Happy Birthday Hailz!

Today is one of  my oldest friend's birthday!

She's not really old but I've known her since my First Year days at primary school. After which we attended high school together, so I can safely say that that's a friendship that's older than the fourteen years we attended together at school.

To honour her special day, I'm posting a drawing I did for her. Before I do that, let me tell you the story of how it began.

Winx Club Memories

In high school, about Form 3 after watching a cartoon series, I was inspired to do a sketch series of all the girls in my life portraying them as either urban sassy individuals or strong warrior like women.

(Did I ever mention I attended an all-girl school which probably influenced my feminist ways?)

I am ashamed to say that the inspiration for that idea came from watching that cartoon series, called the Winx Club.

I am mostly ashamed because of the mere idea that I was watching the Winx Club in Form 3. But they dressed so nicely and it was so colourful! Also they had wings and magic too with cute boys! I could not resist :D (lol!) 

I began to draw in my sketchbook. Now back then I really disliked drawing people I knew. I still do for a variety of reasons. However with Hailz, I made an exception. The character I had in mind was supposed to be cool, sexy, sassy and fashionable. Which was exactly how I saw Hailz back then-the strong independent woman who was confident and comfortable with who she was, and I still do. I also loved when she left her gorgeous hair out in its natural state with millions of tiny curls and rocked the huge hoop earrings. So I tried to capture that.

I completed her drawing and soon abandoned that entire project because I couldn't figure out how I wanted to portray the rest of friends. I eventually forgot about it altogether until a few years later when I began doing my One-A-Day Sketches and Hailz requested (/demanded? :P) hers.

I took a photo of the drawing I did back in high school then but was not pleased with how it looked on my computer. I ended up retouching it on my laptop with my drawing software- Corel Painter. The following was the final result :)

Urban Sass, Digital Art © 2012 Shazanna Khan

This girl has been one of my longest and dearest of friends. I wish her all the best and I cannot wait to celebrate her birthday with her.

The following is a quote I stumbled upon the internet that I think sums up our friendship just right.

"Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends."

Happy Birthday Hailz! One year I'll give you the real drawing :)

Of Birthday Parties, Matting and Leopard Print Boxes

Lighting Star-lights from the birthday candles. Photography by Hailz

Thursday was my roomie's birthday. However being a medical student, it was just her luck that she had call on her birthday and would not be finished til 10 in the night. To make up for that, we decided to throw her a surprise birthday party to start her day right. Operation: Surprise Midnight Birthday Party was a success! We had old friends who rarely see each other except for occasions (e.g. the return of the Canadian scholar to the island) and yummy egg-less mocha cake :D Also some balloon contraption made out of garbage bags to release balloons when she walked out of the door. I think we did good, and her call was not bad. She got to deliver two babies on her birthday. How awesome is that?

Pre- cut Matting from Fine Arts

I got her print of my painting (Eze, France) framed with some dark purple pre-cut matting from Fine Arts. Apparently, the entire process with glass, etc takes about a week (which I did not have time for). Another surprise- Fine Arts is cheaper than Horizons?

I was also an idiot who forgot to carry the print with me when I went to the art store. I ended up buying a few other options because I could not figure out what would go with the piece the most. Plus I loved the other colours and I know that I have some old pieces that could use some matting. (My name is Shazanna Khan and yes, I have a problem when it comes to art supplies.)

Leopard Print Box perched on my room mate's laptop

This week also, I cleaned my apartment. I wanted some prettier containers for some of my stationery than an old cardboard box. So I went the primary school art & craft route, and brought out the gift paper. To the left is one of my creations.

This Leopard Print Box was once half of a box that once packaged printer ink. My bro, who once lived at my apartment, used it for paper clips.

I thought it needed some sprucing up so I wrapped it in a Leopard-print paper bag from some jewellery purchase. The bag was too pretty to throw away and I knew one day I would find a use for it.

Ribbon bow came from a hairclip that I broke accidentally. Who ever knew that you can't sit on them ? The entire thing was held together by my new spray glue (I was itching to try it out) and some clear tape. It was a great way to reuse old materials.

New use for my Leopard Print Box? Well, you will have to ask my roomie that question. She was studying next to me while I was making it and fell in love with the print and box. It was instantly added as one of her birthday presents.

One-A-Day Sketches, Flower People & other People Inspired Collections

In the May-August Vacation 2010, I first started experimenting with Corel Painter on my new laptop. I did one flower drawing for a friend and after that I started getting requests daily from the rest of my friends for their own flower or drawing. The aim for that holiday was to complete one drawing per person for each day of the vacation. Hence the term, "One-A-Day Sketch." 

For each drawing, the flower was that of the recipient's birth month, and what their flower meant about them and to me. The idea eventually evolved by the time I reached my 3rd flower drawing, to "flower people", i.e. people personified as flowers. Most of my University family received one, but due to time constraints, the rest remained as sketches on my computer or ideas in my head.

© 2011 Shazanna Khan, Best Gfs

In keeping with the flower theme, I came up with a 2nd collection of fairy/nymph creatures which one of the Drawings I did for me was based on. Most of my flower drawings were of male people, so I thought that it was only fitting that the females be fairies or nymphs as females are supposed to be generally more nurturing creatures.

My 3rd collection was based on Greek mythology and was done for my group of friends from high school. Their drawings were based on the Muses. They were the nine Goddesses who inspired the great Arts, with each muse having thought to have influenced a different art form. I thought it fit perfectly with them, because like the Muses and their different art forms, we are completely different people with unique likes and dislikes but somehow we always are connected and will be great friends.

I shall put up a new Tab at the top of my page for easy access to all my People Inspired Digital Art Collections that I will be uploading in the future, of new and old sketches. Keep on checking back for more updates! You never know when you may be featured ;)