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~