Searching for Liminality.

Last update of the year

2011-12-25T18:35:00.007+08:00

Merry Christmas, everyone! Phew, this semester was a roller-coaster. My body literally refused to function for a week. (Me: Come on! Body: Nope.) So after many days of sleeping, eating really yummy food and catching up with friends, I decided that I should at least update my blog... some rough character sketchesThese are all for a story that I'm writing. I don't wanna give away too much, but it

He loves me.

2011-09-16T12:28:00.007+08:00

I made a book that's also a daisy. It's not very big, but it contains all of my heart and my love. Hope you'll like! :D

Last sketch of the summer

2011-09-01T12:56:00.007+08:00

Here's a little sketch for y'all. 8D Summerbreakiscomingtoanendwhyyyyy.

SCBWI conference starts tomorrow!

2011-08-05T14:20:00.011+08:00

I hope everybody's enjoying their summer break! I had the opportunity to visit Hokkaido with my family but fell quite sick on the trip and lost my hearing in one ear for two weeks after that. Still it was absolutely wonderful - the people, the air, the water, the flowers, the food, and bathing in the hot springs... it was exactly what I needed. Here are some pictures I took on the trip!I'm in LA

Koi Dreams

2011-04-29T18:02:00.015+08:00

I've been trying to develop a story around a little girl with an imagination. (Vague, I know.) I'm not sure if anything's going to come out of that yet, but here's a painting based on the idea.Koi DreamsTools:Pencil (Initial sketch), Photoshop CS4WIPs:I'm also working on a book dummy of Hans Christian Andersen's Princess and the Pea for class and here are some characters from that project! These

An update! Could it really be?

2011-03-01T04:48:00.013+08:00

I promised my friend Andrew that I'll update, so here are some stuff from my humble sketchbook.Doodles from the past two monthsI've always been afraid of sketching. I mean, blank white sheet + traditional media + crazy talented peers around you; it's terrifying! Rarely did I go to drawing workshops and when I did, I'd pretend I was sketching the model. I'd be writing or something... nobody's

Bars of soap on oil

2010-11-02T13:31:00.002+08:00

Absorption. Awareness. I feel a sense of detachment as I observe others. I could stare at a person and study their face, their expression, pretend I could read their thoughts and not be afraid that they'd notice. I like it. The ice in my fingertips, the chill in the air... these things should bother me but they don't.Things are more fascinating than usual. The cars glide by ever so smoothly. Like

Are you there?

2009-12-13T05:50:00.011+08:00

Part of a conversation with a dear friend.are you there?The image of a girl listening to a seashell just came to me out of nowhere and the mood and atmosphere struck so clear that I had to draw it. Watching all 25 episodes of Soukyuu no Fafner in one sitting gave me the inspiration for the title, "are you there?" (anata wa soko ni imasu ka?) which is a recurring question throughout the series.

Uncomfortable Silences

2009-09-20T05:58:00.007+08:00

It's 5.25am.I don't know what I'm doing or feeling. Today (or yesterday) was actually a pretty good day. I met up with a bunch of people at Borders to sketch, and had a lot of fun talking to a friend from Belgium about our backgrounds and how we feel about being in a foreign country... and then we went to a place that made good burritos for dinner.I'm not sure what happened, but I walked home

The Dance of a Child Escapes Time

2009-09-09T14:32:00.007+08:00

I finished the piece and even thought up a pretty title. Mummy and Daddy, hope you like!The Dance of a Child Escapes TimeTools:Photoshop CS4, Wacom Graphire4, Straw PaperWIPs:Link to deviation:[link]Also, there's a one-page feature of my work in this month's ImagineFX issue. I saw it at Borders but it's so expensive! (15.99 USD + tax = RM60.52) *hyperventilates and dies* But Jon Woodward was kind

I still exist!

2009-08-31T13:13:00.010+08:00

I still exist!Okay, I feel really bad for not updating. I talked to my parents on the phone today and I'm suddenly reminded that my dad checks my blog really often. DADDDY, I'M SO SORRRRY!So, what have I been up to? I'm working on 2 paintings and a short comic, and my excuse for not updating is because I don't really have anything completed yet. But posting a journal entry without any art in it

Entropy is out!

2009-06-03T03:24:00.013+08:00

Here's my contribution to the Entropy Art Project.Harmony's TuneEntropy is a beautiful classically animated and self-funded short film made by two really awesome people, Dane Jacobs and my good friend, Jeremy Hay. Voice/Vocals by Megan McKenzie.Watch the film in full on YouTube: [link] (Running time: 3:45 min)Buy the Entropy Pack here: [link] (4.00 USD)The Entropy Pack includes the HD movie file,

Medusa, ATM & ID

2009-05-11T23:41:00.006+08:00

Some lame sketches I did a few days back, but was too lazy to post. MedusaMedusa being all emo.ATMWhat I felt at the time I painted this.deviantIDA simple sketch for my profile on deviantART.

Guilt, ropes and things.

2009-04-26T01:04:00.004+08:00

I want to run. Run so fast I'm breathless. I want to laugh. I want to be surrounded by friends. I want to cry and be embraced and be comforted like a silly child and be told it's okay. I lack... I don't know what I lack. I'm scared, I'm scared. I don't want to waste my youth away. So many dreams unlived. So much to be seen. Too many noises in my head. I don't know. I'm too careful, too afraid to

Rasen

2009-04-17T19:12:00.008+08:00

螺旋 (Rasen)私の何処かで何かが消え失せサビついた怒りを手放そうとしてる私は鳥になり雑踏を飛んで行く迷いは羽根になり全てを振り切って行くLifeMy LifeMy Fragile Lifeやっと気づいたのこの腕が伸びて枝や茎になりあなたを忘れる事で天にまで届く人ゴミの中で洗い流したリズム足をつかむ誰かをそっとすり抜けて私は鳥になり雑踏を飛んで行く迷いは羽根になり全てを振り切って行くLifeMy LifeMy Fragile Lifeやっと気づいたのLifeMy LifeMy Precious Lifeやっと手に入れたの---Somewhere inside me, something has disappearedI'm about to let go of my rusted-together angerI become a bird and go flying over

Round #1 : Speed Up!

2009-04-08T22:02:00.015+08:00

I felt that I was taking way too much time on every single piece, and Edwin (a friend of mine) felt like he's too impatient and always rushing his pieces done. And so we came up with this crazy challenge thingy to push each other out of our comfort zones, and we'll probably be doing this for the whole of April.Round 1: Speed Up - Finish 3 pieces in 5 daysRound 2: Slow Down - Spend 5 days on 1

Blue colored wishes in the rain

2009-04-01T20:36:00.012+08:00

[beginning of rant] Photoshop CS4 loves me. Really, I never had a single program crash on me so many times in my life, all in the span of one painting. It made me go crazy paranoid and save really often. Save, Save, Save, Save, Save As,Save, Save, Save, Save, Save As... etc. Which is fine. And so I ended up with about 26 WIP files, 27 including the final. All 26 WIPs were saved successfully, but

Because I carelessly wished

2009-03-24T16:38:00.037+08:00

Because I carelessly wishedWhen I was a little girl, I often wished that I would turn into a mermaid. I only realized what a foolish idea that was after I watched a Cantonese movie called "人魚傳說." People wanted to capture the mermaid. =\Did this mostly for myself, but also for Corel Digital Art Competition 2009. You can vote for your favorite entries there. Vote for me ONLY if you really like my

Freedom Perched Upon my Finger

2009-03-04T12:53:00.006+08:00

Spent the whole night reworking this one and finally achieved something that I'm quite satisfied with. Click on the image for some full view goodness.Freedom,For a little while that day...It perched upon my finger.Not going to elaborate on my thoughts behind the painting this time. I hope the image speaks for itself.Tools:Photoshop CS3, Watercolor, Painter IX, Wacom Graphire4WIPs and Close-ups:

I hate this.

2009-03-02T12:48:00.011+08:00

"Finished" this yesterday noon. Very unhappy with the results. Will rework.I hate how dead, lifeless and uninteresting this feels. I hate the (lack of) background. I hate how it's completely different from what I originally envisioned. I hate that it doesn't say what I wanted to say. Looks better close-up and cropped. If there's anything at all that I like about this painting, it's the hair. I

The Loneliness of the King

2009-02-18T18:32:00.007+08:00

This is a painting of 孫悟空 (Sun Wu Kong) from 西遊記 (Journey to the West).click for larger viewTitle:齊天大聖的孤獨 (Qi Tian Da Sheng de Gu Du)Translation:The Loneliness of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven (literal)The Loneliness of the KingThoughts behind the painting:I dug up the novel to read and spent many days thinking of what to paint for this one. I was reminded of many interesting events of the story

Fairies are as cruel as children.

2009-02-10T14:48:00.010+08:00

Participated in ConceptArt.Org's Character of the Week (CHOW #146) challenge. The competition for this round is like... woah, intense. Be sure to cast your votes for your favorite entry at: [link]. (You need to be registered and logged in to vote.)This week's topic:'Queen Titania'Titania is a very proud creature and as much of a force to contend with as her husband Oberon. Due to an enchantment

Twilight = Trash

2008-12-15T13:40:00.032+08:00

Has the world gone absolutely insane? Everyone's crazy about Twilight. A close friend of mine even wrote about how it "doesn't have cliches" and she was so sure that I would adore Edward Cullen. No offense to her, but Twilight (book and movie) is trash. Utter trash. My sister was curious about the whole Twilight craze, so she borrowed her friend's book. When she was done, she told me, "Ciaee!!

Book Titles and Love Handles.

2008-12-13T20:58:00.014+08:00

I've got some peekchures from LiVon's birthday outing! (I just realized that I've never posted a single photograph on this blog.) Thanks to my cam-whore gal-pals, we took a couple of nice ones that day. :DLiVon: I shall kiss teh ball.Ciaee: Any ball I see, I grab.Weng Yee: Aaaahhhn...We landed on Borders somehow. I suggested that each one of us go around hunting for books (titles) that reflect

Teaching and Learning.

2008-11-26T01:21:00.022+08:00

Life has been very kind to me lately. Every time I feel like I'm in a rut, something comes along to motivate me. Or perhaps life's always been kind to me; it's just that I'm beginning to notice it more. I haven't got much to update really. Nothing's really changed, at least on the surface. Still studying at Schoolism and as mentioned in my last update, I'm teaching!Teaching has really given me a

Slow Dancing in the Burning Room

2008-11-13T17:09:00.041+08:00

The few things that happened in the past few days:-My White Queen painting became a Daily Deviation.Uh, wow. That was totally unexpected because honestly, I don't think it's that good. Anyhow, getting a DD is still a pleasant surprise and it's kinda nice to have 24 hours of attention from strangers. Sort of, anyway. Another part of me wants to just delete that deviation. I was staring at the

My drive to learn.

2008-11-04T12:06:00.057+08:00

I was never a hardworking student when I was in art school. Out of 10 assignments, I probably did 7 - just enough to pass that course. Well actually, I failed twice and had to retake the subjects. I only put my heart into my work if I found that particular assignment interesting. Most of the time, it didn't matter so much if the art looks good or not; I was satisfied as long as my work was in

Schoolism Week 4

2008-10-31T20:25:00.015+08:00

This is going to be a real quick update as I've got lots of work to do.I'm now in the 4th week of Bobby Chiu's 9-week course at Schoolism. That means we're almost halfway into the class already and I don't want it to end so quickly! I'm having a lot of fun. About a week ago, I sent a personal e-mail to Bobby telling him that I wished that there was some place where the members of our class could

Skin tones

2008-10-24T23:44:00.017+08:00

Skin tone study..... sort of. Used the technique learned during Week 2 in Digital Painting class at Schoolism. Wasn't aiming for anything realistic, but hopefully I got the skin tones and facial features resembling real life enough for someone to be able to tell their ethnicity. Still haven't thought of a title. Actually, let's just stick to Armless Midgets. It sounds kinda weird and that's

New home

2008-10-22T22:06:00.000+08:00

Messed around with the my Blogger settings and decided that I like how it looks enough to import all my Livejournal entries over. No more ugly ads, and I get to display my website's shoutbox.I'll probably be updating both accounts from now on. It's just copying and pasting anyway.

Me Demands Critique!

2008-10-22T06:34:00.000+08:00

Bobby Chiu is killing me!! It's been 9 days since I submitted my first assignment and no critique yet! D: I'm dying here in anticipation, Bobby! And nervousness. And curiosity. GAHHHHHH. *grabs imaginary Bobby by the neck*These days I'm feeling a lot more motivated to draw. I'm focusing on enjoying the process rather than just the end result. I guess if I keep trying to keep up with the world and

Schoolism!

2008-10-14T23:56:00.001+08:00

It's been soooo long since I've updated. There are a few reasons *excuses* for this.One, I'm beginning to dislike LJ. Forcing Ads on Basic Accounts is quite unacceptable. Or more like totally unacceptable. I moved from Multiply to LJ not long ago because I couldn't stand the Ads on Multiply. I use Adblock Plus on Firefox, so I don't actually see these Ads but I really mind the fact that people

Pointless Tag Entry :D

2008-08-01T02:22:00.003+08:00

I told myself that I wasn't going to update my blog until I had a pretty drawing/painting to show. Problem is, that "pretty" drawing/painting is taking forever to materialize because I don't know which direction I want to go with it. So...[sudden change of topic] I got tagged!♥ People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blogs and replace any question that they dislike with a

It's a new month!

2008-07-01T21:11:00.000+08:00

It's the beginning of a new month! We're officially in the second half of the year now. Time for me to make up for my lack of direction and productivity since my graduation from art school; rawr! Allow me to list a few of the goals that I want to achieve (hopefully) by the end of this year... just for the heck of it. Heh, this is what blogs are for I guess. Random declarations.Let's see, let's

White Queen completed.

2008-06-27T15:16:00.000+08:00

It's 3.00PM and I haven't had lunch yet. My stomach is making all kinds of noises in protest. >

Something hurts. [WARNING: Pure EMO Entry]

2008-06-13T21:28:00.000+08:00

Something hurts.I'm beginning to realize that it's possible for me to feel lonely. I used to tell people, with a bit of pride, "I'm the sort that never gets lonely." Loneliness... is most painful when you feel it even when people are around you. People that matter.I'm crying again. Why am I announcing this? Anyway, I love crying. For the few minutes when tears are streaming down my face I feel

Last Friends.

2008-06-13T04:23:00.000+08:00

Started watching "Last Friends" yesterday [Manda's recommendation] and I'm not sure if I can make myself sit through the entire series. It's so... full of pain. I'm only at Episode 3 and the j-drama already made me cry twice. Not because it's touching or anything, it's just so full of suffering and inner turmoil. The cast is crazy... they're really really good. Their character internalization and

Tuesday - Sinking and Floating

2008-06-11T05:26:00.000+08:00

An artist that I really look up to once said that "suffering" is a kind of blessing. (Well, he said it in Chinese and there isn't an accurate English equivalent to the words 幸福, but "blessing" should be close enough.) He said that it's a sign that we're improving. I've been trying to paint that White Queen drawing I made for a few days now. I'm stuck. This feels like suffering to me, without

Wacom-asia Contest Entry: Submitted just in time! :D

2008-05-31T23:25:00.000+08:00

Our SongMy entry for Wacom-Asia's Anime/Manga Contest.Drawing my high school uniform brings back lots of forgotten feelings and memories. I hope I managed to capture the simple feeling of being in love for the first time, without a care in the world.Painter IX, Photoshop CS2, Graphire4.Musical Score: Berceuse - Felix Blumenfeld.Thank you for looking. :3

First Journal Entry.

2008-05-17T18:50:00.000+08:00

I've been an LJ member for quite a while now, but haven't actually gotten around to writing anything here. Basically this account/journal is going to act as my sketchblog (sorta), so I'll be posting my WIPs, sketches and finished illustrations... and maybe an occasional rant or two here every now and then. My website and my deviantART page is where I will upload only my finished works, but if