Born in the Night

I was born at 11:38pm on this day some moons ago.

I'm glad that happened.

I usually spend my birthday at Disneyland and the evening at The Edison in downtown Los Angeles. Today I have a few more important things to do. Such as moving across the country. So I decided to dress up anyway and shoot with my buddy Jon to make up for it.

Dress: Nasty Gal

Cuffs: eBay

Headpiece: Handmade by yours truly

Photos by Jon Duenas

As Tall as Buildings

Dress // Tunic thing: AllSaints Spitafields

Hoodie: Ovate

Cowl (c/o): Hendrik.Lou

Leggings: eBay

Sunnies: eBay

Gaiters: eBay

Bag: eBay

If you haven't noticed, I buy a lot from eBay. Mostly from eBay, actually.

So most of my outfits tend to have something precious and handmade (and usually over my budget) from a designer I know well or from somewhere I just really like and just have to have. I feel that this is completely justifiable since we just established that everything else I buy is from eBay. Right? 

My point is; invest in some versatile statement pieces and pair them with a number of cheap no name brand items and you can never go wrong. You'll (1) have a ton of options, (2) won't look too cheap or too gaudy, and most importantly (3) I think you'll look like you have much better things to do rather than spending all of your money and time trying to look better than everyone. Don't try too hard and balance everything out, you know? 

This look is a prime example of my theory.

My hoodie and my dress are both spendy designer pieces. But as you have seen (or will see anyway), I wear them all the time with anything and they never fail to make what I'm wearing feel out of the ordinary and unique. Now, I have paired this dress with leather leggings, giant boots, and an ornate handmade headpiece before -- which was just about over the top, but it all depends on the context, I suppose! (I spend every one of my birthdays at The Edison.)

Maybe I'll break out the big boots again someday.

This dress was a big birthday present to myself a couple of years ago. I'm not tired of it yet!

My birthday outfit pre Edison last year! See!

Side note: I think this look is kind of hilarious when paired with the undeniably Californian scenery behind me. It's a little obvious I don't fit in well here. Sorry guys, I left my surf board and self tanner at home.

Pacific Rim

Cherno Alpha Mark-1

Sunnies: eBay

Gloves: Sock Dreams

Leather Jacket: eBay

Tank Top: Target

Jeans: Papaya

Leg Warmers: Sock Dreams

Gaiters: eBay

Silly hat: eBay

This outfit was heavily influenced by the Russian pilots of Cherno Alpha Mark-1; the Kaldanovskys. My favorite Jaeger pilots from Guillermo Del Toro's film Pacific Rim.

Guillermo Del Toro heavily influences me in most ways, actually. Particularly with his character design and apparent stylistic influence from the WWII era. His attention to detail and over the top sense of aesthetic really resonates with me. I wish more filmmakers were as daring as he.

Now, I'm not sure if it's his intention to utilize WWII era style elements in his more modern films, such as Pacific Rim. I often find myself accidentally sporting all army surplus get-ups on a regular basis -- so in both cases what thou favors spilleth over or something. So I can relate to that.

 (Images via Google)

Expect more movie character inspired outfits! (Not cosplay!)

Aubrey & I

I took my baby to lunch today.

We went to Chinese!

Sunnies: eBay

Leather gloves: eBay

Mesh maxi dress (c/o): Sanctus

Coat: eBay

Shoes: eBay

Under skirt: eBay

Tank top: Target

Bag: eBay

Car: Magic

I'm really surprised at how this coat looks in photos. When I got in the mail I was a bit disappointed because it looked HUGE and frumpy. Although as soon as I put it on I had accomplished an effortless chic that would usually take me several outfit changes to accomplish. It's so easy and simple! I'm not one to be familiar with simple.

And yes, the glasses. I'm aware that this post is a tad steampunk, which I'm not entirely proud because I'm honestly a bit sick of it being saturated in pop culture. But I think it can always been done right if the elements are sublte. The car - not so subtle. The glasses/goggles - just the right amount of accent. None of this, kids.

And let's be honest. It's no secret that I love showing off this car.

Super huge thanks to Lucinda of Sanctus for this gorgeous dress. (One of fifty made!) I wear it under/over anything and everything. It's like my security blanket.

Perspective

I've had to halt shooting, orders, and drawing freely this week in order to catch up on commissions. So I don't have much to show as far as my progress for those quite yet. Although the other night I found myself immensely inspired by Drew Struzan. I was watching a documentary titled The Man Behind the Poster, which takes into account Drew's life work and struggles in the industry. I'm incredibly familiar with Struzan's work, but never so much with his life. It was admittedly great to know that Drew spent years in poverty, starved for his family, yet never stopped drawing. So at 11pm that I picked my up my tools and started doodling while Netflix flickered in the background. 

For some reason I instantly felt that I needed to draw myself. I've only ever done it once for practice noses and a very difficult angle once, but it otherwise never occurred to me to use myself as a subject. 

Self portraits are a little weird for me. I don't mind them done by someone else. It's a different perspective entirely. I think the problem, or my problem, with self portraits is that we don't really have a good idea of what we really look like despite seeing ourselves every day. There are too many conflicting ideas about what we think we look like, what we want to look like, and how others see us. Too many perspectives! That's why it's easier to draw from a photo. Not to mention a little lazier. Maybe someday I'll be able to sit myself down in front of a mirror and explore my perspective with hands. Like this.

This is a 30 minute sketch. I don't plan on doing anything else to it.

Valle Mortis

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me...

                                                                    Psalm 23:4

VALLE MORTIS is the Latin translation of "valley of death," which is found in Psalm 23.

To put it simply, it's a film about taking your struggles and using them to face life head on. Instead of allowing them to weigh you down. This was made particularly for my fellow artists. For those of you who may have considered quitting when you were already half way up their uphill battle. The battle will never end, guys.

VALLE MORTIS is my most ambitious film project to date. I didn't exactly intend for it to be that way, 

but as soon as production on the film started, everything began to fall apart. This is incredibly common, if not expected, in the film industry. So this project is no exception to the rule.
It was my first time experiencing it first hand, so I took it very personally. Not to mention we endured many physical, emotional, professional, and personal hardships (to go along with the previous statement).

I put together the following videos to better express the whole story. There's a ton of raw, unseen footage, and a whole lot of behind the scenes bits. If you're someone interested in film, I'd say it's worth a watch despite it being a bit winded.

The documentary: http://full.sc/1cFVRrX
Writing VALLE MORTIS: http://full.sc/1cjq1jw

A few things that these videos don't mention:
 This project took about 10 months to complete. Kindra and I conceived the idea late 2012 or early 2013. I can't quite remember. If it weren't for these videos, I would have no idea what happened. Exhaustion really messed up my memory regarding this project.

The project was also virtually budget-less. We spent some money on food and traveling, otherwise any other expenses were from shipping items back to our generous designer friends. I would estimate between gas, food, a few little supplies, shipping, and other services, we spent about $300-$500. That's pretty damn good for any art project -- especially film.

Also, to add to what it took for us to make this thing ("against all odds"), Kindra and I both had to face a few very personal life events. I won't go into to detail about them -- I just think it's important to know that we pushed on together and made this thing despite what was going on in our lives.

One the many high rocky points of our cliff location in the Columbia Gorge.

Some blood makeup I did on myself on the fourth and second to last shoot of VALLE MORTIS.

The result of the two foot wide rock that fell on my leg. This is it healing a few weeks after it happened. I was really lucky it didn't get my knee cap!

My dad took all of the black and white photos on location while I was filming. I edited them. Thanks, dad!