Schoolism Week 4

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 interact, give each other feedback on the assignments and stuff. Imagine how happy I was when he told me he'll create a blog for us and he did! Bobby's just awesome. You can visit our class blog here if you want: Schoolism: Digital Painting Class Blog

I've been talking to some of my classmates on MSN and things have been really exciting. Before the blog came into existence, we almost had no way to get to know one another. Met Troy, a real hyper-energetic 3D modeler from Australia (if you're reading this, hey there Old Frogapillar!), Herman, an awesome (and also real serious O.o) concept artist from Hong Kong, Ariel, a children's book illustrator from Taiwan, Althea, a 2D animator from Australia, and Mariann from Norway. The others aren't actively participating in the blog yet but I'm hoping that'd change. Man, I don't want this class to end. ><


Assignment 3: Painting Bobby's sketch digitally, using traditional textures. Troy calls this little monster Frogapillar. I call Troy Old Frogapillar.


Assignment 4: Using textures from photographs on a digital painting. Would love to include a Before/After image but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to put up class materials. Anyhow, Bobby's creature designs are made of pure win.
I'm working on a robot design right now; will update in a few days!

Skin tones

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 perfect. Oh and I showed this to Roden, and he said that only the girl on the left looks cute and that the other two look old. DDDD: Niuuu...


click for full-view

Favorite parts of the painting: the Caucasian girl's hair, the East Asian girl's eyes, and the African girl's skin tone and lips. :D

Here's a gif I made in case anyone wants to see how the painting was made.



[Update on critique for Lesson 1: None! asdafdasfasdf.]

New home

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!

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 all those crazy masters out there, I'm going wear myself out real quick. So... yeah, taking an advice Bobby gave one of his past students. Enjoying the process of learning. Being excited about every new thing learned. And as Android Jones (another crazy artist) once said, "If you're not having fun, you're doing it wrong!"

Which means I've been doing it wrong for............... a while now.

It's 6:43 in the morning and I'm wideee awake. Tried going to bed at 3:00AM but failed. Now, this is especially unusual for a person like Ciaee. Ciaee is usually able to fall asleep in a matter of seconds. She can also sleep through an entire day. And this can happen anywhere - at the restaurant, in the car, on the stairs... etc. Yar. So something must be wrong with Ciaee.

Anyway, since I was unable to fall asleep, I drew something.


Not sure what to name these... armless midgets yet. Will be coloring this to try out different skin tones.


Colorized this from Bobby Chiu's black and white painting for Schoolism's Digital Painting class Week 2. Think I did a pretty good job for this one. *Pats self on the back* :D Can't wait to hear what Bobby will have to say. Grrr. *wails, kicks and screams in impatience*
It's 7:09AM now. Still wide awake.

Schoolism!

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 who visit my blog see ugly Ads all over the place. Definitely moving to Blogspot real soon. In fact, if I can easily transfer my LJ layout over to Blogspot, I would've done it already.

Two, my main reason actually, I've been feeling a little... less-confident about my skills and I'm not sure if I want to put up my less-than-awesome stuff for anyone to see. I'll have to overcome this if I want to improve.

I enrolled for Digital Painting classes at Schoolism.com and am now in the 2nd week of the course! Bobby Chiu's an great instructor and his video tutorials are very helpful. His patience and passion for teaching just shines through. I haven't received my first video critique just yet, but looking at his previous video critiques (for the students from the last semester) has already taught me a lot. Can't wait to see what he'll say about my assignment submission!

I was a little disappointed to see that there wasn't a place for the students to interact though. Classmates don't even get to comment on each others' submissions. D: A discussion forum would be really nice. I used to take online art classes at the Academy of Art University and mainly, the classes work like online forums. The "online classroom environment" made everything a lot more engaging because we got to discuss topics and ideas, provide critique and suggestions for our classmates, talk about other unrelated stuff, etc.


My Lesson 1 assignment at Schoolism. The drawing is done by Bobby Chiu and our assignment was to visualize the shape and form of the figure through darkness, and turn his pencil drawing into a painting.


Did this one as an extra exercise using the techniques learned in Lesson 1. She's a 狐狸精(húli jīng) or "Fox Spirit". I'm very happy with how her face turned out. It's fox-like. :D
I've been acting weird these days. I wake up at nine, have breakfast, tidy and clean my room, wash my own bathroom, exercise daily, do drawing exercises daily, and get enough sleep. I KNOW. Like, OHMAIGAWD.

Pointless Tag Entry :D

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 new question formulated by themselves.

♥ Tag 10 people to do this quiz and those who are tagged cannot refuse. These people must state who they were tagged by and cannot tag the person whom they were tagged by. Continue this game by sending it to other people.

If you've done this before... Do it again!

Tagged by - fishingforboots
Tagging - ykamizuki, electricfruit", kangkins, WoonBing, Hanzie, Mandabun, Livon, Johnny, AnnEe, ChungLern and anyone who needs a distraction from work.

And we begin!

o1◢ How has LJ changed your life?
(Or if you don't use LJ, how has blogging changed your life?)
LJ has made me hopelessly addicted to Bleach fanfics. Argh.

o2◢ What's your favorite quote/ saying?
"Every blessing ignored becomes a curse." - Paulo Coelho

o3◢ What are you going to have for dinner tonight?
Mommmmyyyy... what are we having for dinner tonight? :D (I can't cook to save my life.)

o4◢ What is the ONE place you want to go before you die if you had the money and the time? And let's keep it to somewhere on the Earth for now, shall we?
Uh, honestly I have no idea. O_O The location is usually not as important as the company, for me. Anywhere with a whole bunch of my crazy friends will do.

o5◢ Which type are you based on the Enneagram of Personality theory? [http://similarminds.com/test.html]
Type 5: Experts, Thinkers, Investigators

Fives are motivated by the desire to understand the facts about the world around them. Believing they are only worth what they contribute, Fives have learned to withdraw, to watch with keen eyes and speak only when they can shake the world with their observations. Sometimes they do just that. However, some Fives are known to withdraw from the world, becoming reclusive hermits and fending off social contact with abrasive cynicism. Fives fear incompetency or uselessness and want to be capable and knowledgeable above all else.

Ego fixation: stinginess
Holy idea: omniscience
Passion/Vice: avarice
Virtue: detachment
Stress point: Seven
Security point: Eight

I got the definition for Type 5 from Wikipedia. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enneagram_of_Personality]
Wow. I dunno about stinginess but everything else sounds spookily true.

o6◢ What do you do in your free time?
Read, spend hours browsing artwork on deviantART, draw/paint, sleep, write.

o7◢ Do you trust easily?
Mmmm... it really depends. I listen to my intuition when it comes to trusting people. Usually? I don't trust people very easily.

o8◢ What personal belonging do you have with you everywhere you go?
My mobile-phone and my "Duckling.Ciaeears" stainless steel ring. :3

o9◢ Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
Yes, the painting I'm working on. Arghhhh. I seriously have NO IDEA when it's going to be finished. Or whether it's ever gonna be.

1o◢ What is your favorite Anime/ Manga and list at least one fanfic from it you recommend.
My favorite mangas are Bus Hashiru by Sumomo Yumeka (or Mizu Sahara) and Hybrid Child by Shungiku Nakamura.

Um, I've only read fanfics from Bleach (by Tite Kubo) although it's hardly one of my favourites. I'm actually beginning to hate the manga series but I'm thoroughly addicted to its fanfics. Anyway, the best one I've ever read is "Save The Living" by . I've read it more than 5 times. Iamnotobsessedimnotobsessediamnotobsessed. I usually look for yaoi fanfics and ironically, the best one turned out to be one that isn't yaoi. This one's a look into Ryuuken's character and his relationship with his son. Just... beautifully written. Heartbreakingly beautifully written. Go read it.

11◢ Is being tagged fun?
Is it fun? I dunno. But it's a damn good distraction from work! That makes it... kinda fun?

12◢ What one thing would you do differently if you could?
Actually, right now... I can't think of anything I'd like to change. I seldom dwell on my past. I should probably think of something interesting to write here since my answers are beginning to sound boring! D: (Unfortunately, it's like 2 in the morning and my brain is not functionally properly...OTL)

13◢ Do you prefer rain or snow?
Rain! I love the rain. The smell of rain, its texture, the way it sounds... I can't really describe why I love it. I feel strangely calm and everything feels kinda tranquil when the rain falls. Sometimes I'd sneak out of the house when my parents are not looking and go walk barefooted on the grass when it rains. They'll probably freak out if they saw. Haha... actually, I think my dad reads my LJ. He'll probably try and notice the next time it rains. Oh no. ^^;

14◢ What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
I don't know her personally but she writes some awesome GrimmIchi and IchiIshi fics! She seems to be nice too - I could marry her for writing Cat's Gospel for me. Fishingforboots, marry me? :3

15◢ Would you rather be single & rich or married but poor?
Single and rich... duh. Seriously, would anyone choose the latter? O_O Being single rocks.

16◢ How many children do you want to have, if any?
I dislike children. Puppies/Kitties/Anyotherfurries > Children. Yar. Um, if I ever change my mind in the future, it'll be an even number. Probably two. I come from a family with three girls; that's an odd number. When there are conflicts, two of us gang up against the other. That's not very nice.

17◢ What's better- to give or to receive?
At this point of time in my life, I want to give. It feels like I've been receiving all my life. That doesn't feel fair or right.

18◢ If you fall in love with two people simultaneously, who would you pick?
Neither.

19◢ Would you have 100% safe sex with a stranger for $10,000,000?
For $10,000,000 I will be your sex slave for a week. Or maybe even for a month. I expect to be paid in full beforehand though.

2o◢ Is there some sexual position or act that you have secretly wanted to do, but haven't?
A threesome would be interesting. (2 girls, 1 guy) With me being at the center of attention, of course. >:3

It's a new month!

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 see.

The immediate tasks at hand:-

. Creating a totally pwnsome logo for BentoBox Studios. (Whee!!)
. Coming up with an awesome illustration idea for décor purposes at Daddy's workplace. (Eeek!)
. Finishing the book I'm reading- "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy.
. Improving my drawing skills.
. Adopting more consistent styles for my commercial and personal work.
. Doing a collaboration (painting) with my sister.

The "long-term" / ever-on-going tasks:-

. Improving my Chinese.
. Shaping my characters and putting together a plot(s) for my dream (graphic novel) project.
. Improving my English.
. Improving my drawing skills. (Moar.)
. Working my way to becoming the kind of artist I want to be. (And just what kind of artist is that?)

Writing them out like that makes me feel that I should probably be more ambitious, but if I can achieve these things by the end of 2008, I think I'll be awfully proud of myself. And that's enough.

I'm still have "Storm" by Lifehouse on my playlist (and sometimes looping solo) after three weeks. This song puts me in a special mood. I was talking to a friend earlier, and I told him that it'll be nice if I could find someone who can make me feel this way. Loop, loop, loop; again, again and again - feelings unchanging. Hopefully not just for three weeks though. Ha.

How long have I been in this storm?
So overwhelmed by the ocean's shapeless form
Water's getting harder to tread
With these waves crashing over my head

If I could just see you
Everything will be alright
If I'd see you
This darkness will turn to light

And I, will walk on water
And you, will catch me if I fall
And I, will get lost into your eyes
I know everything will be alright
I know everything is alright

I know you didn't bring me out here to drown
So why am I ten feet under and upside down?
Barely surviving has become a purpose
'Cause I'm so used to living underneath the surface

Storm by Lifehouse
(songwriting credit: Jason Wade)

I'm really tempted to put a download link to the song here, but I know I shouldn't.

I finally have a new layout! It isn't spectacular or anything - I'm a total n00b at CSS and it took me forever to get everything working and looking the way I want - but I'm happy with the way it looks now! And using my own art for my layout feels kinda guuuud. :D