ejoysantos

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Valentine's Day in UP.

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Sunset at Nasugbu, Batangas after boat ride from Fortune Island. With Sheala and Therese. Portraits shot by Amir. Landscape and edits by Joy. 2015-02-15

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First two sketches done while in a moving train in Manila, last sketch while in a Tokyo subway. Stark difference in rider behavior between the two cities during same time of day. Manila commuters stare into space and try to balance in crowded train with awkward foot positions (also, objectionable choice of footwear) while Tokyo commuters can fashionably sit down and calmly read. All drawn with H-tec Coleto on Muji sketchpad.

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Drew these during my recent travel to Vigan, Ilocos Sur. Our family stayed in Hotel Luna (more like Museum Luna), one block away from Calle Crisologo; the entire area was declared as a UNESCO world heritage site for having preserved the Spanish colonial architecture. I tried to capture the feel of the place by sketching details like lamps, stone walls, and the kalesas. Used my trusty portable (great for traveling) fude (brush) pen -- a pasalubong from Cha during her first trip to Tokyo.

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Tokyo, Nov 2014

1. Gigantic trees at Yoyogi park on the way to Meiji shrine 2. Late afternoon in Akihabara contains not just gamers but lots of salarymen and salarywomen as well 3. Technology and tradition: Women ride the Shinkansen in kimonos; probably on the way to a wedding 4. Train tracks a near Ueno station

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"Harajuku Girls you got the wicked style I like the way that you are, I am your biggest fan" - Gwen Stefani, Harajuku Girls

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Brushpen practice after a long long time!

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Boothing with #UrbanSketchersManila at #BGCArtMart on the afternoon of Sept 20.

Clockwise from upper left 1. Piles of abandoned container vans at Manila Pier - pier congestion and traffic can sometimes be beautiful. 2. Sightseeing garden across Chi Lin nunnery, Hongkong with my girls Gigil and Cha 3. Our dog, ichi, just hanging out at home 4. Solaire gigantic flower display in the middle of the lobby

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Siem Reap, Cambodia. August 2013

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Rebel Mori Girls at the Chi Lin Nunnery and Nan Lian Garden, Hongkong. Day 4. 2014.07.31

Started the day off with matching dresses and straw hats. Chi Lin Nunnery is a ten minute walk from the MTR station. After admiring the architecture, walking through the quiet corridors (you're not allowed to take pictures in there) and buying soy beef jerky, the in-house souvenir shop referred us to a vegetarian restaurant in Nan Lian Garden (across the street).

The restaurant is hidden behind the makeshift waterfalls (pictured). Anyway, we thought it's going to be relatively cheap (because vegetables are universally inexpensive) but turns out there's a minimum charge of HKD100 per person. We ordered the lunch set (costs ~HKD109 each) and took our time eating inside the air-conditioned room. Food was not remarkable, so make sure you have a full stomach before visiting the area.

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Airport Well-Wishers. Day 1. 2014.08.28

An A41 bus going to the Airport from the HK Heritage Museum takes you to an awesome sunset view. Greeted Cha with a fansign (we drew) inspired by the Studio Ghibli Exhibit visit. Ate shrimp in eggs and xiao long bao at Crystal Jade, Matcha ice cream sundae from McDonalds. Also got to see Bex and her family briefly upon their arrival.

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Sino Centre and Street Food, Hongkong. Day 3. 2014.07.30

Sino Centre is otaku haven. We browsed through each stall (all four or five floors) in search of suprise bags and anime figurines. I had no intention to buy anything so it's a good thing there's free wifi internet. If you're not in a hurry, make sure to compare prices with other stores before buying as they all pretty much offer the same stuff.

We had no idea where to buy food until we spotted this guy near the MTR entrance eating egg waffles from a paperbag. Turns out there's a toon of food stalls two blocks behind Sino Centre. We bought curry fishballs (HKD10) and egg waffles (2 for HK10) and ate them at the nearby mini-park. There was a drinking fountain right beside the bench so we didn't need to buy drinks.

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The HK Guide to Getting Lost on Day 1, Hongkong. 2014.07.28

1. Ride the 962B bus, miss your intended stop and encounter older trains 2. Observe the little girl in the MTR put a sticker under her nose to pretend to be Hitler 3. Walk around looking for the MTR station and admire a school's ingenious use of a spare wall - rock climbing for P.E.! 4. Walk more, use the overpass and underpass (or "subway" in their lingo). 5. Try to look for food but stop and take pictures of interesting structures instead 6. Eat late lunch in the first hole-in-the-wall restaurant you see. Get ripped off by ordering from an English menu (note: use Google translate's image scan feature on the cheaper chinese menu next time). 7. Try to feel better by ordering the signature lemon iced tea 8. Be too tired to traverse uphill and see all the thousand buddhas; take a selfie* instead before heading to the Ghibli Exhibit

*Selfie shot taken from Gigil Estacio

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Cafe Corridor, Park Square, Causeway Bay, Hongkong. Day 3. 2014.07.30

Who would have known that a hipster coffee shop existed right across the busy street filled with shoppers and One Piece fans? Good thing a friend recommended this place, else we would have totally missed it. Dim lighting. Decent coffee and food. Artsy crowd. Probably seats 20 people max They sell beans for HKD80 per sealed bag. Bought one (house blend) for said friend and she's going to make us coffee next week. Yay.

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Sketching friends while having afternoon coffee. First time to use a brushpen (instead of a pencil) to draw people. No erasures allowed

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My friend, NYOH, creates amazing wearable art from yarn!

Trying something new: overlaying ink scan on stock photo!