Life Is The Art Of Drawing Without An Eraser

I have been incredibly busy lately, but that's exactly when my tiny Final Fantasy sketchbook comes in handy. When I was sitting on the train last week, I tried to kill some time by drawing the four main characters of "Steven Universe". An adorable old lady and her husband were watching me while I was drawing the Crystal Gems (They appeared so sudden, they actually scared the shit out of me!). "That is very nice, eh", the old man said to his wife. She agreed. I bet they didn't know anything about Steven Universe, but that was really cute! :)

Anyway, looks like "Project Amigo" isn't dead yet! :) I made four new sketches: the Mustache family, Micheline's grandchild, Nathalie (who just got married and looked simply stunning at her wedding!), and Kristof. Time to upload the pictures on Facebook and make some people happy. :D

On a side note, Niels and I finally got tickets for the "Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy" concert in Paris! I got so many awesome things to look forward to. :) I'm sure we will have a great time! And I will probably need a big box of tissues, because "To Zanarkand" (Final Fantasy X) always makes me tear up.

See you next time,

Leen

The Mustache Family, September 2015

Pencil on paper

Micheline's Grandchild, September 2015

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Nathalie, September 2015

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Kristof, September 2015

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Steven Universe, September 2015

Pencil on paper

And They Lived Happily Ever After

Annelies and Thomas are getting married today, and they gave me the honour of drawing Disney-themed illustrations for their wedding mass booklet. Oh boy, I can NEVER say no to Disney! ♥ Thankfully, Annelies had three very specific requests, making it very easy for me to start working on this lovely little project. The drawings feature Annelies and Thomas as Disney babies, Rapunzel and Flynn Rider (Tangled), and Carl and Ellie (Up). Annelies told me she had tears in her eyes when she saw the result, and that's probably the biggest compliment a freelance illustrator can ever receive. :) Annelies and Thomas, wishing you a lifetime of happiness!

On a side note, I finally moved to Kessel-Lo this week! I will be living there with my boyfriend Niels. It has been a wonderful experience so far (Yes, even the grocery shopping was fun)! This week, my university also matched me with a "buddy", a foreign student who will be studying in Leuven. Kaori is half Japanese, half British, and she has been living in Luxembourg. Turns out that she has the MOST WONDERFUL fashion blog. You should really check it out. I am very excited about meeting her this week! :D

Coming up: my new cosplay outfit for F.A.C.T.S. 2015! :D My high school friends will join us, and even wear their own cosplay outfits. I really cannot contain my excitement right now. :3 Stay tuned.

Leen

And They Lived Happily Ever After
Congratulations on your wedding day, Annelies and Thomas! <3 Wishing you a lifetime of happiness! :D Annelies and Thomas asked me to draw three Disney illustrations (featuring themselves) for their wedding mass booklet, and I also made this speedpaint video. Now live happily ever after! ^_^ (Blog: http://fabledfox.blogspot.be/2015/09/and-they-lived-happily-ever-after.html)
Posted by Leen Sevens on zaterdag 12 september 2015

Annelies and Thomas Speedpaint, September 2015

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Annelies and Thomas - Disney Babies, September 2015

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Annelies and Thomas - Rapunzel and Flynn (Tangled), September 2015

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Annelies and Thomas - Carl and Ellie (Up), September 2015

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Meet Theofiel

Last week, a kindergarten teacher asked me to draw a baby dragon for her school's "differentiation project". I am not familiar with that concept (Heck, I only remember doing hundreds of puzzles at kindergarten!), but I am told that the dragon is used as some kind of symbol. The fact that the symbol is a dragon has to do with the school's "knights and castles" theme. There are three similar-looking, yet slightly different characters. Each dragon has its own particular meaning, which corresponds to a specific working method. The children are allowed to choose one dragon "to work with":

1. Dragon with ears, open mouth, wings closed: Work together with the teacher
2. Dragon with ears, closed mouth, wings slightly opened: Listen to the teacher for a little while, then work independently afterwards
3. Dragon without ears, closed mouth, wings opened: Work independently, but help children from the second group

Apparently, the kids named my dragon "Theofiel". Pretty good name for a baby dragon, I'd say. :D I wish Theofiel and the children a wonderful school year!

Leen

Theofiel, September 2015

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Able To Include: Making IT Inclusive

Before I became a PhD student, I was an intern at the Centre for Computational Linguistics. The first day of my internship also marked the beginning of a European Union-funded project named Able to Include. As my task was to help building the English and Spanish versions of the Centre's Text-to-Pictograph translation system, my little intern self "accidentally" got involved in the Able project. Quite a good accident, I must say! :)

Able to Include aims to improve the living conditions of people with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities (IDD) by integrating a set of existing technologies to create an "accessibility layer". This layer can be integrated with ICT tools and improve the daily life of people with IDD. The three key technologies are Picto (Text-to-Pictograph translation and Pictograph-to-Text translation, KU Leuven), Simplext (text simplification, UPF Barcelona) and Text-to-Speech (Teamnet, Romania).

Our previous meeting took place in Leuven. Having discovered that I'm a freelance illustrator, our partner Silvana (Inclusion Europe) asked me to make custom illustrations for our three web services. They will be used on the easy-to-read version of Able's website.

Have a nice weekend!

Leen

Able to Include, September 2015 

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Part Of The Job

July has been such a wonderful month! My colleagues and I wrote three scientific papers on the Picto translation system, and all of them have been accepted for publication (Thank you so much, anonymous reviewers! I would love to send you a large box of cookies, but I don't know who you are!). Unfortunately, both the SLPAT conference (in Dresden) and the ENLG conference (in Brighton) will be held on September 11. Even worse, I will be giving a presentation in Leuven on that exact same day. That means I will have to stay home. :P No Bratwurst or English beaches for me...

My colleagues will be presenting a scientific poster at the conferences. Since I'm our office's unofficial "graphic designer" (I might be the only person in our office who actually really loves messing around with graphics), I designed both the SLPAT poster and the ENLG poster.

The ENLG poster is vintage- and England-themed. The SLPAT poster, with its comic book design, is a recycled version of my LOT 2015 poster. The LOT Summer school was held in Leuven last June, and somehow, I managed to win the LOT poster prize. One colourful poster a day keeps the scientific dullness away. ;) I will definitely continue to design flashy posters!

I am also really honored that my awesome friend (and office mate) Liesbeth asked me to design the cover of her PhD thesis, which she finished last week. She has been investigating verb clusters in Dutch. Sharing an office with Liesbeth is the best thing ever, and I know that she's a very hard worker. Congratulations, Liesbeth! :D I am looking forward to your defence in October.

See you again soon,

Leen

SLPAT Poster, August 2015

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ENLG Poster, August 2015

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PhD Thesis Cover for Liesbeth, August 2015

Adobe Photoshop CS

"Team Coopcake" Strikes Again!

What makes amazing friends even more amazing? Their love for cupcake decoration, of course! Eva and Pieter-Jan were in desperate need of some cupcake therapy, so we spent the whole afternoon and evening trying to design and create a series of colourful tartlets. It's really cool to see how much progress we are making! :) The designs are getting more and more complex, the sugar paste looks really clean, and we have been adding a lot of details. Next time, we might even work together on a big project: one huge cake!

We didn't really have a global theme this time (I guess we're finally starting to run out of cool Pokémon designs), although my own cupcakes were game-related: Sonic, Lion Sora, Teddie, a Carbuncle, and a White Mage. I think the White Mage is my personal favourite. It is my main class in Final Fantasy XIV, after all, and I'm still hoping to create my own White Mage cosplay in the near future. 

See you soon! :)

Leen

All cupcakes. Made by Leen, Eva, and Pieter-Jan. :)

August 2015

Sonic cupcake

August 2015

White Mage cupcake (Final Fantasy)

August 2015

Lion Sora cupcake (Kingdom Hearts)

August 2015

Teddie cupcake (Persona 4)

August 2015

Carbuncle cupcake (Final Fantasy XIV)

August 2015

I Don't Tan, I Burn

Mr. and Mrs. Mustache and their two adorable coffee beans (Please note that I'm trying to refer to their children here, thank you very much) are going to catch some sun, so Le Mustache will be closed for two weeks. Two. Whole. Weeks. That means I will need to find my coffee elsewhere. Either that, or I will die. :(

This colourful illustration was requested by Le Mustache and posted on their Facebook page. There are four hidden moustaches (although that big, black moustache on the pelican's beak is probably rather easy to find!). I'm also excited that I finally got around to drawing a red panda lady. Isn't she a fluffy one? :)

In the meantime, I've been working on a secret project for Annelies' wedding. The two lovebirds are very happy (sooperdooper happy, actually) with the result. I will definitely post everything on my blog after the wedding. Until then, stay tuned! :)

Leen

 Summertime, August 2015

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Front door of Le Mustache

Fan{tache}tic

Flip-flops, sunflowers, sand in your handbag, and watermelon smoothies. It's Summer, and as you may already know, I am currently working on a really cool season-related project for Le Mustache! Le Mustache is my favourite coffee house in Leuven. I really love their "Pink Lady", a colourful drink based on elderflower and green apple! :) Get it while it's cold.

My "Summer Moustaches" are beach- and sunflower-themed. The collage below also includes a picture that I took earlier this week, when walking home from the sushi restaurant with Niels (after celebrating my mom's 50th birthday, hooray!). I saw a beautiful sunset at the Ladeuzeplein, one of Leuven's biggest squares. :D I don't know why, but I'm crazy about colourful skies!

On a side note - The Big Draw, a really huge art event, is coming to Leuven in October. I am happy to announce that I will be involved in some of their activities! More information will follow soon, but in the meantime, you might want to check out this link. I will be hosting a workshop (Draw with the Flow, baby!) for children in collaboration with Le Mustache. So, grab a toddler, and feel free to join us.

See you next time!

Leen

Summer Moustaches, July 2015

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Speedpaint Time!

A few months ago, I suddenly decided to record my screen while drawing a tiny little Dromeria illustration of a very pretty squirrel lady. Allowing people to get a sneak peek behind the scenes actually turned out to be a good idea, as my experimental speedpaint video (a 50-minute illustration at x32 speed) reached a total of 1,800 views on Facebook. Thank you so much, everyone! :D Today, I did a second attempt at recording my screen. It's July 21, and as we are celebrating the Belgian Independence Day, I made a quick drawing of my cat Celesse, wearing the Belgian colours and singing the national anthem. Because that makes sense.

Have a nice day!

Leen

For the first time ever, I recorded my screen while drawing. Yes, that includes all the mistakes I make! xD 50-minute illustration (at x32 speed) of a very pretty squirrel lady for the new Dromeria book. :D Music from FFXIV: ARR.
Posted by Leen Sevens on zondag 15 februari 2015

Dromeria Squirrel Lady, February 2015

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Belgian Independence Day speedpaint. :) 1-hour illustration, x32 speed! Music by the Belgian group dEUS. Blog: http://fabledfox.blogspot.be/2015/07/speedpaint-time.html
Posted by Leen Sevens on dinsdag 21 juli 2015

Belgian Independence Day, July 2015

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Project Amigo: The Sequel

Oops. My blog has been rather dead over the past few weeks, but I was very busy playing Heavensward, Final Fantasy XIV's first big expansion! :D This includes: capturing Chocobos, playing hide and seek with Moogles (KUPO!), and beating a brand-new Extreme Primal with my amazing static. Good times. Anyway, let's get creative again! ;) Three weeks ago, I surprised some of my friends with a random pencil sketch. "Project Amigo" turned out to be a great success. Thanks a LOT for visiting my blog, everyone. :D Since my "victims" were so happy with the result (I swear some of them went literally crazy, and I certainly did not expect that), I have decided to give even more friends the "Amigo" treatment. And this will probably not be the last time. :) Stay tuned!

See you again soon,

Leen

Sofie, June 2015

Pencil on paper

Wesly, June 2015

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Gilles, July 2015

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Anneke, June 2015

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Bea, July 2015

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