Renegade Craft Fair Chicago 2011

I went to Renegade Craft Fair Chicago 2011!
An awesome time! Inspired and excited even more about art!



Here is a blog I wrote on my favorites from the fair.

http://pincbullet.tumblr.com/post/10217673917/renegade-craft-fair-chicago-2011-pt-1

The revival of the old piece

One of the pieces that are in the Art in the Library show right now is this very old drawing. It was drawn for a children's book illustration contest in Japan, and also ended up in another show (one of the family shows we have done in Tokyo).

This picture is different from the newer pieces I've been drawing. Since I got the Wacom tablet, I draw and color digitally. I drew this picture using four pieces of paper and a pencil instead. It was colored using Photoshop after I scanned the line drawings.

The digital file of this picture has been corrupted :( But since I've been receiving a lot of compliments and good reaction from many people, I plan to get a quality scan of the drawing and create a poster of it.

There is a stray sock in the picture by the way. I wanted to create a fun picture, kind of like Where's Waldo? By hiding something in an illustration like this can make it more interactive. I like the idea of pictures being more than just pictures.

Art #3: Untitled

I hate it when people don't name their art.
But I guess it happens.
I never put a title to this piece partially because it was a practice/ experiment picture.
Also, I just simply couldn't think of any creative title.
I have this artist friend whom I have never met in person.
His name is Hidemitsu Masui.
FAFROTSKIES by Hidemitsu Masui
I have been very much inspired and influenced by his works.
This piece is basically my attempt to have "animation" or "movements" in my art style for once like his.
This was work in progress for a long long time, until I got tired of it and signed it recently.
It still feels unfinished, but I can always come back to it if I ever want to.

Art #2: World Traveler

I created this picture for a Japanese iPhone app comp.
I remember using a whole bunch of reference photos.
I also remember being sad after learning that my art was not picked.
Because I put a lot into it, I apparently had developed this weird boldness in the process.

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.

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.

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.

Air Bear

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

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.

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/