Inspiration

Since my tv downstairs has no basic channels right now, I've been re watching my dvd collection. I enjoy re watching my dvd collection, so I'm not forcing myself to watch tv or anything ;P
But I just finished Ratatouille again and I went to the bonus materials where there's an interview with Brad Bird.
When I listen to him talk about how he is inspired... it really inspired me too.
He said that ideas cannot be forced.
When he does come up with an idea, its usually a happy accident or its created from something else.
And then it builds off of what gave him inspiration and becomes an idea.

I've always been hard on myself because I always thought I wasn't creative enough.
When I look at other people's portfolios, I feel that everyone is creative in their own way.
Especially those who apply to Art Center's Entertainment Design program. Their portfolios really knock me off my socks.
But after I watched Brad Bird talk about how he creates ideas, then I think back to the drawings and art I have done. It's true that I have had spontaneous creative ideas at the spur of the moment...literally.
(damn those conceptual art classes... forcing me to make something..)
If you force yourself to create an idea then you might not love it.
But if it comes to you instead, then you can really make it yours and be happy about it.

The dvd really inspired me because it really is true. I'll probably be a lot more creative when the times comes to be (CalArts!!!)

CalArts portfolio day is this weekend! I'm pretty confident about my portfolio.
Just finishing up the drawings by spraying some fixative and glassine over those dusty drawings.

I'll create a new post about Portfolio Day and the projects that I am currently working on after Sunday
(second master copy and pastels!)

:)

Portfolio!!

CalArts finally decided to release their application for the 2009 year! Pretty exciting... I still wish the application would come out a little later so there's not so much pressure. But that's ok, don't want to turn it in too late. Also, portfolio day is next weekend. *yikes* I'm pretty nervous.
I have been putting my portfolio together and I realize that a lot of pieces that I have are mostly or fully rendered. I'm thinking maybe CalArts wants to see drawings with construction and more gestures so the other day in class, I requested 5 minute poses. I got 5 great drawings and they will be put into my portfolio.



I also wanted to post some of my figure drawings from when I was still attending UCI. I came a really long way and have improved a lot. Seeing my progression makes me feel good because it helps me feel prepared for CalArts. I'm pretty fond of my figure drawings from the past although they aren't perfect and maybe out of proportion. We had such great models from the class and I wish I really took advantage of that. Or, I wish I had the same models again.



Before the figure drawing class at UCI, I took costume figure drawing classes at Pasadena Art Center. Those were really really fun. It was because of those classes that I really enjoy figure drawing. When I get the chance, I'll snag a few pictures of those. It was pretty fun because we had models coming in dressed like cowboys, pirates, jesters etc. Really awesome :)

I got a call from my mom yesterday. She told me that Mr.Li and my Chinese painting teacher told me that they want me to host this year's exhibition.
O god.....
I heard that they chose me because I'm the youngest student and they want me to represent the longevity of Chinese painting. That's really nice, and really an honor.
But I'm nervous! I have to speak in Mandarin in front of everyone... and I'm a total ABC (American Born Chinese). I hope my 6 years of Chinese school pay off now -____- Even thought I forgot about 80% of what I learned...
It will be a good experience though. I just don't want to be laughed at (o_o)

Animals and Xu Bei Hong

I find that animal drawings are also a bit of a challenge. Animals are actually very unfamiliar so they require extra observation. I think my animal drawings can improve... but it's a bit hard to sketch animals at a zoo on a hot weekend day -___-
I can always try the Santa Ana zoo soon.
These animal drawings are from San Diego zoo.

I wish I could've seen the process in which this snake took to look like a cinnamon bun on a branch.



These are my polar bear sketches! The polar bear was the only animal at the zoo that decided to cooperate. At the end of the day, I was really disappointed that I didn't get any good drawings because all the other animals decided to hide. But this polar bear decided to take a nap near the front right after I was about to leave.
Thanks polar bear!
The drawing above was put through photoshop because I used such a light blue color.

I added more colors to this drawing to show how many colors actually appear on the polar bear.


A random sketch I did on the back of my sketchbook. That cardboard part of sketchbooks always smell like bad cheese... I'm a huge fan of cheese but I don't understand why it always has to smell...
It might be to keep the moths away but it could smell better.

This is the highlight of my weekend. My mom and my godmother went to Chinatown and passed a bookstore. And there were all these figure drawing books that were in front of the bookstore that apparently no one wanted because they were FREE. So my mom and godmother quickly grabbed me 3 books. The artist is a Chinese man named Xu Bei Hong. He studied western art but his fellow Chinese peers did not approve of his western art so he eventually switched over to Chinese painting.
(The translation on the cover is bad... they aren't paintings...)






These books are so wonderful and are very inspirational. Thanks Mom and Godmother Winnie! This is exactly what I needed...free art books
: )
I wish I could show all the pages of his books because his work is beautiful and very good. But it could take a while. Maybe in my later posts, I'll introduce more of his drawings bit by bit.

More Figure Drawings

I haven't been online in a while... and I also haven't been drawing as much as I should. I need some more animal and environment drawings. My figure drawings are good right now and I can always make more in class so that's good. Then, I will put my sketchbook together beginning of November.
The CalArts application isn't out yet because they changed it to early October.
So no pressure just yet right? :)

I've been making changes to my master copy. It took another 3 - 4 hours to add the background -___-
Maybe I do work a little slow...
I didn't want the girl to blend into the paper and look so lonely. I think adding the background makes it look a lot better.

I noticed that I drew her arms and hands a little lower than they're supposed to be :P


I wanted to post some figure drawings that I did at Bodyworlds in LA. They had a life drawing session during the Bodyworlds exhibit and I went with my teacher Rebecca Kimmel. A lot of people didn't show up at first but some people started coming in later on. It was a really good opportunity and it was fun. The models were doing some really extrenuating poses so they didn't pose for too long. But I managed to get some good drawings that will go in my portfolio.

These drawings below were done in my life drawing class. I really liked the model because she's female and she can rock those hips!
I think our life drawing class will be having a little trouble with model attendance because it is difficult to hire models at the moment. We've only had 2 including this one. But they're very good :)

The pictures are very light... but I think you can still see the drawing...
It's funny how in the life drawing classes that I have been in, I have been taught a different method from each teacher. In my other class I was told not to draw any curves. And now this class, I'm not allowed to draw straight lines. I guess it really is gesture vs. block-in. But I'm finding a way to integrate the both.

On Saturday September 20, I went to the San Diego zoo to get some animal drawings.
That did not go very well... the animals that I really wanted to draw are either really far away or decided to hang out somewhere where no one can see them. I did manage to get some really good angles of a polar bear. So I'll have those drawings up some time soon. Animal drawings really are a challenge. I think I'll end up drawing more pictures of my dog and Eunbee the cat.

So, I hope to have a really good portfolio to show CalArts on portfolio day :}
It will be October 19, Sunday from 12pm - 4pm. I'm really nervous but excited at the same time.
whew... this was a very long post, but I just had to catch up from all the days that I missed.
Next stop... portfolio day, animal and environment drawings!

First Master Copy

I actually finished my first master copy a few days ago. I'm not sure how long it took... I'm gonna say about 10 hours. 4 hours on two days, and 2 more on another. But maybe I'm not entirely done :p
I do think that it would look better with some background even though we're not required to do so.
But I finished my first master copy and I found that I really like doing them.
I chose William Bouguereau's Biblis. Even though it's a beautiful painting, there's a really sad story behind it.


Our first master copy had to be done in graphite. So good thing Rebecca made us use only graphite during the first few weeks of life drawing. My first master copy would have been a disaster +__+


I get to cat-sit my friend's cat named Eunbee. Apparently it means silver rain in Korean. He's a very handsome and smart cat who knows how to open drawers and doors.

I've been thinking about putting the master copy in my portfolio, but maybe just part of my sketch book. I'm not quite sure if I should send in the original or not. Hm...we'll see.

Thinking About Portfolio...Again...

I visited the Cal arts site recently. According to the site, the application will be available mid-September. That makes me nervous even though the preferred deadline is December 1. (why don't they make the application available in the beginning of November???) I'm pretty confident about what is going in my portfolio. But I still have a lot of work to do. I also have an artist's statement to write. Today, I sent my artist statement to my high school rhetoric teacher Mrs. Bradford. I still keep in touch with her because we are friends :) (very ironic because writing is my worst subject -____- ) She's going to proofread it and make sure it is a tidy and good. I haven't taken writing classes in a year so kudos to her for bearing with my writing.
I wish I could write about my journey to becoming an artist because it was quite a struggle. But I don't want to ramble on about that in the artist's statement. I'll try to incorporate some of it :p
My teacher Mara tells me that before I do anything with art, I must have the confidence. And Rebecca says that art is personal and takes time.
Art is hard and has taken me through a bumpy journey. But it has made me even more ready to be an artist.
I'm glad that I will be applying soon. Art, here i come!!!

I also wanted to use this post to acknowledge another blog. My sister has some friends who have a blog where they do little sketches: http://burritogoround.blogspot.com/
it's a shame that these guys don't post anymore. They sketches they do are really funny. Like this for example:


This one's from May 1, 2007:
"There's Alien vs. Predator and Freddy vs. Jason, but even better would be this: Alien vs. Jason vs. Predator vs. Freddy vs. Candyman. And you know why Candyman would win? Bees. That's why."

The life drawing class that I'm taking right now requires me to do 5 master copies throughout the semester. I'm pretty excited about doing the assignment. There are a number of painters from the past who have created such beautiful figurative paintings. My first master copy will be William Bouguereau's Biblis. I'll post my drawing when I'm finished so I can compare it side to side with the actual painting.

I want to post Lord Frederick Leighton's 'Summer Noon' painting on my blog because it's so beautiful...

Moving + Ian Patrick + Portfolio

I haven't been online in a while because I finally moved into my new apartment in Irvine!
I really hated my old apartment. It was extremely unsuitable for art students.
I always had to do my art work either on the little coffee table outside in the living room,
or I had to set up my aluminum easel next to my desk and have it constantly get kicked over by me. My easel was literally right next to my bed.

My new apartment room is much bigger and actually has space to stash all my art supplies.
:)

Continuing from my last post, I wanted to share the work of my painting teacher, Ian Patrick.
His paintings and drawings really are fascinating. Even though he may be incorporating a different element into his drawings, I see disembodiment and the mixed signals in his work.
I really appreciate him showing his work because it's very inspiring.
Here is a link to his website: http://softtopic.typepad.com/portfolio/


I also wanted to post more of my portfolio pieces. This really has been the summer of inspiration. I'm really glad I took the summer life drawing class. If I didn't, I don't think I would've had any good pieces for my portfolio.
The charcoal piece above was kind of a breakthrough for me. I kind of have trouble seeking out the different shapes and lights on the back of a model. So, this piece was a bit difficult but it's a drawing of a person's back that I am quite happy with. It might be a little messy still, but it makes a lot more sense than my other drawings of backs.