Nicocosity: Illustration

Sadly, not much.

Unlike in previous years, I wasn't able to draw as much because I was so busy being an adult. It is sad to think how now I have all the tools and materials to draw, paint, sculpt, and make videos, but inspiration and creativity seem to have passed-or perhaps I'm just generally tired that I would rather sleep or do mindless stuff than create 😕 I don't like this version of myself.

Before I excessively wallow, let me share the very limited drawings I did in the year of our lord 2024 & 2025:

2024:

1. Flower Girl

Oh, that fantasy of living a life a la Emily in Paris: stopping by a neighborhood flower shop on your way to buy pain au chocolat, looking all chic and put together! I've always been obsessed with this kind of white boots, but I never seem to find a good pair that would strongly compel me to buy, hence settling for just drawing them, along with other fashion pieces that I am praying to the fashion gods for.

2. Gong Xi Fa Chai

Happy Chinese New Year! I'm pretty sure I was reminiscing about this certain pinafore dress I had that looks like the outfit of the girl when I was drawing this! Once again, my way of manifesting for my dream fashion items to come true is through drawing it, and this time I had my eyes on a pretty Mlouye dark green bag! I may have drawn this 2 years ago, but my desire for that bag is still as strong.

3. Colorfully

The aesthetic for this is very Kate Spade! Pink, Green, a pop of Yellow for the mules, and mixed with gingham = *chef's kiss!* For this artwork, the main accessory is this green Songmont Luna bag, a bag that is currently top 2 on my wishlist bag (followed by the sleek DeMellier New York Tote.) I've seen this bag in person when I went to Shanghai last year, and I swear I kind of regretted not buying it because it's waaaaay more affordable to buy it in Songmont China vs. online.

Sad.

4. Modern Bride

Originally, I planned to draw 3 wedding gown designs that I would love to wear for my wedding; however, life happened, so the world only got this. I couldn't recall what my inspiration for the dress was, but for the shoes... OMAYGADDD! Ever since I've laid my eyes on those pretty heart cut-out Mary Jane shoes from A.Bocca, it's been etched in my mind daily-it's my Roman Empire hahaha! But like almost all the fashion items that I wish for, they are pricey 😓

Would I go again and have this haircut? No, thank you.

5. Begin Again

Still obsessing over Taylor Swift's Red album, particularly with the song Begin Again. Aside from the songs, I love her aesthetic at that time, her outfits were chic and wearable (maybe not the ringleader costume tho.) I guess when I drew this, I had her 2012 era in mind.

6. Perfect Night

*Cue Le Sserafim's Perfect night*

If you're like me who only plays Overwatch, Sims, and Animal Crossing, you would've understood the reference 😜 But for those who don't, the quick background to this is: Overwatch had a collaboration with the KPOP girl group, Le Sserafim to create a theme song and then new skins for the ladies of Overwatch, heavily inspired by KPOP. Although this drawing has nothing to do with it, I just remembered how in love I was with D.Va's hair from her skin from this collab! At some point, I even considered dying it this way lol!

2025

1. Mischief

For some reason, I got bored with clothes with plain fabrics, and with that I went ham with the dots on this one hahaha! Though, one thing I will never be tired of: baby doll dresses!

Also, I have a silver pair of Mary Jane shoes I got from Zara, similar to the girl's shoe 👅

2. Valentine's Girl

Like I said, I got bored with plain fabrics, and with that I patched up hearts on the garments hahaha!

3. Weary Traveler

When I drew this, I was badly missing Tokyo! At that time, we still have no concrete plans of going to Japan that year, so I envisioned myself strolling the streets of Omotesando with this artwork to satisfy my yearning for a trip to Japan.

I guess I manifested too hard, we eventually had our trip in September 💞

4. At the paddocks

This one is fun! I remember drawing this after watching F1 the movie (LOL) and eventually got fixated over the fashion of the F1 drivers' wives and girlfriends (WAGS haha lol!) I guess this is a "what would I wear if I were Carlos Sainz's partner?" hahahaha! But kidding aside, if I have the resources and body, I bet my style would be very mod, 60's, and a little bit edgy from time to time.

5. Matador

I didn't even color this hahahah! What the heck, Nicole?!?

6. Africaaaaa

Funny story: last June 2024, Ken had the opportunity to go to Tanzania to shoot for an NFL player's vlog. One of the highlights of the trip was observing the wildlife in those open-air trucks. While fully focused on taking videos, Ken's phone slipped out of his pocket and fell in the fields of the Serengeti. Despite many efforts to track it (checked in the find my iPhone via MacBook, the phone is still in the Serengeti, unmoved), unfortunately the place is just too big to actually find it!

So, whenever Ken hears Toto's Africa, he remembers the place... and his phone. RIP iPhone 14! You are missed.

7. Easy (to fall in love)

Raise your hand if you also got enthralled by Olivia Dean's music in 2025! 👋 Her songs feel like the perfect soundtrack to moments in your life where you are falling for someone or just want to feel *kilig* in your bones! I am not claiming that the girl I drew is her, far from it, but I can imagine a woman in love would have worn something girly yet light like this one 💕

2024 and 2025 were both very busy years in my book. I've experienced big changes in both life and career, and I got too caught up on it that I wasn't able to make time for my hobbies and create cute stuff that I am proud of.

Moving forward this 2026, I actually challenge myself to create 1 thing per week, whether it is an artwork, a TikTok video, or a blogpost. This time, my sole purpose is to actually create and be happy, not to impress and accumulate validation from other people 💙 Also, it feels nice seeing I have a lot of things I created, it's an intangible collection of memories, far more valuable than bags LOL.

Anyhoooooo, see you soon!

Love always.

Nicole

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For the longest time, I've been meaning to create my very own "Meet The Artist" artwork! I was always so fascinated with the talented people from Twitter, Instagram, and Deviant Art who share their masterpieces for the world to enjoy... and so I did my very own haha! #BandwagonnerKaTeh?

Eto na nga oh!

First things first, the base...

Tadaaaah!

Like most Potterheads, we firmly believe that our acceptance letter was given to Errol, or a much shittier owl out there, and that our acceptance letter was probably sent to the wrong address or straight up to the trash can, hence here we are slaving away on our muggle jobs in our late 20's *faint ha ha ha because c'mon, I'm only spewing facts.* With all that said, I decided to draw myself as student from Hogwarts, summoning all the otters to come to the basement, Hufflepuff's common room that is full of plants (much to the delight of plantitos and plantitas) and is next to the kitchen.

Like majority of my digital artworks, I use the app Autodesk Sketchbook with my ancient but trusty Samsung Galaxy Tab A. Recently I have experimented with different art styles and techniques, but for this particular one I decided to stick to what I think I do best: Classic art lined with pencil.

Creating the base drawing sans the color took me quite a while to finish. Unlike how I draw when I was younger, an artwork like this took me several days to finish! Such a slow poke huhu.

After finishing the sketch, then polishing the lines, the next step is to color it. In coloring this, I did not use the paint bucket tool to automatically fill areas, and instead treated this as if I am doing a coloring book hahaha! I know, I could have easily just fill in the areas and move on to creating shades and shadows, but I really find coloring and erasing spilled over colors relaxing 💁

One of the challenging things for me in creating this is the fact that she's basically just wearing gray and black! I find it confusing as to how can I make black look darker with shadows, or how to make details pop out considering that the lines are in black! 😭 But somehow I think I was able to do a good job, I guess? HAHAHA!

I think it would have made more sense if she's wearing really rugged 1460's Dr. Marten's boots! However at this point I already got lazy, so I opt with a pair of less detailed booties.

After finishing the self-portrait, let's add in the details about the artist...

Unlike iPad's Procreate, it's quite hellish to create a really clean calligraphy with Autodesk Sketchbook! While there is a predictive stroke feature that you can use to have cleaner lines, it's still difficult to make use of it to ensure clean and visually appealing calligraphy. So yeah, I just wrote this one without any predictive strokes, just good ol' inking pen tool.

Another first for me is creating these items sans lines!- ok except for the phone! If I didn't put any lines there, people won't be able to comprehend that that is a photo of a book faced down. I made use of the Fountain Pen Tool for these items.

TADAH! That's it pancit! I shared a bit of how I did it hahaha! Though to be honest, a primary reason why I created a "Meet The Artist" artwork is, not just to improve my #skillzzz and talent in creating illustration, but as a form of promotion/ portfolio stuffer.

For 2021, I aim to be more proactive in getting side hustles in creating artworks, doing content writing, commission works for Class Act Ph, and even tutoring- all the while I work as a full-time brand manager! I wanted to do more, and earn more 💲💲💲 to buy myself an iPad Pro hahaha! Not kidding, I'm really aiming for an iPad Pro ~~Please hire me,.~~

You may check out my Instagram at @nicjustwannadraw for more artworks 😉