Old Town Coffee

I was at Amoy Street yesterday during some research on the buildings there for my theme park design, and popped into the famous hawker centre there for breakfast. Strange, but the coffee I had tasted a little salty...

Jokes aside. I have four months and two weeks left till the end of school, and am revving up my gears to top speed. Like Elvis once sang, "It's now or never."

The Beginning of The Last

About six months from now, I will be done with school. Definitely looking forward to that. But in the meantime, a lot more to do and learn this final semester. Now I can appreciate why these things take time and a reminder why in similar universities and colleges in the US, it takes four years to obtain a degree. So whether my two year programme is suffice, I will only know at the end of it.

The above is a strawberry cheesecake baked with love for me on my birthday. It is a reminder of what truly is important in my life and what needs to be done in the next 6 months... and looking forward to making it happen. :O)

Rest is Good

I'm in my week long break before the last semester commences. The rest is necessary to prepare myself for the last leg of school. :O) I have learnt during this time the need to listen to people better, and also not to overload myself with work as it rubs off to others close to me. Not healthy, not right.

Dropped by Anatomy class yesterday under Derek Eversfield and within 10 minutes, I realised that I had been learning a different method of drawing the whole of the last semester as seen in the drawing above. Yikes! Since Anatomy studies isn't available the last semester, I hope that I do not have classes that run on Tuesdays from 1 to 5pm so I can ride on that class!

For now it's rest... :O)

Occlusion Ambient

This is my first occlusion ambient pass on Maya. By the way, if you had just click the link on the left, you will know that Maya is the sanskrit word for Hindu concept of Illusion. Yes, I am back at it again (dunno whether to sigh or smile). My matte painting class also needs Maya for the last project. Maybe it's for the better. It's always good to have another set of skills, but this Maya you are talking about. I've always wanted to render my 3D models to this point, but we were never taught how to in year one. Calvin says rendering OAs can fry one's computer.

Anyway, this is a scene from my Comic Art class project with Spiderman! :O)

Two and a half weeks left to the end of the semester. Hang in there!

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.

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".

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!

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

Drawing to a close

I spent a good half hour plus running through my drawings with Philip yesterday. He guided me what to put in, what to leave out for the coming assessment on Dec 29. Everything is slowing snowballing to that date. So, the only thing is to start early whatever that can be cleared first.

Three more exciting, crazy weeks!!!

The Stage

It's been three days since lessons proper began and am absorbing the atmosphere and calculating and figuring out how to maximise the next 19 weeks. It's a little early to comment on the instructors and my fellow classmates, but I have a feeling it's gonna be one heck of a ride, especially when the projects start flowing in.

Tomorrow I will begin my drawing lessons, both still life and anatomy. It's great that I'm slowing getting into the routine of sketching again. Yes, that's been awhile!


This is The Stage. It is where most of my lecture base classes will be held at... and YES! We get to sit on the floor! :O)

Disney's Rapunzel

Last week, Walt Disney Animation Studios released these conceptual artwork of their Christmas 2010 release of their 50th animated feature. The style is based on Jean-Honoré Fragonard's The Swing and animators at Disney will be using CGI tools to create the traditional hand drawn look like how it once was in the 1950's.



In the Animation process, Conceptual Art is at the very beginning. This is where style, feel and look are brainstormed and anything from pencil sketches to full blown artwork are rendered for the rest of the crew and team to have a direction.

My days back at school will probably begin with the basics of animation: figure drawing, still life, sculpting, etc... all of which will allow me to create my very own conceptual art pieces some day!

T minus 5 more days and counting... :O)

Back to School

Today was simply fantastic! Everything from Mass, to Art Min, to the work at SPI, and friends I spoke too. Today I decide to go back to school! The homily was just too darn loud and clear! :O) Trusting in God's Providence. Period.

Just at the beginning of the week, I revisited going back to school because of the possibility of getting a full scholarship. It means nearly zero income for the next two years. The whole entire week was spent praying and discerning the pros and cons. Who's gonna foot all the other bills? Who's gonna provide the meals on the table? But hey, what makes me think I can actually control whether I breathe tomorrow? I have no control over that or with anything else. I would like to think that I can tell God "Wanna hear my plans for the next two years and then after that?" It'd probably crack Him up. :O)

Yes, it's another phase in my life. And I'm so excited to see it unfold! I'm more eager to see what will happen after 2 years, but let's focus on these 2 years first. Imaginative stays as long as I can find time and energy! Next up... Animation School!

I am glad that I am second.