even if it leads nowhere

merry christmas from this side of the world!
funny, i never thought i'd do anything particular for xmas, but as it turns out, i did.. a couple.. wow. i surprise even me.


this was for a contest over at Parkablogs, a local art book review blog. [highly informative and very useful.] the theme was "kungfu santa", but i don't think i quite caught the essence of "kungfu". owell.

personal piece. no reference cept for the hand. i used my own, which explains why it's so flabby and manly.

and this.. well i don't think i'm going to get anywhere with this hahaha.

it doesn't get better than this

花札 hanafuda x one piece
i'm sold.

someone please get me a set as awesome too!

stgcc'10

decided to drop by the Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention 2010 last week with a friend. appeared pretty late to avoid the crowds, wandered around, bumped into friends and the like.




sketches acquired from the Imaginary Friends Studio booth, where they were providing sketch commissions at 5 bucks apiece.
not a bad deal if you ask me 8D
we asked for four in total, all Street Fighter characters. couldn't think of anything better on the spot, my mind kinda tends to freeze around awesomeness like them.. a pair of Yin and Yang sketches to split between us, and Sakura and Akuma for other people.

also took part in this lucky dip, had to go around obtaining the signatures from various artists present, for a chance to get random art goodies. our bounty was better than expected, we got a print and shirt from IFS!
real life quests ftw :D

what you neglect

Animation Nation 2010 is here again for the week. i missed Genius Party 2 at AN '09 last year, pretty sad. the films this time round seem to be more well-rounded internationally, as compared to the previous times where they were mostly Asian-dominated.
official site here

Oblivion Island: Haruka and the Magic Mirror
ホッタラケの島 〜遥と魔法の鏡〜

this is Production I.G.'s first 3d CG production. i loved the concept. it reminds me of a children's book i had when i was little (oh the irony).

Metropia

also caught this in the same day. a Swedish sci-fi animation. the overall feel of the film left me feeling distinctly uncomfortable, maybe that was the point. the heavily stylized characters, almost morbid, the grim and post-apocalyptic setting, the somber tone with its underlying messages..

both films are definitely worth catching. just try not to watch them in the same day, it gave me some emotional turbulence haha.

bloodstream

right, so here's something different from my usual stuff. trying out a new style that i was mimicking for some of my freelance work last month.
i could get used to it..

shades of gold

another portrait study, this time one of Jacques Louis David's pieces.
the original can be found here.
trying to step outside the usual safe skin colors.

dakota

wip shot.

headshoot

random portrait quickie.
trying not to blend my stuff so much now, but it feels really harsh and craggy.

boy meets cube

"holy crap this thing has edges! how extraordinary!"

playlist:
Marchin On // OneRepublic

YES it's a real update

no kidding!
for my dear queen's birthday which falls on halloween. LAST 365 DAYS OF TEENAGEHOOD ENJOY EM WHILE IT LASTS MUAHAHAHA

not much of an update

this was a portrait from the previous OIC Portrait Day @ TNAG. i see this dude's stuff pretty often at most of the Portrait Days i've been to, but i've never got the guts to talk to him hahaha. someday, someday. anyways, i particularly liked this one he did, it reminds me of Miles Edgeworth, maybe because i just finished the Ace Attorney Investigators on NDSl.



aaaand just for kicks here's a shot from my trip to Hokkaido a couple months back. very awesome scenery with very awesome ramen, who can beat that?!
rest of photos can be found on my flickr for bored people.

okay a real update coming soon, over and out!

oic @ TNAG

some portraits of people i did at the open house of TNAG.
happy messing around with brush pens and Copics.
have i mentioned how much i love drawing girls? seriously.

robots are for something that.. never quite made it.
but it's okay, i like em. :D

and yes, i'm falling in love with brown paper! really digging the texture and the color. anyone knows where i can get more in loose form? [i ripped these out of various sketchbooks, breaks my heart]

picky prototype

i just want to draw.

something so simple, yet it seems so impossible to do in this world.
feeling really lost right now, should i continue down this path, or head off while it's still not too late? i don't want to waste my time being unhappy and worn out, but is it just me being particular about what i want, and not what i really need?

stratos

R.I.P. >:

yes, i just finished Gundam 00 S1. currently in spazz mode gahaha.

icaro

something that never went anywhere.

ichi

for one of the best people in my life.
here's wishing you a very happy birthday, mel! good times ahead :D
and poof, it became koko krunch.

heartbreaker

just a wip. i don't think anyone can tell who this is yet.


edit 01:25am
another update!
as you can see, it hasn't changed much.
i'm thinking of leaving the badass dude at the door as he is.
there's also something compositionally off about this, so i think i might.. just.. stop. blargh.




edit 17:00pm
having saying that out loud, decided to attempt to fix the composition.
i think this is as far as i'm ever gonna get.

the club can't even handle me right now

something somewhere went atrociously wrong along the way. and it's way past bedtime.

panda lily

going with a current-track-playing-for-my-title.

anyways, just messing around a bit in phoshop.. because milk really IS awesome. especially with koko krunch.

morningstar

Lucifer and Sanji have a lot in common. they're both blonde, wear suits, and smoke.
the difference being one is a fallen angel who can kick your ass with light, and the other has curly eyebrows and kicks anything male that moves.

g is for gambit

evidence of what i've been doing during the summer over in the Singapore-MIT Game Lab in Cambridge, MA. the team i was with ended up making 2 games, quite a challenge but it was amazing all the same.




some random character sketches.. we ended up with a weird purple horned dude in a rubber ducky.







concepts for the backgrounds for one of the games






logos and poster designs




SSFIV had just came out so.. i might have gone a little crazy and did some fanart mashing SSFIV style with some of the games' characters.

my team's games are called Seer and Yet One Word, just click to check them out on the Gambit site! check out the other team's games too, pretty cool stuff as well.
all these wouldn't have been possible without the awesome people in my team, and the very cool folks at the Singapore-MIT Gambit lab. thanks everyone, for making what could be the best summer of my life yet.

say goodnight and go

digital study of Angelica Kauffman's self-portrait.
original here


been super long since i painted, getting rusty again. decided to start up with a study of neoclassical portraits, might be just what i need to get back on track.

milkshakes

i just had to. /stifles laughter

スカイ·クロラ

well it's been a long time since i updated!
was in the States for 9 weeks to intern at the MIT Gambit Lab, basically doing my part in making some cool stuff which will be up real soon!
just got back from a vacation in Hokkaido as well, breathtaking countryside scenery. and the ramen! *A*

i finally managed to get through The Sky Crawlers as well, forgive me Mamoru Oshii fans. i can't exactly appreciate slow-paced animations, haha. here's the opening sequence for The Sky Crawlers though. absolutely loved the music and backgrounds, maybe because i'm such a sucker for skyscapes.
also, Kenji Kawai is amazing.

kitty

this is the awesome cat that lives in the next block. i can die from its adorable fluffiness every time i meet it.

the queen and her carp.

this started as an inside joke.. i don't know if i'll ever finish this without grinning stupidly every time i work on it.

a friend just informed me that looks like a piece of toast floating above her head! toast crowns ftw yall.



in other news, i'm going to be in Boston for 2 months! :D

pixar and forks

a post without any artwork!
finally got a chance to go down to the Pixar: 20 Years of Animation exhibition at the local Science Centre.
pretty amazing stuff, it's one thing seeing all these work in a published book, and another thing to actually see them on the scraps of paper or canvases they were originally created on.
and the Toy Story zoetrope! it's like magic! but actually science. haha.




ramen fork, designed by Takahashi Masami for Sugakiya, a Ramen-ya in Nagoya, Japan, for their 60th anniversary.

is this like the coolest thing ever or what?! i want one! .. despite the fact i use chopsticks to eat noodles.. and i don't really drink the soup.. but whatever.

バット

trying starting out with pure color instead of grayscale like i'm used to.
inspired and influenced by the ever-awesome work of loish.