Busy term!!

....but im surviving.

Yes, two blog entries in one day. It was such a long post that I had to split it into two (well i didn't HAVE to, but it seemed more organized this way)... I probably won't have time to blog until the term is over anyway =(

My first assignment for character sculpting class. We were each given a vegetable and we had to design a character based on whatever we got. Mine was a cabbage (i went with a Chinese cabbage)

Hipster look hahaha... I tried to sand it, but it came out a bit bumpy and uneven anyway =/

 Original design turn-around. My instructor told me to give him eyes instead.

Pre-baked. Sadly, I think it looked better before I baked it. I didn't bake it long enough so it looked washed out. I also got the clay dirty while i was sculpting and the spots became more apparent after i baked it.

Second project in progress, mechanical hand design.

I actually made this two years ago, back when I took ceramics in highschool. Finally got around to take a photo of it.

My work from last year. This was when i first started learning about line of action, dynamic poses, etc. That class really changed my approach on drawing. (sorry pictures are a bit hard to see, i resized them to fit my blog)

Finished this two days ago for background design and layout class. Learning how to do perspective drawings (something I really needed practice on). I think i FINALLY understand perspective drawing. *gives myself a pat on the back*

We were given a plan of the room and we had to design and draw it out from different cameras. Also had to tone the drawings without adding any shadows.

Did drawings on tracing paper, on top of a grid layout. Scanned into the computer and then toned in photoshop.

Taking intermediate modeling (more like beginners modeling), our first assignment was to practice basic modeling with polygons and tools.

Robot character design thing

Tried out instagram on my messy desk during work time. Crappiest picture ever, but instagram makes everything looks a bit better. 

My sister introduced me to this book called Tokyo on Foot, done by an artist who traveled to Japan for a few months and drew random pictures daily. Really interesting and fun book.

One of the pages.

Two new additions to the party.

From my large to-fu set I won on ebay awhile ago. Still need to set them out for display.

Only took these out to photograph, I will need to move everything on my shelves to make room for this. This is probably the second most valuable toy I own within my collection. I was lucky to win this on ebay for an amazing deal. When I opened this, I finally understood why its expensive, there are tons of small details, the two figures are made with metal (nostalgic vintage toys!), extremely high quality painted parts and materials...its pretty rare to find toys of this quality nowadays. The design and materials were definitely based off of vintage toys (90's and earlier).

Random thing I found at home (gift from relatives in HK), Its a hello kitty measuring tape, it goes back in when you press the nose. It can go to around...5-6 ft i think.





Trois Petits Points, a classmate shared this short animation with us (around 3 mins long). Really awesome.


MakingOf Trois Petits Points from Tracy Nowocien on Vimeo.

"Making of" video. I love the character sketches!!



*phew* finally done. I spent the whole day getting these two entries together...better go get started on hw now. 

Toy post!

 My blog has been a bit toy-deprived lately..so here is a long post of random photos and products i've collected during the last few weeks.

I do not own any of the photos from this post !!!

I think this is supposed to be some kind of stacking game? I've been seeing this character around a lot lately, apparently its called 'kapibari-san'. At first I thought it was a dog cause i've never seen/heard of a kapibari before..which is an actual animal...looks like a weird combo of a bunny+dog+beaver.





Control bear!! I wanted a control bear tshirt from designstore graniph...but too expensive.


New hello kitty snacks charms! So cute :D


Its a clothed 1000% be@rbrick. Its all wrong!!!!!! Worse mickey mouse figure i've ever seen.



Enfu (artist) came out with another set of totes designed for Uwajimaya. I missed out on the first design from several years ago, which I really liked.




New be@rbrick series. Its been soooo many years since I've actually liked more than 40% of the designs in a be@rbrick series. Been stalking ebay for a good deal on this series. I really love the rilakkuma set.



Stayreal mousey in different versions. I want them all! If i ever go back to HK, im getting all of them.



Cute gatchan (from dr.slump) series! I have a bigger version of the one on the bottom right. Sadly, they're all very overpriced on ebay (except for the fake ones from China)



Really like this one but I can't find it online anymore.



Thinking of buying this domo set...i like the bear, reminds me of a mascot.



Such cute mini cakes (they're not real cakes) made by re-ment. I wish I could get the whole set :(



Comes in cute cake box



Stayreal + hello kitty collab...too awesome! If they ever come out with a Stayreal mouse+Hello Kitty figurine, im flying straight to Hong Kong.


New tokidoki figure. Not a favorite, but I wouldn't mind adding it to my tokidoki collection.


Gumdrops by 64 colors. So cute!! but i wish they'd used better colors, the colors are a bit tacky looking. I only like the yellow ones ..and maybe the purple (with the 'o' mouth)

Dr. Evil Porkchop figure! Must buy must buy!

 

From chapter 78(?) of Yotsuba (one of the best mangas ever btw). I thought it was a hilarious chapter because it reminded me of something I did when I was a kid. So when I was a kindergartener, I saw artworks in the hall made with hand prints. When I got home, I was inspired to make my own. I didn't have any paint at home so I took a purple (permanent) marker and colored my entire hand...not only did I fail to make a hand print on paper, but I was stuck with a purple hand for the next few days. Funny thing is, when I went to wash my hands, it wouldn't wash off and I started crying cause I thought my hand was going to stay purple forever hahaha

Btw if you haven't read Yotsuba, you're missing out big time. Its a great light-hearted and fun read (that will remind you of yourself when you were a kid). You can tell the mangaka must have kids of his own and is inspired by them daily.


Random but I've finally reunited with this candy after searching for so many years!! My aunt used to bring this from HK and she kept them in the fridge. I finally found them at World Market :D

More doodles

Taking a break from writing assignments...so here are a few snapshots of my sketchbook pages. I wanted to burn my camera because the battery kept dying on me...and then all my pictures turned out having a weird yellow vignette at the bottom. I retook these a few minutes ago, tried to fix the contrast in photoshop, but ended up with some annoying hot spots and bad framing. Oh well.

What it feels like returning to school after a long break.

No idea.

The cat mascot turned out looking like Gloomy bear though.

Face practice w/o references. And theres my Chinese signature stamp at the bottom. I've had it since I was a kid, but I've rarely used it.

Eek...

My first time working with expressions. The anatomy book taught us to consider what direction the muscles are pulling towards in order to achieve naturalistic expressions. I still need major practice.

Pretty generic stuff.

Just bought this box of belgian waffles at Trader Joes for (i think) 1.99? Pretty good deal cause waffles from the Waffle Window costs 1.99 EACH. Anyway, its my new addiction. They come out extremely crispy, light, and delicious after toasting in a conventional oven. Im back to get more!!

Doodles & Stuff

Just wanted to blog some random doodle and drawings I've done in the last few days (actually some were from awhile ago). Yeah, im probably the laziest "artist" ever...but im trying hard to keep myself drawing daily now (by now, i mean around two days ago). I decided not to waste my last week of spring break lazing around, so I actually dedicated the last few days studying anatomy (kind of), sketching a little, saving a crapload of character design art (mainly koei warriors and final fantasy style stuff) so now I have this massive collection of inspiration.

Right now im really obsessed with game art character designs, but obviously I will be working with animation character designs in a variety of styles eventually. All the instructors here put emphasis into variety and flexibility. You can't get far in the industry if you can't work in other styles. The best way to tackle this is to not even bother having a style. I personally think style is something you just naturally develop as you keep working, there's no point in trying to develop one from the start.

This is a pretty old doodle. I've abandoned my moleskine watercolor sketchbook because I was having a difficult time drawing on such a tiny book. I had to go to Blicks (my new favorite art store) to get myself a new 5.5x8.5 in sketchbook. Perfect size!

Childhood memories... my dad giving me a haircut =( ...it was like this for my sister and I every single time.



As you noticed in the haircut doodle above, I realized I've forgotten how to draw hands so I had to practice. Good thing I have bony fingers so I can see and study the form.

Sad attempt at a character design (uhh or lack of design). Anatomy and contrapposto is slightly off...*facepalm*



Trying something different. I seriously need to work on creating more dynamic characters...

Random practices. Bottom right was referenced from a picture of Liu Shi Shi for Strange Hero (awesome wuxia series btw). Shes definitely my favorite mainland actress! I just noticed the character on the top left should have a longer nose...she actually (coincidentally) kind of looks like Yang Mi. Maybe I've been too into mainland dramas lately.

After around 3-4 days of struggling, I finally finished this drawing ...which I am not proud of at all, BUT its a start. Its kind of funny because I haven't struggled with a drawing this much in years. I felt like I was 14 years old all over again, struggling with portrait drawings. Good thing I learned from experience that practice and hard work always pay off in the long run. Hopefully, in a year or so I can look back at this drawing and laugh at how bad this drawing is (actually, im already laughing at how noob it looks). I left the cape/scarf and hair slightly unfinished because I was afraid I'd overdo it...and also because I need serious practice with shading folds.



I was messing around with a watercolor texture shared by a DA artist ...I actually prefer this one over the one I finished above.

Some face details...I need to learn how to blend brush strokes. I also need to work on painting skin tones digitally. I do think im getting the hang of it, so hopefully my next piece will turn out more successful.

Just wanted to show a few edits with photoshop filters and adjustment layers. The first one was done using contrast and brightness, it pretty much blew out most of the imperfections on the skin. The second one was done with a screen filter with some gaussain blur..turned out looking slightly final fantasy-like (or maybe im just delusional).



Couldn't resist making a meme to compliment this drawing. Yeah its supposed to be a portrait of myself as hyperboleandahalf's 'ALL' meme



My character design instructor recommended this book and I've got to say, its probably the best character design book out there. If I saw this in a book store, I probably wouldn't buy it because of its unappealing cover, but its got extremely helpful and valuable tips on character designing. Cannot recommend this enough.

This book is my soon-to-be bible. I actually had this since a few terms ago because it was required for my anatomy class...but I didn't fully dedicate myself into studying the muscles and now I realize how important it is for an artist to really know and understand the human anatomy. I've recently started to look into this book again on my own time and it is ridiculously detailed and helpful. Its a must-have for all artists.

AHH I don't know why my font changes back and forth...