My First Published Illustration Work

Just this month, Breakfast Mag released their December 2017 - January 2018 issue. The holiday themed issue includes dinner recipe ideas, features of prominent people in the food industry, and essays on the spirit of holiday dining. One of the articles was a guide on media noche by Tricia Quintero, entitled "New Year, New Luck". I drew the corresponding illustrations that mostly involved round food, Filipino delicacies, and typical condiments.  

The Process

I used watercolor and gouache for this project. It was my first time using gouache, a medium artists call as the lovechild of watercolor and acrylic. You don't get to mess around that much with gouache the same way you do with acrylic, since it's cleaner. But unlike watercolor, gouache is more opaque. I wanted to get a vibrant look that I can't usually do with watercolor, because food looks more appealing when it's vibrantly depicted. It also means that gouache's white tube isn't just a mixing pigment. Normally I'd use white acrylic for the highlights, but gouache's white tube does the job as well. Although I did use less water, I had to use a lot of pigment so the white could be really seen.

The Aftermath

Seeing my name credited along the bylines gave me quite the high. It's my first time getting credited for published magazine work! Back then, I did get published in Total Girl and Candy magazine because I wanted them to feature my celebrity crushes more. (Uy, inamin.)But, really though... I enjoy illustrating for articles as it gives me a good context while freely imagining how to visually depict what is written. I'm open to this kind of work and more, so please do contact me if you ever need me to work on your project. :)