I do love it, after all

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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!

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.

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

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

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....

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~

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~

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

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

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