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Description
Viene, viene la Befana
Vien dai monti a notte fonda
neve e gelo la circondan..
neve e gelo e tramontana!
Viene, viene la Befana

Translation:

Here comes, here come the Befana
she comes from the mountains in the deep of the night
snow and frost (ice) surrounds her
snow and frost and the West wind
here comes, here comes the Befana!

HOLY CRAP. DOES JESS ACTUALLY HAVE CHRISTMAS STUFF TO POST?

HOLY CRAP SHE DOES.

But do you know why I still fail? I actually drew this back in like, January, of like, this year. And I'm just posting it NOW.

So really, I still just fail. Fail like big, giant, sinking fail boat.
[link]

But dammit. Atleast I'm posting it in time for Christmas. So it's sorta like... I fail... but at the same time, I win a little bit because I'm getting my lazy ass to post it before December 25th.

ANYWAY. Since you guys have been stalking me for the last little while, you probably know by now, based on the fact that I feel this insatiable need to create characters from every country on Earth, that I love culture and traditions. I'm lucky enough to live in a country that celebrates cultures from all over the world (The Chinese Lantern Festival which I believe happens in Toronto, Oktoberfest in Kitchener, Carnaval in Quebec, and the list goes on...) but I've always wanted to travel the world and just....just...get in on it all.

Unfortunately, Jess has no money to do such things, and also, she needs to get a passport to do such things. I'mma tell you right now. If I ever win the lottery...........

So, I express myself by having a multicultural mix of characters from everywhere. Because multiculturalism is awesome.

Anyway. In Grade 10, I tagged along with a friend and took Italian class. It was definately one of my favourite classes I've ever taken! Not only did I learn Italian, but we even learned about Italian culture (I'll never forget the day the Italian and Spanish classes had a food day together, and I had just a LITTLLLLLLLEEEEE too much Spanish espresso.........). It was then that I learned about Italian holiday traditions and stories.

Now, for those of you who don't know, I have this OBSESSION with learning about holiday stories around the world. Probably because I find our traditions here in North America incredibly boring and full of commercialism. Santa is so much cooler in other places around the world.

Anyway. In Italy, there is the story of La Befana. She is an old woman who delivers gifts to children on Epiphany Eve, the night of January 5th. She's also known as Saint Befana, La Vecchia (the Old Woman), and La Strega (the Witch). She visits all the Children on Epiphany Eve and delivers candy and present to good childrens socks, and lumps of coal and dark candy (s'alright kiddies. Dark chocolates apparently better for you. Jus' sayin.) to the bad little wankers. She also sweeps the floors as well before leaving since she's apparently a good house keeper. Like with Santa, the family leaves her out morsels of food, only Befana gets a small glass of wine as well.

(She must be pretty drunk at the end of the night. Jus' sayin.)

So, who better to portray La Befana than our larger than life Alex! Yes, little children! If you're good, you'll get many a Gucci handbags and Dolce and Gabana clothing. And if you're bad, she'll slap you silly and give you knockoff designer stuff.

So here she is, in all her glory, dressed...well... Lets just say she's got her own spin on La Befana. I incorporated a more sexy/fashionable look to her however, using references of La Befana, I came up with a fun way to do her outfit. She apparently has all kinds of shalls and stuff, and also rides a broom,so well, hence the scarves and headband thingie. And, I've seen multiple pictures of Befana with glasses, so I thought I'd give some to her. She kinda looks more like a porn-star librarian, but hey. Whatever.

Somethin' tells me the hot daddies in Italy also get a little somethin' somethin' too. Oh Alex, we love you.

The pose was a lot of fun to do. I was trying to come up with a more fun way for her to ride a broom instead of it jammed in between her legs (OKAY I KNOW THAT SOUNDED WRONG BUT DAMMIT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.) so I thought her laying seductively worked. I was originally going to be boring and make her broom straight instead of crooked, but since her body wasn't exactly on the same "line" I had to makeshift, and thus, we get the crooked broom. I actually really like it. Actually, I think that broom is pretty damned awesome. Fich, I think I should just start drawing brooms now in all my pictures. Just like my trees. They're kinda like trees come to think of it. Just...broken down trees filed into sticks and stuff. DURRR.

Anyway. I could have been boring with the background. But I thought I'd burst through my fail and come up with something exciting. It wasn't until I watched an episode of Art Attack (#!$#!$!$#! THAT SHOW IS JUST SO AWESOME.) when I got an idea for the background. Neil the Art Attack guy was showing kids (and other people like myself who refuse to give into the idea that shows they show on TVO are just for kids. I was still watching Polka Dot Door til I was like, 14.)

(You probably shouldn't advertise that, Jess.)

Shut up Brain. It was awesome. I loved "Animal Day".

ANYWAY. He was showing kids how to create a night painting. I loved how...simple...his stuff always is but then it's like, I look at it, and then I look at my artwork, and I'm like OMG SERIOUSLY I CAN'T DO THAT AT ALL!! So off I went, to create a night scene for Alex and her broomstick. In Italian class, a girl came in talking about her trip to Italy and she said how hilly it was. So I thought I'd incorporate some hills, and then added some buildings and stuff (which I like to pretend are really awesome pizzerias and Italian designer shops. Alex likes to pretend that too, only in her vision Italian men are buying her designer clothing and feeding her pizza.). I used a white pen to do the windows (those kids better get to sleep or they ain't gettin' Gucci.) . I assure you that the background looks WAY BETTER on the original, but you knew that already. You don't have to be told that my scanner fucks up everything it touches. The background was really simple, but I love how it came out. Thanks, Neil!

Instead of making the background straight bordered, I opted for FUN AND CRAZY! Or something. Probably because I can't draw straight lines, even with a ruler. So I just submit to my fail and draw crazylines everywhere. I wanted to be Christmasy so hence her outfit being green and red. I couldn't really find a specific "colour pattern" for La Befana so I thought I'd colour however I wanted.

For more information on La Befana, check out [link]

Man, I'd totally love to travel the world during Christmas and have fun at all their Christmas festivals. I TOTALLY want in on the "Krampus Festival". Scaring small children makes me smile.

Anyway, just some Christmas cheer from Alex, who is as always, fashionably awesome!

Buone Feste Natalizie, everyone!!

Alex here is © to Jess Ratte

Description
Viene, viene la Befana
Vien dai monti a notte fonda
neve e gelo la circondan..
neve e gelo e tramontana!
Viene, viene la Befana

Translation:

Here comes, here come the Befana
she comes from the mountains in the deep of the night
snow and frost (ice) surrounds her
snow and frost and the West wind
here comes, here comes the Befana!

HOLY CRAP. DOES JESS ACTUALLY HAVE CHRISTMAS STUFF TO POST?

HOLY CRAP SHE DOES.

But do you know why I still fail? I actually drew this back in like, January, of like, this year. And I'm just posting it NOW.

So really, I still just fail. Fail like big, giant, sinking fail boat.
[link]

But dammit. Atleast I'm posting it in time for Christmas. So it's sorta like... I fail... but at the same time, I win a little bit because I'm getting my lazy ass to post it before December 25th.

ANYWAY. Since you guys have been stalking me for the last little while, you probably know by now, based on the fact that I feel this insatiable need to create characters from every country on Earth, that I love culture and traditions. I'm lucky enough to live in a country that celebrates cultures from all over the world (The Chinese Lantern Festival which I believe happens in Toronto, Oktoberfest in Kitchener, Carnaval in Quebec, and the list goes on...) but I've always wanted to travel the world and just....just...get in on it all.

Unfortunately, Jess has no money to do such things, and also, she needs to get a passport to do such things. I'mma tell you right now. If I ever win the lottery...........

So, I express myself by having a multicultural mix of characters from everywhere. Because multiculturalism is awesome.

Anyway. In Grade 10, I tagged along with a friend and took Italian class. It was definately one of my favourite classes I've ever taken! Not only did I learn Italian, but we even learned about Italian culture (I'll never forget the day the Italian and Spanish classes had a food day together, and I had just a LITTLLLLLLLEEEEE too much Spanish espresso.........). It was then that I learned about Italian holiday traditions and stories.

Now, for those of you who don't know, I have this OBSESSION with learning about holiday stories around the world. Probably because I find our traditions here in North America incredibly boring and full of commercialism. Santa is so much cooler in other places around the world.

Anyway. In Italy, there is the story of La Befana. She is an old woman who delivers gifts to children on Epiphany Eve, the night of January 5th. She's also known as Saint Befana, La Vecchia (the Old Woman), and La Strega (the Witch). She visits all the Children on Epiphany Eve and delivers candy and present to good childrens socks, and lumps of coal and dark candy (s'alright kiddies. Dark chocolates apparently better for you. Jus' sayin.) to the bad little wankers. She also sweeps the floors as well before leaving since she's apparently a good house keeper. Like with Santa, the family leaves her out morsels of food, only Befana gets a small glass of wine as well.

(She must be pretty drunk at the end of the night. Jus' sayin.)

So, who better to portray La Befana than our larger than life Alex! Yes, little children! If you're good, you'll get many a Gucci handbags and Dolce and Gabana clothing. And if you're bad, she'll slap you silly and give you knockoff designer stuff.

So here she is, in all her glory, dressed...well... Lets just say she's got her own spin on La Befana. I incorporated a more sexy/fashionable look to her however, using references of La Befana, I came up with a fun way to do her outfit. She apparently has all kinds of shalls and stuff, and also rides a broom,so well, hence the scarves and headband thingie. And, I've seen multiple pictures of Befana with glasses, so I thought I'd give some to her. She kinda looks more like a porn-star librarian, but hey. Whatever.

Somethin' tells me the hot daddies in Italy also get a little somethin' somethin' too. Oh Alex, we love you.

The pose was a lot of fun to do. I was trying to come up with a more fun way for her to ride a broom instead of it jammed in between her legs (OKAY I KNOW THAT SOUNDED WRONG BUT DAMMIT YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.) so I thought her laying seductively worked. I was originally going to be boring and make her broom straight instead of crooked, but since her body wasn't exactly on the same "line" I had to makeshift, and thus, we get the crooked broom. I actually really like it. Actually, I think that broom is pretty damned awesome. Fich, I think I should just start drawing brooms now in all my pictures. Just like my trees. They're kinda like trees come to think of it. Just...broken down trees filed into sticks and stuff. DURRR.

Anyway. I could have been boring with the background. But I thought I'd burst through my fail and come up with something exciting. It wasn't until I watched an episode of Art Attack (#!$#!$!$#! THAT SHOW IS JUST SO AWESOME.) when I got an idea for the background. Neil the Art Attack guy was showing kids (and other people like myself who refuse to give into the idea that shows they show on TVO are just for kids. I was still watching Polka Dot Door til I was like, 14.)

(You probably shouldn't advertise that, Jess.)

Shut up Brain. It was awesome. I loved "Animal Day".

ANYWAY. He was showing kids how to create a night painting. I loved how...simple...his stuff always is but then it's like, I look at it, and then I look at my artwork, and I'm like OMG SERIOUSLY I CAN'T DO THAT AT ALL!! So off I went, to create a night scene for Alex and her broomstick. In Italian class, a girl came in talking about her trip to Italy and she said how hilly it was. So I thought I'd incorporate some hills, and then added some buildings and stuff (which I like to pretend are really awesome pizzerias and Italian designer shops. Alex likes to pretend that too, only in her vision Italian men are buying her designer clothing and feeding her pizza.). I used a white pen to do the windows (those kids better get to sleep or they ain't gettin' Gucci.) . I assure you that the background looks WAY BETTER on the original, but you knew that already. You don't have to be told that my scanner fucks up everything it touches. The background was really simple, but I love how it came out. Thanks, Neil!

Instead of making the background straight bordered, I opted for FUN AND CRAZY! Or something. Probably because I can't draw straight lines, even with a ruler. So I just submit to my fail and draw crazylines everywhere. I wanted to be Christmasy so hence her outfit being green and red. I couldn't really find a specific "colour pattern" for La Befana so I thought I'd colour however I wanted.

For more information on La Befana, check out [link]

Man, I'd totally love to travel the world during Christmas and have fun at all their Christmas festivals. I TOTALLY want in on the "Krampus Festival". Scaring small children makes me smile.

Anyway, just some Christmas cheer from Alex, who is as always, fashionably awesome!

Buone Feste Natalizie, everyone!!

Alex here is © to Jess Ratte