Welcome, Little Nami!

Big news, guys! My friend Valérie, who also happens to be my gaming buddy Bart's girlfriend, gave birth to a lovely baby girl! I am quite surprised that I actually managed to shut up about the baby's name or gender for over three months. :P The reason why Val and Bart had entrusted me with these secrets, was because they asked me to design their baby card. That's right, I made my VERY FIRST baby card! I am so proud/happy/honored/emotional/insert more adjectives here. Val had a lot of cool ideas and I did my very best to make all her wishes come true. The card is Hawaii-themed and features the family's dog, cats, and rabbits. You might notice that we tried to recreate the Lilo & Stitch look and feel. The back of the card was Bart's idea. I think it's the cutest thing ever.

Nami is a healthy baby girl. It will be really cool to see her grow up. I hope she will become a gamer, just like her daddy! ;)

I'm working on a pretty challenging digital piece right now. Things are looking quite good so far, but I'll need some more time to finish it. See you soon!

Leen

Nami's Baby Card, December 2015

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Nami's Baby Card, December 2015

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Nami's Baby Card, February 2016

Picture of the card

We Came, We Saw, We Made Cupcakes

I love traditions, especially if they involve good friends and delicious cupcakes! Pieter-Jan, Eva, and Sam came over to my home to practice their cupcake skills. Our designs are starting to look very professional and we are actually starting to reduce the total amount of toothpicks that we need to keep everything nicely together. ;) The first row in the big collage below are my cupcakes, the second row are Pieter-Jan's, the third row are Eva's, and the last row are Sam's. We have been inspired by Studio Ghibli (Totoro, Ponyo, Princess Kaguya), Disney (Olaf, Sadness, Meeko, BB-8), and Pokémon (Mesprit, Flareon, Gourgeist). You might also spot Toothless, a beautiful rose, the Cat King, and Monokuma!

I would love to design cartoon cupcakes next time. I'm thinking of Steven Universe, the Powerpuff Girls, and Fairly Odd Parents. Do you have any good suggestions for me?

See you soon!

Leen

All cupcakes. Made by Leen, Pieter-Jan, Eva, and Sam! 

Toothless cupcake (How to Train Your Dragon)

February 2016

Olaf cupcake (Frozen)

February 2016

Sadness cupcake (Inside Out)

February 2016 

Totoro cupcake (My Neighbor Totoro)

February 2016

This Girl Is On Fire

Aaah, I've so looked forward to this: the one and only ACA IT Solutions New Year party at Theodrôme! This year's theme was Soirée Rouge (Red Evening), and knowing that Niels' colleagues never hold back when it comes to dressing up, we really had to come up with something original. Niels dressed up as a can of Coke. Among the other guests were the Flash, a beautiful ladybug, a red traffic light, the Queen of Hearts, and Waldo. The food was delicious and Theadrôme treated us with a really cool burlesque show. The location was just perfect.

I wanted to create a cosplay outfit that I could also wear at a convention, especially since Made in Asia is coming up pretty soon. I decided to go with Flareon, one of the original 151 Pokémon. My mom and I went shopping for fabric, and it's thanks to her that this outfit came into existence! The ears were a huge challenge, as they were initially too big and fell down (Sad Flareon would also be a sweet cosplay idea, but it's not exactly what I had in mind). The tail and other yellow accents were also hand-made. I did the make-up all by myself (It's simple, but I'm incredibly proud of it), although I could not have done it without my friends' advice. :D I hope you like it!

See you around!

Leen

Flareon Cosplay, January 2016

Flareon Cosplay, January 2016

All Grown Up

Hello, guys! Some of you might actually remember this drawing (and if you don't, you obviously need to visit my blog more often!). I made the pencil sketch a few weeks ago. This was my friend Elisa's request for Fabled Fox for Life, my creative fundraiser for the WAI-NOT website. Elisa came up with this lovely idea of drawing the Aristocats as fancy miladies and milords and I had SO much fun with it, that I eventually decided to make a digital painting, as well.

My new Wacom tablet is lovely, by the way. It is so light and it's even more pressure-sensitive than the Bamboo! I will continue to practice my digital painting skills. Digital brushes are so much fun, I can't believe I didn't try them out earlier. :)

See you soon!

Leen

Berlioz, January 2016

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Marie, January 2016

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Toulouse, January 2016

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Farewell, Professor Snape

Sad news. Alan Rickman passed away at the age of 69. We will remember him as the man who portrayed professor Snape in the Harry Potter movies. I read the first Harry Potter books before The Philosopher's Stone came out in theatres, and I instantly disliked some of the actors because they differed so much from the mental images that I had constructed. However, Alan Rickman was the perfect Snape. He gave Snape a voice and a body language that I couldn't have imagined myself. I was very shocked to hear that Rickman died. Maybe I thought he was immortal. The first thing I did after hearing the news, was grabbing a ballpoint pen and a piece of scrap paper. I made this sketch to say farewell to one of the greatest British actors of our time.

By the way, if you speak Dutch, feel free to have a look at my brand-new videogame blog Prinses Perzik (Princess Peach)! There will be new updates every 2-3 days. See you there!

Bye-bye!

Leen

Alan Rickman, January 2016

Ballpoint on paper

The Four Seasons Of Le Mustache

So, I guess this little project has finally come to an end! My Winter paintings for Le Mustache have been printed on canvas and are currently decorating the walls of the best coffee bar in town. I am really grateful that Mutlu and Annelore gave me this opportunity and I really look forward to our next collaboration. By the way, the snow is a lie. We won't be seeing any snow this Winter, but I actually prefer it that way. ;)

Winter Moustaches, December 2015

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Here's an overview of my eight moustache paintings. My favourite one is the second Winter moustache, but I also like the Spring set as a whole! My least favourite one must be the second Autumn moustache. I think the colours look a bit dull. So, what do you think? 

The Four Seasons of Le Mustache, 2015

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I'm currently working very hard on the launch of my new blog, a Dutch videogame diary. It has been so much fun already! I will be sharing the link with you guys soon enough. Have a great day!

Leen

Pokémon Trainer Elsa Would Like To Battle

A few months ago, I made a series of window paintings for Le Mustache. Painting on windows was a brand-new and very exciting experience for me, so I finally decided to give my own windows a make-over, as well! Belgium doesn't seem to be getting any snow this winter, but I decided to go with a Frozen and Ice Pokémon theme. This painting took me about 7 hours to finish, mostly because the big surfaces took me ages to colour. I might consider buying bigger markers for my next project. In the end, I'm happy with this painting, and I would really love to make a different one for Spring.

See you next time,

Leen

Elsa, Olaf & Articuno Window Painting, December 2015

Meooowy Christmas!

Happy holidays, Fablets and Foxies! I have this yearly tradition of making a very christmassy drawing of my cat Celesse to share with my friends on Facebook. Only this time, she is not alone! Meet Bit and Byte, the cutest gerbils that ever existed. They are very sociable, little creatures. As you may have noticed, this drawing is another attempt at using digital brushes. My goal is to make many more digital "paintings" in 2016. :D And even though I still need a lot of practice, it will all be so much easier with the brand-new graphics tablet that Niels got me for Christmas, a Wacom Intuos Comic.

I've got a new window painting coming up and you can also expect more moustaches soon. See you around!

Leen

A Very Fluffy Christmas, December 2015

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Fabled Fox For Life: A Happy Ending

Hi, guys! I'm very happy to announce that my creative fundraiser "Fabled Fox for Life" has come to an end. This project has been much more intense than I had initially expected or anticipated it to be. But don't get me wrong, I'm really happy! :D Thanks to my family and friends, I managed to raise a total of 800 euros. I made over 30 drawings in less than 5 weeks - that must be a personal record for sure. Even though I sometimes had absolutely no creative energy left after working hours, I know that this was all worth it. WAI-NOT is a small organisation with very big dreams!

Fabled Fox for Life, December 2015

Thank you, Niels, mom, and dad for sharing my project with the outside world and supporting me ("What the hell did you get yourself into this time?"). Thank you, WAI-NOT, for supporting my PhD research project. Thank you, Studio Brussel, for the awesome interview. And a big thank you to all my contributors (in order): mom and dad, Micheline, Marcia, Caroline, Tim and Tori, Ruth, Ann and Patrick, Anneleen, Sanne, Elke M., Peter, Dorien, Stefan, Fien, Elisa, Sofie, Pascale, Pieter-Jan, Valérie and Bart, Annelies, Liesbeth, Anja and Rudi, Elke D., Valerie H., Tony, aunt Renate and uncle Bart!

Oh, before I forget! Studio Brussel actually allowed me to pick a song to play on the radio. :D On Christmas Day! I couldn't be more excited to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. You can listen to my little monologue here. But be warned, as I might be speaking some kind of alien language (or Dutch). :)

Vandaag mocht ik mijn liedje aanvragen op Studio Brussel. <3
Geplaatst door Leen Sevens op vrijdag 25 december 2015

OKAY! What shall we do next year? Be sure to contact me if you have any cool suggestions! A LAN party seems nice, so Niels and I might look into that option. Geek on and see you next time.

Leen

Fabled Fox For Life: The Journey Continues

So, here we are. We have almost reached the end of "Fabled Fox for Life", my creative fundraiser for the WAI-NOT organisation! :) I have to admit, it has been such a weird month. In a good way, mostly. First of all, I have been drawing non-stop for almost five weeks, which means that people actually wanted to pay money for my art and support my cause. I certainly did not expect that and I am really thankful for this opportunity. I don't know yet exactly how much money I have raised, especially since some people still need to pay for their drawing, but I will be able to share the "happy ending" with you guys soon enough. :) Also, a lot of requests came from unexpected sources! It was so much fun to get to know people better and I hope they realise that I really appreciate their support.

Studio Brussel called me for a live interview on the radio. My boyfriend Niels and friend Jonas recorded the session. We talked about skiing mustaches (obviously) and the WAI-NOT organisation. It was really awesome! You can listen to the (Dutch) interview here:

Vandaag werd Fabled Fox for Life opgebeld door Studio Brussel! Skiënde snorren? Yes, baby!

Geplaatst door Fabled Fox for Life op dinsdag 1 december 2015

I finished a total of 27 "traditional" requests and two "digital" ones. Actually, there were more of them, but I simply couldn't accept them all. These weeks have been so hectic, and all I did after work was drawing until I fell asleep. So I certainly did my best! :D The "traditional" requests have become more and more original: cartoons, realistic drawings, grown-up Aristocats, a Flareon, a picture of myself and my cousins, a picture in memory of people or animals who have passed away, and so on. The digital requests involved a Christmas card for the Red Cross and a birth announcement card for my friends. Obviously, I cannot post the birth announcement card yet, as it contains top-secret information! ;) But no worries, I will be able to share it with you guys soon enough.

My next post will officially conclude the Fabled Fox for Life action. You can expect some numbers (YAY FOR NUMBERS!) and some thankyouverymuches. :) See you soon, guys!

Leen

Christmas Card for the Red Cross, Fabled Fox For Life, December 2015

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Fabled Fox for Life, December 2015

Pencil on paper