september four

I am alive!

2011-11-10T15:36:00.002+08:00

Had miraculous free time today to do a quick digital paint of a tulip.

Shapes are a wee bit off, but this was mainly a colour thing.

I'm now working in an ad agency and work has been crazy hectic, but I managed to do so much stuff that I've not done before. Can't wait to spend some time updating my website with new things. :)

Some good resting!

2011-10-18T10:34:00.005+08:00

Completed my digital portfolio and managed to put it up on the website last night! The site's now also a temporary white surface with links to places I inhabit on the internet. Once I manage to decide on how big I want my thumbnails to be (yeah, what the heck), the complete look will be uploaded! *aghast*

I managed to become a Creative Professional on behance.net, but I haven't gotten a chance to tinker around their portfolio building tools yet. Need to prune my works as well as work on more projects that are current and show the level of my skills. There are so many inspiring people on Behance and Cargo Collective, it's mindblowing. :) There is also my pile of design books I need to ravage (currently I'm into {Typography Workbook}) so my knowledge of the basics are at least sound.

And by the way, I got 91/100 in this html5 kerning game http://type.me . :D I got killed by the first question and on another when I wasn't paying attention. o_O Kerning can be so addictive, though. It's something once learnt, you cannot unlearn and all these unkerned logos I see on local websites make me :6.

Other news, I'm always on the lookout for short courses I can attend. I found Orita-Sinclair offering Typography courses at 16hours each. It's a little depressing that timing's 3pm to 5pm, which I was hoping I could try for now that I have flexible hours, but I have my interview this coming Monday at 4pm... :( I wonder if they'll offer this course at 7pm? At least if I get a full time job, I can still go for their classes. *weeps*

So I have been able to dispatch my resumes out to the local companies looking for designers. One interview's set on the 31st this month. I can't wait to be lulled by the flow of working every day. Of course, I still want my weekends to last four days. Life is only this short, other than doing good on your full time job, there is also doing good on your full time life. ;) Before I continue with the typography book, I'm halfway through the last book of {The Hunger Games}! Didn't want to read it because it sounded depressing, but the plots and characters push me on. 3: Cried quite a bit over the unfortunate happenings in it too.

Okay, I think I should head on to working on my doll clothing brand {lovesprung}. Recently decided to change the name and work up a proper branding and identity thing for it. Oh ho, after reading {Logos Design Love} and other branding publications, it is imperative that this project of mine be sounder. :)

Do it again...

2011-10-11T20:05:00.002+08:00

Was scrolling through my past posts and since August the 19th, I have more or less gotten most of the stuff I wanted. I've got all except the A3 papers and an iMac. Haha... The initial design for the new website had frames, but then since I'm not an amazing coder, I've decided to stick to just a single page and using tables instead.

So it's starting a little like all over again, and I'm still in the midst of starting proper, with a concept behind the website and all. All I know is I want to display large pictures on a clean layout with a touch of me in it. Thing is, I'm not sure what design. Hopefully after more brainstorming, I can finally get it going.

I've started my temp job yesterday, working half days this week so I can devote the extra time on working out my site and portfolio. Learnt a fair bit from the previous job that I could only stay for a month and 3 days. I am still reading more design books (currently at the first few pages of Typography Workbook) to increase my knowledge. School just wasn't enough and it took me too long to realize that the education I got was just a tiny touch of the surface.

Oh well, better late then never. I am just glad there are so many good books on grids, universal principles of design, typography, page design etc. for me to read. I just got my {Before & After Graphics for Business} book in the mail today! <3 I've referred to their {How to Design Cool Stuff} and {Page Design} books and liked how useful the information was. I just wish I could read faster!

In the worksss

2011-09-25T00:19:00.002+08:00

Howdy. Yes, this is taking way too long. The revamping of the website. :c

Anyway, finally there is progress! Here are two sneak previews!

Would be keeping this idea clean and simple.

Had a rather active Saturday, 20 minutes past. Spent good time reproducing Bridgman's drawings in the central library on top of some shopping, ramen slurping with a good buddy and trying to know more about my finances. :> It's getting late and off to bed I go if I want to head to the gym successfully tomorrow morning.

Beginning of some Collection drawings

2011-08-21T00:36:00.005+08:00

So I found this unused sketchbook lying around with smooth cream paper and a beautiful rose red cover that I've been keeping for 'one day'. This day just so happened to be that 'one day' and I have decided to doodle my collectives in it. I have plans for purses, handbags, perfume bottles, types of ferns, stationery etc. in mind.

I left the first page blank for a proper 'cover page' when inspiration hits, and drew some heels I like on the first arting page with their respective brand titles. Some labels write up gorgeous descriptions for their products, and I like noting them down forever with pen on paper.

Ahhh~ Smooth paper is still the best for these COPIC Multiliners. <3 Oh my, so the previous sketchbook will be abandoned for now? :'(

Here's a look at the completed first page:

There's a washing machine there because Miss Selfridge stated their sandals are machine washable. For real? Won't the heels dent the insides of your machine?

The future looks sparkling~

2011-08-19T10:06:00.003+08:00

As the end of August draws near, I can't help feeling more and more excited. There is a public holiday to be had and then comes the beginning of a brand new chapter in my life. *happy dance* I need to save more money, keep my finances in check but oh boy, there are so many things I would love to have!

I shall publish my wishlist here:

- Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Graph style notebooks: for layout sketching fun! I'll be touching more on publications with my new place, this would come in handy. :>

- iMac: I *still* want one. ;_; My CS5.5 lags on my miserable old MBP.

- Moschino Glamour fragrance: Smells inspire me.

- A3 drawing paper: I've recently been invited to join Artflakes, a platform for selling art prints. Would like to draw bigger so more details can be incorporated and finally sell art again.

As well as things to do:

- Complete ABC app

- Draw

- redesign my website (yesss, when can I do this...)

I've been reading up on various articles and books on design for the past few weeks, learning stuff as I go along. <3

Anyway, I look forward to spending my half-day off from work getting my hair cut as well as another attempt to tidy up my room. I want my cupboards neatened up and more useful instead of just there for storage and mess. *faints* TGIF! :D

sketch walk

2011-08-11T20:00:00.004+08:00

Went on my first proper sketch walk with a friend this National Day (Tuesday). It wasn't very long before our stomachs protested, but at least we enjoyed the quiet time doodling this interestingly detailed building on our way to Duxton Plain.

Here's what I managed to do:

There were so many more buildings on our way to our lunch destination, beckoning for us to stop and draw them. We agreed that the next trip out shall begin at 9am on full stomachs as well as bags stocked full of sandwiches and water. :p

Since my last post, my portfolio look has since changed and I managed to find a new design job! Whoopee! :D I can't wait for the first of September.

changes, changes & more changes!

2011-07-13T19:42:00.003+08:00

Alrighty, I think my website layout needs an update as well. The previous try seemed a little too cluttered. Will try bigger graphics again. How I wish I get a whole week off from work and I can devote all my time on the site and portfolio. Quite a few doodles to scan in and need to create more cute animal graphics for a friend's app.

Test-printed a few pages of my portfolio and I badly need to buy the Color Index books. :/ I need to hit that exact colour I want for my printed works and it irks me when it's not accurate. Pfft, I know, a student who studied design oughta know all these. Arr, I want them booooks. ;__; But I be low on funding for the month. -weeps-

portfolio in the works!

2011-07-10T22:02:00.004+08:00

Bought an A4-sized cream white portfolio case from Kinokuniya yesterday for displaying my works. This will replace the bulky A3-sized black carrier case I had since school days.

The new portfolio design for this year is in the works and here are some of the pages I've been working on these past few days. :> There are still some tweaks here and there I'd like to do (the tags were inspired by the New Super Identity book I recently got). Can't wait to read Grid Systems in Graphic Design by Josef Muller-Brockmann. I studied him and the grid system in my school days, but it was just a superficial touch. Even did some layouts inspired from his grids for a project. I was most proud of them. Should go dig the scans out!

Mojo coming back?

2011-07-06T08:52:00.004+08:00

Found a site called Pinterest, where people share their inspiration boards online with the digital images they see every day on the internet and thought I'd join in the fun. It just seems so convenient to 'pin' up online images for easy reference.

My boards and pins can be found here. Can't wait to doodle out the various shoes to compile into a complete piece great for hanging up on room walls. There's so much inspiration available and I like that I can easily refer to them on this website. Can't wait to use what I've found. :)

By the way, site layout was put on hold while I am busy with work and part-time studies. My pride would not like to admit this, but I fear the majority of brain cells necessary for the understanding of topics like Economics and Finance have passed away and the right-side of the brain is now the only side that's functioning. Oh, but the function of present and past (a left-brain function) works amazingly well for me.

Some information from this Herald Sun (just for fun; the first time I saw the dancer, I was full-on Right-brainer. After tweaking/blinking, I was a left-brainer... It's nuts!):

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS *me!*
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images

present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

busy busy!

2011-04-29T22:13:00.003+08:00

Started working on my new site layout and finally finished planning for one of the pages.

Here's a peek (I haven't finished aligning the arrows all to the right yet)! -

Hmm, looking at the w.i.p. shot up there makes me feel there might be changes to the layout. Oh well, I see things differently every day. Haha... Hopefully, the final layout I put up will be one I'm proud of.

It's going to be quite an ambitious layout. I want to put in more effort in displaying my works, as well as have fun working on my layouting. I've done a study on grids in school a long time ago and loved how it works. Josef Müller-Brockmann's such a genius with it.

Oh, darn, my macbook's O key is conking up. 3: Not now! I've yet to start saving up money for an iMac. It's been on my wishlist for the longest. Hope I can get it this year?

Arr, I'm so tired and sleepy already. Gotta wake up early for work tomorrow.

Can't wait to complete more pages tomorrow! <3

some music to get you going

2011-04-22T14:32:00.007+08:00

Just last night, I discovered Korean girl group f(x)'s newest song Danger. The first listen didn't yield much emotion from me, however, after watching the mv and listening to it a couple more times, I was moving to the beat in no time. I like their side-head-bobbing and the zig zag dance moves. Listening to this makes me do chest popping a lot! :>

I also find it intriguing that they have a tomboy in the group. I've heard of Amber some time back when I was watching clips of Key from SHINee. I had thought she was a boy and a cute one too. She's famous for her boyish charm. It's great that Kpop has this genre of artistes too. More people will be able to identify with the various types of people in the entertainment industry. Other than the cutesy, the sexy, the girl next door, we now have the charming tomboy too.

Here are some screenshots from their colourful mtv. The Koreans always spend so much effort creating interesting and artistic backgrounds for their artistes. I'm not a fan of their clothes sometimes, but the overall style and feel works.

Can you see I'm partial towards the blond girl's style? Love the fuzzy hair and sparkly eye makeup.

The following scene had these members standing and with their clothes changing over and over. I wonder if they had to keep changing their clothes and go into the same position to get this done, or whether it was composited?

I hope they can become more popular and earn big bucks. Korean music artistes work so hard in their singing and dancing so they can give audiences the highest quality entertainment they can get. They practised dancing till they're soaked in perspiration, and their stamina would probably be one of the best because they can sound awesome singing AND dancing. It's not just simple gliding around, it's hip hop moves. This makes Kpop groups number #1 on my list of favourite pop groups around the world. No half-hearted slipshod moves and weak vocals from these folks.

I do love it, after all

2009-12-07T21:20:00.004+08:00

It's been a while. Went onto DA after many months and found an awesome video of a nude model doing slow motion figures. I sketched so many figures/gestures from it and I am happy to say I still find so much joy catching the lines and figures on paper. For my own selfish purpose, I'd like to feel stress-free drawing, not giving a hoot on whether my proportions were right, or whether I used too many lines, or what the hells. Those things just totally kill my joy, or whatever that's left of it after so many years.

Will post up the gestures once I give myself time to scan them. The female form is so beautiful. <3

okay.

2009-11-01T18:36:00.006+08:00

Currently I've sort of deserted my tumblr account. This is my usual bad habit. Inhabiting somewhere online and if I do not use it for long, it gets covered in cobwebs. Sometimes they come back to life, other times they remain dead.

So I'm now working as a temp staff at a statuary board, doing administrative work. Totally nothing to do with art or design. What I need to use most there is my left brain. I borrowed a book from the library, called The Creative License. I finally got around to finding self-help books on picking up art again.

Also, I got inspired and started working out some new characters for an old story. It's bad how I love my villain so much. I don't even have a clear view of my protagonist yet, and my villain already has his storyarcs planned out. I'm fine with it, better than having nothing thought out.

Here're some pages from the sketchbook journal I started in October!

And the below is a sneak on something I'm working on now, after a long, long time. I finally went through 400+ worth of deviations on my DA account (I was so inactive) and I came across Loish's Disney colouring page piece. So I figured, since I can't draw anything to paint, why not try to paint something already available in the style of an old master!
I am happy with my trees and backgrounds... However, I get so intimidated painting human skin. :( I'm stuck painting Snow White. I have no idea how to continue... T__T

Lol, and you don't even get to have a sneak peek on Snow White, whether it be her skin or her clothes. :( That bad....

pencil drawings rock

2009-07-06T17:41:00.007+08:00

I've been busy with work recently, and didn't have much inspiration for art when I was free this past month, thus the lack of updates. I managed to borrow D.M. Cornish's [ FOUNDLING ], which is volume one of his Monster Blood Tattoo series. I love his drawings! Not only is he a good writer, his art is wonderful too. They're perfect for animation. <3He uses pencils and his character silhouettes are very interesting. Here's a scan of one of my favourite characters:

I've finished the first book and am now into his second. The books are mainly for young adults. Ah, I still prefer Tamora Pierce's and Raymond E. Feist's books and characters, though. If their books have artworks like D.M. Cornish's too, it'll be a superb experience and makes it all the more worthwhile buying their books. I do collect Pierce's Tortall series, and only recently bought Feist's newest release. Perhaps I ought to do some fan art. D:

Here're some drawings I did today (with photo references), after getting muchly inspired by Cornish's art.

meep.

2009-06-11T11:09:00.005+08:00

Haven't painted for quite a while. Didn't have inspiration and I had work to do. Here's one referred from a photo from mr. Hans Bacher's nature moments collection of photos:

Another one's coming, to make up for my lack of painting activity.

Went shopping at Zara yesterday. I love the soft fabrics they have for most of their clothes, it just feels absolutely divine to wear and touch. I am still wanting to have a luxurious spree there one day. The daydream of being able to purchase more than 2 pieces in their stores one day.
I just searched them up on wiki and read about their 'fast fashion' state. I like this marketing strategy of theirs:

"The company's instant fashion model, which completely rotated its retail stock every two weeks, also encouraged customers to return often to its stores, with delivery day becoming known as "Z-day" in some markets. The knowledge that clothing items would not be available for very long also encouraged shoppers to make their purchases more quickly." quoted from their Wiki page.

I do feel like that! There was this one time I went there in search of a dress to wear to a friend's wedding dinner and found a pretty royal purple dress. I didn't buy it thinking I ought to look around more in the other shops. And just a few days later I decided I will get that dress after all, only to return and find it out of stock. :( That is how fast their items disappear off the racks. So from then on, I made up my mind that should I fancy anything when I'm there I ought to get it immediately so as not to disappoint myself. Of course, it shouldn't be impulsive buys, but smart buys. Buys I know that I will definitely wear countless times.

I hope my dolly clothing shop online can be somewhat like this, too. I recently stated in announcements that we do not make large quantities of products. One item is usually a one-of-a-kind or limited to less than 10 pieces. I feel that our items are exclusive this way, plus we are not a factory, but more of a small shop. Our prices are reasonable as well, compared to other doll clothing makers in the market. Plus quality is on par or even better too, since my mother's sewing skills are phenomenal. <3>

some relaxing photos

2009-06-09T11:55:00.004+08:00

I recently found this Korean fashion shop online and I love their style of photography. It's so soft, and gives me a relaxing feeling that I like. These are some of my favourites from their website. Fashion photos have inspired me alot for drawing and my own photography for dolls. :) I love looking at photographs.
You can visit their shop here. They have video representations for every product, it's so extravagant!

I've recently found yet another nice song sung by Hatsune Miku. It's a trance piece called [Silence]. I have also started relistening to Gackt's 2000 album, [Mars]. I still like [Ares] best, of course, it goes perfect with [Asrun Dream], the song that comes right after it. :( It's been nine years since I started liking Gackt's things... It's sad how I only like his older works. I suppose I prefer him in his angsty jrock stage in life more than his popstar thing now.

something I forgot

2009-06-01T18:47:00.004+08:00

Another quick piece I forgot to upload. I did this on the 7th... The sunlight in the bottom middle got a little smudged/muddy/unnatural.. But I like the lighting still.

Oh, and beautiful song and powerful images here on Youtube. It's called [KOKORO], and sung by a NicoNico Singer, Namakonyuruko. Though, the original piece was sung by a vocaloid. I like this mv better. :) Ah... Perhaps I ought to dig up that album of Hatsune Miku's I still have with me. I listened too much to it that I grew sick of the songs. Oops... That's what happens to most of my listening-happy songs. :( I listen too much and kill the joys in them. Hope I like them again now.

a girl.

2009-05-25T17:37:00.004+08:00

A rough-looking piece. I finally painted a human, though it's unfortunately nothing wham bam in my opinion. I need to get my drawing fire back... The pencil drawing thing where I can create crisply detailed characters in nice poses. T_T

sweet orchard

2009-05-22T11:50:00.003+08:00

Friday, the last day of the work week. Yay. I am looking forward to tomorrow, where I will be tasting some yummy cakes at Canele. But before that, I need to photograph my dolls in their newest clothes sewn by my mother. I will need to do more research on some human fashion shoots so I may try to improve.A whee bit of stagnant going on with the dollies. I have yet to own a candy-themed doll that's all pastels, sweets and creams. I want a pink-haired or blue-haired character with soft features and dresses in heavily layered long gowns of frills, lace and ruffles. I've always wanted one character like that but it's yet to happen. Need to do something about this else I'll feel a little stiffled.

dessert time!

2009-05-21T16:22:00.005+08:00

Arrr, one of the reasons why I'd love to be wealthy is to be able to spend lots and lots on delicious cakes. -nomnom- Plate's a little out of shape... perspective of cake is a little off as well, but oh well. I don't have the energy right now to keep tweaking it. I do admit this is pretty rushed and a little unfocused. Excuse: I'm still babying my recovering sore eye.

Ohh, and Typeracer is pretty fun. My highest was 96 wpm. Some people type 201 wpm, which is incredibly amazing.

Monday again.

2009-05-18T16:45:00.008+08:00

I've been resting for some time due to The Eye again. Doctor and I could finally point a definite finger at my workplace's air conditioning system for providing dryness. I have now moved opposite my original seat temporarily to help my eye recover fully (this seat has me facing away from the air-conditioner's fan).

Here's another 'speedy' with reference to one of the pictures from Mr. Hans Bacher's Moments collection of images. I like this sort of feeling the most (especially when I'm daydreaming)...

And here's a composition piece I doodled for fun. Excuse the rubbish on the floor. Would work better if the whites are stark whites, though. It's a little sad how I didn't have any inspiration for Wacom's [Bring your vision to life] contest. :( I suppose I don't feel skilled enough to produce something for it yet.

a bucket

2009-05-07T13:13:00.011+08:00

So here's another colour practice. I got a little too hasty with this one. The flowers were pretty badly done. I lost my focus for the stems, I suppose. Anyway, I hope I can become more productive... Like, at least one piece a day? ;__; I'm such a lazy bum. Music is totally pushing me on, though! Namie Amuro + Wheesung + Se7en power!

Oh yes, these little pieces usually take me a few hours. Perhaps 1 to 2 hours. All done on a single layer without the use of the eraser. Speedpaint? My reference photo was from Kristin Bradley on Flickr.

Oh, oh, and my boss brought the art team to a meeting with Imaginary Friends Studio the day before yesterday! -flails- It was so awesome meeting the artists in person and I got to shake hands with the three founders: Artgerm, Kai and Kunkka. My mood lifted quite a bit after this visit. :) Inspired by real people, indeed. I was a little disappointed I didn't bring any namecards to give in return to the ones I received. Oops. ._.

On another note, the weather's been rather odd. Thundering and pouring in the wee hours of the morning and going cloudless in the day. The sun's unforgiving rays can burn things right off the surface, I tell you. However, the grasses and trees are surviving. I enjoy the quiet walks to work every day. Sometimes, leaves rustle in the cool breeze. Other times, mynahs and sparrows hop around on the verdant grasses by the road. The sky can be so blue. I do miss the large expanse of unblocked skies I could see in Sydney though. The sky here gets blocked so often.

buruburu

2009-04-30T15:50:00.005+08:00

Another sad little colour background practice... Oops, the sun is a tad dirty...

I think I'm slowly getting inspired to draw character art... Seeing so many awesome artworks by the Korean artists online is making my fingers itch more to create something new... I just don't know who to draw and I want to come up with more new characters of my own. I used to create characters by the dozens each week. What the heck... ._.

practise....

2009-04-28T14:01:00.016+08:00

I figured since I have no idea what I want to draw for myself, I'd just practise on colours and stuff... Here's a little colour lighting practice I did based on one of the pictures of the model buildings from the animated adaptation of the musical CATS. I had my reference from Mr Hans Bacher's blog. :]
This was done wholly without picking colours from the original photo. x_x I've been guilty of picking colours from photos to colour my things because I'm lazy. Working off my bad habits, I kind of surprised myself. The histogram didn't turn out almost the same, but it's fun! I love the colours in this.

I've been going through his blog for the past few days, prior to attending his fulltime course I just signed up with CG Protege scheduled to start at the end of June. <3

And another try below, with one of Onixa on DA's photos for reference. She captures a lovely combination of colours/treats her photos very well. I love viewing her photographs because of the different feels I get from each.

Oh, and this poor girl whom I've been stuck on for the past few weeks. x_x I had reference for her awesome pose and it was originally full bodied, but I realise how she looked odd. Cropping seemed feasible. Is she holding onto a whip?! A baton? A baseball bat? What?? I think I'm procrastinating on this chick... Oh wait, her left hand is off. ARGH.

>> Listening to Namie Amuro's [ Best Fiction ] album now. She sounds so hawt. Well, I usually don't take English R&B well because the lyrics get way too raunchy for me (though sometimes it's unfortunate as the music is great on the other hand). Korean and Japanese work better as long as I don't search up the lyric translations. :x I suppose I go for music/beats/rhythms more than lyrics.

Health-wise, my sore eye is STILL around after more than a month. I just wish it'll go away NOW. Dammit... It's freaking me out seeing my left eye blood red in the mornings. =_= Also, I freak people out with my 'demon eye'... It's embarrassing. :(

fleur ange~

2009-04-24T10:26:00.007+08:00

Feeling a little more artsy so I finally got around to scanning this lineart I did in January. Her head and hair were mostly done, just the body was missing. With help from my beautiful doll (a Unoa Zero), I had reference to draw her hand and stuff. :3 Unons have the prettiest hands of all dollies in my opinion.

So I messed around in photoshop with the colours and textures from cgtextures. :] I worked with a colour palette I created on Colour Lovers (though not stringently). I actually wanted to do a mirror image thing, but I've yet to try it out. Perhaps next time?

This image was originally created for Valentine's Day. ._. Rather late, I might say...

Updates~

2009-04-22T15:57:00.008+08:00

Haven't had enough push to produce completed pieces lately... I suppose I'm stuck in an art block. :( Anyway, here are some gestures and little renders I've done with a mechanical pencil over the past few weeks. ._. The latest is the brooding statue I rendered earlier today. Wanted to observe more light/shadows and fabric folds. Badly mishapen hair on my part, I'm afraid... But I love spotting how light reflects on shadowed parts! It just seems so miraculous. -physics sloth-

End Earth character update

2009-02-17T15:18:00.008+08:00

Woohoo, two new sketches of Ghos and Nyl's dad. Will be exploring more on the dad's look. This one still isn't there yet. Now off to cleaning up some storyboards. *Grrr... I.. suck at controlling the alignment of the pictures.

More colourful things

2009-02-14T15:06:00.002+08:00

The latest work I did for a project at work. The original colours are more vibrant. :3 Was asked to draw three globes in a quirky style and filled with objects and each having one satellite dish. It was pretty fun to work on these. This above image is my own rendition using the original colours to showcase my work. The one to be used will be rendered/tweaked by the designer to fit the project.

Ah, have yet to scan in the gestures I've been doing. Do look forward for more sketches for the End Earth project from work. :3 I drew this sneering man in his forties and a handsome Indian mix guy. :D

{ last day of 2008 }

2008-12-31T12:20:00.004+08:00

Hee, remembered to give my artblog some love on the last day of the year. Feeling a little depressed today, but I still want to listen to my {Distrails} album and immerse in sadness? I find it's good for production of art and things. Though being close to tears might not be all that great a feeling. ._.

Art above was completed yesterday. Purely digital practice piece done in photoshop using purely hard-round brushes and the eraser. Kaecile's the boy on the left. He's my half-demon elf who's confused on his standing in the world of demons and day elves. Next to him is his demon admirer, Japonica. She's one hot chick who's in love in Kaecile. Though Kaecile might end up loving another lady. :( Poor Japonica.

I hope I can do much better art-wise for the year 2009. Less procrastination and more hard work.:)

Have a great New Year, everyone!

some quirky illustrations?

2008-11-25T15:28:00.014+08:00

Site is up!
:) Some updates with work illustrations I did for a Malaysian band's website. Link will be up when the site's ready and you can see more with animation~

I drew most of the elements (basically everything except for the drum city at the left back, the boulevard in the centre back and the mountains in the bg).

I like the telephone guy too. :3 I made him into a sticker. Hee.

test paint

2008-09-18T13:41:00.004+08:00

I chanced upon my fellow colleague, Kai, watching this artist produce his works by using photographs in the initial process and then treating and manipulating them to paint over etc. I find it pretty useful, since I'm still learning how to pick colours for paintings. Though I don't use the guy's method 100% like he does, I just made use of the pictures for colours. :]

I prefer using photographs as textures, but I think I would be happy to manipulate photos to get interesting shapes to form new art.

The above was a test paint using colours from the original flower image I had. I love the blues and yellows. Her hair colour wasn't part of the original image though. She's giving off a rather pierrot/clown-like quality because of her skin and lip colours. It's still rather flat though. I'm not satisfied with the shading (or lack thereof). Oh well, better one next time.

Oh, and she reminds me of my doll girl, Kotone. I wanted to paint/draw the next dolly I'm saving up for. She's going to have a snow white skintone, is sleepy-eyed and look like a bisque/antique doll? I'm so not saving much at all. -weeps-

First Hardboiled Article

2008-09-15T10:59:00.003+08:00

The company I'm working in right now has this online magazine called Hardboiled. I was given my first Flash-based article to work on last month, and I did one called Flower Power. The issue's theme is the Hippie era, so Flower Power is all about pro-peace.

My very first attempt was way ghey and unacceptable. =A= I lacked the inspiration for a 'Flashy' layout and I didn't like it very much. However, when news came in that MTVi wanted to make use of the theme to launch a photo contest, I was eager to revamp the layouts! X3 So yay, here be uber colourful designs to feed your eyes! Haha... I worked on the little animations as well, though I must say it's not that great. Got to get more used to animating more elements in a flash article. ^^ The article was scripted by my com's scripting whiz and I had a little help from my art director as well. :]

You guys can visit the live website here at MTVi and do join in the photo contest! ^^=

Below are some stills of the article layouts I did.

bird

2008-08-01T11:57:00.004+08:00

Here be a rough scenery piece I did up for fun (with photoshop's watercolour brush and an oil painting texture slapped on). I had reference for it, but I didn't follow everything exactly :x ) :

Did a digital sketch of a bird girl yesterday. :x She was originally a mermaid, but I didn't like the flow of her body so she eventually became a singing bird human lady. Sketching's fun.

Brian Biedul references

2008-07-29T15:24:00.000+08:00

I just found Brian Biedul's wonderful series of oil paintings titled Spaces. So I tried to work on some sketches with reference from his series:

His original pieces:

And here be my 10~15minute renditions in photoshop (ugly toes and all):

twins / mirror image

2008-07-29T14:05:00.000+08:00

A quickie I did just now:

:x I ought to resist posting 'sketchy', 'sort-of incomplete' artworks on my DA. =_= Since now I have this yummy artblog which isn't governed by the comments/faves that people give... ._. Oh well...

Hmm, a piece on a very cliche/heavily-used theme of one's mirror image being alive, or having an evil twin. I originally wanted to paint a peroxide blonde guy (who was going to be inspired by this guy I saw last evening on the streets) but argh, I couldn't make it. I want to do more dynamic posing, but what did I end up with. =_= I've always wanted to try reflective patterns, and this is a half-step towards it. A very neutral piece for now. I haven't gone in depth like using colours to represent each side's wrath/tranquility and making more use of different forms. So yup. First half-step. Will do better next time.

Painted this while listing to 阿兰 (A Lan)'s [心·战], [明日への讃歌] and [ひとつ]. She's so talented, I like her voice and her high notes. You can watch some of her pv's on youtube: here, here (fave high notes) and here. Her voice raises good goosebumps. :)

r e v i v a l

2008-07-28T15:35:00.000+08:00

It's been many years since I last used blogspot for doing journals. :) Now I'm starting up this new journal as more of an art dump for sketches and finished work etc.

Some digital sketches I did today to refresh my mind about the human form. I haven't practised gesture drawing for many weeks already and I feel very stiff. I'll scan in the other gesture drawings I did during the last three months and post them up.

While here're some w.i.p's of the [End Earth] character, Nyl: (yes, there are quite a bit of unproportionate parts here and there, everywhere lol)

Here's an illustration for one of the children's book ideas about a little vampire child (dated 30th of June):

And a digital painting of a bust done on the 9th of June this year. :[

:) That's all for now.