Just add colors =D

_{Hullo! Haha. It has been a couple days =D}
This time, I'm starting to use watercolor pans (and waterbrush)
They aren't perfect, but I'm getting there =D
Practice practice and practice! ;)








(From left to right, up to bottom:
1. First color test. It just HAS to be an apple lol.
2. Drawing of Nathan Fowkes' drawing.
4. Drawing of Steve McCurry's photograph
5. Drawing of Tracie76's photostock (deviantart =D)
6. Drawing of Steve McCurry's photograph
7. Unfinished, hasted drawing of my cousin. He looks too chubby! =\
8. Drawing of Steve McCurry's photograph, and a GK Chesterton's quote. It says: (mine missing the few last lines of the first stanza =\)

There is more than meets the eye. Read it over and between the lines!

"After one moment when I bowed my head

And the whole world turned over and came upright,

And I came out where the old road shone white.

I walked the ways and heard what all men said,

Forests of tongues, like autumn leaves un-shed,

Being not unlovable but strange and light;

Old riddles and new creeds, not in despite

But softly, as men smile about the dead

The sages have a hundred maps to give

That trace their crawling cosmos like a tree,

They rattle reason out through many a sieve

That stores the sand and lets the gold go free:

And all these things are less than dust to me

Because my name is Lazarus, and I live."

There is more than meets the eye. Read it over and between the lines!

=D

Happy almost Chritsmas!

December (and it's huge!)

No, I really do HAVE been drawing!
I finished my third moleskine, and now I'm trying out this Piccadilly notebook (if there's ever anything that come close to moleskine imitator, this would be it! With freakishly similar design, cover, pages, size, etc! I smell conspiracy lol!)
Good news is, it's one third the price of moleskine lol.
No, I'll get back using moleskine again eventually; but for now, I'm too poor =D
All images are drawn using either Lamy fountain pen / Rotring Art Pen (with noodler black ink)

Cut to the case, here they are! =D





L: Experiment using waterbrush. It creates this really cool old school wash effect =D
R: Photo by Steve McCurry



L: Original drawing by Tiepolo
R: Original painting by Frans Hal



Toilet Aesthetic.
Go figure lol



R: Original photograph by Steve McCurry




Both are copy drawings by Rembrandt



R: Original photograph by Steve McCurry
(if you notice, I did drawing of the same model on my last post. I did a total of um.. five? maybe more... drawings of her. Somehow there's something in her that captivates =D





L: CS Lewis' quote from the book, Mere Christianity
R: Original photograph by Steve McCurry





R: Original photograph by Steve McCurry



L: Original drawings by Rembrandt
R: Drawing of Steve McCurry



L: Original drawing by Rembrandt
R: Original photograph by Steve McCurry



R: Original drawings by Rembrandt



L: Experiment using graphite sticks + waterbrush



Copy of Rembrandt's drawing



R: Original photograph by Steve McCurry
My best one yet lol.

Enjoy, and have a merry happy supercalifragilisticexpialidocioustastic Christmas!

November

Long time no see!
My life has officially overturned by the super awesomeness of God. For the last 1-2 months, things have been so utterly unpredictable. God chooses to reveal His uberness to me. I'm so blessed. Haha. I've never ever felt so fulfilled and happy in my life =D

Don't get it wrong, being a Christian doesn't mean I'm going to start marching on the street with a flag that says repent or go to hell. We DON'T do that. There is a depth and still yet mysteries of Christianity. It's amazing, perplexing, and (was, is, and will) never an easy road to take, but exceedingly worth it nonetheless. It gives us reason and hope. I don't know, like. I don't think there is a word exist in this world to describe the butterflies of glee in my stomach. I'm not going to start averting the purpose of this sketch blog into a preach blog. But let me say this one thing:

Give Christianity a chance. Fully open your heart and mind, for once set aside everything, and ask God very sincerely to reveal Himself to ya. Chances are you will not see an angel descends from nowhere into your room and it suddenly floods with blinding light. What I'm saying is, feel it. Do you feel a slight difference inside? If do, cultivate it. I believe God WILL do that if you are truly being honest. It's such a precious thing, the feeling that you get fully knowing that there IS a God who cares.


Yeah. I totally filled up another (pocket-size) moleskine, and bought a larger version of it. It fills up fast. I've been drawing like a machine. Haha.

Here's a page:





Original photograph is taken by Steve McCurry.
(Phaidon.com)
I'm merely doing one of his photographs (the one on the right)
For some totally inexplicable reason, this one particular photograph (taken at Feyzabad, Afghanistan, 1990) really catches my attention.
There's a furtive strong emotional appeal that just totally intrigues me. Words fail me.

Anyway, my point is, I've been thinking for the longest time on what I'm going to become.
Honestly, and I am frankly do not mean to gloat or whatever, I could probably easily live off my life becoming an animator or freelance illustrator or whatever if I continue doing whatever I've been doing. But I think I'm beginning to see what God wants me to do. I dunno. I am not yet completely sure, and there is an over 90% chance that I'd change my mind about this; I want to become a traveling artist. Maybe doing a journal blogger or something relevant.
I want to travel around the world, rich and poor, good and bad, and just like, to experience it. I feel like my life would be too short and futile if I don't take an unorthodox step further than most people.
Iunno. I'm probably saying nonsense right now. But yeah, I want to use this "gift" for the goodness of other people. I don't want to yearn for personal fame. Iunno. This is so totally crazy stuff I'm saying.
This very same reason drives me to strive.


=D

New Sketchbook!

Bought my second Moleskine's pocket sketchbook on Friday. The old one officially retired today.

This time, I'm going all out. I'm not limiting myself with just pens and pencils and some cheesy brush pens.
I'm going to start experimenting with other medias like washes, like watercolors. Especially watercolors.



Graphite.
One of the best favorite actress ever.
Sorry if she's kinda hard to tell who. It still not quite distinctive enough.
Note to self: need to work on that, the characteristic. All the facial of my life human figure drawing looks the same. =\





Voila!
Watercolor test with one of those pocket-size mini watercolor set (comes with 12 tiny pans and super cute brush =D
Ok. First impression: awkward!
I is totally unlike painting with oil/acrylic, where you have to actually "scrape" the gum and I can't get a consistent color. Mixing color is a nightmare. Haha.
Oh, I'll figure this one out and get the proper techniques eventually, pretty soon.





Sepia pencil + brush pen + pencil graphite.
It's symbolic. Haha.

So the retreat went

Unforgettable.

Ok, so here's what and how it went down: Just two or three weeks back, CCC mentioned about upcoming retreat held by Cal Poly Pomona. To cut the chase short, I went; apparently there were only three of us from our campus, Mt. Sac, who participated (that includes ME!)
Pretty tough, huh? Haha. I'm somewhat didn't mind about it at all. I LOVE meeting new people. My whole life for the past year has been nothing but a series of encounters with random living human beings.
It's called um... Camp Seely? Seeley? I think the handout spells it differently from the actual sign up there. Yeah.

It went on from Friday to Sunday. We arrived at sundown. The place wasn't vastly spacious, but it was pretty huge, still. Ok. Um. Anyway, it was such a blast. I'm going to pick out the events randomly.
Ok, first, there was the games. It was fun, and it was designed so everybody will get to know each other. Then there was the dance. Yeah. It was super exhilirating, not forgetting exhausting.

The gist is, the message. Yes, it was a Christian event-thing. There was actually two issues that were talked about, but unfortunately only one really hit me. Hahah.

Ok, so the speaker, friggin' awesome person, was referring to the book of 2nd Timothy. Paul's last letter. Like, ever. I guess that kinda makes it like the last words or testimony or something.
Anyway here's what my notes say, that people are falling left and right, and we must set up our goal, our finish line, and resist whatever obstacles, trials, temptations trying to hinder us. Just like Paul did, he put up a good fight. And I guess this sort of relate with the other message, the heavenly treasure for the reward. Yeah.
Ok, that was a very rough summary of what we studied up there.
And here's how I relate it to MYself, is that I have not been putting up a good fight. Maybe because I don't know who to fight for, or the capacity of the fight itself. I have not try hard enough, or maybe I was never attempted to fight at all, in the first place. All these time, I thought that I have been participating in, maybe in reality I haven't. My life has not started yet.
Somewhat and somehow, I related that with this one parable from the Bible about the three servants with talents and such, and associated myself as the third lazy servant. Unfortunately, reminiscing, I could not recall that many occassion when I have given my best. I'm going to have to try much harder from now on.
I need to manifest my skill for God's purpose more. Like, bad.

Pardon my subtleties. It's 12.33 AM and I only had around 10-12 hours of sleep for the past 3 days, and my days have been physically demanding. Haha.


Lastly, I brought camera but inexplicably, I didn't take any pictures. Yes. How weird. I'm odd.


So voila!



Saturday. Couldn't sleep. Cold. Woke up twice: once at three and the other at five.
Decided to take a walk outside instead half an hour later after unsuccessfully trying to go back to sleep.
The back view of the camp facing the forest, sorta. I apologize for the gruesome perspective. I was brain dead.
It looks incomplete, because it is. When I did it, it was SUPER cold, and my fingers literally went stiff.
No sarcasm.

ManOLisa

Last minute school project.
I hope this got approved tomorrow =D
Man-O-Lisa,
another yet pitiful attempt to reveal alchemist's true capacity.

ZOMG. It's like 1.07 AM, Tuesday. Hahaha.


EDIT: Removed the screenshot's "residue".
Nvm me. Haha.

It's Monday and...

I've got an English and an Art History test tomorrow and I'm officially SCREWED. LOL.


Anyway, not my point here.
I went to Knott's Scary Farm on Saturday!
Yeah. It was TERRIFYING and kick-butt, like.
I'm not going to go into details, but basically I lost my voice screaming in terror all night long.
I am really the kind of person who would probably die prematurely from heart attack or something. No sarcasm there =D

Ok, I'm going to summarize the trip without any picture/photo reference.
Because I stupidly forgot to get it out of my bag and I left my bag in the car and I was too much of a bum to got back into the car and fetch it and yeah!
Yeah, we got there pretty early, like 4 o'clock, and walked around and had early dinner at um... T.G.I? I forgot. Anyway, it's ridiculously expensive, although the food is almost worth it (I repeat, almost.)
By the time we finished eating and cruising and browsing, it's about 6.30, and we started going into the line, which was already over five miles long. Surprisingly, Knott's opened up the gate ten minutes later, and inside we could already see their staffs dressing up in costumes. (It was still daylight, so the horror sorta diminishes a bit)
Anyway, we took picture and walked to the um... this ride. Darn it. What's it called... it's where we got into this log boat on water and there's caves and dummies inside to scare people. I was already freaking out. Yeah. Totally. And I'm not even being funny, I was very, really freaking out. Then there's the drop. Gosh, I hate drops. I hate roller coasters. I hate surprises. ARG. That's why I don't go to amusement park oft. Roller coasters scare the jeebies off me.
Anyway, after miraculously surviving that ride (darn it, still can't remember the name =\), we entered one of the mazes. The first maze we got in was this... clown hideout...thing. Bought the 3D glasses for a dollar. And it honestly didn't help, just made things blurrier.
THE MAZES. Oh, Gosh. I have not felt SO scared for a long time. Any tiny sudden motion scared the freak off me. If there's a nine year old and me competing in flinching contest, that nine year-old would kick my butt by a landslide.
To cut the case short, all mazes but one (the Vegas one, it was frankly really lame=D) were really embarassing =D I screamed, ran, bumped, flinched, and was being a complete paranoid freak the whole night. Strangely, it's addicting... it's like I wanted to go on, already knowing the consequences.
It was a blast at the end. Didn't take off until a little bit past one (original plan = 2), but it's cool. I didn't feel like prolonging it and then having a very drowsy driver driving us home. I still wanna live for at least five to ten good years to come.


ANYWAY.
Since this is a sketch blog, here's what I did... today. lol.
Had too much leeway at school, apparently.





Both were um inspired by Rise Against (my new favorite band! ZOMG =D) new song, Hero of War.
There's even part of the lyrics on the first picture. It's SUCH a profound song.
Don't get me wrong, I am not against the war. I have a buddy who might even be going to Iraq soon; I love peace, AND I also think a war is sometimes a necessity. I'm not going deep on this, but yeah. Everyone has their own opinion on anything.
Btw, all of these drawings were done in pen.



A tree. ZOMG. WOW.
And a rather confused angel. Stairway to heaven. It says FAILED on the steps.
It's a half joke that I don't even get. SO RANDOM.



MonaLisa.
Just because.
And I'm not even trying.
ARG.



Yeah!

Al.chemy

First test!
I only had less than 37 minutes to both plan and complete it.
Anyway, it's such a great sketching program. The downside is it gets laggier the longer it runs (or it could be the more you draw on it)

I dunno. ANYthing lags on my computer nowadays. I don't wanna jump into conclusion.

Anyway, yeah!
I'm taking a driving test tomorrow. For the second time. Failed my first time because of some stupid lane violation. Haha.
I'm saying this because I didn't even got a chance to demonstrate anything else. I got into the car, asked hand signals and what not, and the moment we took off from the DMV, I was immediately pulled over by the instructor. It's so ironic, I didn't get upset because of it. Hahah.

So, yeah. I hope I'm going to nail this one today.

Speedpainting at midnight

Whilst listening to Nicole Atkins' Maybe Tonight, and other songs.
2 hours. Painter IX. Reference semi-used. I wouldn't recommend you to zoom in. Cuz me thinks it lookie better on thumbnail view xD




I've been somewhat been obsessed with the word, love.
It's cute.
Haha.



That's what happen when you drank too much coffee after midnight.
I'm completely sleepless now =D

More Studies

I spent most of my week by studying some of the books I borrowed from the library.
It's totally worth it, and slowly but steadily, my gaps and holes are getting filled. There's so much more to learn, but I think I have the time to grasp it all.
It might takes weeks, or months, or years to completely understand the nature of human body and movement, but I'll strive to get them ALL down.
Meanwhile, I'm learning color theory all over again. I thought I knew sufficiently to start painting.
I stood corrected. Arrogance will never bring anyone, anywhere. I'm so glad I took the classes I'm taking right now, although at first I was like, "What the..? Am I in the wrong class?" and something like that.
But yeah! I'm rediscovering the fun of drawing and things you could benefit others and yourself from it.
Anyway, enough blabbers!








Study of ear.
All but one of those images are imitations of many long-dead artists =D
It doesn't take a smartypants to figure out who originally did them.
Hahah.




Muscles study.
Again, most of those images are from the old masters. So to say.




Quick study of everything plus proportion.
Um those are music lyrics, pardon my gruesome handwriting.
If I remember it right, they're random lyrics from Pedro the Lion, My American Heart, and um... the infamous Viva la Vida by Coldplay.
I'm not sure, but I think there's more...




Head study.
And again, me trying to imitate some of the works done by other people.
Though one of them is a life figure drawing.



There's something else I was gonna talk about... but I can't quite remember it.
Oh, poo.


Anyway, yeah!
I'm going to Knott's Scary Farm on Saturday.
How exciting, eh?

Sorry for not updating for a week! My life has got me knocked down breathless. I was having such a busy week.
I decided to not to get caught up with my desire to um, "paint". Lately, I've been looking into the works of the old masters and all that, trying to learn their techniques, taking some advices off some books, and finding out the perfect media and style for me.
I have been grasping SO much, theoretically. It's time to put all I've learned into practice.
I learned about technical and artistic anatomy, proper use for cast and form shadow, perspective, and composition. I've learned to accept things the way they are, and to look at them optimistically and to work them out for my benefit, not as a drawback. Jeez.

Here's some of many sketches I did this week:





Those girls are random finds from random deviantart stocks.
And as you probably notice, I salvaged a used book I purchased from library ($0.25!) and paint-coated it with gray. I makes a really neat sketchbook!
Smells like paint and kinda sticky, though.






The angel is from one of Tiepolo's paintings I forgot which one. The duck is a random doodle I pulled out of my head.






Red pastel pencil. Just out of curiosity.
I need to work on that more. Hahah.






Michaelangelo studies, all except the tree. That tree is an experimental drawing using only pen. Micron 01...? Not sure what I used.






Brush pen experiment, live figure drawing study. That's what I get from sitting inside the starbucks bored. Random people as models.


I now realize that I'm still in the beginner / amateur level presently, and I learn to accept the fact. But I will strive to become better.
And I'm trying to do it fast.

Better start taking risks, then.




Btw, I'm officially legal now!
=D~

Blah!

Sry for the title. I'm running short on ideas. Brainfreeze.
Anyway, here's a "sketch" from my newest deviation.



"Final"



I totally screw up the facial.
I probably could edit it, but I don't feel like altering anything that I've signed.
Consider I learned my lesson.
Besides that, I'm super happy. The colors came out pretty good; not perfect, but sufficient. I'm getting bolder on every new picture I paint. I need to learn to loosen it up and control the value more.

So yeah!

Bad news is, I lost my sketchbook. In church! Gosh. I think I left it on one of the seats, and it has my phone number on it.
Apparently whoever found it must have liked it so much he/she decided to keep it for him/

Killing Boredom.

A doodle I did in my English class.
It can be summed up as a boring day.
Pretty much.
Yeah.

I'm really surprised that nobody noticed that I was doodling for the past hour. I mean, didn't I look obvious or something? Mmmk.
Am I really that subtle? ;)



Done with a black pen on my pocket-size moleskine sketchbook.
Textures from www.cgtextures.com
Yes, it's a starbucks.

Sometimes inspiration constipation could be anticipated in a very queer way.
Hahah =D




I'm not feeling to explain a lot right now. But today me and a bunch other people from the art class visited this area in Santa Ana. Forgot what it's called. It's a museum aright. And we went inside and yeah, since I love museums, my commentaries would be very subjective.
It's pretty neat. They've got all sorts of artworks on display. Multimedia, application, collages, anything you could think of, was there, squeezed in such a tiny room. I'm amazed how many stuff they could cram together and arrange it to make it look like a proper display place.
Yeah.
I'm starting to sound utterly disordered. Pardon. It's almost one in the morning... and I need sleep. Haha.

These Past Few Days in September.

Ok, I'm just going to go free writing from now on. My brain just won't put up with articulate constructed sentences right now. So I apologize if it doesn't make any sense.
I hate the undeniable fact that we all have to grow up one day. And I die-hard trying to resist it. It's futile. I'm not Peter Pan. As much as I hope I was.
I'm losing it. I'm rapidly losing my identity. I ain't being myself anymore. The pressure is growing. And it's still growing and will keep growing and expanding and will always growing until it crushes me. I'm starting to feel that attraction again. I don't know what it is. Is it love? Is it just a crush? Gosh. I really hope that I could endure a few years without that nagging emotional feeling.
There's so many things I want to prove. Things I want to do. I want to help. I don't want to see injustices. I really want to change the world, if I can. To make it a better place.
I feel... useless. Gosh. I'm a freak. My hope is getting thinner every passing day. It wouldn't hold on for too much longer now.
I need a reason.
I've tried many, countless causes I made up to keep me on, and every single one of them fall off short.
I need someone, something, a belief; I could put reassurance in and that/who would push me to go on. The world is falling apart. It's almost a stranger to me now.
I will find it. I just don't know when. I hope I haven't crumbled till then.

I need a God. Not just any God. The God. The one God that I used to be totally in love with.
I hope I could reconcile and back to where I was. Maybe even more.

Then I'll find my other reasons.






Anyway!

I know that there are still few other things in my mind right now, but I feel from a little to quite much better now. Here's a few of what I've been doing on my tiny sketchbook lately!











I'm officially in love with Moleskine =D

And here's an unfinished photoshop doodle I did few months back. I was cleaning up my folders when I stumbled into this. Yeah... ;-)

Untitled. Haha, figures.