Tinkerbell Collection #1

 I had a blast working on these background layouts for "Tinkerbell Hidden Treasures" by HitPoint Studios. Enjoy!

I Confess

I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

 

A Palette of Things

You know, the thing about being employed by legit companies is that they never let you show anything. It's like there is this library of accumulated work that no one is allowed to visit. However, a while back I did create some backgrounds for the "Mr. Potato Head Play & Create" game published by Callaway Digital Arts that are simple, but at least you are seeing some color on the screen. A bunch more aren't officially available yet so one day you may see them.

I can't wait until I can show the background concepts I've been doing for a Tinkerbell game! I'm learning so much! I don't think I'll ever be able to show the drawings I do for Hasbro, which is a shame, but if the toys of the concepts ever come out they will definitely be found here. Yay!

~

I'm so very grateful to all the people who have made the last few weeks a beautiful and joyful whirlwind. 

 These are the highly involved party bags I made. 

And it paid off because I was called a hobbit for giving presents at my birthday.

 My friend, Irene drew me a lovely card. Visit her website here :)

And a big shout out and thanks to BrandonVogt, for not only contributing to the last post, but for finding me a whole list of people who are willing to endorse my book.

~

I had this whole big plan for a birthday post with twenty-six super quotes, but it did not happen, so here are only six, and I feel like I'm sort of six sometimes so that works.

- 1 -

 

"You are seeking for secret ways of belonging to God, but there is only one: making use of whatever he offers you" - Jean-Pierre de Caussade

- 2 -

"Your objective is to receive grace now so that you can receive glory later, or even more simply put, to cooperate with God in his work to save your soul." - Andreas Widmer, The Pope and the CEO

- 3 -

"If we go astray at the beginning and want the Lord to do our will and to lead us as our fancy dictates, how can this building possibly have a firm foundation?" - St. Theresa of Avila, Interior Castle

- 4 -

"Men and women are on a journey of discovery which is humanly unstoppable–a search for the truth and a search for a person to whom they might entrust themselves."- Pope John Paul II, Fides et Ratio

- 5 -

"You are ambitious: for knowledge... for leadership. You want to be daring. Good. Fine. But let it be for Christ, for Love." - St. Josemaria Escriva

- 6 -

"Optimisim is wrong: evil exists, and life is a war against it.

Pessimism is wrong: good is stronger than evil, and good must win in the end.

So fight, because optimism is wrong. But fight with confidence and even joy, because pessimism is wrong...

Life is a fight, but the fight is fixed. 'His kingdom cannot fail.' " - Peter Kreeft

 ~

Have a lovely week!

- Fabi

Primavera en Guadalajara

Hola! I spent a week in Guadalajara, Mexico. I had a happy, happy time and wish my cousin, Gina a grace-filled marriage!

I sketched a little while I was there. I made the drawing below as a favor to my cousin who celebrated his six month anniversary with his girlfriend.

 More Lucia

I stayed at my Tita's house and sometimes I got bored so I drew things in the tv room (not the boy character, he wasn't there.)

Lucia's horse and a forest fairy

Also, I discovered PicStitch while I was there...

tongue tacos for dinner

 

church

 

Mariana's apartment

Auntie with her grandkids. They played a game I drew the backgrounds for!

Trip to the fabric store so Tita could use her magic fingers to fix a dress.

manicures and pet shop

flower arranging

pool time!

Nuptial Mass 

cocktail hour

 dinner

Last Day

I decided this is a very effective way to capture the essence of a trip without taking 300 pictures. You can have the 300 pictures, but no one wants to see 20 pictures of the same building.

~

Now I'm home, working for Hasbro and Hitpoint Studios, still hoping very much that Lolek (my book project) becomes a reality soon. My hair is two inches longer and my kitty had his first surgery for swallowing something stupid. AND the sun and warmth is back and I feel like I could fly. 

Question: If you could live and work anywhere in the world where would it be and why?

Enjoy the spring and summer my season bound friends, and may the gentle Lord kindle your hearts.

Pope Wallpaper, Banner, and more!

Okay, if I knew this image was going to run around like wildfire I would have done a better job. If I ever make the facebook books it'll be because of this one. Thank you Cory Heimann from Likable Art for the Graphic Design and the embarrassing number of likes and shares.

 wallpaper

 

 phone

 facebook banner

But the real nice thing is, we have a Pope! And how lucky are we that we get such holy ones these days! But during the emotional Papamoon we are all going through, I like to drink in some smart sobriety from someone who knows the inner workings of the Church politics, and has written several books on our last two Popes. Where might this Pope be leading us to?

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/342964/first-american-pope-george-weigel

When Bored

I need...

a drip of color...

 a drop of paint...

 

a wink of sunlight...

 

a moment to wait.

In My Apricot Room

For the past few months I have been putting together a book dummy to send to publishers. If you know me personally you know this, because I talk of little else, since it's what I've been doing day in and day out. I've been scrambling words and pictures together mostly in my little apricot room, with my fluffy cat pawing at my legs or jumping on my lap to "help" me get the job done. When I decided to go on this rather risky enterprise, putting all other forms of job hunting to rest, I tried to fend off all of the anxious feelings welling up inside me; so many things could go wrong. I could end up feeling completely isolated, lonely, and creating something that I would be bored with by the second week.

For the past few years I've had a two major stories rolling around in my head, one about the early life about John Paul II, the other a rewrite of a Russian fairytale with fantastic characters flitting in and out of an ordinary girl's life. I knew that the fairytale had more public appeal, and might pay more than the former. Friends and family both pushed me to write the story of John Paul II, but I had a little more conversing with God before I went for it. I decided that if I was about to launch a career of personal work writing a story about a saint I dearly love would prepare me in a real way to live and draw for God, and be at his complete mercy when it came to trying to publish my first book. And whether it gets published remains to be seen, but more than the joy of putting this all together I have received double the gifts than I thought I would by going with my gut and writing the story of a little Polish boy who would one day be a great Pontiff. For one, as I read books about his life I couldn't help but feel completely overwhelmed and constantly inspired, so much so that sometimes I had to stop between pages and pray. Then when I began to write, my entire family wanted to pitch in and help and edit, and even friends of mine took up my amateur phrases and helped me make something I think is lovely, but even lovelier for all the love that went into it.  Family and friends, continue to be present and attentive to my next crazy email when I can't decide between a purple color scheme or a slightly more blue, but still quite purple one.

Sometimes I get anxious, and I have to turn back to prayer and ask Blessed Pope John Paul if he likes it and God my Father to bless it. This time has really been a time of love and even though I will be disappointed if it never gets published, I don't think one moment was ill spent on this project. And thanks be to Heaven, I'm still so far from bored, it's ridiculous. I'm just about to draw out of the cover, the finishing touch to the pitch, and then it will be a whole other game as I knock on publishers doors. This time has made me realize how truly blessed I am in this little apricot room with my fluffy cat and my crucifix hanging above my bed.

Emilia: Color Test

Sweet Somethings

I went to Sugar Rush! 

My name is Fabinella Carza Villarollups.

Trip Ahoy!

I waited and waited at the airport in Pittsburgh for Maria to arrive so we could go to Franciscan University (Steubie) to visit her sister.  You might know Steubie because you've attended the conferences they hold for teens every year or because Scott Hahn teaches there or because it's sooooo coooool.

Anyways... there I was waiting and experimenting with my markers and generally making a mess of it –I mean what is going on in those thumbnails?– so I drew some fan art of Ocean Girl, an Aussie tv show you might have watched in the 90s. I distinctly remember having my dad record episodes of it when we'd go away on vacation and I just rewatched all four seasons. What has happened to tween tv shows these days? This was great! There wasn't loud, sarcastic whining and barely any romantic entanglements at all. It's also nice because it isn't presumptuous and embraces its own cheesy sci-fi culture in way that you end up embracing it too.  Don't watch Glee, watch Ocean Girl. On Netflix for all of you. Just give it a few episodes. You'll be hooked on the sincerity and (how beautiful Neri is!)

And then after a lovely ride with one of the many people I met over the next few days, I arrived. Look at the pretty church! There were many other smaller chapels so you could take your pick! Need to avoid someone? No problem!

Below is one of the pictures I took when I needed a break from the intense socializing. I didn't know I'd be visiting during parents weekend so I met returning alumni, parents, undergrads, grads; basically anyone who missed and wanted to visit. And I was starving so I ran, found food and took nice photos.

When I did have to go to meetings because Maria and her sister, Natalia needed to I awkwardly drew people, but hey I was polite enough to stop when we prayed and stuff so no harm done.

I promised myself I'd get some work done on my kids book on JPII so I figured why not go to the JPII library? Inspiration had to happen! Alas, it did not kick in until the flight back but I did flip through lots of books.

I also sat in on classes!!

Christology with Dr. Micheal Sirilla (he had much kinder eyes, I'm sorry sir for making you evil)

 

Biblical Studies with Scott Hahn.

 I refrained so much from the fan girl inside me that when he asked me why me and Maria wanted to sit in I just said, "Oh, we just like learning." Really? really, Fabi? That's just silly.  You just cried all the way through Home Sweet Rome when you were 20 and then read most of his books. But you can't just come out and say those things.

I also sat in on a bit of a psychology class. Yes, men and women are different and sometimes can't stand the way they handle things. Yeah, yeah... no news there.

Maria also introduced me to Keith Major who I knew because I'd read his witness story sometime in the blogosphere. He is intensely charismatic and intensely into fasting. Also, he's planning to have a Catholic track at IHOP (international house of praise) for the first time this year. And many, other things. The lovely man can talk. It is very strange meeting people I know from the internet who don't know you.

I'm so grateful to Natalia for having me and her roommates who were a blast, for that insane late night watching The Exorcism of Emily Rose (I suppressed most of it already), for the prayer time at the Portiuncula, the festival, the talent show and for the half of the bed I slept in!

'Till next time!

Fabi