Season's Greetings!

Stitch wishes all a Merry Christmas!! :O)

In 10 days

In 10 days, the year will come to a close and I will be leaving this place. The school will move to Fusionapolis at Bouna Vista. Like everything else, I have gotten all too familiar with the Bugis Area. Everything from how and where to jaywalk, to the best place for lunch, to mass times in churches around the vicinity. Hey, at least I know where the cheapest long term parking is in town! :O)

I will miss the convenience of the Straits Commercial and Art Friend where I can just pop in to top up my materials and art books to drool over at Basheer. The $2 combo fruit juice store at the ground level of Fortune Centre. Printing facilities at Sunshine Plaza. Sights like the tough shirtless old man on wheelchair moving himself from point A to point B, and the old woman who sits right behind the bus stop in front of St Joseph's Church on Victoria Street waiting for tuppence. Sights that will now remain only as a memory in the form of Joint Photography Experts Group thanks to my little digital camera.

Soon, I will have another place to explore and familiarize myself with.

HOME

So yesterday concluded that last shooting session for the music video. It was a very extensive set-up. Now I can begin the editing process of the "Making Of" video.

The trip to the Bird Park was above what I had expected. The last time I was there was 22 years ago. Lots of new things to see. Will post those at http://imaginativeworkshop.blogspot.com/ when I am done with the current zoo postings.

In other news, Egg Story Productions has officially shut down. The school's not affected... as of yet.

A Hairy Affair

"Pure Awesomeness!"

(And I'm not saying this because it's Disney...)

What Truly Matters

It's been a juggling act these past weeks. With a pretty good stream of work coming into Imaginative, these posts on my blog has begun to take its toll. But here it is... updates.

I've been blessed with a handful of caricature drawings of late and that in a way has allowed me to polish my workflow process and of course, skill.

For the last two and a half months, I've been working on a campaign called What Truly Matters in 6 Words. And as the name suggests, participants pen down in black and white, what is most important to them concisely. This allows participants to slow down and think through their lives! It's a programme conceived by Prime Time - Doing What Matters. The big event launch is on 27 and 28 Nov from 10am at The Drome at Plaza Singapura. But if the internet is more your cup of tea, go ahead if you can spare the time to log in your six words at http://primetime.sg/whattrulymatters/

Last week, I stepped into Parkview Square for the first time to do a shoot for one of the video clips for the What Truly Matters campaign. And my oh my... what a beautiful view! There I was on the 15th floor, with my lunch treat and a splendid view of the city!!

Don't make me cross

So why did the zebra cross the road?

Two weeks back, back by popular demand, our class took a trip back to the zoo for figure drawing. (I actually can't wait for the Jurong Bird park outing!) It's been a year since we were there as a class. And this time around, I brought my water colours! Will upload photos in the workshop soon.

Thought the above image was a clever idea at the zoological gardens. :O)

Peek a mouse

Working on a fan art piece right now that's due really soon for Character Design. This one has been getting me really inspired! Here's work in progress.

The haze is here to stay, throat's a lot better, so that's good! Another thing that's good for hazy days is the ability to magic lasso the sky and BAM... you've marqueed your buildings in a fraction of a second.

Cough... cough...

The haze is back and with a vengeance. Apart from the coughing and headache, I'm looking at the brighter side of it.

It makes for great atmospheric depth drawing. The further objects are from the viewer, the "lighter" in colour it is.

:o)

Tigger this

It's been nearly two weeks since the start of the semester and the buzz word has been Bounce. I'm taking Environment Design, Comic Art, Character Design, Matte Painting, Back to Figure Drawing and 2D Visual Effects. Of course, I have the Utama project on the side to deal with too. I've been drawing quite a bit, and working on something that I've not really paid attention to - bounce light! Almost every class I've attended has left that word ringing in my ears.

Above is my Matte Painting teacher giving me a lesson on being patient. Especially for leaves on a tree, one has to draw in the leaves digitally one at a time. You have more control that way in the flow and energy of the tree, rather than just using an automatic "leaf" brush. Well, lots to draw and many more things ahead to learn!

:O)

A day in the life of...

One of the classes I am taking this semester is Comic Art. Ha! I'm not really a comicky person. The Hong Kong series Lao Fu Zhi is what I read most as a youngster. No words only pictures. Well, according to my instructor, Comic Art is the high point of Art. As a comic art illustrator, one must have in depth knowledge to Anatomy, Costumes, Hair, Background, Drama, etc...

I have much to learn in this class! First assignment, a coverpage and colour splash layout!

And finally... The Lion King Musical will finally roar its way to our shores this coming March! It took Singapore quite a bit of time to bring them in since their first broadway opening in 1997! It's the musical event for the year. I usually don't make such statements, if you know me. ;o) Anyone working at OCBC that can get good rates?

Hakuna Matata!

Semester three

Back at school for the next 20 weeks. This time, I will be focusing on Concept Art as a major. Thank you for all your guidance in assisting with the choosing of the major. There will be plenty of drawing lined up for me! ;O) A group from my cohort has invited me to join them in their story from concept to finished product. The aim is to finish this by next May (2011) as part of our major project - right before we graduate. The short clip project is on Utama.

In the past recent days, I hear a lot of engines revving up on the streets. Quite a couple of cars not being able to participate in the F1 finals last night, have taken this personally and out of the race track. Yes, I've been hearing vrrroooooooms every now and then coming from the regular roads here in Singapore. Torque about ego!

And finally, selling at McDonalds in Singapore is coffee shake. At S$2.85, it comes with either Oreo or choc chip topping, but I have it plain. The last time I enjoyed this yummy was some seven years ago at the McDonalds at the foot of Genting Highlands in Malaysia.

Tight one

It's the second week of school break, and that only means one thing... more work coming in for Imaginative. :O) Lots of thing are happening, the biggest rumour is that the school might be moving west - towards Buona Vista, very close to where Double Negative is. Oh well, we'll see if it's really going to take place. I'm pretty comfortable where school is right now.

I'm glad that school term begins only next week. The traffic on the roads around my school has been pretty bad in the last few days because of the F1 racing this coming weekend. Ah, the third year running here in Singapore, the novelty has worn off and that is no long the torque of the town.

I did some grocery shopping at a local supermarket a couple of days back and to my surprise, almost everyone was mouthing the lyrics to Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears, a song that was played there. How interesting what goes on back there in the unconscious level - what subtlety!

I will be loading my work for the bull story in the Workshop, so do check that out. And lastly, I have taken out my tagboard, because there have been some free-loaders placing ads there. So if you need to tag, please do so by clicking "comments".

3 more days...

With Ramadan around the corner, I got my first treat today while serving my in-camp training. The owner of the the muslim stall at the canteen, Alffi, made some kachang pool last evening and brought some for me to sample. It's an Arabic meal with ghee as the main ingredient. Oh yes! All that cholesterol! :oO Too bad ICT will end this week, otherwise, it'd be more tidbit goodies on Monday! :O)

Tomorrow is another crazy day with school's final week assessment at 1pm, meeting to finalise video clip at MINDEF and a photography session at NTU! But for now, it's the final dash... maybe even burning of the midnight oil to complete my presentation for the assessment. Looks those celebrating the Hungry Ghost Festival aren't the only ones burning this night!

Thank you for the Music

I'm back at the Twin Towers for two weeks of in-camp training. This time round, I'm producing a trailer for Kit Chan. It's strange but I've been given a couple of videos from the USA to string... think this: I've been watching and cutting videos of The Star-Spangled Banner, God bless America and We Are the World for my ICT. How ironically misplaced!?

Last weekend, I had the privilege of covering Corrinne May's concert at DMC. It was definitely an experience! Very very talented musician!

In other melodious news, I just downloaded iTunes 10.

There we go again... enough of motivation for me to pick up an instrument.

Being Positive

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to spend a day with the creative people at Double Negative here in Singapore for a day in the life of a 2D artist. I tried out rotoscoping and cleaning up a scene. Brings back memories of my advertising days using Photoshop. Click on the link to see what exciting projects they have worked on to date. All thanks to an instructor who has very good ties with the company there. In a way, I feel that the experience is definitely a far cry from the "internship" that I am currently going through at school. My one day there equates to even more than the 12 weeks of "internship" at Eggstory. Period. And guess what? They even provided lunch!

And that is why being at double negative is something to be positive about! :O)

Toro! Toro! Toro!

Not to be confused with the 1970s Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbour flick, I'm talking about bull fights in Spain. I've been immersing myself in the world of Mary Blair. She was the only female during her time whose style was really appreciated by Walt Disney. Among some of her art works are concepts for Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Her style is so uniquely stunning, it influenced the style of It's a Small World ride in Disneyland!

I've been designing characters on a bull fighting story set in Spain, with the matador and the whole enchilada in the style of Mary Blair. And I've gone back to the use of the mouse to illustrate these characters - a skill I picked up in the last 10 years or so. Very exciting to be able to incorporate my skills before into the skills I am learning now. :O) AMEN!

Keep Moving Forward!

Majulah Singapura

Mixed fruit juice at S$2 a cup seems to be the in-thing these days. This one's a mixture of strawberry and banana. The colour also reminds me of the national flag. Yes, it's that time of the year when we spend quite a hefty sum of dollars to showcase where we are now - including mobilising almost the entire military and about 12,000 volunteers to releasing a display of fireworks and a two and a half hour 'live' show that went through seven weeks of preparations at the Padang itself. We are definitely Singapore... Happy 45th! :O)

I'm back at the bull story and have decided to work on another side project. You are only as good as the amount of work you put in. Keep moving forward.

Limbo

Yes, everyone knows that the iPhone 4G is finally out in Singapore along with the iPad... but we'll save this Pad one for another story. The phone however has been something I've been thinking of having for the last three years... yes, since version one. What's preventing me from getting one? Well, firstly, that's not the only thing I need to get. There are other things more important at this point on my plate. For now, I'm sticking to my Nokia 6110 in service to me for nearly six years! A little wonky at times... we'll see how long more it lasts.

In other news, I've been placed, taken out and re-placed, and retaken out for my Pre-Production "internship". Call me a spare tyre, the dynamics of the story telling changes, and when it does, so does my placement. Right now, my cohort is split into doing two projects: Le Petit Sommelier and the other one with the working title "Red Bull". Yesterday, after handing in a dream animatics sequence for Sommelier, director says Red Bull.

Ay Caramba!

ps - use of phones for photo courtesy of my sister and her fiancée.

See ya, Mama

My grandma left the physical world on Tuesday (27 July) night at 80 years old. In the last few years, she had been wheelchair bound and since then, living with a weak heart. I know now she's finally reunited with my gong gong up there and is free from the strains of the physical world - I felt the sense of peace at her coffin. :) You had a full life, I will remember your ayam buah keluak and salted vegetable soup! Thank you for the the life I knew at Tembling Road.

See you one day! :O)

It's the Muppet Show!

For the whole of last week, I was on night shift from 7pm to 12am. I was assisting a puppet video production at Wesley Methodist Church. By Singapore's standards, it was an extensive production. The story's to document how the Methodist Church came to Singapore. Was definitely one of those funner projects to be in! ;p

A Night at the Museum

This past Friday was filled with art in different forms, from Ballet Under the Stars at Fort Canning Park to various outdoor art installations near the local museums! All museums opened till 2am! The main show titled Parabole 2.0 piece directly at the front of the NMS was a let down... either that or I didn't understand what was going on. I left after four minutes of the 40 minute programme! ;O)

My favourite piece for the evening was right outside the SAM. It's named the World's Slowest SMS. Any can participate by sending a text message to the number in the picture above, the message will be displayed on the scaffolding... in about a couple of minutes.

Somewhere over the...

Every once in awhile, a rainbow might cast a fainter second bow that is caused by a double reflection of the sunlight inside the raindrops. This phenomenon of multi-coloured arc is usually seen together with raining clouds. What stumped me a few days ago when I saw it, was that there were no raining clouds! Or maybe there were, but I couldn't see them within my (at least) a 100km radius view of the horizon.

You've Got A Friend In Me

The toys are back! And they're bringing a lot of warmth into their latest movie - Toy Story 3!

I'm also back at school with the next 12 weeks of learning Pre-Production work. Hopefully, by the end of three months, my group should have a trailer or animatics of some sort out. It's individual story idea brainstorming for one week before we start diving into group work. The moderators have reminded us that it's going to be a grueling 12 weeks, so by next monday, a pitching presentation is already due. :O)

A brand new something

This was taken on my last leg of the trip in Rotenburg, Germany. I am using this photo to begin the next phase of school. Yes, I am back and all recharged! :o)

It will be 12 weeks of Professional Practice or in some schools, this maybe known as an internship. Only difference is that the sessions will be held in school, guided by the production team of the studio. In about 90 minutes, I will find out what to expect... so tune in!

Dobry Den

It's been a trip of non stop drawing and eating ice cream! Here I am at the famous historical Charles Bridge in Prague. Earlier in the morning, I was at the at the Church of Our Lady of Victory where I spent quite a bit of time in front of the Infant Jesus of Prague. There is so much to absorb in this beautiful city!

Climb Every Mountain

I'm on an adventure with Gingy right now, and I've been spending a lot of my time documenting my trip in ink and photography. It's a good time to be away from my regular routine in Singapore and the breathtaking scenic views of central and eastern europe is greatly assisting that. The peace and quiet here also allows me to discern whether to specialise in Concept Art or Animation for Year Two - my next phase in school after 12 weeks of Pre-Production.

The above picturesque view is taken at the Maria Plain in Salzburg. Will post my sketches onhttp://imaginativeworkshop.blogspot.com/ when I get back, so keep a look out for that too!

Done Deal

Assessment for semester two came and went. Was placed the last one to go, by that time, everyone was so tired, I had no comments from the reviewers. So I'm done with Semester two and way glad it's over! I'm on a long awaited two week break (last one was nearly 42 weeks ago).

I plan to be sketching lots in the next two weeks. Join me here! :O)

Sunrise at Doha Int'l Airport

Finals

It's the final week of Semester two and I am glad it is almost over! :O)

This week will be filled with final project presentations and one big assessment on Thursday. The clock is ticking and I am sure everyone is busily trying to finish all their projects.

I leave you now with a napkin sketch of my character design project that I handed in today. Will be posting up several scenes at
http://imaginativeworkshop.blogspot.com/ so feel free to check that out! Tomorrow's the handing in of HD video project entitled "Project: Red Light".

Friar Derrick John Yap - priest for Christ

Recently, with the Church under attack left right centre regarding child sex abuse, I am proud to witness an old friend of mine taking up priestly vows yesterday. It was truly a beautiful celebration! St Mary of the Angels (Singapore) was packed and overflowed with guests as not just one, but three friars were ordained. The sign is loud and clear... ;o)

Rigging 101

When you see this, it just tells you that I am near the end of the semester. Two more weeks exactly. I'm completing several projects simultaneously, two of which are worth mentioning at this point.

A) Docu-drama for HD video
Everything has gone exceptionally smooth (in general) for this project. Even my trip to Batam for some of the scenes was trouble-free. So much so, I'm almost certain that we had picked on the right subject to work on. The working title's Project: Red Light, and that's about how much I'll reveal at this point.

B) Character Design
I'm more or less happy with the seven characters that have resulted from the months of brainstorming. I will be placing the characters into scenes with sets and props within the week. The props play an important role for the realism of my characters, so will be working hard on that. Was just at Page One and was inspired by the Art of Toy Story 3!

More updates real soon!

Life's Short

I got one of my classmates to shoot me fooling around at the kampung (village)... it sure brought back memories of my grandparents' kampung! Ah... the so simple things in life! :O) Up, up and away!

Less is More

Two days at Kampung Air (ah-yeah) in Batam reminded me about contentment, that I don't need much to be happy. Is it about being able to access a whole load of information about the world with the lastest technology? Maybe it's me choosing to be ignorant?

Thank you for the world so sweet - Ho hum!
Thank you for the food we eat - Yum yum!
Thank you for the birds that sing a ling a ding...
Thank you Lord for everything... Amin!

Boo!

Today, my group handed in our cut for the horror flick project. There were a couple of minor tweaks from comments. More feedback next week. In the meantime, stay tuned for it! We've been allocated new groups for the final project. Looking forward to completing that one too. :O)

Boo!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Here's one more colour study of Bert taking Michael out kite flying!

Correct framing

This is a shot I took on one of my digital photography field trips. The idea is simply to frame a subject.

My team of three for HD video is almost done shooting and our first cut for the horror flick should be ready by next week. In the meantime, I am assisting another group as an acting talent.

The character design presentation for Mary Poppins came and went. You can check out the designs trickling in on http://imaginativeworkshop.blogspot.com/. Our next assignment is due in 8 weeks. I have choosen Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurais to be the basis of my project. I am supposed to come up with characters in another time and in any form. I guess I will be watching the movie this weekend!

It's the time between Lent and Easter! Wonderful things are being revealed! :o)

Organic modelling is not a food

It's week 10 of semester two. Halfway to go before the end of the semester and things are definitely beginning to pile up. There is a character design presentation on Monday that I'm trying to finish. It's my take on Mary Poppins, Pixar style; and also my first HD video short story assignment. So far, it's been pre-production work. Will start shooting with my team next week after Monday's presentation. Theme for that 5 min short - Horror! And finally, a short presentation on my favourite photographer for Digital Photography this Wednesday.

In the meantime, will leave you with organic modelling. We just began creating a face today. More updates real soon after Monday.

Stereoscopic

I've been attending a stereoscopic seminar organised by my school in the last three days. In fact, I'm posting this blog 'live' from there. Enough said.

Now I gotta get my FCP plug-in.

Supa Do-rye

It has been pretty dry the whole of February. I know this for a fact as I only remembered it raining only for 3 days. The rainfall in February of 2010 registered at 6.3mm! This may not sound like anything especially if you are from a place that seldom rains. But for a tropical climate like this island I'm living in, it's considered really dry. Even the plants I water get yellow real quick when I don't tend to them too. It's been reported in the news that it's been the driest season in the last 150 years. Yes, the last time it was this dry was in 1869!

Guys, global warming. Do something. www.earthhour.org.

Make everyday Earth Day.

What is Evil?

This is a current piece that I am working on. Just finished with the bust. Will start work on the full bodied pose really soon. My theme is Evil. To many different people, evil comes in many different forms. But for my project, I have chosen the subject of Man's greed being the cause of evil in this world - global warming, famine, abuse, war, etc.

Beginning With A Big Bang

The Chinese Lunar New Year began a minute earlier yesterday and the noisiest part of the island probably came from the Marina District with a four to five minute display of colourful fireworks.

Also in from the U.S. is a prize cheque. More details here.

A New Case

The buttons on my mobile decided to pop again. This is the second time I am changing the casing. It's been 2.5 years since I last changed it. It was really strange that I had to use a pen to press certain buttons, almost like using a stylus.

In other news, my school doesn't allow students to self-swap classes. An email titled "Self-declared Make-up Class = Absent" was sent out yesterday.

I am from Cohort 6A. I had an urgent appointment to handle yesterday and had to use the afternoon to tackle it. So I went for the morning class (Cohort 6B). Of out courtesy, I asked the school if I could swap, and "NO" was their immediate reply, saying that WDA or MOE might spot check on the school. It wasn't that I was trying to ditch class or that I was hopping over into another Cohort's class. (Same cohort, morning session.) And so what if WDA or MOE decides to spot check on the school? Is it illegal to swap classes?

I know that Education is a privilege. In its purest form, it allows one to better improve skills and knowledge. I am further planning to swap classes so that I can go for Cohort 7's figure drawing classes. How can a school deny me of that? I remembered that studying in the U.S. was NOT like that at all. With an eager desire to learn, instructors and the school authority would make things happen whenever there's an obstacle.

Would love to hear your views! Email, comment or tag. Happy Chinese Lunar New Year and Presidents' Day Weekend!

Presenting...

I began reading a book today titled "The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs" that I had accidentally bumped into at the airport the other day. I love doing presentations and so far halfway chewing into this book, I have been affirmed of some of the things I have doing in my keynotes. Also learning and picking up techniques that are new to me. What's great is that the book focuses basically on Apple products which you would know by now how big a fan of the tools I am of theirs. This makes reading it a breeze. wheeeee...

Penning thoughts

So what else is new besides the iPad?

Last evening, a couple of us from Eggstory popped by DigiPen's information session, something like an open house. Neat four year course in Animation. What was even greater was the tour of the campus and what our eyes feasted on. The above image is of their Drawing Room. Sure brings back memories of my days in California drawing on those benches! I guess I'm stuck with the $5 IKEA chairs that I have for now.

Lights... camera... snap!

Already into the second semester. Boy was that 1-day (excluding weekend) break short. I will comment about classes next another time, after I've been in it a little longer.

Yesterday, I went to Universal Studios for a shoot. A lighting company hired me to capture the works they've done within the park at Sentosa. And of course I had a first glimpse of the park before it opens. Since I'm a theme parks guy... I rate an above average. But this park is definitely better than any of the other theme parks that has opened in Singapore before. Maybe because the entire park isn't fully operational yet? Many of the props and buildings are made here in Singapore and the finishings are just so-so. I'm sure it's always a budget factor. But definitely worth a visit when it has officially opened. Hopefully then, the fine-tuning may just make the difference! :O)

A Sack Reflection

Finally, I'm done with my first 20 weeks. Our assessment ended yesterday and I would like to share this animation from one of my presentation piece with you all.

The flour sack, no doubt simple in design, but it takes a tremendous effort to animate, especially if you are doing it the first time. Timing is key and coupled with comedy, can bring bring about a smile or even laughter in someone feeling down.

I was just sharing with Philip Garcia, my animation instructor, how I used to get really inspired watching Disney movies in the 90s, and would pause the videos to draw out the scenes. Back then, or even when I was older enough to be in college, holding a job as an animator was simply far fetched. Imagine this conversation in Singapore, "What do you want to do when you grow up?"

"Draw cartoons and make people laugh" would be the reply that might cause people to wonder if I am certified crazy. Would have loved to have Philip continue to teach us advanced animation, but that's not going to happen because he is leaving the school. At least, he taught me and that alone is something I can proud of. :O)

Colour My World

A couple of my classmates have been organising painting sessions outside of class time. And this is the first time I had joined them for the session. We used acrylics and it was a great feeling to be able to apply coloured dyes onto canvases again! :O) See painting here - http://imaginativeworkshop.blogspot.com/

Later in the morning is my assessment session at 10am. 14 of my classmates will showcase their stuff from Semester one. It's been one heck of a ride, especially towards the end with all the last minute swapping with make-up sessions.

For now, it's time to charge up those cells of mine... Zzzz...

Up, up and away!

Today, six of my classmates surprised me with this book. How cool! Thanks, guys!! I will be enjoying every bit of inspiration from it! I've peeked on the inside and it's been WOW so far!

I completed my flour sack animation... finally! Phew! Now I can start piecing my assessment stuff together. It's on Wednesday, 13 Jan. We are not having much of a school break as assessment has been pushed forward to day 10 of the 14 days of break we were suppose to have. So much for taking a break.

Twenty Ten

Cheers to 2010!!

I rendered the drink above on board North West Airlines on my way to Japan in my sketch journal. In this new and exciting year ahead, I will be resurrecting Imaginative's Workshop Blog. Instead of my design works, you will be seeing more sketches and illustrations posted there. http://imaginativeworkshop.blogspot.com/ This will keep me drawing for the year... hopefully. :O)

Speaking of which... O how do I miss my figure drawing classes! Looking forward to this new year and all it has in store for me. Whoooo-peee...