Show and Tell: Nightmare Before Christmas

I was keeping a close watch on this book on Amazon. And it so happened that art store that I usually go to had the book! I immediately bought it. It really is an amazing book. It's not just full of pictures, but it also tells the story of what the film went through. The author is also a great writer. He describes in great detail the making of the film and makes sure that you understand everything that you read.
I wanted to share a few pages from the book just in case anyone else is interested in the book.
Though... the book is kind of old :P
The book may be old, but the Nightmare Before Christmas is simply just timeless.






I also just wanted to throw in some life drawing... as usual :)
Some pieces are incomplete. I always have so many incomplete pieces :/
But they will be finished one day for my portfolio. I've been cutting off limbs again in my drawing.
And I've also been gearing towards a messier rendering of the body.
For example, the wet charcoal technique. It's a lot of fun, and looks much more interesting than just ink.
The charcoal adds a little more texture. The quality of these pictures aren't the best, but it's nice seeing these drawings up on the blog.







I am also currently working on a glass still life. It's pretty crazy but fun.
Hm... that little glass off to the side looks like it's a bit off. Or it's the camera... must double check on that!
I have so many things to do! :P


Must get to work now!

busybusybusy

I feel like I haven't posted here forever :P I wish I could post more but I've been swamped with my portfolio class.
When I signed up for the portfolio program, I signed up for a number of hours, and I'm trying my best to finish up those hours this summer. Though I don't think I can...
But that's ok, I'm going to need some advice once the Calarts portfolio deadline starts coming around.
And the reason I've been so frazzled is because I'm jumping to the different Vision 21 locations to experience the different teachers and Calarts alumni.
So I'm either in Cerritos, Fullerton, LA or Irvine..whewww....

Lately, I've really been feeling my gestures. With the help of my instructor Mike Neumann, my gestures have adopted a more animation-like style in a sense that I draw through and make everything flow more.





I've also started a short story about Jason the zombie and Piaget the Pigeon.
It's a quick story that I've added into my sketchbook to help with my organization of story.
Not really the best drawings, but I was focusing on the story, and that was already hard enough :P
I will add the rest later on.
What will happen after Piaget drops off Jason the zombie's dentist postcard?
:)
And the bottom one is just another figure gone sci-fi.
Right now for me, it's either a zombie or robot-thing. I'm going through a zombie phase at the moment.
But I'll just make the best of it :) and let it inspire me.


Speaking of zombies, I recently stumbled upon an artist named Ashley Green.
I first discovered him through the art of Metal Gear Solid. And what do you know... he has books that have zombies and robots in them :) Here

Check out his website!

Until next time!

Recent work

I've been wanting to post my recent work from Vision 21 ever since before the trip to Michigan.
But I did a few sketches while I was away. You'd think that I would have more sketches because I was traveling across the country and I got to see all kinds of things.
But not really :P
I couldn't bring myself to draw the same endless landscapes that would roll on by the car for 8 hours.
Even while I was on the plane to Michigan, I could only see about 5 or 6 people and draw them. But it was still fun and I've included them. I like how the guy who was reading the book had his toes latched on to the seat in front of him.

I have an instructor at Vision 21 who has been helping me a lot with taking the first steps of character animation and giving me a taste of what it's about. He has been assigning me small homework assignments such as: give emotion to a sausage, give emotion to a cat, etc. The sausage was definitely a challenge because I didn't want to use the little signs that indicated emotion. So I tried my best and it was really fun. I think I will name the sausage Antoine. Hopefully I'll be able to come up with more emotions for Antoine if I can think of more.
I also did a few drawings of a cat. The cat was also very fun and it's still a work in progress. I know I can think of more emotions!
I was told to keep the drawings very simple, which really works.



This portrait was done in my sketchbook with oil. I've never done figure painting before, so I would I would try my hand at a portrait. I used a girl from one of my magazines. I actually used the oil paint to kind of "scrub" in her features and such. I wanted a more rugged and dirty look. Perhaps it was because I was very into the zombie game that I was playing... (and still am)
:) I think I would like to experiment more with figure painting.

This is the painting that I've been working on at Vision 21. It's not quite done but I'm glad to see where it's going. I used oil paint on illustration board which was the worst mistake I've ever made :P
I wanted to try something different, but I forgot that the oil will get soaked up by the board. Bad bad idea...
That's why in the picture, some areas are shinier than others because of the multiple layers.
But, it's not so bad.
My instructor who has been guiding me through this painting also likes figure painting. His work is awesome and I wish I can share it on this blog, but he keeps all his work in his digital camera...
The arms on the person in the painting were painted with many small strokes and colors. This technique was taught to me by my instructor because that's his specialty, using a lot of complex colors to give form and texture to the figure. I really like the technique and would like to use it in my future paintings.


This is another figure drawing that I would like to finish. I didn't have enough time because I was using pastel pencil. I have a few unfinished works from Vision 21 that I hope I can finish.
I'm still experimenting with figure drawing by heading down a more abstract road.




Also, I wanted to introduce Daisy. Daisy is a Labrador who is very intelligent and fun. She belongs to my cousins. I included these pictures of Daisy because I hope that one day, I can capture the emotion and personality of dogs in character animation. Animals are so silly, but are inspiring :)

Ok, enough blahblah. I'll include more drawings next time, and some Chinese paintings too!

I Have Returned!

I haven't blogged in a while because I've been driving across the U.S. with my older sister :P
She recently graduated from the University of Michigan's pharmacy graduate program. Congrats to her for enduring such a tough program and finally earning her title as Dr. Emily Chang!
After her graduation, she decided that she wanted to move home to start looking for a job. So we drove from Michigan to California because she had to bring her car back.
I must say, that it was one heck of a drive... I've driven with her and my mom before from California to Michigan. But for some reason, that one didn't seem as bad. This time, I was super antsy and even 2 hours seemed like forever. But I made it and I'm back in art mode.
I just wanted to include a few pictures that I took along the road.

This picture was taken in the New Mexico area. There were a lot of plateaus in the area and all the mountains looked blue. It might have been Arizona but I don't remember :P





The pictures of the sunset and cacti are definitely from Arizona. My sister thought it would be nice to capture some of the cacti by the sunset. And the sunset was absolutely gorgeous.
I think the cacti really saved our lives... the drive was getting really boring. Some of the cactus looked really funny :)

I also wanted to post some of my work that I've been working on recently. I'll split up the posts because I still have yet to get some pictures.
Also, I returned around 12 from watching Pixar's Up :)
It really was such a great movie that touched the deep regions of our hearts like never before.
This is definitely a break through for Pixar. (the first one that made me cry :P )
I will be going to sleep with happy thoughts of the movie tonight

Good Night!

An Overview

I would like to use this this blog to just spread out some thoughts and an overview of my spring semester, since it's about to end. My oil painting class is just great. Never in my life, would I have ever thought that I could paint like this. And maybe I do have a little knack for paint. I just didn't have the right instruction. I'm finishing up my final oil painting in class. It is based off a photograph that my instructor took. I have the photograph and my painting posted up next to each other. I'm satisfied with what I have. It's not quite done yet but it almost is. A lot of things are off but I'll just work with what I have.
It could be a lot better, but for my first semester of oil painting, I won't beat myself up :P


My generous boyfriend also bought me a new camera :) We're currently testing it out because it was advertised as a great camera... but it isn't quite living up to that description and we're wondering why.... hmm...
But I have some new drawings that I did at the portfolio prep program that I would like to post up. I'll get those when I figure out this mysterious camera.

I haven't posted for in a while because of my hectic dance schedule. Irvine Valley College had their spring dance concert during the second weekend of May and I was in 2 of the dances. And it was so much fun. I almost wish that it didn't end. It was my first time on stage too. It was just an unforgettable experience and I am so so happy that I had the opportunity to perform before I have to put dance away. I don't have rehearsals anymore, and my last dance class is next week. It's pretty sad because I've met some great dancers and most of us are going our own ways. And I would've loved to perform for IVC's fall dance concert.
It really is such a bittersweet moment. But at least I will be attending dance classes for the summer semester. And I will finally be taking a ballet class after 3 years of only jazz :P
shame on me... no wonder why I don't know how to properly use my strength to dance.

I guess some good things just have to end. There will be photos and even a dvd of the performance later on that will be available to purchase. And I would definitely love to post some pictures of the performances.
My secret wish is to somehow end up back at IVC again for dance classes and perform once more :)
After art school of course.
I'm really soaking in my last few months of dance and Irvine. I will miss this so much.
But life moves on and for the better.

Next post will hopefully have more pictures!

Street Painting Week

For this week, our oil painting class was assigned to do a street painting of a master copy. The art instructors Julie Kirk and Melanie Stimmel do street painting on the side and are quite famous for them. So maybe they want their students to get a taste of what it's like.
I chose Caravaggio's St Jerome. Drapery + human figure = fun.
Turns out, I had mega fun doing the street painting. They were done with pastel. At first, I didn't have a very good relationship with pastel... but oil painting has really helped. And mucho thanks to the lovely weather that was provided for us while we were out drawing away.
We weren't required to finish, but we still had to give it our all. We were provided 3' x 5' rectangles to draw in.
And it really wasn't that bad. I didn't get to finish but I'm still happy with the results.
I can't even imagine the humongous street paintings that Julie and Melanie do :P
Mucho props to them!




St Jerome looks a little wide...
Haha. I think it would've been nice if I included the book so that it looks like he's at least holding something.
But that's ok. This really was a fun turn of events.
And next week, back to regular oil painting.

Dance is the hidden language of the soul - Martha Graham

I may be having a crummy drawing week, but I am most certainly having a great dance week.
For as long as I can remember, dance has always been just a hobby and something that I greatly admired.
And taking some dance classes here and there was my way of being involved with it.
It never got serious.
But here I am, dancing 12 hours per week now in preparation for the spring dance concert at Irvine Valley College. I was chosen to be in a work in progress, and wasn't going to be formally shown.
But soon after, I was asked to take the place of another girl in another piece.
A few days later, same thing happened. Today, I attended my first rehearsal for a modern piece. It's fast, it's challenging and it's fun :)
It's my first time being taught by a professional dancer. He is stern, strict and straightforward but does not hesitate to answer questions. I guess I'm really lucky that my jazz teacher saw something in me and recommended me to the choreographers who ended up with people dropping out.
I'm also really glad that I'm doing all that I can with dance before I enter art school.
I know that there are priorities in life, but dance is something that I never want to stop doing.

Anyways... I just had to document this day. It was really great :D