flora

I have been art blocking like crazy lately, so I've been mostly focusing on practicing anatomy and technical things. I might post some of them eventually, but they tend to be incredibly messy and undecipherable. :'D

So for now, here are some watercolour studies of plants I did during a weekend getaway. :)

water media + Pilot frixion pen on paper

I'm pleasantly surprised by how well my sketchbook holds up with water media. It's a really cheap Canson sketchbook, but the paper doesn't pill or wrinkle that much (provided you control the amount of water and how many times you go over an area). Canson has really improved the paper quality of this line. Since I'm the type who gets nervous when drawing in a nice sketchbook (e.g. moleskin that is still collecting dust on my shelf), these suit me well. I'm on my fourth one now!

junk

I'm trying to get back into the habit of drawing, so doodling a bit before bed!

because i don't believe in fur
PaintTool SAI 1.01

Scrappy paintings

Sometimes I feel like doing art but not drawing... so I've been painting random old doodles in my sketchbook. I should really continue with the Hunger Games art before I go watch the movie tomorrow, but I am avoiding... :'D

boku wa bani ja nai, barnaby desu.
ballpoint pen + watercolours on really crappy Canson paper :'D

curves come when the mind is blank
pilot frixion pen + watercolours

Instagram is on Android now, woo! But weeping because my camera phone is pretty crappy. /abuses and misuses anyway! 8D;;

jumping on the hunger games bandwagon...

With so much hype surrounding the release of the Hunger Games movie, I grew curious about the story. The result: I finished the three books in five days. Aside from the fact that I have a tendency to marathon things, I think Suzanne Collins created a very intriguing world with underlying issues that are not completely unlike those of our own society. Anyway, this is an art blog so I'll spare you from a book review. ;)

I wanted to get some Hunger Games art out of my system before watching the movie next week and getting influenced by it!

the hunger games

PaintTool SAI 1.01

I started off just doodling headshots, so the lack of planning really shows in the poor composition lol. I seem to have lost the patience/ability to do anything beyond a rough sketch lately... :'D

derpy hands part 1

So I've come to the realization that I draw really atrocious hands. :'D
I've known it subconsciously for a long time, but never had the willpower to really confront it. Going to start trying now! It's going to be an arduous battle ahead...

Took some time to draw from my own hand and 3D models from PoseManiacs as a starting point.

My permanent facial expression while drawing these:

I intend to dedicate some time regularly to practicing hands. I'm pretty embarrassed because after modeling the skeletal hand in Maya and drawing a bunch of hands for my master's research project, I should have good knowledge of the hand structure. Yet it just doesn't really translate in my head.

Any tips for drawing hands would be awesome!

Black out the sun

I've been a huge fan of Darren Hayes since his Savage Garden days and Darren his new music video for Black Out The Sun is gorgeous! I wanted to capture the colour palettes and mood (and didn't even begin to attempt to capture the likeness of Darren...*sigh*). There was a bit of optical flare abuse in the video, so I wanted to include that as well!

Now all the love's gone...

PaintTool SAI 1.01 + Adobe Photoshop CS4

Okay, I swear I will fix my sleep schedule in two days...

junk o:

I finally get a chance to draw and what happens? I produce junk. That's how it goes, I suppose. :B

untitled

Photoshop CS4

sleepless

I've been feeling a bit listless and unfocused these past couple of days. Deadline extensions are truly both a blessing and a curse! I also haven't been able to kick my terrible sleep schedule since I stayed up trying to render out coffee a few nights ago. Days like these I really miss living in downtown Toronto. I miss picking up late nights snacks at the 24 hour Metro and browsing used books at BMV on the weekend. I feel so cooped up right now! :(

So I thought a quick doodle might help ease the feeling...

untitled

PaintTool SAI 1.01 + adjustments in Photoshop CS4

EDIT: P.S. This is supposed to be a girl. <-- hilarious because usually anime artists comment, "by the way, this is a boy" in reference to their girly boys, never the other way around. 8D;;

quadruple dose of animu

I've developed a bad habit of not finishing what I started (when it comes to non-school work anyway)! So here's a batch of not-so-refined works and WIPs:

I generally tend to avoid fanart (unless for anime convention purposes...) but somehow that's all I've been drawing recently! B-but Gintama is just so goooood!

ginpachi-sensei~
PaintTool SAI + adjustments in Adobe Photoshop CS4

WIP: (Does Professor Layton count as animu?) I definitely plan on finishing this...eventually! I can't wait until the next game - Professor Layton and The Lost Future was so incredibly epic! I had the Curious Village in mind when I was drawing this, though. :)

PaintTool SAI 1.01

WIP: I haven't decided whether to fully render this in colour, or go for flat b&w.

PaintTool SAI 1.01

And finally, a quick chibi doodle for a friend! And yes, I enjoy super blinding yellow backgrounds.

Adobe Photoshop CS4

I must admit, I've been running away from reality (read: school) a bit recently. I need to get back on track starting tomorrow! I also need to retroactively add all those projects I finished in February here...

paint sketches!

My aunt and uncle bought me a 5x7" Robert Batement sketchbook for Christmas, and they're expecting it to be filled by next Christmas! I decided to get cracking before the start of school. I've taken a real liking to the pen and watercolour combination (or more accurately, water-soluble pencils). I expanded my water-soluble pencil set recently so hopefully I'll have time to do more of these later on!

page 2 (doodled while brewing teas in Professor Layton and Pandora's Box 8D;;)

page 5

sakura microns + steadtler water-soluble pencils

I'm not sure what I'll fill this sketchbook with yet (only 2.5 pages/50 so far!) but I might go with a cute OD theme for the whole thing. :)

Cute, but deadly

My brain has pretty much been reduced to mush by school. This is the extent of my artistic abilities right now:

untitled

Adobe Photoshop CS4
(These are based on online avatars, designs are not entirely mine)

Now the question is: back to tearing my hair out over layouts on a Saturday night, or go out and check out Nuit Blanche? or stay in and draw more bad anime art?! I think we have a winner... 8D

'shrooms

Sometimes, I just want to sit at home, veg, and grow mushrooms out of my head. The week before the start of school is always such a time for me. In an effort to not be completely unproductive and useless during the week capture my sentiments, I did a few silly doodles:

'SHROOM TAIM 8D
PaintTool SAI 1.01 + texture from CGtextures.com

Despite the roughness and perspective/anatomical errors, I had a lot of fun drawing these - a sensation I haven't experienced in a while. I realized that I had been so focused on creating one-off, refined illustrations that I've forgotten how to draw for fun! D:

My recent rampant manga reading research into storytelling also influenced my perspective on illustration. In particular, Saharu Mizu's works made a great impression on me (watashitachi no shiawase na jikan and My Girl are my favourites). She is such an incredible artist with a talent for capturing subtle expressions and gestures. Allured by her storytelling ability and delicate - seemingly effortless - artwork, I reconsidered my direction. I'm not entirely sure where I'll be going with this, but as always, there will be much experimentation and "art poopage". :)

aisu doodle frenzy!

i guess it's official, my old character aisu lives! i'm planning on working this one up in colour, but if i had a penny for every unfinished drawing sitting on my hard drive...

linger

Photoshop CS4

And here are a couple of doodles i did on the plane. These are kind of sad to look at though, they look super similar to my drawings from years ago, complete with bad anatomy! /hasn't improved! ;A;

untitled

watercolour + sakura microns on paper

untitled
(leaky) ballpoint pen on paper

Lately i just want to draw in anime-style! i'm having a hard time motivating myself to finish my surgical piece but the deadline is much sooner than i'd like to think... D:

Jamaica doodlings

i just got back from Montego Bay, Jamaica for my sister's destination wedding and had an awesome time! It was incredibly hot and humid there, but it appears that Toronto is just as hot right now!

Anyway, here are some of the drawings i did there while enjoying some Red Stripe! First up, a dead fish (of course!). My dad, who was apparently the first man to go fishing at this resort, caught this fish along the shore (whoever can tell me what species this is gets a cookie! i actually forgot to draw its whiskers - likely a detail important to its identification...). i thought of Bidloo as i added in the flies...

unidentified dead fish

watercolour on paper

i had a number of ballpoint pen sketches of other striped fish, mussels, and sea urchins along the coast, but i accidentally got sunblock on them...

Anyway, my next painting was not so morbid! Here is my mom relaxing on the beach. :)

by the seaside
watercolour + sakura microns on paper

At the Toronto Pearson airport, i started drawing people around me like a real creeper during the long wait at customs...

noob-ish character studies @ airport
ballpoint pen on paper <-- dang, my new RSVP pens are no good, totally leaky!

i also drew some anime stuff during the flight that is pretty much unrelated to Jamaica, so i will post those later! Ah, i miss being spoiled silly at the resort already... D:

cute warning!

i needed to draw something that was disgustingly cute! Don't ask me what these are for hahaha. 8D;;;


udon
SAI 1.01

i finally bought a Sakura Micron brush pen and i did this doodle with it. :)


ruru doodle
sakura micron brush pen + blue col-erase pencil on paper

Aside from school work, i seem to oscillate between monochromatic portraits of girls and chibi drawings...

happy holidays! :)

i was supposed to do more gradient mesh today but...well...er... 8D;;;
Anyway...here's a quick doodle with a bunch of Christmas clichés thrown together. :)
But i think i've lost sight of where i was trying to go with my art before entering Biomedical Communications, so i somehow reverted to big-eyed anime style... noooo!


holly
Photoshop CS2

untitled

untitled
ballpoint pen on paper, 5.5x8.5"

i rarely post things from my doodling sketchbook, in which i only use ballpoint pen - so things tend to be messy and not well thought-out. But i decided to share a page. i'm planning to use this in some sort of painting with dramatic lighting. Maybe in acrylic? Digital? i haven't decided yet but i feel like i've been doing too much digital work recently!

doodle time~

I was messing around with different PaintTool SAI brushes and such (For anyone with the program, I did this with the Marker and Ink Pen tools). I've been in a bit of a rut lately so this was fun and destressing to do. More to come, hopefully? :]


strut that stuff!
PaintTool SAI 1.01

(Yes, she will remain one-armed forever with wonky anatomy...)

new tablet love

I decided to try out my new 6x11 Wacom Intuos3, and it's such a huge upgrade from my old 4x5 Graphire2! So here is a quick doodle. :)



colourific
PaintTool SAI 1.01 + Photoshop CS2 for tinting
8.5x11" @ 300 dpi

QDDR mascot love

Happy new year!

I started this year off with some rather silly artwork. I've been meaning to redesign the mascot for Queen's DDR club (the product of combined nerdiness between my friend Andrew and I...). I decided to try a less anime-influenced style, though I think it still came out pretty Asian-flavoured...


QDDR mascot doodles
watercolour, gouache & brown col-erase pencil on paper, 8.5x11"

Anyway, I'm trying to tap into my tendency to draw cutesy things and combine it with the more fine arts approaches I've been learning this past term. And I just got a 6x11 Wacom Intuos3 to go with a new 21.5" widescreen monitor, and it's incredible! It's a huge upgrade from my little 4x5 Graphire2 I've been using for like 6 years. So I think I'll try doing some non-anime digital art sometime. :)