. You can choose the noodle and broth, and it's served in a clay pot still boiling hot. They also have pasta and a few other things if you're not in the mood for soup.