It is already a few minutes into Friday the 13th of November 2020 in the Philippines. It isn't exactly a plan, but I once thought I should post a new self-portrait before the year can even end, on this exact day.

So here it is — my new 2020 self-portrait, *Erang*. 

## Erang
I thought it would be really nice to include 5 facts about me alongside this self-portrait. At least, just to keep this post a little more interesting.

**My cousin gave me the nickname *Erang*.** 
She started with *Ra*, an extreme contraction of my already short name, until it became *Rang*. Eventually, she started calling me *Erang* and the other cousins I was close with followed suit.

**I wanted to become a teacher when I was a kid.** 
If someone asked me what I wanted to become when I grew up, I would say *teacher* because it was about one of the only occupations I knew as a five-year-old. Soon, my ambitions changed. 

<center>https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erangvee/undGmU6Q-1605187871876_.jpg</center>

**I nearly took a Development Communications program for an undergraduate degree.** 
In high school, I loved everything relating to communications. I wrote programs and indulged in feature writing. Obviously, I didn't end up becoming a DevCom graduate. For some unfathomable reason, I got attracted to Applied Physics.

**My hair was straight when I was younger.** 
It confused the heck out of me why it switched from curly to wavy one day and another as I grew up. Up until now, my hair would sometimes be really curly, other days dead.

**One of my favorite anime was *Tanaka-kun is Always Listless*.**
Quoting the protagonist, Tanaka-kun: if eating something — i.e. pasta — would require me to stand up even if it was just literally less than a meter away, I would think, "*Ah*, I probably don't need to eat." 

Oh, and this would make the 5 facts 6, but today — Friday the 13th of November — is actually my birthday.

## Drawing *Erang*
The thing about painting a self-portrait is that it gets awkward. At least for me. I felt narcissistic while looking at my face for hours on end. I was about to paint my portrait as is, when I thought it would look more interesting if I add other elements.

<center>https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erangvee/npmGeYL3-progshots.jpg</center>

I already said this in one of my earlier posts, but sunflowers are my favorite flowers. I also really love butterflies, albeit in pictures only. Yellow used to be my favorite color. And because this art is all about me, I decided to incorporate all these things together.

While I *do* love sunflowers, I hate painting them. They take so much time. But November 12th wasn't just any other day. It was a [disastrous day](https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1359823/typhoon-ulysses-triggers-worst-floods-in-metro-manila-in-years). Painting the sunflowers slowly but surely was calming to my nerves. It took me a grand total of 2 hours to paint all three sunflowers here.

<center>https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erangvee/sIvqykl3-zoom2.jpg</center>

After I was satisfied with the sunflowers, I started working on my face. I was scared to do this because it *was* my face. I wasn't even sure if it resembled me, but based on my friends reactions when I showed them its WIP, it thankfully looked like me.

Of everything else that I worked on in this piece, painting the butterfly/moth was my favorite. Which is, quite honestly, a first for me. 

<center>https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erangvee/XTokRzmF-zoom1.jpg
https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erangvee/PlzjgQ7t-zoom3.jpg</center>

The eyes on the wings were a little challenging, though, because I wanted one to pseudo-replace my left eye in the artwork. It wasn't that effective, though, but I still liked it. 

I contemplated if I should still add my eyeglasses that I would keep forgetting were seated on my head. But it wouldn't be Erang if they wouldn't be there. 

The sketches and eventual painting were all done in MediBang Paint for Android. Here, I used only two brushes — the pencil and the watercolor. Because I love adjusting the colors to my works (if need be), adding noise for a more matted feel, and using textured brushes for the background, I exported the work file into PSD and did the adjustments on Photoshop.

<center>https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/erangvee/tEdH98BN-progshots.gif</center>

## Notes
And there you have it — my latest self-portrait in 2020. I hope I was able to translate even just parts of my personality into the portrait. What do you think about me based only on the drawing and without the facts I wrote above?

It's pretty much a very special piece to me because of many things that are very difficult to articulate. :P But definitely because I managed a self-portrait that I really liked. 

## NFT
This is minted on NFT Showroom in 1/1 edition. You can find it [here](https://nftshowroom.com/erangvee/art/erangvee_erang_erang). 

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