Perseverance: 09/01/2009

10 minutes

15 minutes

Discovered something new! Love the chalk-y texture of the brush, AWESOME! =D

Creative Truths

An arch consists of two weaknesses which, leaning against one another, make a strength.
- Leonardo da Vinci

20 mins

A very fun process where I don't know what I draw until all the curves started joining and stuff. Not a very satisfying result, but it's getting somewhere I guess. Very rudimentary colour combination. Need more practice!

Museums and Us

Abroad - At the Louvre, Many Snap but Few Focus, and Mona Lisa Smiles On - NYTimes.com.

Some excerpt:

Cameras replaced sketching by the last century; convenience trumped engagement, the viewfinder afforded emotional distance and many people no longer felt the same urgency to look. It became possible to imagine that because a reproduction of an image was safely squirreled away in a camera or cell phone, or because it was eternally available on the Web, dawdling before an original was a waste of time, especially with so much ground to cover.

It's true and it's quite common now. Well, I have to confess that I did that too when I was in NY, because the museums were just so BIG! If I have the chance, I'd like to spend more time over there, haha..

20 mins

Trying to do a realistic speed painting without reference, I guess I still need more practice!

Waxin' & Milkin': A Visual Mixtape

Mars Hill Church | Proverbs | Men and Masculinity

http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/proverbs/men-and-masculinity

GAMBIT: Waker/Woosh

Finally the game that I've been working on for the 2 month-internship have been launched (28 Aug 09, yea I'm a bit slow to update). And up-to-date, there are already a number of websites that "picked" (or a nicer say, "featured") our games! Here are some of them: (These are just for my personal collection =D)

Well if you realized, some of them are taken from one another, but well, it's really encouraging to see the games that I worked on go LIVE online and people are discussing it out. Phew, looking forward to more! (and yea, it's getting more... and moree... I guess I'll keep updating until I feel tired, hahah..)

Play these games!
Let me know how your experience differs from one game to the other!

Kudos to Rini who almost single-handedly handled all the art assets for Woosh! Also for Brandon for his godly, awesome artwork! Rich for the awesome audio (really love it, man!)! Xuejin for being a crazily funny Producer! Anna and Kevin for the awesome and smart level designs! Yuanqin and Changyou for working so hard getting all the stuff in and working! Eunice for picking all the bugs and making sure we're on time for every Milestones! Sara for being a great guidance for all of us! Big thank you all! Our game rocks! =D))

10 - 15 minutes each (both are not related in any way)

Attempting to experiment with colours, doing a manga/comic by not using predrawn lines.
Monochrome colours, used to establish the mood.
Minimalistic backgrounds.
Intention is to focus more on producing the narrative with sufficient information contained in one panel.
Font is Laffayette Comic Pro. Text balloons follow the mood (this one is yet to be explored).

Inspired by Ashley Wood's Metal Gear Solid Graphic Novel.

Next Chapter

For sure, the past few months have somewhat impacted my life personally, the journey to the other side of the world. Besides the awesomely fun trip and all, I've gained a renewed... passion?... It seems to be an overly used word, but I don't know what other words to describe such... a rising motivation to be independently improving my skills and knowledge, especially in this creative field.

I have identified my strength, and am going to develop it further, and at the same time, I'm not gonna limit myself to doing things that I'm "comfortable" doing. Besides ILLUSTRATION, INTERACTIVE DESIGN (including GAME DESIGN) is what I'd be eyeing after (but yea, I still have a LOT to learn!). And that means, it will definitely require CODING!

And I think it is good to start with the quote by Brendan Dawes, an inspirational interaction designer who has a very strong creative drive and reading his book really got me started, at least doing this blog.

This is the next chapter of my life! (err dunno which chapter it is =X )

Creativity

Creativity is not about playing safe, and it never should be. It should scare the hell out of you at times. It should put you in uncomfortable places that challenge you at every step.

- Brendan Dawes
(from Analog In, Digital Out: Brendan Dawes on Interaction Design)

Perseverance