Entered in a competition

Created a drawing to enter in an illustration competition.

It was a lot of work, but had much fun drawing the details.

The jpeg sample that was uploaded at the end was so small, I'm afraid no one could see anything... Oh well.

Hope to do more drawings like this one in the future.

Pinc Bullet web site updated

Pinc Bullet web site has finally been updated.
(Click on Pinc-chan picture at the top for some surprise fun!)

Stay tuned for much more...

http://www.pincbullet.com/

Break Out! - Threadless #2

My second try for Threadless.
I hope it does better than the first one. I think it will even if it doesn't survive all the way til the end.
I sent out an email to my friends, advertising it for more votes.
Fingers crossed.
Feeling antsy...

Best Friends 4Ever - Phase 1

Oh oh, I can't wait to hear from the Threadless Judges!
They say they'll be contacting me in 4-8 days? Way too long of a wait...
I really hope they (somebody) would like it.

Scott Wade - Dirty Car Art

Found out about this artist who paints pictures on dirty (dusty) cars.
Scott Wade is the name of the artist.

Kind of like scratch boards (whick I liked when I tried them out). I've always enjoyed the technique of "taking away" rather than "adding" myself. I've used this technique even in Photoshop and Painter. I'd use the eraser to paint (wow, that sounds weird...).

Actually, now thinking back, I had first learned the technique when I was like 15 or something. I was taking drawing classes on Sundays and during the summer breaks.
Using charcoal and bread (as the eraser) was the standard technique they taught. It was all about light and shadow, and volume without drawing any outlines.
I'd establish the measurement, then put down the light and shadow, and slowly forming the volume of the shapes by putting down and taking away the charcoal powder on the paper.

For a while, after moving to the States, I purposely tried to shed the habits I'd picked up in those classes. Back then, I felt that the habits (techniques) I knew were holding me back from creating art freely and being creative. I made myself use more prominent outlines and bold shapes. But I guess somewhere in my art side of the brain still exists the Japanese drawing techniques, that I now feel can do good for my art sometimes.

Artpad

Lightly slacking during the day, found this fun activity.
Doodling site called ArtPad.
Had fun painting for a while. Thought I saved it and emailed it to myself, but what I received was a blank canvas. Grrrrrrrrhhh.
It was a stupid doodle, but still I kind liked replaying it back to watch the painting being made, by me... Oh well.

Water portraits

Zena Holloway - Underwater

Breathtaking (really) photographs...
Would wanna see more baby/ child portraits personally. Less posed perhaps.
I do enjoy looking at the posed compositions as well.
I would look for the "The Water Babies" book when it comes out. Will be a good buy.

Liquid Sculpture

I've been meaning to post this link.
Beautiful photos. I love looking at water formation.

Martin Waugh's Liquid Sculptures

Portrait Project Final

Here it is. The portrait of James May has been finally completed.

It took me a long time to finish it, but the actual time that was spent couldn't have been more than 10 hours.

I'm still not sure if it's "done". But you have to let it go, or it would never be "done".

My other concern was, does it look like him? Again, I don't know anymore. I've been staring at it for way too long...

I should add his photo.

I should just move on and leave it alone.

I'm trying to decide what to draw/paint/make next.

What's been happening around Mo?

Well, I've been writing a lot lately and somewhat neglecting painting projects.
But I just finished working on an essay this week, and have already gotten back on the portrait. I will be posting the update soon.
:D

Air Bear

Found something cool.
It is Air Bear.
Kind of stuff I like.

Communication Arts Illustration Competition

So, thanx to Bruno, I got to submit my piece to this Communication Arts Illustration Competition. And even though I had only 2 days to make "something", I was able to make the deadline! Yay me! Yay 6 hours of sleep in 2 days!

I admit, I wasn't gonna show it to anybody because I feel it could use at least 5 more hours of work. I like it ok, but I'm not totally happy with it. But I know I must stop this lame behavior; being afraid to show my stuff. So here it is.

One of my art teachers in college has told me to make up some awesome explanation for my work when I told him I had nothing to say about it. I don't know, maybe the dude's right, then again, sometimes it's just what it is; a picture.

I think I'm going to let everybody's imagination go wild and come up with a fantastical story of their own about a girl riding on a sea turtle.

I had a really agonizing time coming up with an idea, but once I knew where I was going, I had much fun working on it.

I'm excited to do more illustrations like this one.

Portrait Project #4

Another 1.5 hours.

Worked on the hair, and adjusted the skin tone.
The background was modified as well.

I feel it's coming along nicely (slowly though). I guess it's time to decide on the outfit. Between the more modern sea captain attire and the classic one, I'm leaning towards the classic. I want him look like a true British (sea) captain that he is.

Time wise, I'd say a few more hours, but no more. It's taking way too long. This is not because I'm working super slow, but because I spend a few hours one night, take a break for a few days, and spend a few more.
I've got to finish it before I get bored with it.

Portrait Project #3

Another 1.5 hours or so have been spent.


Mostly added shadow and more volume to the hair at the top (higher hair!).


The hair needs much more work. I'm not sure what more I can do to the actual face, other than refining the details and smoothing the overall surface.

flipbook.in

This caught my attention this morning.
It is a web site called flipbook.in. You can make your own simple flipbook on the fly. When you feel like doodling, you get on here and animate.

Probably not good enough for my pro animator friends, like Danny and George. It may even offend them.
But I think it's fun, and I would like to try it out, say, during the lunch time today.

The engineer who created this tool says he wants flipbook.in to be the biggest flipbook site on the entire internet. I like to see fun tools like this to be popular all around the world. Right now the default screen is in Japanese, but you do have the option to choose English, and they say it will be in Chinese as well. I did try to switch to English, but it was not successful. Not sure if it is still under construction. I can understand it is work in progress, considering the fact that it was created in a week!!!

Portrait Project #2

I put another few hours (about 2 hours) into the portrait last night.

I started putting colors down.

He has pink areas in the center of the face, but the rest is pretty much pasty white. I'm trying not to give the skin tone too much hue, but keeping it pale.

The feel of this piece will be classical, noble & quiet yet strong. So far, I see first three keywords being covered (well enough for this stage of the project), but not the last one. It is lacking the strong presence of the subject, which is the primary purpose of most portraits. Hopefully, as I layer more colors and add details, more character will be added.

The next step will be to put down more dramatic darks and lights. It might have been easier if I did this first, but I guess I got myself caught up in studying the skin tone. So, I'm going to make myself go back and work on that. A huge no-no in the traditional Japanese art principle. Darks and lights first, details later. Ya ya ya, I know this. I had too much fun doing the skin tone and two hours were passing by like crazed bike messengers downtown. Bad me.

The other thing I noticed is that his hair needs to be taller on the top. Depending on the photo you find of him, but his hair is usually done in the 80s rock star style, longish, biggish... Will fix that.

Because I'm not using a single photo as the reference, the process has been less simpler than eyeing and recreating what I see exactly. The hair would be a bit of trouble for me, I know. But can be fun at the same time.

Stay tuned and follow the progress.

Portrait Project #1

I've decided that I want to do a portrait as my next project. It would be a classical portrait with the oil painting-like look and feel.

The subject is a British TV personality, James May. Me and Sidney are huge Top Gear fans, and it was just natural for me to pick one of the hosts as the subject of my project.

I have begun drawing out a rough comp, trying to decide on the composition. So this is the very first stage of the project.

The next stage would be to start putting colors down. I think I would do the face first, then depending on how it looks I will decide what sort of clothes to put him in. Right now, I'm thinking 1800s sea captain outfit with standing collars and a bow, but I may change my mind later. It will be some kind of sea captain outfit because of James May's nickname, "Captain Slow".

I will be posting the progress of this project.

Thais in UK

My "princess" friend Thais is doing an awesome show in UK. Very inspiring.

http://www.ocontemporary.co.uk/

Stop motion slide show

My friend Heather has made this awesome video.

She brought her brandnew digital camera with her on a trip to New Orleans. She basically kept snapping pictures out of the window as she rode in the train.

So what you see is a slide show animated like stop motion.

So very interesting, not because she came up with this creative technique, but also because her subject happens to be New Orleans.

Heather is a digital filmmaker who is currently working on a documentary film. You can view more of her films if you click on her username on YouTube.

Pencil Carving

Not many things have been so inspiring to me lately.
But I like stuff like this.
To me this is more inspiring than art and designs that I see everywhere right now. I mean, I see a lot of eye-pleasing art and designs that look alike but don't possess any emotional impact.
This, I am truly inspired by.

http://gigazine.net/index.php?/news/comments/20080213_pencil_carving/

Hyposurface

Found this really cool technology called Hyposurface.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbgo72EqfNc

Site Update_Jan23

The top page had a minor change.

Also, the link to this blog has been added.

The Pinc-chan page will be updated tonight (New picture will be up!).

Check out the updated Pinc Bullet.

"Cloverfield"

Went to see "Cloverfield".
I liked it. It was new and creative, and unlike any movie out here right now.

And yes, I saw the monster.
That is all I can say about it.

There were people who got sick from all the shaking. They came out of the theater while we were waiting in the lobby. Some ran straight to the restrooms, some talked to us how shaky the movie was. Talking about puke made me sick, too. I tried to fight it but ended up losing the dessert... Awwww. This was before the movie started. Ashamed I am...

Once it started, I was fine.
It WAS shaky, but that was part of this whole "being one of them" experience. I got to run, jump and fall down as one of them. When they dropped the camera, I was like, "Noooo, don't leave me behiiiiiind!!!"

I think it's one of those movies people love or hate.
Those who are used to the story telling with the beginning, middle and end will not like this movie. It's fine to be close-minded.

It's also not for people who are prone to motion sickness, people who can't follow FPS games too well, or people who get dizzy looking at horrible amateur home videos.

I hasn't opened in Japan. They won't get to see it until April.
But I have a feeling that there will be even more people who would be needing barf bags, knowing that they had problems seeing "Babel" (Some got sick from flashing lights).

I don't know what JJ is going to do with this story next.
Personally, I wouldn't mind it if he released more bits of information and story online. But I hope he won't hold off the story and drag it too long like he did with "Lost".

Pinc Bullet's 1st Post

A brand new year, a brand new web site, a brand new blog...

Hello everybody.
This is Momo.
I have a new web site called Pinc Bullet.
I'd love it if you can find time to check it out.
I've decided that I should have a blog site that goes nicely with this web site. This means that I'm abandoning my old blog... Ooooow, I feel just a pinch bad about never having been nice to that blog...
But I'm moving on. Yes, my dear people, this is 2008, and I have lots of exciting plans ahead.
I hope to reveal those plans and news and everything else (well, not EVERYTHING of course) on this blog. So please stay tuned.