Rock Concert Under a Stormy Sky

So it's finally here.

Some of us, when we see how dark our skies are getting, we seem to sulk indoors in gloom. Some of us fear the thunder and lightning more than we should.

Of course, a good reason to fear lightning is that, well... I think it can kill? But if you keep your wits about and are careful enough, it's radical to watch nature's spectacular lights display.

I used to fear lightning. And thunder. Until that time when I was small, and I saw it outside in the open sky. It looked magnificent. It illuminated the dull, grey sky into flashes of blue and white. The thunder just completes it. There's just something about bright flashes of light and a deep rumble working as a team within the clouds.

It reminded me so much of the rock concerts. I know it's impractical, but regardless, I always wanted to see Linkin Park in a huge stadium, under a rainy thunderous sky with lightning light shows. If it was safe, how awesome would that be?

I was inspired by a conversation between a friend and I. He was telling me about what he was going through at the time, and said his clouds were starting to look grey. I wanted to find something to say to show I care, and you know those moments when the words just come to you? I had one of those moments. Wanting to cheer him up a bit, I said what I said. It was originally longer, but I condensed it to the caption in my piece.

Here are some progression pictures. After 5 days of working on it, it's finally finished. I hope this entry inspires you somehow. Rock on.

This one is my hand-drawn version, my first and foremost concept for this piece. I did not take it too far though. I tried working on, but I needed more room for error at this stage, so I re-drew it, scanned it and painted it digitally.

Staring Woman

Just another concept practice.

You know when you travel in public and don't know where to stare? Well, here's one that I made where you know exactly where to stare without having to give away the whole picture. I did this by highlighting key features like the eyes.

I wanted to experiment on tone and a subtle textures on the face. I sketched a woman and got some basic shading and tone down after scanning it. I like capturing the eyes and mouth a lot. Something I must continuously improve.

After experimenting, I thought I'd give it a good use off white space to effectively make the woman the focal point of the picture. I was tempted to add patterns and other background images and colour. But here, simplicity is key.

Here is a couple of my progression pictures:

Graffiti-proof Wall?

This up here is my first ever tablet drawing.

My dad got me a Bamboo Pen last night so here is what I end up with the next day. There is no direct concept, just a random idea upon random idea. I did it straight on the laptop because I was very excited to try this technology out. I'm starting to develop more interest in digital art, looking forward to doing more.

Equipment Used:

• Bamboo Pen 
• Adobe Photoshop 7.0 (old school and can still kick ass)
• My own sketch of clouds on paper, scanned

Today, Mutley Left

Mutley is our family friend's dog. We looked after her for a while. Today, she left.

She's a Chihuahua-cross breed who LOVES to eat from under the table during dinner time. She specialises in lying in soft comfy places such as my bed and the couch, and propose to stay there for a longer time period than initially planned. She behaves when taking a bath, and it's funny watching her whip her hair back and forth to tumble dry.

She doesn't bark often, rather, she's softly spoken and quiet. Her murmur is a call for cuddle. And eventually, she will let you know when she wants a tummy-rub. She enjoys a lot of attention and being pampered. You know this when you rub the back of her head, and she slowly tilts on one side to drift off. She sleeps and her face would look like a compact package of three curvy little lines.

When we go out for walks, she slows down and absorbs the scenic view of the Japanese garden, only to pick her pace up to chase dragonflies. She does this amusing walk on the rocks to cross the pond. Soon as she sees another dog, she would want to meet them. Quite pointless because she just plays the anti-social game.

She will not pee nor leave evidence of excrement until it's okay to do so. Sometimes I wonder how she manages when we're away for a while? She's very reserved and timid in nature, but take her out to play and you'll see how contagious her energy is.

She's very stubborn about her bedtime. She likes to sleep late. My parents had trouble getting her to listen to them in the beginning. But it's okay now. Can't help but think she is a dog version of Garfield sometimes. Eat, sleep, play. Love me, feed me, never leave me.

Animals can be such great companions, don't you think? After a long day, she hears you come in and will run at full speed. I'll give her a medal for trying to jump on someone who is clearly 10 times her height. But it's cute to watch. It's nearly as jovial as watching her ears pop up when she hears the word, 'walk.'

I laugh quietly to myself in ridiculous surprise.

'You remind me a little bit of me.'

Art and Design: Drawing a Fine Line

I recall people asking me, along the lines of 'Can you design me an artwork?'

Made me smile to myself because it made me think. 

Is there a difference?

Not too many people will think there is a line between art and design until they think about it closely. 

There are so many perspectives of art, in different definitions coming form various tongues. The same with design. Here, take a look at this video:

Art and design are similar in many aspects though - both have grace, style, thought, and poise, connection with the audience, whether a physical connection (usually with design), or non-physical connection like in art, such as expressive emotions and spirit. 

With art and design, I can't help but think about God - I believe He's a breath-taking designer and artist at once. Just look at yourself. For example, your hands, and eyes and immune system were designed for a purpose, yet we cultivate and continue to disperse emotions, thoughts, energy and spirit. In other words, we function and we feel. If we were just designs and not work of art too, we would be incapable of being human beings. The combination of both sets us apart form robots.

After a moment's brainpower, it came to me that art happens quite metaphorically, while design is a lot more literal. Think about it.

Sneak Peek

Over the coming week, I will be posting my most recent doodles from my sketchbook.
Since some people are waiting, I might as well give you some examples of stuff that I would likely post here.

These are a mixture of sketches, drawings, paintings/projects and photos. Soon as I got home today, I blew the dust off my art folder and looked at my work. Some were done when I was in Year 8, or even Year 6 way back in England, and some towards Year 11. Only a couple were done recently.

I honestly scrutinized those doodles and thought,

'HA, you went wrong here,'

'Gave him a funny nose,'

'Why on earth were you so corny?'

Oh boy, oh boy. Memories or what?
Anyway I should stop. Here, take a look.

Some photos that I took around the alleys on Rundle Street.

Done these two in early 2006 when my friend and I used to tag and spray buses around Leicester in England. Yes, buddy. I was a criminal.

 I wanted to switch my style up, so I did this.

My shot of a back street in Rundle Street. I used Sony Cybershot DSC-W180, and some Photoshop magic.(*)

This place, don't ask how I found it, but it was just so damn interestingly palm-face funny. 'Electrical Electronic' 'No Parking' sign when there's two cars, hahaha. No? Okay. (*)

Another one of my paintings. The background was graffiti on a pretty small canvas, so it was quite tedious spraying. Had multicoloured nails in the end. WORD.

Here we go. The cliche mainstream anime I drew way back that made me a manga nerd. But I have to say, Naruto is still one of my favourites.

(*) These are cropped from the big version. If you wanna see the full picture, let me know as it's a pain to upload.

My First Post

So why did I make a blog?

Well, I wanted to do it because I thought it would be awesome to show and record the little and big things I've been up to. I have been wanting to make a blog for a long time now. So much happened last year and it went quick! I just thought it would be nice to document. You'll probably see me blogging about some of it in the future. This year feels like it will be more reserved, so oh well, I don't like crowds that much anyway.

In the meantime, I will be sharing stuff about art, music, little adventures I embark on, and not forgetting some quotes from me and my peers. So you'll be seeing stuff form my sketchbooks, photos, I'll update you with the latest projects I'll be working on. Oh, and you'll also hear me talk about crap so watch out. I'm pretty blunt.

Also before I go, you must be wondering what the heck is the title all about, aren't you?

'Daydreams at night in East London'

See if you can figure it out. The hint is on this page, good luck!