two portraits

More doodles from 2017, lightly edited:

Was testing out a new pen (actually I think it is a marker for kids). Was also watching a lot of episodes of “Don’t Trust the B—- in Apt 23” which was a surprisingly funny and refreshing show, hence the second doodle.

Also, I can’t get enough of the combination of light neon blue + salmon orange ugh such a lovely blend…!

Colours of the sky, and larch trees in autumn

Is it too early for a reflection-on-the-whole-year sort of post? Well I didn’t intend it, but I wanted to post a sketch from Mongolia, and I think reflection necessarily comes with thoughts of Mongolia.

(Again, kind of surprised that I still know how to use Photoshop, sort of.)

2016 is, as a whole, a pretty sucky year. Except that I went to Mongolia this year, and that may very well make up for the rest of the year. I’m not sure if I can put into written word the special-ness of that trip without being incoherent. I spent almost the entire trip fretting and praying that I would not fall off my horse and down the hills and to my death. And then I spent the following week back home feeling, in place of those said worries, not relief but hollowness. I think, maybe, that may just about sum it up and anyway I never intended this to be a wordy blog.

And then, of course, since Mongolia, a lot of things happened… both far away and closer to home.

Much more recently, I finally visited the new National Gallery of Singapore, with Mas. I really enjoyed Iskandar Jalil’s Kembara Tanah Liat collection. But the beauty of the shapes and the colours are quite difficult to capture in drawing. So on my journey home, I embarked on attempts at Georgette Chen instead:

out of shape/proportion.

still pretty out of proportion in the facial features, but I liked it enough to play around with.

I guess despite all the sucky things that happened this year, it has been a sobering year. And I am quite thankful for that.

As the Foo Fighters say, “It’s times like these / you learn to live again; It’s times like these / you give and give again”.

Or maybe that’s all bullshit, but I don’t want to stop trying.

Not-progress chart

Something from 2009 which I just recently uncovered:

So these were characters that I used to draw pretty often… One is a wizard, and the other is an assassin (because, Rurouni Kenshin ftw). I had a storyline going for the latter, though incomplete, and for a long time it was my dream to turn that story into a comic. Luckily I’m a fervent note-taker and hoarder. Ha.

Then, something from recently:

Ted and Jude, who else.

On a sidenote, it seems like I turn to drawing (only) when most of everything else sucks. Though in a way I’m grateful that I have at least that, the last bastion when everything else is, or seems to be, crumbling.

A “thing” that online artists do is to upload “progress charts” where they show something from several years ago compared to current work. Usually the difference is pretty astounding (otherwise there’s no point uploading it, really). So this is a not-progress chart, because not much has changed, even when it has.

 

Gangsters with big lips, and laundry

I am quite determined to have at least ONE post in 2013, so here it is:

 

The top doodle is about my love of doing laundry. I mean, it is still a chore, but whenever I am travelling overseas, nothing quite beats the domestic joy of having freshly-laundered clothes that I washed myself. There is just a strange sense of satisfaction that comes with it. Also, I love the smell of freshly-laundered clothes. Also, I like the word “freshly-laundered”.

I also like the idea of this gangster biker chick with big lips and her whole attitude is just, whatever. I could imagine her smoking and flicking the ashes on any passerby with a douche-y face she doesn’t like. That’s who I want to be in my next life (the chick, not the passerby with douche-y face).

I need to start doodling again! Not the easiest thing with a full time job that tends to consume your whole life.

Sudbin, Rachmaninov, and Jude

From summer last year:

I went to see Yevgeny Sudbin, my favourite male pianist, play Rachmaninov around June/July last year and it was so beautiful.  *_* He stayed to sign autographs during the interval and I got another autograph from him although I still did not summon the guts to ask for a photo. So I contented myself by doodling him.

And then I drew Jude because she also likes music, and I’m pretty sure she would also enjoy Rachmaninov.

the young ladies and their bare shoulders

I have been thinking a lot about drawing lately. Since yesterday, actually. In fact, doing more thinking than the actual drawing. *shifty look* It all started with the Europe plans, and my decision to spend two weeks in London alone. I decided I will try to commit the alone time to draw, in a place that is so warming and inspiring to me. 🙂 And just now I watched Tangled (instead of doing my work, thanks to my brother), and watching the credits roll after a good animation film just rekindles that old dream of one day having my name among the credits, too.

-insert wistful sigh here-

Well in honour of the princess-y mood of Tangled, here is a princess-y sketch from (way) earlier this year:

(Incidentally, this was drawn while I was on a solitary trip from London up to Edinburgh.)

Have a floating fish as well!

Sketchbook page – October

A page from my sketchbook from October:

 

1. I saw an exchange student studying in the library and couldn’t help thinking how cool he looked even though he was studying. o_o But when I tried to doodle him it ended up looking like a vampire instead.

2. Drawn sometime after the Westlife concert on 3 October. T_T

3. Due to the failed attempt at drawing Cool Exchange Student, I doodled the stuff on his table instead. But still cannot capture how he manages to look cool while studying. Need to know what cool pills he is taking.

Larry the cat

Inspired by this article from BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15717341

David Cameron’s hair was surprisingly hard to draw! (See the eraser marks making a grey fuzz on his head in the third doodle.)

Nothing but summer rain

Doodle from a month or two ago (have lost track of this concept of Time) and colourified in…1 hour/2 hours? *marvels at procrastinating ability*

currently loving this deep dusty red/brown/pink colour. Need to learn to be braver with colours (but it is just so much quicker and more fun to just doodle in pencil).

Jude again — I don’t think she had blue hair before this, now I realise it looks nice (well anything can look nice in a picture I guess) and kind of suits her. So, Jude is a small-time musician (without really big aspirations for fame) and the title of this post comes from the song she is singing. I draw her more than Ted because guys’ hair is hard to draw. T_T But I should pay him more attention because his story is actually a bit more interesting.

“I’m here”

Sketch from 2009:

It’s Ted and Jude – I’ve featured one half of them in my first post but here is the two of them together. These characters take on a life of their own, really. I am quite sure that they love each other a lot but I never really know if it goes beyond the platonic into the romantic. Or maybe I’m just indecisive, or I just want to paint the message that it doesn’t matter what kind of love it is. What matters is the depth. Like the kind portrayed in the song “For Good” (Wicked).. or “Flying Without Wings”. Everybody’s looking for that something, everybody knows it.

Enough rambling. :-p I made an attempt at colourifying it last year:

…but failed miserably (as seen from my frustration). Probably for the better, too, since there are too many problems with the drawing itself! I need to keep practising to smooth out these sorts of kinks though it does get hard nowadays.