felosophies

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Tight(s) Halloween Shoot

This is a project I did for SM Accessories' consignor brand called Leg Love. The objective was to highlight our stockings/tights in time for Halloween. These were posted on our Social Networking Sites namely, Instagram and Facebook.

This was the first time I did a shoot for our products. We usually hire outsourced photographers and stylists but this had a really tight budget. Or rather, the consignor had no budget at all. But we really wanted to push this category since we thought it had really nice designs and it also has the potential to gain a lot of reach in our social media platforms.

So, our team worked together and it turned out greater than what we expected.

The props and clothes, besides the tights, are our team's combined wardrobe.��Of course, since the models are actually just part of the team, I had to do a LOT of post editing. A LOT. But it all turned out well in the end.

We had so much fun and a lot of learnings too. After this came out as a success, I handled our online situational shoots since then.

We did the shoot around MOA complex. I used a Canon camera with a 50mm prime lens.

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Finally done! #gift #wrap #wrapping #diy #craft #art #name #card #print #textile #stamp #paper #coffee #butterfly #paperplane #whatthefuck #wtf #telephone #phone #oldschool #christmas #holiday

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It's time. #holiday #christmas #gift #wrap #diy #stamp #craft #paper

[felosophies]

Digital Watercolor Effect

As I have previously posted here, I made a series of digital watercolor artworks to push our wig products. Here's how I did it.

STEP 0: I watched a freakin' youtube video of course! This really helped me a lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc6aSCwkmSo

STEP 1: I placed the photo in a square canvas so that it's Instagram ready. This was how the original photo looked like. 

STEP 2: At the time I did the shoot for the wigs, I had no lighting equipment whatsoever so I had to edit the levels and the curves of the photo. 

For the levels, I added a levels adjustment mask and clicked the icon indicated below.

After clicking that icon, my cursor turned into an eyedrop icon and I just clicked that over the "supposedly" white background. And there it is. I adjusted the curves a bit to have the color as close as possible with the actual wig.

STEP 3: I searched Sailor Mercury's image over the internet that has the closest angle with the photo I have of the wig. I placed the image over the wig in multiply mode to properly place the face where it should be.

STEP 4: During multiply mode, I noticed Sailor Mercury's bangs will probably show if I placed the wig on. I reverted the image back in normal mode and erased some of her hair with the brush tool, using the color of her skin tone.

STEP 5: I finally cropped the wig out with the pen tool, made a selection and used that selection to create a mask over Sailor Mercury's image. This leaves the parts of the image I only need. As you can see, the mannequin wearing the wig is still showing under Sailor Mercury's image.

STEP 6: I did minor touch ups by erasing some parts of the mannequin's neck that's showing behind Sailor Mercury. I also added eyebrows and extended her headband.

STEP 7: I searched for watercolor images online and placed this over the image in multiply mode. I erased some parts of the watercolor image to make sure there are no awkward strokes on the face.

STEP 8: I want to make it monochromatic so I added a hue/saturation adjustment layer and made sure I check the colorize option.

STEP 9: I erased the edges of Sailor Mercury's uniform to get that legit watercolor feel.

I used these set of brushes in different sizes depending on the effect I want.

STEP 10: Then I added another watercolor texture for the background.

STEP 11: Finally, added the text and erased some parts using the brush set I previously mentioned aaaaand done!

[felosophies]

A series of watercolor artworks I made for SM Accessories' wig brand, Sathura.

We released these in SM Accessories' Instagram and Facebook account during this year's Halloween season. More than advertising the variety of wigs we offer, our main objective was to suggest costumes that the customers can actually do with our wigs. I came up with the idea of merging digital elements with the actual photos of our wigs to accomplish our objective instead of using the typical online polyvores.

*Watercolor effects, fonts, photos of cartoons and/or celebrities are all from google images.

[felosophies]

How To Do It Yourself: Bow Tie (Amateur Edition)

Having that dilemma of buying a bow tie you'd only use one time because of a friggin' costume? I did. A bow tie would normally cost around PHP300. I could really use that money to buy me a Big N' Tasty large meal from McDonald's and have money left over for, I dunno, pizza for dessert? And besides, I'm definitely sure that after a wild night at a bar, I'd lose the bow tie. (True story, one time I got so wasted I almost lost my Luigi hat).

AND SO, I decided to do it myself and buy myself a burger! And I'm more than happy to share it with you! Since this is a prototype, there may be lapses in how I did some things sooo... here we go. Amateur style!

Here are the materials I bought for le bow tie:

- 1 yard black garter (bought from local dry market)

- 1 yard green ribbon, 2.75 inch thick (bought from local dry market)

- 1 roll of green thread (bought from local dry market)

- 1 round of pins (bought from National Bookstore)

- Scissors (got it somewhere in the house)

- Actual bow tie for reference (borrowed from my boyfriend)

So where will I be getting my burger money? I did the liberty of coming up with this formula to impress you:

YES! BURGER! But before anything else, the bow tie.

So here's what I did.

First, I cut two portions from the green ribbon with the actual bow tie as my reference. one portion slightly shorter than the other. If you must ask, the exact measurement is 10 inches (longer portion) and 9.5 inches (shorter portion).

Then, I made it into some kind of loop and held it together using the pins, like so:

I joined each loop using the classic backstitch while the pins are still holding the loop together.

After I finished stitching, I laid them down to one side first and started on my "ribbon lock". It's a made up name for it since I don't know what else to call it. It's the middle part of the ribbon that holds the bow together.

I cut a portion of the green ribbon, more or less 4 inches long, then folded it into three parts.

Then, I held it together using pins. Make sure the back side of the "tube" is not included. You don't wanna see stitches on the "ribbon lock".

Next, I stuck a pair of scissors inside the "tube" to make sure it doesn't get included in the stitch when I close off the "tube" (I hate it when that happens). You can stick the scissors inside the tube even before you pin the open ends together to make sure the back doesn't get pinned too. I secured the open ends in place using a backstitch.

And there you have it! A stitch free ribbon lock.

Going back to the loops. I placed the two loops on top of each other (the shorter one on top), flattened them in place and pinched it somewhere in the middle to make a bow shape.

Then, I wrapped the "ribbon lock" where I pinched the loops and held it securely in place using pins. ("Hold it securely in place"...got that from Neil Buchanan. I can almost hear "PVA glue" and "tape". I miss that guy.) Again, stitch I go.

I used the same technique with the "tube", this time using a smaller object like my tweezers.

Finally, I inserted the open end of the black garter inside the "ribbon lock" with the help of my trusty tweezers.

I measured the garter according to my boyfriend's neck. I removed the bow from his neck first of course, before closing and stitching the garter off into a loop.

I formed a box using backstitch to make sure it's secure. I don't want it to pop off in the middle of the party.

Then viola! I'm done! There you have it, a green bow tie for any costume occasion that you can throw away or lose whenever because it doesn't cost much.

In my case, I used it as my boyfriend's halloween costume, Joker.

I also did his make up. No tutorial for that though.

-End-

[felosophies]

How To Do It Yourself: Harley Quinn Costume

Halloween is always a big thing for me. As much as possible, I stick with my resources and I always find ways to do it myself rather than conforming to marketing, overpricing, advertisements and the economic injustices in general. Maybe it's how my Mom raised me. A competitive and narcissistic cheapster. (Kidding Ma ;)

Materials are as follows:

- Old corset (Bought it back in 2002 at Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall Department Store, 3 for Php399)

- Red and black cloth, a yard each (at our local market for Php50 per yard)

- Red and Black thread (at National Bookstore, 3 for around Php100-- I should've bought this at the local market instead-- when I checked there, it costs Php10 a roll) 

- A round of pins (at National Bookstore, for Php129-- again, I should've bought it in the local market. I didn't even check how much, I just know it's cheaper there.)

- Needle (found it at home but these are supposed to be reaaally cheap that I don't even have to account for the cost)

- Scissors (also found at home. The bigger the better so cuts on the cloth is precise and cleaner)

How I did it was really simple, but tedious. I didn't even take much pictures of how I did it because it was all so repetitive. A pain in the neck. Literally.

Basically, I just stitched the cloth over the corset.

Let me break the steps down:

Step 1: Lay the black cloth over half of the corset. Make sure that the cloth is flat against the corset so that the sexy silhouette is preserved. This will also prevent awkward crinkles in awkward places.

Step 2: Once you're happy with it, hold the cloth in place by pinning it onto the corset. I did this by section to make sure everything is laid right. And by section, I mean per rib (A rib is the hard, skeleton like wires/plastic inside the corset. This is the contraption responsible for the instant sexy silhouette).

Step 3: After holding a section in place securely, I started sewing just beside the "rib" using the running stitch. The running stitch is not as sturdy as the back stitch but I prefer to use it for these kinds of projects. I want to make it easy for me to remove the stitch after I'm done wearing the costume because I'd still want to wear the corset in it's original state.

Step 4: After sewing it in place, I removed the pins and moved on to the other sections. Repeating step 2 and 3 until all the sections are done. 

Step 5: Repeat step 1 through 4 for the other half of the corset. This time using the red cloth.

Step 6: I cut out small diamonds from the red cloth and sewn it at the black side of the corset.

And done! 

I make it sound simple but it requires a lot of patience, perseverance, focus and pain tolerance (for the neck, hips and occasionally, on the fingers).

Some extra things I bought to complete the look:

- Red arm warmers (at SM Department Store Notions for Php180). The arm warmers should have been red and black but another 180 was too expensive for me. I had to make do with the red.

- Black studded gloves (borrowed from my officemate). Apparently, he got these customized. Anyway I could've settled with the arm warmers but I just couldn't resist the studded details.

- Red and black ribbon, a yard each for my hair ties and choker (at SM Department Store Notions for Php5 per yard)

- Black skater skirt (I had it at home, but this usually cost at around Php100-200 at bazaars), I even stitched a big red diamond on the skirt too.

- Black pair of socks (at SM Department Store Children's Accessories for Php130)

- Red pair of socks (at SM Department Store Children's Accessories for Php130)-- but now that I think about it, I shouldn't have bought the black socks and dyed a piece of the red socks instead. Oh well, charge to experience.

- It's not seen in the picture but if you must ask, I'm wearing a pair of suede ankle boots I bought from Forever21.

- Also not seen on the photo but I also painted my nails black. Last time I painted my nails was 5 years ago. Not a fan of nail polish, but for the love of details-- okaaay.

For the finished product, this is the only photo I've got with a full view of the outfit-- almost. The rest of the night was fleeting and got kinda vague so I wasn't able to take a better picture. :( 

The awesome fellow on my right is my boyfriend as Joker.

I also made his green bow tie, will also be posting it soon.  :)

-End-

[felosophies]

Doing a halloween facebook post for a wig. Digital art mixing photos together. I loved doing it but unfortunately, because of what we call "commercializing", this won't be posted as is. Had to add an eye and a "Mermaid" tag on the side. Haha. Makes me giggle when people commercialize art. Oh well papel. Forgive them for they know not what they do.

If you're wondering how I did this, you can check this youtube link out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc6aSCwkmSo

Helped me a lot. :)

Photo of wig taken by yours truly while google helped me out with the watercolor texture and the pretty mermaid.

[felosophies]

Congrats again Migs and Jhen! Cheers!

[felosophies]

Migs & Jhen (Church and Reception)

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Migs & Jhen (Hotel)

I worked on this project with a friend of mine. There were three photographers, including me. It was really nice working with these guys. I guess you can call it chemistry. That's something that's really hard to find these days. It was so easy talking to them and pitching in ideas and sorts. It was veeery tiring though. But after seeing these shots, all sweat and body aches are forgotten. I was assigned to keep an eye on the bride and here some of my shots of her. More coming up!

*Shots taken with a Canon 7D. Macro lens and 50mm Prime Lens

[felosophies]

When I'm supposed to work...

but I find myself doing this instead.

Over and over.

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Video by Linus Ilagan. Drawing by me.

[felosophies]

Created a calling for @flyfalcon 's Gourmet Keso business. Check out his Facebook page here: https://m.facebook.com/GourmetKesoOfficial

[felosophies]

Just thoughts. #layout #graphics #ssdd Photo from shop.lilyandbramwell.com.au

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I guess out of boredom, I made this video of my little brother today. My mom and I thought it would be fun to make an “audition” video of him for commercials and whatnot. I gotta say, this kid’s got potential.

[felosophies]

jeunbug finally got these printed!! She wanted some pink stuff on the sides as well so I colored them up. :) Another job well done!!