HBD! Project

Here is a nice thing going on. Last year some artist from Area221 have decided to make a special present for one of our most highly respected professor. Unfortunately, I missed the sign-up but Tuesday night, the artist that started this project contacted me and asked me if I want to create the final piece. Of course I jumped at it and was glad that I did because the outcome came out great!

Hottie!

So as the title says, who is that actual 'hottie' in this picture?

The pencil was first drafted for the 123Hush Sketchbook in 2008. I have always wanted to have this in vibrant colors and tonight I have finally took the time to color this. It feels nice to just color for fun, instead of thinking about how much it would be loved or suppose professional looking it has to be. This was a nice an relaxing piece, I did not have to concern with being clean at all nor if the shadowing in the hair is correct.

Star

You know one of those few times that you actually want to flip through your reference books? Well this was one of it, but I couldn't find it. Well, I still don't know that book went.

Anyway, I did make my goal of completing by Sunday night (10/11). I did a different approach than my previous piece called "Nu" First off, the brushes I used this time was custom and I played more into the highlights . Of course, actually flipping your image backward you can definitely see the errors better. That old trick never fails =D

In an attempt with the short duo pieces, I'm going to spend some time and review Nu's piece. This time I hope I will be able to get rid of some stiffness.

Star - phase 2

Phase 2 of my "Star" piece. There's still a lot of work to do. It took a while because it got really busy trying to avoid people that are spreading germs which I wound up getting sick again. I'm still in the recovery mode but hey at least now I am not 100% completely crashing after I get home, well it also does help that today was Saturday. lol

Star

This is the new illustration that I'm working on. It is the match with the previous one that I did. Maybe eventually I'll do a another one to fit in my RGB theme that I did back in January. BTW, this is Star of Gu. =D

Nu

I did a different approach with Nu here. I tried it with a more realistic rendering than what I first attempted.

Down the rabbit hole - revision

Okay, on the first "completed" upload, I forgot to turn the top layer back on when saving (oppsie). Therefore, it was missing the jam and the spoon. Also with a suggestion from my friend, Ciro, I bumped up the intensity of the light.

Thanks Ciro =D

Nu-sensual

This is my latest illustration. Obviously the sketch is different from phase 2. I'm starting to like the phase 1 over phase 2, lolz. I dunno. I was sitting at a karaoke bar where my friend, Justin was practicing for the MGM singing contest. It started off as a sketch then I scanned it and doodled away. Even though it's in phase 2, I'm still trying to figure out which style I want to render this in. With phase 2, I used the soft round instead of a custom one that I normally do.

Ground Up...chibified!

My friend asked me to chibify (deformed figures) his group =D So to take a break from my illustrations this is my warm up fun sketch! I wonder if they know who they are or not. ^^;;

down the rabbit hole

Original Sketch:

Complete:

So I finally have finished my first piece for "Alice.Alice.Alice." The future seems a bit fuzzy but I'm going to continue working on pieces for this project. This piece is done in photoshop, time is about 45+ hours. It started off as a color study but in the end I wound up finishing the whole thing.

Photo playing

Overall, it took what felt like eternity with the slow non-touch sensitive mouse.

Nu&Star - samurai piece v.2

This is the cleaned up version of the previous sketch. I basically switch the position of the two girls and added more embellishments on Nu's shield. As for the background and all, I am contemplating if I should deal with sakura or ginko. Right now it's leaning toward ginko because that is something that I rarely use. Plus it's so pretty when it falls =D

Sworchi

This is the new piece I'm working on. As you can see, it's rough, really rough. I haven't been as inspired as I wish to be. More so of, not as creative. But I think this is a good start. The deadline is Sept.11th, let see if I can finish this and create 1-2 more before then.

Happy Birthday

This is drawn for my aunt's boss. She's a really nice lady and this is to celebrate her birthday this year. Not bad for something that took 15 mins and with a set of cheap color pencils. A set of 12 even. This card was challenging for me because I was unfortunately sick with a respiratory infection. So even just the pencil felt really heavy to me. However, that's not going to stop me. It sort of stopped me from sitting at my desk but as long as I can sit up in bed without being dizzy then its all good. Okay too much on the sickly bug rant. Well this was definitely a nice break from doing work for Ground Up. Like I said, it's nice to be away from the computer.

Construction day!

Well here is the latest addition from my freelance gig. The subject is a little boy named Nate. He has a snuggle best friend which is his blue hippo. Nate loves constructions and recently had a 'Home Depot" theme birthday party. His idol is Bob the Builder and wishes to be like him when he grows up.

So that is the little cute story behind this little cute boy.

quick render

I realized that I was getting a bit rusty. Nowadays I spend more time on InDesign than Photoshop. After meeting up with my group yesterday....well, I decided to take some time and draw. Also to take a break from the new freelance gig that I got. So I did a warm up color sketch. This sketch took about 5 mins so excuse the mistakes.

Inking

Here's one of the sketches that I did at Wizard World - PA. I took out my set of rapidograph pens and my trusty 0/10 brush and had a little smack down between the 2 inking methods. To cut it short, my brush still win. It's not because just the flow of the brush but the rapidographs are a bit scratchy. You can get a smoother line with the disposable ones. It takes a bit to get use to the flow of the ink too. I'm still going to play with them but I'm not going use it on characters. Maybe on cityscape.

Super Imposing

Originals

Final

Photo retouch

So has it really been a month since I have last posted?

As everyone can see I really haven't been drawing nor continue being active on my deviant for the past months. I call it the complete creative block. Picking up a pencil and placing the tip on a white sheet of paper, it still remain blank. Even though the thing I am mainly creating now are for print advertisements, I still prefer drawing.

After attending a seminar about photoretouching I picked up my stylus and decided to play something different. That's right. Photo retouching, and the most simple kind too. If you ask me, I think I'm on a decent start. Maybe this will get me back on track again. I only have one month left to draw an eight pages comic and four other illustrations. Oh boy, how can I achieve it?

These is a photo from my sister's graduation. Isn't she's adorable?
(original > retouched)

first year of pinkimoon.com

So I have been away for a while and fought long battles with Verizon DSL, I have finally won. The casualty count? No internet for 2 weeks and a deceased router. So the replacement came today. Anyway, I was spring cleaning my computer and I have found this.


This is the first version of my website, pinkimoon.com. Yes, you are reading it correctly, as much as most sites nowadays do not specify that you need to have a flash and quicktime player, we had to put that when we first did our site. Apparently, not everyone installed flash players, and divx and all those fun little codecs that we need. In the beginning my site was purely flash and now I have switched to HTML for it's simplicity. I miss my old site a bit, especially the dancing envelope that is at the corner.

facial sketch #2

Here's sketch #2. Still the same criteria. Tonight, I feel a lot looser than last night. I guess that my improvement. I'm am more satisfied with this one, however, because the shape of the face is one that I use more often than others, I am not. I definitely have to work more on just not structure but also the shadow. Sometimes I focus too much on accuracy in turn it back fires.

facial sketch - 01

I'm having a new attempt on things while there's some (imaginary) down time from projects.

So the criteria for the next couple of sketches are:
1. Can only work in monochromatic tone (I choose greyscale today)
2. Time Limit: 15 min
3. ONLY the brush tool is allowed to be used and nothing else. Traditionally, I can use pencil or pens, the main point is absolute NO erasing.
4. focus on facial anatomy
5. Lighting has to be shown
6. Reference are NOT allowed to be used

Cuteness!

Well, my freelance is finally done. In this economy I happy that made enough to cover 1 month of bills. Anyway, I had a lot of fun doing this gig. True, that in the beginning, flipping through over 400 images of the little girl can get overwhelming, but in the end it's worth it.

The challenge of this gig: Drawing the animals. The elephant was not hard but the dog was. It's a black Labrador, but the more I try to make it look like the little girl's dog the more it's turning away from the style consistency. Size was also a matter since life size wise, she is shorter than the dog. I had to make sure it'd show the comparison without the overshadowing.

Little Critter's portrait

Here's the portrait of the little critter. Isn't she cute?! Okay so this is done and now there's 3 more and it will be done. Hopefully I'll get to finish it before the weekends. It's so weird because sometimes I look at this and it feels like it's not really my work. Also a little slow with thought process today, I was a bit slow in work. Maybe the cupcake will help.

A little gift for a sweetie pie

I got a freelance gig, doing 4 illustrations for a little girls birthday. 3 scenic and 1 portrait, all cartoon style. Through this I realized, I am definitely faster with pencil/ink than starting straight digitally. I am going to color digitally but I'm too old school to be starting straight from the comp.

Here are the 2 of the scenic, I still need to work on the elephant.

here's a suprise!

The children's book author that I was suppose to collaborate with last year actually contacted me. However, I don't think that I would be able to work on it. Aside from what Dennis have told me, also working with GU, EK, and 2 other freelances. I wonder if I really am super human or not.

But while with everything, I am working on a private piece. Even though it's just a preliminary sketch, the purpose of this illustration is dedicated to Cantonese Chinese Opera. Even though I was born in the U.S. I have always been fascinated with C.O. My dad is a huge fan himself. My aunt and uncle are also in charge of the Opera group in NY. I tried joining the troupe 2 years ago, but due to schedule conflict, I have to quit. So I just show up for the show. =)

Art works!

Doobee doobee doo

I got an offer today from GU to be the Lead Colorist! I shouldn't celebrate too much yet, since I still need the complete agreement with the team and also how they are going to go about it. But he did say, " it's a green light if ur interested". Right now we are waiting for this guy to finish the color test. If they make him my assistant then he better be ready to make some really good coffee! j/k as much as a previous manager will do that, I will not be that mean.

On the other hand, I got a gig to do the coloring for one of friend and also another illustration gig. 4 drawings for a little girls b-day coming up in April. As much as I am back home now, things are looking as if it's turning for the better.

DarkStalker Tribute

A few weeks ago a friend sent all of us a link regarding to Udon's tribute to the DarkStalker series which they are accepting submissions. As much as I was never much exposed to the world of DS, I definitely can say that I am a huge fan of Hsien-ko and her sister. That is the illustration that I did. Of course, I can't have it shown, yet. At least until the release of the book due later on this year. I'm just glad that I finished and it only took about 20 hours. So now i'm going to celebrate with ice cream. Flavor? Cookie & Cream.

Happy Birthday daddy!!!

"Dearest Daddy,

"Even though it has been a really cold winter,

Our love for you will keep you warm and toasty!"

Lots of Love,
A & E

Well, it's been almost a month since I posted. Okay, I will admit it, I haven't been the most creatively driven person. First off, CHINESE NEW YEAR!! To those that know, this holiday do run for 12 days and yesterday was the OFFICAL start of the Ox year. =) Following quickly after, my daddy's birthday (which is tomorrow).

Here is a birthday cartoon that is my gift to my dad. This has been a really cold winter and this is to send the message of love.

Alluring lines submission 2

Well, here it is.  After an EXTREMELY long absent, here is my second and final submission to the Area221's Alluring Line art collective book.  This piece got pushed to a 2009 completion which is something that I don't like but I accept it.  A friend came and stayed with us for 3 weeks and in that period, trying to find a time to do some comp work is quite hard.

The end 2oo8 have been a very interesting.  I got the children's book offer, but in turn it became sour.  I lost my creativity to an extend of "zombie" syndrome.  It's not as if I completely didn't draw or not, I did do a quick sketch here and there which is nice.