"I wanna be a red bat..." DIY Costume

Last summer (more like last September), I watched my friend's little ones while she and her hubby were away. During nap times, I would try and do as many art projects with the older one as possible.

I asked him on the first day after picking him up from pre-school: "Hey! Want to work on your Halloween costume?"

He replied: "I want to be a red bat...".

Hmmm...clarification needed.

"Like Batman?"
"No. A bat. A red bat."
"Why red?"
"Red is my favorite color."
Of course it is. Stupid me. :)

Thus began his first trip to Joann's Fabric store, where we bough red fabric, red feathers and ribbon.

I had no idea how to construct bat wings. All I knew was that I wanted the wings to fit him like a cape, but not force him to tie the costume around his neck (after all, I'm in Arizona and Halloween is a very, very warm holiday). Thus the experiment with attaching ribbon to the inside of the cape (so that it could be worn like a backpack) and wristbands on the ends of the wings (so he'd be able to flap).

I laid out the fabric, took a white chalk pencil and drafted out the shape of the wings based on his arm span. Then I took out the sewing machine (a magical machine my friend's son just needed to try out- I allowed him to push the pedal as I led the material through the needle, directing him to "press harder" or "STOP" when I was done sewing). :) I sewed lines from the neck down to the ends of each semi-circles at the bottom of the fabric.

Once I had finished that, I cut off some straggling pieces and then convinced the little one to help me with the feathers. Since this required use of a hot glue gun, he was only allowed to pass me the feathers as I set each in place. This ended up being too much of a task for him and, with only three feathers set, he proclaimed "I'm tired. This is hard work!"


Yes, buddy, it is hard work! But think how cool this costume is gonna be! And it was...

Down the rabbit hole...

In progress Alice...2014

"Backyard Blunders" by Rebecca Lorraine Arguello

"Backyard Blunders" Illustrations

...the old house in Chicago...

Sketch #1: Childhood from memory

  

Sketch #2: Childhood from Google Earth

Sketch #3: Backyard from memory

Illustrations for upcoming book (or two)

Dear readers,

I have been working on a couple of ideas for children's books these past couple of years and it isn't until now that I've had time to work on bringing these ideas to life. I am working on stories about my childhood with my siblings and our backyard adventures amongst others. Below are a few concept drawings of the three main characters in my stories. As I progress in my Illustration class at Otis (and finally have book dummies and edited stories to share) I will post more of my art and excerpts from my stories on my blog. 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. Please share this site with others.

-Becky

Sketch #1: Little brother (to be named)

Sketch #2: Little sister (to be named)

Sketch #3: Big sister (to be named)

Colored copy: Prismacolor pencils

Personalized Cards

Happy 31st Anniversary to Mom and Dad

Happy Birthday Princess Emma

Otis College of Art and Design: Spring Semester 2013 Artwork

Clowning Around- Self portrait

Starbucks

Micro-flight

Culver City

Halloween 2012

 Dana Middle School staff: reindeers, Whos and the Grinch

Make up and hair test #1

Stockings

Last Christmas I painted stockings for my cousins Joaquin and Jacinta.
This past holiday I got around to painting a couple more for more cousins and a friend's baby.
Next year I'll be getting around to painting more for all the new borns and cousins I didn't get around to this year. :(

I've been posting photos of the process, but now have pictures of the finished socks. Take a look.

This Christmas...

Guess what I'm making this holiday season?

Creative Projects in the works...

July 31st.

Monkey Panels
Currently working on a series of three 8x10 canvas panels for a friend's baby room.
There isn't a particular theme for the room, however I am working with green, palm tree fabric with monkey characters all around. I'll be creating the background of the panels myself and enlarging the monkeys from the fabric to be painted on last.

Bathroom Art

I am also in the process of creating a painting for my friend's bathroom. The color scheme is black, white and red. I'm working with a particular flower and will be coming up with sketches for that soon.

At Home Projects

A friend made some great comments about the "Alice in Wonderland" drawing I did for my sister some time ago and mentioned that with the new Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland coming out, it might be popular to do similar drawings and sell them. If anyone is interested in the drawing I did for my sister and would like a poster copy, please email me. I'll be posting some more sketches soon.

If you have a special art project in mind that you would like achieved, please contact me by email.

Thanks.

World of Wonder

Last year I finished an Alice in Wonderland mural for my sister. This piece started out as just a picture of Alice sitting at a table top with chair in background. It progressed into a finished product when I knew my sister would be leaving to do a Disney Internship last year. I added the remainder of the table, the Mad Hatter, March Hare and background within the last weeks prior to her departure. Here is the final product:

I used Berol colored pencils and a thin Sharpie marker to do the fine ink work.

Also pictured was a fold out card I created for my sister while she was away in Florida. Again, Alice in Wonderland (little there to hint what her favorite Disney film is). I drew the movie caricatures in 2004 during my 2D design class when I was coming up with ideas for a book. This card has quotes and actual pictures of me, my sister and our friend at their good bye dinner prior to their leave for Florida. We're Wonderland queens.

Have a good week everyone. Thanks again for checking in. Please leave comments.
Sincerely,
Becky

That's Show Business!

This past October, I coordinated a Hollywood themed party for my cousin Vicky's 16th birthday. She's very much into California and acting, so we made Old-Hollywood themed props and decorated our house with murals of California nights and finished with a red carpet leading up through our driveway.
Creating the "Hollywood" sign.


I drew and hand painted a sign for Vicky's party.



Oscars were created out of foam board and painted with acrylics.



This prop was fashioned from an old theatre entrance. Star lights were affixed to the cardboard with tape in the back.

Vicky and her guests.

Portraits

These are a couple of family portraits I did several years back.

Sammie and Dominick.

Lawrence

Mario

Self Portrait

Stocking Decorating

December '07 I created personalized stockings for my neice and nephew. I drew little elves for each and hand painted craft stockings with the design.

Pumpkin Decorating

October '07 My work had a pumpkin decorating contest with a Disney theme. I decided to create Ursula the Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid. I took a craft pumpkin and used clay and newspaper to sculpt the contours of Ursulas face, spray painted the pumpkin black and then painted over it using the color scheme from copied photos.