my second book

I just realised I didn't post about my second book here and that had to change so here I am today, better late than never, right?
Xafir e a Feiticeira do Pântano which in english goes something like Xafir and the Swamp's Wizard is a book about a special boy - Xafir - and his friends and their adventure when they try to understand what happened in the forest where everything has turned into stone.
The book is for kids who are a little older than my first book (7-12 I'd say) so the illustrations are smaller.
I really liked illustrating this book, it was the first time I used my cintiq and worked only in photoshop instead of illustrator which used to be my favourite tool. I even think my style is a bit different but you tell me.

One other thing that's quite fun about this book is that the authors have been going to schools to present the book and I've seen some drawings kids have made about their favourite parts of the story.
Here are some of them:

Valentine's day illustrations

First post of 2016.
Maybe I'll be able to be more present from now on. Truth is I'd really like to share more here on the blog but I keep second guessing myself about it and with everything else, blogging seems to be that one activity that always gets neglected.

Trying to fight that, today I'll share with you these two illustrations I did  last month, inspired obviously buy love. And what better excuse to post it that the fact that it is Valentine's day.
Hope you like them.

freebies: download december 2015 calendar

FINALLY!
Finally managed to finish the last calendar of the year!!!
The last few weeks have been crazy with work and I also had to finish this year's christmas card (the calendar was based on it) so the calendar had to be delayed.
This will also be the last calendar ever as somewhere along the way this year I lost my motivation and I realized I was only doing them because I had to.
Enjoy!
And Merry Christmas.

download: mobile pattern | desktop pattern

O Sonho do João

Earlier this month a book I illustrated got published, it's the first time I see my name on a published book, and I'me very happy about that.
Here are some photos I took of it.

freebies: download november 2015 calendar

I just realized this morning that we're in november! That's weird especially because it'll be my birthday in two days!
Until a few hours ago I had nothing ready for this calendar, you know, the usual. But I knew it had to be either about my birthday or about my trip to Paris next week. I guess you can see what I ended up choosing.
Only one more calendar to go!

download: mobile pattern | desktop pattern

freebies: download september 2015 calendar

Hello there!

September calendar is already available. This time I reused a bee i did for a plate design and some flowers i drew and never used. Changed the colors and voilá: new pattern when you have no time to create something new.

download: mobile pattern | desktop pattern

freebies: download august 2015 calendar

Hello there.
The last few days have been a mix of a lot of work and some vacation time. That and the fact that I'm still adjusting my time between my job, illustration and our young puppy we're the reasons that led me to only finish the calendar today.
If you follow me on instagram you already met Tosta and since she's been a major part of my life for the last couple of months, it's no surprise I had to make a calendar about her.
I hope there are some dog lovers out there and I hope you enjoy this calendar.

download: mobile pattern | desktop pattern

freebies: download july 2015 calendar

Hello there!
July calendar is still quite on time, right?
As I told you before, it was not easy coming up with a theme to illustrate this month as my life has been revolving around one single small being and I wanted to think about something else with this calendar.
There was only one other thing... Summer! Of course!
Hope you like it! Enjoy!

download: mobile pattern | desktop pattern | desktop detail

freebies: download june 2015 calendar

Hello there!
New month, new calendar.
And this month there is no delay I'm actually a few minutes early! that's always a good thing.
My public promise this month is to stop posting only calendar posts on the blog.

Hope you like and enjoy the calendar.

download: mobile pattern | desktop pattern | desktop detail

freebies: download may 2015 calendar

Hello there!
This calendar comes almost three days late! Sorry about that!
Actually I finished it on may 1st but I've got be honest: I'm not sure about the end result so I just procrastinated until now.
It's a bit different from my other patterns (where are the characters?) but I hope you like it anyway. This month I have two versions of each wallpaper because as I said before I don't know if I like it enough as a pattern.

download: mobile pattern | mobile detail | desktop pattern | desktop detail 

freebies: download april 2015 calendar

Hi there!
The calendar is available on time this month! I really had a lot of fun creating these tiny elephants.
There's also something new this month: After listening to some opinions I decided to make a desktop version with only a few elements from the pattern so hopefully you guys will find it less confusing. But worry not! The pattern version is still available, as usual.
Hope you like it!
Have a great month.

download: mobile | desktop detail | desktop pattern

freebies: download march 2015 calendar

Hello there!
March calendar is already available! Hope you liek this one!
My promise for this month is to have another post before the calendar of april.

download: mobile | desktop

Happy New Year

This is just a quick post to wish you a happy new year!
I was delaying this entry because I'm still decing if I'll restart the calendar project, or create any other project for the next months but as I can't manage to decide what to do I'll leave you with a sneak peek of a possible project. Hope you like it.
See you soon!

december calendar

Chegou dezembro (bem, chega dentro de umas horas) e com ele o último calendário do ano.
Consegui manter-me fiel a este projecto, com poucos atrasos e mesmo quando me senti menos inspirada, como aconteceu em setembro.
Usei o calendário todos os meses e fiquei muito contente quando sabia que havia uma nova pessoa a usá-los também, obrigada!
Ainda não sei se vou fazer um calendário para o próximo ano mas estou contente pelos últimos 12 meses.

Aqui fica o último calendário, espero que gostem.


December has arrived (it will in a few hours) and so has the last calendar of the year.
I was able to stick to the  project and with little delays! Even when I felt really uninspired as it happened in september.
I used the calendar every month and was very happy everytime I knew somebody ele was using it too.
I still don't know if I'll keep this project next year but I'm happy for the last 12 months. 

Here is the last calendar, hope you like it.

 desktop | iphone | samsung galaxy s4

ABZZZZ - book review

Quando soube que o Planeta Tangerina ia lançar um livro sobre o alfabeto, fiquei imediatamente alerta, afina é a junção de duas coisas que adoro: Letras e os livros da Planeta.

Assim que o encontrei à venda comprei-o. Não tive muito tempo para o folhear na livraria mas também não era necessário, sabia que ia ser uma óptima compra.

O ABZZZZ junta ao abecedário e à ilustração outra coisa de que gosto muito... dormir. É um livro que se prontifica a ajudar o leitor a adormecer "muito antes de o abecedário chegar ao fim".


When I found out that Planeta Tangerina was going to launch a book about the alphabet I was immediately interested. It's the combination of two things I love: Letters and the books from Planeta Tangerina.
I bought it as soon as it hit the stores. I didn't have much time to browse the book before buying it but there was no need to, I already knew it was going to be an excellent buy.
In ABZZZZ there's illustration, there's letters and there's also one other thing I like a lot: sleeping. It's a book that tries to help the reader fall asleep "long before the alphabet is over".

 

 

Para mim, o mais impressionante de ABZZZZ foi a forma como a Yara conseguiu criar uma harmonia em cada spread apesar de em cada págia se tratar de uma letra diferente e muitas vezes com temas bastante distintos.

To me, the most amazing thing in ABZZZZ was Yara's ability to create this harmony in each spread even if each page is about a different letter and the themes are often quite distincts.

Se, como eu, são fãs do Planeta Tangerina, vão gostar de certeza.

Um óptimo livro para uma tarde chuvosa de domingo.

If you're a Planeta Tangerina fan like I am you'll definitely like this book.
A great book for a rainy sunday afternoon.

november calendar

Hello there,

it's that time of the month again! And I can't believe it's november already! I managed to create eleven monthly calendars, can't quit now, right?

For this calendar I created two different sketches but wasn't satisfied with none of them so I ended up searching through my sketchbooks and decided to update this fisherman I created one day on a rather boring train ride. And he had to have a moustache in movember, don't you agree?

Hopefully you'll like it!

Enjoy!

desktop | iphone | samsung galaxy s4

October Calendar

Hello!

Finally a wallpaper that's not late! 

The lettering was created for a wedding invitation I did and I liked how it turned out so I just got it a bit more themed. The illustration itself was created on a plane back home from the UK, it's amazing how much I can get done when there are no distractions. Maybe I should travel a lot more, for the sake of my productivity of course.

Hopefully I'll update the blog before the next calendar.

Enjoy!

desktop | iphone | samsung galaxy s4

august calendar

Hello there!

Here I am again posting my calendar one day late.

This illustration is based on myself and how I face summer those long summer days at the beach. I'm this really pale girl (like a vampire) who you will always find on the shade when I'm at the beach.

Hopefully some of you can relate to this too.

Enjoy your summer days and your vacations. I will surely enjoy mine.

desktop | iphone | samsung galaxy s4

July Calendar

Hello there!

Just a quick post to share this months calendar. It was inspired by the hot july days but also by the days that were spent in Barcelona, where there was a lot of sun but less icecream than expected.
This month I did something I don't usually do: I created this illustration today, usually it takes me a little more time, two days at least, on and off, as I like to take my mind off it and come back later to see if I still like what I did.
But then I remembered why I started this project. It was to try different things and this month was different, so it's all good.

Hope you enjoy it

desktop | iphone | samsung galaxy s4

June Calendar

Hello there!

I really shouldn't blog only when the month begins and there's another calendar to share. In the last month I had little internet access, so there's that. Hopefully june will be better post wise.

Anyway, about this months calendar I totally forgot about it till may 30th, but here it is!

So it's june and half of the calendar illustrations are done. It actually feels great to realize that I was able to do it for six months, only six more to go. 

What is also great is the feedback I've been getting, there is a lot more people using my calendar than I ever expected, so that makes me happy...

Hopefully you'll find this calendar funny and it will make you happy too.

Enjoy!  

desktop | iphone | samsung galaxy s4