Holidays III

Yeap, the term break is here!! So much holidays eh... I had a hard time recovering from the CNY hols... Everything was thrown off balance there, for the first time, I skipped Martin's class.... >_< Nothing to show him, and I guess that was main thing about the class that day, hence.... just skipped it.

I realised I haven't really drawn much these days, wondering what's going on? Too preoccupied with school? Or restless...? Dunno, I wonder what I'm doing with the rest of the time too. I ain't mapling much, neither reading up those school notes... Bleah... Maybe to trying to get a life. Haha...

Anyways, was in the toilet doing business a few days ago and saw this book lying on top of the covered waste paper basket. It was Yang's catechism book. That kid likes to read, and always brings a book into the toilet while sitting on the throne... What caught me wasn't the catechism part, but the illustrations. Watercolored, bright colors, lively, loose yet controlled technique. It appealed to me, and I began flipping it through. Yea, inspired. Every single page was filled with illustrations, specially planned to go with the content, no repeated images. The pictures looked simple, yet sophisticated too. Paints that doesn't fill up all spaces, deliberately leaving some whites, which kinds of enhance the otherwise monotonous, flat painting. It added to the looseness of the strokes, yet controlled within a certain boundary. 3 layers most prob... no glazing, I think.

Tried to achieve that, but after a period of no painting, I got rusty and indecisive with my colors. Something to work on for these days....



As for the painted persons... the two were from a chinese jazz band I saw a few days ago at the esplanade. There was some Chinese cultural arts festival going on there, and the performance that stood out to me was the trio. One was playing the erhu, another the Gu Zhen and the last the piano. Quite a mix of elegance, gracefulness and joy. I quite enjoyed watching the pianist (reminds me of Nodame...), she's smiling all the way, can feel her enjoying what she's doing, even though she only played one song... Maybe cos it reminded me of Xiu playing ba... Eh, 'Cheng Li De Yue Guang'. Haven't hear that for a long time...

Perception

(... a blogpost to remember a nice email~)


This started from an email from Glory. My hotmail would occasionally recieve some mails from her, and normally, I wouldn't read them until I decide to clean up my flooded mailbox. However, this heading caught my eye strangely and instantly, and there I was reading it through.
______________
Nice piece of observation to share

Good one

PERCEPTION

. . .Something To Think About. .. .



Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over.. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition..

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars.. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

The questions raised:

*In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

*Do we stop to appreciate it?

*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.

How many other things are we missing?

How many special persons pass us by and we do not MAKE ANY EFFORT TO get to know them?

Pass this on to all of the special persons in your life...

I just did!
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Part of me wasn't very convinced, so I went to google it out. And yea, it was real. There were videos and write ups floating around, kind of saying how little appreciation was shown for the performance.

...No comments, though I hoped there was a video of the entire thing with no 'speed ups'. Wondered how the music was like then? At the end of the youtube video, when there was a dialogue going on, I quite felt some relief, at least someone talked to him.

Anyways... that's about it. Back to the video editing and compositing work.... T_T

Animation History - Wk 5

Yea, the lectures have been pretty interesting so far.. or rather, there aren't much talking, but more of watching instead. The prof had shown a number of animations today that I just wanna keep a small record of them before my short term memory starts erasing them...

Gerald McBoing Boing


This one is really cute. A poem-like narrative and graphic-like look to it. In today's modern eyes, this animation probably is like any other stuff you find on Nicklodeon. However, it was a breakthrough in its time, when everything you see is Disney quality films (smooth action, everything on ones and every living thing having some sort of motion, semi-real backgrounds which aim for a realistic 3d-ish depth and feel). The creators, United Productions of America (UPA in short) had quite a history going on and today, they left their mark on what we now see in many animations across the globe.



Edgar Allen Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart', a mad man who thinks he ain't mad... Beautiful scenes.



Rooty Toot Toot. I thought the idea of the court case being all music and dance was pretty new and hilarious. Must be the rhythmn...!



Adventures in Music: Melody. Disney caught on the style and did something similar, but I felt the animation feels different, fluid..?

Prof showed another animation called Madeline, but unlike the one I remembered, this one was shot in 1952, and the girls are wearing red uniforms instead of yellow. Can't find it online, but the style is very carefree, not much backgrounds, with some narrative going on. Sweet animation...

Wonder if I should start a new blog for reference materials.... This is gonna add on soon, lol...

Holiday II

Hahhahahahahahahahha....... I was about to start on planning my homework when Dad came in with three sets of old, stained papers. They were some old exercise worksheets for kindergarden kids, and at the bottom was scribbled my name. That quite shocked me for a while, didn't thought something this old still survived! As I flipped through the pages, this one got me laughing real hard. It's no different from my sister's drawings too, the hands all spread out and the face almost the same formula (just maybe a more elaborate mouth, hahah~) Probably the difference is in the choice of colors... which makes me wonder has it got to do with the way I feel about these people at that time? I remember Mum's presence was a terror, always punishing me for the smallest things that seemed wrong, but she's the one who I have to face most of the time, cos Dad was always busy with work. I don't remember this friend, neither do I remember the teacher too, though she seemed to be the only friendly looking face there... Hahha, so much for kindergarden memories, guess my brain ain't working then, hahahahahaha~

Ada arr Ada-ji...

One thing has been troubling me for a while, and that is this little lady... Sent her sms two weeks ago regarding some stuff n she didn't reply. It was pretty seldom of her to do so, especially since it's the one great chance to 'suan' me after a month of no communication. (think I won't bring it up in front of her, since she missed the oppurtunity, hahahaah~) On the eve of Chinese New Year, yea... i did send her another sms, and she didn't reply too. Very queer... so queer that it becomes worrying. Decided to give her a house call today... and yea. There she is, the same old Miss Sunshine. What's more, she seems to be halfway eating some bak kwua and asked me to hold on while she go clean her hands.

It just so happens that her handphone had died earlier on, think around the week when I sent her the first sms. And I went... 'Ooooooo... okie. No substitute?'

"没有啊 Miss Booon~ 我是有多一架旧的电话但是也坏掉了啦~~~"

Sweatdrop.

Super sweatdrop...

Yea. That's 'Qing Qing' for you, I guess. Damsel in distress for now... She didn't want to spend the money on a new phone, and all her contacts were saved onto the phone memory, which makes things a bit worse. Probably the good thing is that her life doesn't revolve around the gadget. Chatted a while, and she revealed that she had finally compiled her little book of drawings. Can't wait to see that, the last time I saw her b/w illustrations, there was improvement, though I wonder which direction could she bring her illustrations to so as to feed herself... Hope to meet her up soon.

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Haven't mapled for a few days, the biggest reason cos my archer just leveled again, and I didn't want to continue so fast as work is pouring in.



My best achievement so far... couldn't last for a minute at this stage. Sadded. Can't knockback this dragon, and my puppet is not able to hold his attacks for long. Time not long enough too. Demotivated..... T_T (but demotivated at the right time.)

Anticipating a chaotic week after the short cny holidays... but recess week is around the corner. Time to catch up then!

Life Update V

For my dear Xiu....



Yea, as usual, mum is always the one who will be stuck in the kitchen all day preparing the food (which she had been preparing for the past two days) for reunion dinner. Somehow... it didn't feel super re-union with you in Australia, but yea... the house is still pretty noisy, full of talks and kids' laughter. Er Shu Er Shen came by, so you can expect Aili to be around too. Then came the aunties and uncle while the food starts turning up one by one onto the table...



The same stuff, every once a year. Just once is enough for the rest of the year, maybe that's why restaurant food doesn't appeal much anymore.



Peng Cai, Mum left the fire there to cook it overnight, a lot of effort and time there. Something new is added on top this time, make a guess..?



Asked your bro to sit there while I take a picture... He quite liked this pose, so I'm putting this up... haha.



Aww.... Aili is so cute... The two girls get along pretty well, so much that Yang felt outcasted whenever the little girl came by.



I was a little stunned when Aili posed for the picture when I aimed my camera at her. She used to be so shy in the past, I thought she might turn away.



Aunty Peck all ready to tuck in!



And yea, the purpose of all these phototaking. We had a couple of shots for this one, but I still find this speaking the loudest, though I wonder if she'll scream if she sees it. Besides, the people in the back quite fits in too~ :D

Oookie, that's about the reunion dinner photos, from your lousy photographer... Not much food pictures though, cos they came ouf pretty bad... other than this:



Yum yum... There was a lot, and yea, couldn't finish them all really... Think it ended up as breakfast and lunch for the aunties today.

Happy Valentine - New Year!

*Image edited. XD
Nice to break away from traditional once in a while. Long time no do some serious illustrator work, 9 hours altogether from conceptual to end... but still late for mailing. This year's Chinese New Year falls on the western Valentine's Day, perfect for someone who's all about the family, I guess? Haha, wishing all a Happy Chinese New Year and Valentine's (whatever relationship status... it's one nice day to indulge into some chocolate, haha.)

Ideas... ideas!

I realised that I can't think of ideas... better off building on others' ideas. But thank God, at least the two stop motion ideas are nailed down. Haha, I now understand what they mean by all ideas come when you are just chatting randomly...

For the final stop motion project, I'm collaborating with Sheng Yi. She's all out to do the work, but like me, our ideas keep floating. She wanted something that could become part of her future portfolio. Something that appeals to masses, something that people will like. After a chat with her in her hall room, I realised she wanted very much to do something that everyone will accept. Not that it's impossible, but I'm starting to find that very hard and even more restricting than to do whatever you want. Yeap, urged her to do what she wants to see, and probably because of her hungry stomach, she was willing to hear what my views about that. From there, I kind of remembered the times I collaborated with Huiying, when I'm staunch on having a moral to a story when there is no need for one. And indeed, things started to get easier when we let go of that 'I must do something like blah blah blah'.

It quite began with her tying her shoelaces, readying to go to the canteen. A random chat at the door:

"just do something you want..." I said.

"Maybe a woman," she began in a joking manner, "in the ballroom, dancing with a man, dance dance dance, became married, man dies, she's crying... and then-" lol. She stopped to think, and I added,

"she realised it's a dream, and found herself at the graveyard or something-"

It's a happy feeling, to be able to continue the story. On our way to the canteen, we randomly threw ideas in, probably flesh falling off (ah yea, she loves morbid stuff, so I'm not holding her back on that), grim reaper, tombstone etc. We couldn't stop talking about it! Even while having our dinner, we were still throwing ideas in, and a twist as she wanted. Yea, the story is pretty common, but how are we gonna portray it? Probably that's how things become interesting.

Reference - Stop Motion Vids

As stated... Had a hard time thinking up ideas, even more so for the art direction and all... Stop motion is still very new to me. Infinite possibilities, only limited by your imagination. This time, the medium is paper cut outs...


Just love the simplicity of it.


Didn't know Walt Disney animations did cut out animations in the past...


1970s animation, the style is visually appealing.


Love the visuals.


..Ouch. Haha...


Headless... but something new to me.


Style style style...


Idea, style n everything... just cool.


A very random animation, but nicely animated.


This was the winning entry of safety at work awards last year, I think. Ends pretty abruptly at first look. Apart from the pleasing aesthetics n animation, the small details added to the simple storyline probably got it the first and choice of the judges. I discover something new each time I view it, inspiring.





Some random 3D short I chance upon in youtube. The colors are what I had in mind when discussing the final story with Shengyi for another project.

Adding on to the list soon.

Erza

I was doodling on a picture of Lucy when the thought of drawing Erza again just flashed by my mind... Yea, trying to portray the feminine side of her, since she's some super strict and powerful wonder-woman in Fairytail feared by all around her.

Carnations.... just happen to have that pile of carnation pictures around on the table, and draw them in. Mum came by and looked at the pic, saying 'ain't that for mothers? You should draw roses instead.' But rose don't seem to fit her character... maybe carnations too... Read up a bit, and they kind of signify pride, beauty, strength, woman's love etc, a hardy plant. On top of that, yes, they're a challenge to draw. Had a hard time trying to bring out the petals. I wanted a soft feel, but not very sure how to go about painting it, end up bringing it under the tap a few times. Might wanna re-do it someday...

First and Last...

One fine day, I decided to do something about my karma and step into the blood donation drive (yes, I'm a christian). It wasn't a sudden thing, had that inkling to do it ever since I first saw the posters for blood donation hanging around ntu back in Year 1. However... yea, as like many, I was scared. Even more so, knowing that I faint at the sight of a cut in my finger. But then again... I hope to do it at least once in this lifetime. Well... I'm fine, no high blood pressure, diabetes, wierd stuff in the blood or something, why not? Probably better than giving money where you're not sure if it ends up as a construction fee of a golden toilet bowl.

Anyways... did questionaires, inspections, measures, tests.... and there I was, lying on the makeshift bed waiting for the nurse to attend to me. The place wasn't so packed, no queue of donors, but a lot are lying there, quietly waiting for their bag to be filled. Then came the nurse... A malay aunty, all smiles. She checked my paper, placed it aside, and started readying the bags and all while assuring me all would be fine and painless. I guess I looked nervous there; I admit I'm scared, that I'll faint instantly after she poked that needle in. Yea... so she applied some liquid on my arm (guessing antiseptics...) and brought out the needle. It was a fine one, thinner than the needles I use for stitching, and like what she said, it wasn't as painful as the blood test needle used previously for my blood screening. Okie, in. Then she brought out another needle, this time a really thick one that got me go 'waaah'.

'Oh no, this one is painless,' she reassured with a laugh. And yea, it was exactly. Dun feel anything. 'If you feel giddy must say ahh' she said and left to tend to the others. Ok... so I sat there, squeezing that little cushion thing while blood just flow without me knowing. Turned my head a bit and saw the tube full of red. No feeling.... squeeze squeeze... hey, I'm fine, though I start feeling my fingers going a bit weak on the squeezing. Curious, I looked at the tube again, and down, wondering how much had been taken out. Boy do I regret that....

In the next minute, I saw stars again, the exact same feeling of a dying color tv going from high-definition to high exposure and grayscale. I couldn't hear myself talk clearly though I know I'm calling the nurse back regarding this dizziness. The next moment, there were a few nurses around me, the makeshift bed changed to another position with my legs up, my arm tied with a cute blue bandage and a blanket over me. The nurses disappeared and came a female doctor who took my blood pressure... 110. A difference of 12 there, but huh? Everything was back to color again very quickly, and the doc spoke about my condition. A natural response, she said, low blood pressure due to sudden loss of blood. She told me that will happen too if I'm in very crowded areas or exposed to bright sunlight for a long time, both of which I remember happening when I was younger. She smiled and told me to lie on the bed longer, even more so since I came here alone. And yes, she added that it would be better for me not to donate anymore.

I dun get it. A cut on the finger, ear piercing, cleaning chicken bones and now blood donation... Somehow, just felt it being a phobia more than nature... or a phobia ticking off the nature. Yea, the entire family laughed when they heard of me donating blood, at least I didn't end up taking 2 bags of blood for that half that I gave...

Just......... Sad la.