This was my entry for the first round of Lilla Rogers Studio’s Global Talent Search 2018. The brief was to create a journal cover featuring specific plants, the color greige, and some lettering. I wanted to challenge myself with this piece so I created a lush garden scene with a lot of elements. I then created a hand-drawn mock-up complete with free stuff that I imagine would come with my journal (like a bookmark and stickers) and some desk accessories.

I originally planned on using these illustrations of iconic landmarks as part of a city map series. After seeing all of them together while laying out the maps, I decided to go with a more graphic direction instead and created these posters.

I submitted the original version of this artwork to They Draw and Cook’s Eat The Rainbow challenge. Participants were asked to draw colorful recipes, and instead of going the usual route of drawing fruits and vegetables, I decided to make something based on the different varieties of my favorite drink, tea.

View the landscape version here.

I made this poster to promote a workshop I teach called Creative Career Roadmap. It aims to help artists and creatives navigate the different challenges in freelancing and running businesses. I wanted the poster to capture the key topics and issues discussed in the session, and I thought there’s no better way to show that than by creating an illustrated map.

I love visiting Taiwan because of how they appreciate and promote local arts, crafts, and design. To commemorate my last trip there, I decided to draw a map of central Taipei, with many of its creative hubs prominently displayed. I also included well-known landmarks and notable food items to try when in the city.

I made this piece for GetCraft’s “When Creators Rule the World” competition, a multimedia/design contest the company ran across Southeast Asia. My entry got the top prize for the illustration and design category. It was inspired by my friends from the local arts and crafts scene—how they are able to build things from scratch and manage to push so many boundaries along the way.

These are two posters I illustrated for Creative Career Roadmap, a workshop I teach to help fellow creatives make the most out of their art careers. We talk about topics like pricing, self-promotion, and self-care for artists. The theme for the first session is “journey,” because building a sustainable creative career is a continuous process.

-Ing Creatives is a Dubai-based arts and design group, and they stage an annual event called -Ing Creative Festival. For their 2018 conference, we collaborated on a series of digital posters to promote workshops hosted by speakers from Disney, National Geographic, and Instagram.

Art Direction: Yev Baluyeva

For their 2019 collection, CNS Designs wanted to release a sticker book together with their Design Your Life planners. They had several artists from all over the world contribute to the project, and I was lucky to be a part of it. My sticker sheet depicted a quiet scene at home, one of my favorite subjects to draw.

I created this series of illustrations as part of my Holiday 2018 sticker collection. I took inspiration from a lot of different sources—screenprinting, ornately-designed manholes, and Japanese train station stamps. Since my vision for this series was for it to look more serious than my usual style, I infused a bit of humor by choosing a subject that’s close to my heart—food.

This is a poster I created to encourage people to follow their curiosities, whether it’s cooking, painting, writing, reading, or some other activity. Being an inquisitive soul myself, I believe that when we do things that piques our interests and brings us joy, that’s when we do our best work.

This year I signed up for Make Art That Sells Bootcamp, and one of the assignments was to create a cover for a tasseography-themed journal. I knew I wanted to make something with botanical elements, so I included lemons, jasmine flowers, and tea leaves in my work. I also included a fun mockup to see how my cover would look like as an actual journal.

I grew up listening to emo music so I thought it would be a good idea for a personal project to create editorial-like illustrations based on my favorite emo songs. Since the lyrics were mostly romantic, I depicted different types of love with my pieces.

This was my submission to another fun Make Art That Sells Bootcamp assignment: illustrate a book cover about the contents (real or imaginary) of the bags of fabulous female icons. I got assigned Aretha Franklin, and I had so much fun doing research about her life and interests and drawing my piece. I also created a mockup to see it as an actual book!

I took a temporary break from lettering in early 2017 to explore illustration and surface pattern design, and when I got back into it these were the first pieces I made. Self-produced for my own stationery line, I released these notebooks for my Holiday 2017 collection.

Ayala Land Inc., one of the leading real estate firms in the Philippines, commissioned a handful of artists to create digital cards for their Holiday 2017 online campaign. The artworks were posted on their social media pages, and their followers were encouraged to share or send the digital greetings to their friends. I was asked to illustrate cards based on different emojis.

Client: Ayala Land, Inc.

Agency: McCann Worldgroup Philippines

Art Direction: Yna Rafinan

Being an introvert, I naturally prefer staying in than going out. Some people might think it’s such a boring way to live, so I thought to create these illustrations that show how quiet explorations can be done at home. I wanted to depict corners around one’s dwelling as spaces where sensitive souls can have their own adventures.

Whenever I feel an art block coming on, I turn to my friends and mentors from the local creative community. During one of my worst moments of self-doubt a couple of years ago, I asked them for their advice on how to make the best out of the creative life, and this series was born.

Fun fact: the cats in these drawings represent me, even though in reality I am very much a dog person.

To celebrate International Women’s Day this year, I decided to make something that expressed the courage and boldness of women. This is one of my favorite statements, and I’ve rendered a couple of versions already at different points in my lettering journey.

I released these journals as part of my own paper goods line in 2016. I liked the idea of people being the authors of their own stories, so I created covers that would pass as actual book covers. I also designed the spines to complete the look.

In honor of International Women’s Month, the assignment for Make Art That Sells Bootcamp for the month of March was to create an editorial illustration about the suffragettes. I created a collage-style artwork featuring Susan B. Anthony, one of the leading figures in the women’s rights movement.

This is a sewing-themed home decor project I created for Make Art That Sells Bootcamp. I took inspiration from vintage home wares and included actual needlework tools (such as spools and thimbles) as decorative elements for my make-believe pieces.

Following my fascination with home decorating magazines, I had a short-lived obsession with chairs of all shapes and sizes. I decided to combine this random preoccupation with a more productive activity—painting with gouache—and this collection was the result.

I started getting into watercolor and gouache in late 2015. In order to understand these materials better and be accustomed to using them, I decided to paint several inspirational quotes. I then turned these pieces into a desk calendar for my own stationery line.

I launched this Instagram project so I could practice still life drawing. Many of the images were depictions of my real-life desk, and some were my interpretation of my friends’ desks. I also imagined how workspaces of people with different professions would look like. I only made it to about twenty out of the 100 desks I was planning on doing, but the process made me really comfortable with drawing different objects and experimenting with color combinations. Check the hashtag #100days100desks to see more.