Monday, July 17, 2017

Watercolour Practice : Playing with shapes


Recently I have been reading up on Watercolour ...haha I know right. After all these while of "bang wall", I finally bothered to read up (at least a little bit) on how to start (properly?)

All because I had to teach a little girl. Which was totally unexpected and it made me realize .. my "bang wall" totally cannot be used nor taught cause I don't wanna spoil her "foundation" (though technically she's just sorta, playing around)

So I read up on washes and stuff. Apparently this is good practice!
Yea, this whole ball ball thing is a Watercolour practice.

Haha quite therapeutic and the result is usually very pretty!

Think it can be easily made into cards / tags / wrapping papers etc. (though it works better on thick paper so..not too sure how la if wanna wrap stuff...)

U can do other shapes I guess. I tried triangles too.

And next thing I knew, I got hooked HAHAHAHAAH it's like doing some children art thing! πŸ™ˆ

Zero stress!

Please. When I have a kid next time. I hope at least one likes drawing πŸ˜‚ or at least will layan me la.

No need to be all so serious.
"I wanna be an artist when I grow up!" hahaha
Just hope they can play along since art is a form of creative release right?!
Like singing? hahahha Okay la, if they don't layan me in terms of drawing, I don't mind singing also!

Wonder what else I can do with these shapes!

These came out cause well...sooooo many chicken babies! Like damn a lot. Baby chicks everywhere!

Either *almost* everyone I know gave birth this year or got preggers (it's just July! So I assume there will be more!)

I'm sure nothing to do with chicken year, just so ngam everyone's timing la πŸ˜‚ the age and all. And you know sometimes it's like a ....."infectious disease"? Like how one girl gets her period and then it snowballs?! everyone gets period?! Yea, this whole preggers thing feels the same LOL

Thursday, June 29, 2017

Day 180 - Gouache Woes



I really really really don't know what to do / how to handle gouache!

😐😐😐

Also..don't think this is the right technique. I feel like I'm using the same way I would use buncho.

And ...somehow I like my sketch on the right more than the actual finished work hahahahaahah more feel??

Oh! Those pompom socks. Would wear it if I'm ah...4 HAHAHAHAAH wayyyyy overage for that!


I know why already the sketch has more feel. She's bald in front HAHAHAHAAH

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Drawing children

Just a random practice piece.

After doing a few live illustration ..I honestly wanna try drawing children. Not sure how well I will do cause children are even harder to capture I guess?

Dahlah for adults live, not like I'm super good at it. But I guess so long the kids are drawn "cutely", it's okay? Hahaha #excuses

But honestly, it's just cause I think kids are sooo adorable. I drew once cause one of the guest brought her baby.

Quite fun leh! Not 100% same but ..ok ba? πŸ˜…
Ta-dah!

I didn't know it at the time of drawing but after much searching on insta. (Wanna see if got any photos of my drawing cause during live there's zero time to take any) & found out that she is sophie3aby.

Not sure if any of u guys follow her but guess who does now πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

I follow so many children account, it's not even funny πŸ™ˆ

Anyway, yea. Hope to have a chance on this soooon! ⭐️

Though I have a feeling my style..it will be more of the parent asking the kid to sit than the kid wantingπŸ˜…
πŸ˜‚ I was right about capturing their faces! Dang. Need more observation skills..or something.

But ah! So fun ✨πŸ™ˆ
(Although from a professional pov, my skills are prolly all over the place. I really should go for a long term proper Watercolour class. Have been randomly doing it as I wish since I started)

Gonna just continue this style for another 3 pcs or so (since I already decided which to draw)

Then will try another kind of execution πŸ™ŒπŸΌ

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Of floral drawings


Anyway, have been trying to do florals lately.

Reason being..I guess I just jumped on the bandwagon seeing how pretty they are being drawn.

It will be my first time doing realistic style. Which I suck at. In a way, I guess I suck at it cause I avoid? Hahahahaha

Art is really, one will only improve with practice. There's no other way.

Obviously.. as you can see. I need more practice πŸ™ˆ
Dandelion girl!

Need to think of more "less drawn" flowers.

For now..I think the popular ones are tulip, roses (damn a lot of roses), hydrangeas, French roses (not sure what are the flowers called actually, but it was in my wedding bouquet HAHAHAHAAH cause the florist couldn't get peonies πŸ˜…) and peonies πŸ˜‚

Guess girls like these flowers in general.

Oh and monstera, or whatever big ass leaves.

Actually the list feels like anything with a wedding-y feel πŸ˜‚

Can see? Those big pink flowers!
Quite popular now.

When I got married, the trend was peonies and this was like "hami lai?" (What isit?) haha
But for some odd reason, there were no peonies available so my florist had to switch to these flowers which weren't known at all at that time for weddings! Not long after my wedding, the flower became popular!...he's quite a visionary guy huh? hahaha

But I think the trend now is moving to greens? Like just foliage (isit called that?)

Anyway, wedding trend moves damn fast! I got married 8 months ago but whatever info I have is ...considered outdated Liao πŸ˜‚ #madness

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Travelers Notebook : Christmas Layout


Monday, December 26, 2016

My Cina Christmas

How was everyone's christmas!!! 🌲
(Yea this is a backlog HAHA it's OK la. Christmas is 12 days right!)

My day started with tong yuens cooked by my MIL πŸ˜‚

Not that I mind since I love the super kao ginger soup! But 1st time leh!

My Christmas as a wife & I can has tong yuen.

Don't know what brand she bought but the sesame is 😩 (this is also the 1st time tong yuen is bought. At home it's made frm scratch. So it's a bit ...😢)

My MIL much older than my mom but she follows less traditions hahaha πŸ˜‚

 
 
Wanted to go family mart to see see but it was sooooooo jam! (Totally underestimated the Christmas crowd)

So we ended up eating this πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

(Should have known by seeing the tong yuen, it's a sign that my Christmas is gonna be a cina ah pek one)


πŸ˜› I'm one of the few that doesn't eat meat (or got la but don't really) at BKT. I prefer all the fu chuks, tao fu poks, yao zha kuai, mushrooms and veggies.

In other words, (as my bro says) I like vegetarian BKT. πŸ˜‚

But no leh! The soup must be use pork one!!! πŸ˜‚ though I also don't mind vegetarian one la!

And I also like my bowl to be flooded with soup. Like soup is the base, rice is topping πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

Give face la. Must have a bit of rice for show. Hahahahaha


The shop next to the BKT.

Lazy to move from my spot. So here's a kns photo of it.

The main reason was the outlook.

The door and all its whiteness!
Looks so...."hidden gem"?

Like if there's an article "top 20 hidden gems", this might be shortlisted Hahahaha

The 2 guys keeps staring back at me cause I was staring at them waiting for them to go away to get a good shot.

Aih' they smoke so long geh?!

Anyway, sent this to ms.ng to ask what does it say (banana woes)

It says "Mee" wor! 😳


Dinner πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

Damn nonsense our day (and full of mono whatever saturated fats. Only this part feels like Christmas. That I'm fat from eating haha)

I don't care what everyone says about how unhealthy the soup is for instant noodles. I whack em all!

Maybe that's why my hair is so thin 😩
But I hardly eat! I think I only see maggi like once in 3 -4 months?!

Which I assume is not a lot?! 😦
Last time during college, I see those guys eat it every other day when they have no money. Don't know how man. They had loads of hair despite that though!


Finally closed the sales for Christmas! Means the end of all my packaging πŸ˜‚

I nvr wrapped so much in my life!

And it showed how much I hoard cause even with alllll those packing. I still have a lot of ribbons and stuff πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

Still taking orders for cny but definitely not gonna wrap like this man! Will faint!

From that packaging to this πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

Diff ppl wanted diff things and some even started customizing the faces πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

Okayla. Whatever makes you guys happy & buy more!
#needthemoney
#customerisalwaysright


Even did origami πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
So hardworking yes?

Actually just to finish up all my stuffs la. Might as well. But still...a huge box of origami papers ! Gah!
I should start wrapping presents using the origami papers!

Sold tons of fruitcake this year thanks to social media 😳

Shocking what FB can do seriously.

My mom says she needs to restock her Martel Hahahaha


Well! Today I can has my family mart!

50% off (was it 50%?!) for soft serve if you like their FB page.

No wonder so many ppl were ordering matcha!

But the place was much much smaller than I expected!

But I guess having a lil bit of Japan is better than nothing at all 😁



Saturday, December 10, 2016

Stabilo x Cristjen_lai portrait drawing workshop

And it's time for .....
*drumroll*
#bulatgoestoworkshops
#stabilomy

πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
drama haha #syioksendiri

It has been a while!! I love attending workshops but ..the wallet has been pretty erm...sahara desert-ish lately (can u believe I have 3 weddings this month alone? Give angpao till pain πŸ˜‚ πŸ’Έ)

Super blessed to be able to attend this one☺️

Portrait drawing by christjen_lai (that's his insta handle btw) using Stabilo point 88.

Doesn't the drawing look insane!?
Forgive me...but the post might prolly sound all over the place cause I didn't take enough photos + it has been a few days + kinda forgot how to Dayre hahahahahah πŸ˜‚
As usual!
Materials!

We were all given a few pcs of photostated portraits, eraser, pencil, tracing paper and of course, Stabilo point88 in 12 colours!

I brought my own since I have! Don't waste.

So firstly, we traced the portrait on the tracing paper.

#cheatone πŸ˜‚

I really got a shock honestly. Cause I wanted to know the tips (tricks?) to drawing a portrait (need to lvl up for my live drawings, in case ma)

But here I am, tracing πŸ˜‚ that being said, the teacher doesn't trace yea.
I mean, he traced to show us la but he can do live portrait drawing 😁

Anyway I asked him how come trace...I mean, how is that helping? Copying ma.

He said it's actually one of the faster way to learn. It's called ...muscle memory πŸ˜‚ the more you trace, the more your muscle learns plus u will see things that u won't notice if u just look instead of tracing.

Tracing gives u more concentration and also more confidence ☺️

Okay. Fair enough πŸ˜‚
Anyway, he said even famous painters from history (forgot who) traced. They use projectors to project on the wall / huge canvases.

Didn't know that.

So this means...anyone can draw πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚
With lots of hard work + patience.
After that we traced it again on Watercolour paper.

Can't believe we are using Watercolour paper πŸ˜… feels so wasted + expensive. But he said the texture will help give depth or something like that.

There is no rule for the tracing!

Like me..I think I traced almost every thing. The highlight, the shadow πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

He said it's fine. It just means I see more details in general.
Then we proceeded to mark the areas where we see the highlights (means the light parts) the shadows (the dark part)

I didn't do it but the next step is to actually number the areas.

So 1 being the lightest.
Till...whatever number for the darkest. That would really depends on how much your eye can distinguish.

For me...I just whack πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚ can't really tell.

But he says it's all about practice, so the more u draw, the more your eyes can see the differences.
That is also the reason why when u wanna pick portraits, u pick a more contrasting one. So that it's easier to see where are the highlights etc.

Or u can just adjust the contrast on photoshop before printing it out la πŸ˜‚
Since we are all noobs πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

Start with yellow!
Leave the highlights white and start shading.

Sounds easy right? πŸ˜‚ but honestly quite intimidating cause it's pen (ink?) straight. Meaning no erasing. No undo button.

If it's pencil, then it isn't so bad.

If I already feel intimidated (cause in general I am not super good in colours) I can just imagine how the rest (esp those without art background / work) feel πŸ˜…

Btw, this is the teacher's work!
Damn nice Pls!
Mine and the teacher's!

Maybe not obvious but I can see the differences πŸ˜‚ my strokes are so heavy! And I have some awkward shadow here and there as compared to his.

Thankful he was next to me, means I can refer to his work when I feel lost πŸ˜‚ #cheatone

Why u must try to be as light as possible is because you can go darker but not lighter. That's why it can be a lillll tricky.

Unless you are doing other mediums like oil painting, then ok la (in his words yo. I nvr tried oil painting)
Also cause I have problems doing strokes. So he was kinda showing how to.

Mine can't seem to come out πŸ˜‚ same with the woman sitting next to me.

It is how we angle the pen. I think if u use the point 88, u will know what I mean.

Also, one must be lighter (seriously, I thought I was doing qi gong) for a while. We both have stiff hands πŸ˜‚

And lastly...the way we stroke, it wasn't even.

So yup...he actually asked us to practice drawing strokes πŸ˜‚

Proceeded to the orange for the medium tones. Add the details.

Even more intimidating hahahahahahah πŸ˜‚ cause it's so freaking bright??

And it's gonna be so hard to save if it's done wrongly.

Though that being said, he did say that if it's too dark (like a sudden too dark. Too much contrast suddenly) then u just gotta overall darken the whole thingπŸ˜‚
And then the dark parts!!

Nice?!?! 😱😱😱
It's the teacher's btw. Can you see his strokes? They really differ from area to area, I think depending on muscle or structure or something.

You can add background if you wanna have some contrast or to cover up your lines that came out of the drawing.

Can u see that he coloured the hair yellow first before colouring it black? It's actually a common technique so that the whole drawing feels "together". Learned it at another workshop πŸ˜‚
And ta-dah!
Mine!!!

Filter 99 so that it looks presentable πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚ overall still pass right?!

It helps that the face was traced la. If not sure don't know look like what man.

I did ask him, that I can never capture a person's face 100%. He said there's bound to be some "off". What more I do cartoon drawing.

If the person is so anal about it looking 100% ...then just take a photo πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚πŸ˜‚

Thank you!! Made me much more confident & practice more!

Just realized my guy's eyebrows like he just did tatt!