I'm baaaack!

Hey guys! I don't know if anyone follows my blog anymore but here I am after many months of neglect! After I discovered Instagram and Tumblr, I sort of forgot about this spot but I would like to start posting again.  :)


A lot has gone on in the past year so I will be slowly updating.  I just finished up my first Little Golden Book which was a dream come true and also an insane amount of work! Doing a LGB was on my life's bucket list so I'm really happy-especially for it to be my first illustrated book project ever!
The book is available for pre-order on Amazon right here and comes out January 2016.

Also, Shimmer and Shine finally premiered to Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. August 24th. I believe a new episode will be rolling out each week so Backyard Ballet should be coming up soon. I did a lot of the prop design and character design for the swans.


Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Princess Jasmine

Princess Jasmine

Be sure to stop by WonderGround Gallery in the Downtown Disney® District at theDisneyland® Resort to check out my latest release, debuting May 24th. :)

More info here.

I find this painting fitting for Illustration Friday's theme-Vanity. :)

Mulan

"Greatest Gift and Honor"

Painted on Arches watercolor paper with Turner Gouache.
Here is my second piece for the WonderGround Gallery next month. I’ve attached the finished painting as well as my initial concept sketch & a few progress shots.  On Saturday May 24th I will be at the gallery signing from 11-1 pm. The original & fine art prints will be available!

More info right here. 

Pele

Pele-Goddess of volcanoes for Sketch Dailies.

Updates!

Happy New Year everyone!

Things have been pretty busy for the past couple months. I'm going to do a quick update right now-better late than never right? ;)

CrowdStar did a round of layoffs in early October and I was among those of the two teams who got let go. It was sad for me as I spent quite a few years there having lots of fun with my amazing co-workers and friends not to mention designing mermies all day! I wish CrowdStar the very best and look forward seeing what new opportunities show up for my fellow ex-Crowdies.

Fortunately, I was so very lucky to land a position down in Los Angeles at Nickelodeon Animation Studios about a month after.
 
Here is a photo I took right when I accepted the offer. See how happy I am? Absolutely elated and skipping on clouds!!!! (That is probably the only reason I didn't break an ankle landing in heels ;)

I am a designer on a new pre-school show about magical genies called 'Shimmer and Shine.' It is simply adorable and am just so blessed to be offered such an opportunity. I have an amazing show Creator, Farnaz Esnaashari and an incredible art director, Andy Bialk!

I have only been at Nick for about two months now and it's certainly a challenging experience so far. I have high expectations of myself this year in artistic growth. :)

Now on to other news-

 Artist In Residence at the WonderGround Gallery!

 For the month of February I will be at the Disney WonderGround Gallery doing live paintings every Friday and Saturdays (except Sat Feb. 8th) and both my Disney gallery and personal art along with original paintings will be for sale. The original paintings will be mostly Disney Princesses...can't tell you exactly which ones yet so stay tuned for images.
 I just finished my first weekend and it was so much fun! At first I thought it was going to be so nerve wrecking to paint in front of everyone but I felt very much at ease there and was very inspired! Maybe it helped to be surrounded by so much unique art and friendly onlookers. :)
  If you are in the LA area and have some time to stop by at the gallery, please do! More info HERE!

I finished up my very first 365 day photo project last year and I am also doing another one this year! If you want you can follow it right HERE on my tumblr account.

You can also follow me on Twitter (@LianaHee) and Instagram (LianaHee) as I will be doing more updates from my month at WonderGround along with sneak peeks such.

Have a great week everyone!
♡ Liana

Say yes to capes!

Tomorrow i'll be driving down to LA for CTN-X this weekend Nov15-17 at Table 34! I'll have some mini originals, a few larger originals this time too and I will also be doing commissions! I'm really looking forward to this convention-it's one of my favorites and such a wonderful, inspirational expo to wrap up the year with...I can't believe it's the 5th year already!! :D

Pop Fusion at WonderGround

 Magic By Moonight-(Fantasia Fairies) Gouache and paper cut out on watercolor paper

Sunlit Swing-Gouache on Watercolor Paper 

Here are two pieces I did for the November show at WonderGround. The originals will be for sale as well as giclees, postcards and magnets. You can check them out and a lot of other incredible artwork on November 23rd at the WonderGround Gallery in Downtown Disney :)

Tink and Alice for WonderGround Pop Fusion

 "Tink"
13x19 Gouache and glitter on Arches watercolor paper

I chose Tinkerbell because I'm a big fan of how cute and sassy she is. With the "Pop" theme I decided to go very minimal with the color and keep it bright and saturated with a touch a pixie dust!

"Down The Rabbit Hole"
13x19 Gouache on Arches watercolor paper and mat board

In the film I love when Alice is falling down the rabbit hole discovering all the floating objects around her. In the beginning,figuring out this piece was slightly complicated for me because of all the black and white together. It would be challenging to paint black and white objects on top of the black and white background while having everything pop out still.  After seeing my initial sketch, my very creative boyfriend Juan suggested that I do the red roses border raised off the paper on mat board, everything painted separately and tacked down on foam core to create the floating look. That is exactly what I ended up doing and it turned out really fun! 

These are my other two pieces for WonderGround this month! It's been a great experience creating these pieces and pushing myself to work in a larger scale. I am very excited to see them framed and up in the gallery next week.  :) Happy Thursday!

Look at this stuff...isn't it neat? :)

"Wish I Could Be"

I am so fortunate to be a part of the new Pop Fusion exhibit at the WonderGround Gallery in Downtown Disney, Anaheim. I will have 3 pieces in the show and am just sharing my Ariel painting first.  I will post the other two a little later! The exhibit opens next Saturday June 15th and if you are in the area please do stop by-I'd love to meet you!

Here is some more info!  

Pop Fusion Exhibit 

June 15 WonderGround Gallery, Downtown Disney® District  

Witness the perfect ‘fusion’ of Disney and Pop Culture, with the next exhibit to make the scene, Pop Fusion. As part of this exciting launch, artists Liana Hee, Dave Quiggle and Michelle Romo as well as Walt Disney Imagineer, Danny Handke will be on hand at the WonderGround Gallery, Downtown Disney® District for a special appearance and signing, Saturday, June 15, 2013 from 10 a.m. – 12 noon. The exhibit will showcase original and limited edition artwork, as well as merchandise inspired by these pieces.

Starfish Mermies

A Starfish collection that Lain and I teamed up for at work. I designed them and she rendered in Illustrator. :)

Hunny Bunny

A little commission piece I did for my ballet school's June performance program. :) Hunny Bunny is the main character who learns how to dance!

May The Fourth Be With You!

 My piece for the Saga In The Stars show at Gallery Nucleus. More info here!

WonderCon Commissions 2013

Here are just a couple of commissions I did at WonderCon this year. I included the sketches just for fun. :) Thank you to everyone who stopped by!

Rapunzel 8x10 Gouache on watercolor paper

Mermaid 8x10 Gouache on watercolor paper

Glasses

 I've been prepping for WonderCon all weekend and am very excited for the convention next week from Friday-Sunday! I will be at Small Press 23 with prints and mini originals. I will also be doing a limited number of commissions so if you'd like one or just want to visit, please stop by!

 Here is a little sketch to break up my work for today. I found an awesome image online which inspired this sultry gal.

Not In Kansas Anymore...

"Wicked" and "For Good"-4x6 Gouache and glitter on watercolor paper

I was recently in a Wizard Of OZ tribute show at Gallery Nucleus.  I decided to do portraits of Glinda and Elphaba from Wicked because I just saw the play and loved it so much. The characters are fascinating and both were extremely fun to work on.

WonderGround Gallery

 This was my setup at at the WonderGround Gallery Saturday and Sunday. Being that it's only been open since June 2012 I hadn't been there prior to this weekend and it sure is an awesome gallery! There was so much great, unique artwork I wanted to take home with me and I am definitely looking forward to going back to see what they have in store in the future.

I had the most wonderful time this weekend and met so many enthusiastic people while I was there so thank you to those who came in to meet me! :)

xo-Liana

MERMAID WORLD

 I'm really happy and excited to share the game I have been working on for the past several months now...Mermaid World! The video above was put together by our talented Brandon Jones who still remembers After Effects! ;)  Seriously it's been a dream come true to design one of the magical creatures I love most. I was very fortunate to be given practically full freedom to create the look and style of the mermaids and I had so much fun doing it!

Below are just a few of designs and their final renders. The beautiful renders were done by the talented Barlow Gilmore, Emery Miller, George, Rodgers, Katherine Waddell, Lain Yee, Peter Emmerich,  and Ryan Hungerford . Katherine also did all the mermaid animations for the game and they are just so wonderful. We are rolling out a ton of new features in the next few weeks so if you love mermaids and a mysterious story..definitely check it out! :)

Whoo-hoo this is my 100th blog post. Out of 4 years I prob should have more than that but yay!!! Aside from all this mermaid madness I have other cool news to share. I will be at  Disney's Wonderground Gallery this weekend as part of the Artisan Showcase they have there. I'll be at the gallery Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 and will have select prints with me and a bunch of new mini originals. If you are in the LA area and specifically Downtown Disney-come on by! :)

Glimmer Rose

Carbon Night (with ninja star-fish and all)

Peppermint the Limited Edition Holiday Mermie

Aqua, our lovely mascot

Thanks for looking and have a fabulous weekend everyone!

xo-Liana