City Lights VI

City Lights VI

2240 x 1400

SketchBook

Bringing another different mood to the 'City Lights' series, this time one that (hopefully) befits the current occasion. 

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Everybody say LOVE!

City Lights III

City Lights III

1920 x 1600

SketchBook

well, i'm near the end and i just ain't got the time,

and i'm wasted and i can't find my way home.

-- Blind Faith, Can't Find My Way Home

Happy Lunar New Year 2023

Wishing y'alls who are celebrating a Happy and Prosperous Lunar New Year 2023! 🐰🐇🧧🎇

This is a fanart/tribute to an old Chinese New Year joke/meme back in the day, immortalised in a parody trailier made by SGAG about one of the scariest snacks to ever exist on this planet.

If y'alls curious, you can check this trailer out. 

A version without the title. 

Eurydice

Eurydice
1920 x 1600
SketchBook

Lately I have been feeling somewhat lousy about a couple of things where painting is concerned. At least with my last piece of work (my first for 2023), I realised that I have heavily regressed to purely working instinctively again, and in struggling to bring the piece to life, it has made me realise what I might still need a great deal of work on: composition, tone and perspective. 

So I went in search of an instructional video on composition -- which I really should have done in the past, or if I did, probably should have paid more attention -- and I found this one, which helped a great deal. 

I do highly recommend this video. Do check it out, if you haven't. The explanations are delivered quite well, and there are pretty solid examples given in here too. I haven't seen the rest of the series, but I plan to continue (hopefully). 

Anyways, having seen the video, I took out my stylus and phone and started making a sketch, very reminiscent of some of the examples you will see in the video.

I was surprised at the sense of depth this sketch was able to achieve, and I felt quite happy about it, even without any sort of details on it. This was... I think... my first conscious experience of this particular aspect of making art. 

After the sketch, I went straight into painting and adding in the details almost very instinctively -- which was fine seeing as there was already work done for the foundation, and I didn't have to guess how the picture would generally look like anymore. 

Once again, a solid foundation makes for a more fulfilling and satisfying painting process. And fun too. 

Anyways, here's the close-up of our little 'Opheus' character. Why Orpheus? Because as I filled in the details, I began to realise that I may have been subconsciously inspired by SONG OF ORPHEUS from THE SANDMAN graphic novel. 

Infinite Dust, Infinite Dark

Infinite Dust, Infinite Dark

1600 x 1920

SketchBook

This one is inspired by THE SANDMAN (both the picture and the title). 

I am in a big SANDMAN mood these past few days. I am close to finishing the first volume of my copy of the graphic novel and will be getting the second volume soon. Can't wait to continue reading it! 

Also, rewatching the first season, too. Having now finished the Doll-House arc, I would like to re-watch the first season with new eyes. 

Mid-afternoon Sketching At A Local Cafe, Animated with Rain Sounds

Mid-afternoon sketching at a local cafe, animated with rain sounds.

A little simple animation I did for my last sketch illustration. Been a while since I last animated something. 

I have added music to the same video in other places. Here are the links:

Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube

Mid-afternoon Sketch At A Local Cafe

Did a bit of sketching while I was at a local café this afternoon. Was sitting by the window and it was raining pretty heavily. A guy was waiting outside -- probably for a takeaway order -- and there was so jazz music playing. It was a mood, so I thought I would try to capture it in a sketch. 

The guy eventually left, though not before I managed to get everything down with some early splotches of colours, so phew! After that, spent the rest of my afternoon just refining things. 

 

The text that I put in as a final touch afterwards is from Therru's Song (lyrics by Akino Arai and Goro Miyazaki) from the Studio Ghibli film 'TALES FROM EARTHSEA'. (please forgive me for my terrible hand-writing).