KaBLam!

It seems like it's been forever since I did any cartoon nail art. Sorry, but I haven't really had the time to sit down and do any detailed designs. I started back pretty simple with this KaBLam design. 

Do you remember KaBLam? It ran on Nickelodeon from 1996-2000. "It features a collection of short films in several different styles of animation, bridged by the characters Henry and June, who introduce the shorts and have adventures of their own in between."

I started with a base of China Glaze Spontaneous

 I added the red splat using a small striping brush and Sally Hansen Insta Dri Rapid Red

 White acrylic paint & same striping brush.

 Acrylic paint...

 More acrylic paint... I painted the white before the yellow so it would POP.

 Different acrylic paint...

 more paint...

 White acrylic paint for teeth and eyeballs.

 Black acrylic paint and a fine striping brush for detailing.

 

 One thick coat of Seche Vite topcoat.

 What do you think? Do you remember Henry and June?

 

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31 Day Challenge - Day 26 - Pattern

This one is a bit of stretch.... But I knew at some point I would HAVE to do CatDog. So my coorelation is that there is pattern to the entire cartoon. Everything is half and half, like their house is half fish and half bone, the wallpaper will be part cat and part dog themed. And basically all of the plots revolve around the same pattern. Dog is silly and dumb, while cat is the mastermind. So just go with me here....

My cousin was in town visiting and she's been my gracious hand model for previous cartoon manicures. She volunteered again. Am I just delusional? Or do our hands/nails look similar? Even our nail beds are the same shape. I guess it just proves that we are in fact related!

Here I did the sign that is behind them in the intro shots. All done with acrylic paints. 

The base polish is Essie Navigate Her.

Then on the other hand I painted their body stretching across her nails. It made for a really cool french tip on the middle nail. :)

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Peculiar Polish Series - Invader Zim

It's another Thursday and time for more Peculiar Polish! Nev from Nevorpurify's Nail Art  is helping me out by designing looks that are from different cartoons that may be a bit less traditional/popular. If you have a suggestion for her, just fill out the embedded form at the bottom of the page!

Invader Zim is one of those Nickelodeon shows that has almost developed a cult following so I'm so happy that Brenda (look, Brenda: I did two nails with Gir just for you!!!) and Cula Parker requested it! For those of you who haven't seen it, it is about Zim, and alien who is attempting to destroy the earth. His sidekick, Gir (who often disguises himself as a dog... Though a green zip up costume probably wouldn't fool many people, it always does on the show!) is a perpetually disobedient robot. And Zim's nemesis Dib (and Dib's cynical sister Gaz) is constantly trying to stop Zim's plans. With such an amazing show, and characters with such depth these were really fun nails to do! 

Thumb: Invader Zim
Index: Gaz
Middle: Gir
Ring: Gir in his dog costume
Pinky: Dib

More about → Peculiar Polish Series - Invader Zim

31 Day Challenge - Day 4 - Green

I loved the Rugrats when I was growing up and I've already done a nail art tutorial of them HERE. But I decided to feature Reptar for my green challenge. Reptar was a godzilla creature featured a lot through the Rugrats series as a popular movie character/toy. Despite his fierce look, he was often depicted as a hero. :)

I started with SPAritual - Eye of the Beholder and OPI Alpine Snow

Then acrylic paints for all of Reptar's face.

 Here I taped off the tips and used more OPI Alpine Snow for skinny french tips.

Then I stamped BM 224 using China Glaze For Audrey (it didn't stamp very opaque, so I had to go over it with a small brush & more polish)

Add a layer of top coat. I use Seche Vite.

Up close of Reptar, he is kinda cute after all!

Are you enjoying the challenge so far? 

More about → 31 Day Challenge - Day 4 - Green

31 Day Challenge - Day 3 - Yellow

Did I really have a choice? Spongebob Squarepants Nail Art. I have done Spongebob before, and that was when I was just getting into the use of cartoons and I wasn't watermarking my photos... So my Spongebob prior to watermark has been seen all around the internet without credit coming back to me. :( Oh well, lesson learned and I'm on to bigger and better things.

I started with Sally Hansen Insta Dri Lightening.

Then I added 2 coats of China Glaze Snow Globe to the non Spongebob nails. I thought it was perfect to add the effect of bubbles and the colors are great.

Then the rest of these details are all done with various colors of acrylic paint.

Use 2 coats of Seche Vite topcoat once everything is entirely dry. That will smooth out any bumps and unevenness. :)

I hope you're enjoying this challenge!

More about → 31 Day Challenge - Day 3 - Yellow

Peculiar Polish Series - Avatar Tutorial

It's another Dark Thursday and time for an episode of Peculiar Polish! Nev from Nevorpurify's Nail Art  is helping me out by designing looks that might be on the darker side of the cartoon/comic spectrum. If you have a dark suggestion for her, just fill out the embedded form at the bottom of the page!

Here's Nev!

My favorite thing about the Peculiar Polish series is that I'm learning about so many new cartoons that I didn't know much about! Gabby requested Avatar: The Last Airbender nails and a tutorial to go along with it. Avatar was an Asian inspired Nickelodeon series that follows Aang (a bender, who is one who can manipulate the elements) and his friends. On my nails I painted Aang on my middle finger, Katara (a waterbender) on my index finger, Sokka (Katara's brother) on my ring finger, and Momo (the adorable lemur that assists Aang). This is my first ever picture tutorial so I hope it turned okay! It turns out that picture tutorials are hard work! I think everyone needs to applaud Leslie for doing them so often!

First I painted solid base colors. Momo is solid white. Aang is slightly darker than Momo. And Katara is the most tan. I painted the thumb black to add the logo.

Here I added in the hair lines. Aang has a blue arrow tattoo on his forehead. Use Leslie's technique of first making the hair outlines in black, and we'll fill them in with color later.

Add color to the hair, leaving a thin black line for an outline. Also add in lines for eyes and eyebrows. It is okay if they're sloppy, because you'll be adding white to the inside in the next step. Momo needs a cute mouth and nose too.

Fill the eyes in with white. This will leave a thin black line for the outsides of the eyes. Also shade Katara and Sokka's eyebrows.

Add colored dots to the middle of the eyes.

In this step I first put a black dot in the middle of the eye, then off center I added a white dot to give the eyes dimension.

Finally add the logo to the thumb and you're done!

 

I hope you like these nails and I'll see you all next week for a really awesome set of computer game inspired nails!

More about → Peculiar Polish Series - Avatar Tutorial