whimsical, arcane, natural:

a description of my favorite things

I’ve always been a pursuer of creative quests. I started writing stories when I was eight. I trained in performing arts for 17 years. I went to school and got BFA in Animation. Along the way I’ve written a swarm of stories, delivered dozens of designs, forged films in genres from animated to documentary. But the work I’m most excited about is the exploration that’s yet to come.

Alina’s Arcana is a conglomeration of dreams I’ve had for years — creating products with my art, catering to my tastes and aesthetics, sharing my creative journey, including my foibles and failures, and educating a community of like-minded aesthetic lovers how to do (and how not to do) the pieces I’ve learned to make.

some tidbits about me -

  • hand-drawn animation, writing historical fiction & fantasy, dancing (mostly ballet), block-cut printmaking, photography & photo manipulation, embroidery, knitting & crochet, baking & being a student of: linguistics, botany, entomology, ornithology, taxonomy, dress history, film, folklore & precolonial Philippine culture

    ( studying IS a creative venture, fight me )

    • Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus

    • Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke

    • Tamora Pierce’s Circle of Magic & Protector of the Small series

    • TV shows Hilda, Over the Garden Wall, The Librarians, Firefly

    • Movies Back to the Future, National Treasure, Newsies

    • Authors Jane Austen, Frances Hodgeson Burnett, Noel Streatfeild, Maggie Steifvater, Mackenzi Lee, LM Montgomery, Leigh Bardugo

    • (love ensemble casts, found family, and heists ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

  • medieval illumination, nectarines & mangoes, drinking copious amounts of tea, tarot reading & symbolism, collecting decks of playing & tarot cards

open for commissions & projects

I’m always open to helping you get your freelance design & illustration work done!

Have a book cover you need illustrated? An event poster? A business card? Just shoot me a message and we’ll connect!