~Siew Mai Style~

break

2006-07-02T22:57:00.000+08:00

Uh... yeah.. This art blog will be on a minor hiatus (if you haven't noticed by now) until I get back to SG, since I've had to move practically everything into my new flat, and that includes all my pencils and my sketchbook containing that half-finished sketch...

Untold Story

2006-06-12T04:21:00.000+08:00

ARGHS!! Right. Definitely the next time I update this blog, I will use Hello (i.e. use my own laptop) instead of directly uploading from Blogger because even the large option on Blogger's picture upload thingy is so damn small. Hmph.

Anyways. I don't really have a title for this drawing. And somehow... something about it keeps telling me that it warrants a small dialogue to go along with it. It's telling a story and I don't know what. Strange that I was the one who drew it though, coz now that small smile on the girl's face and the guy's expression... What happened before this moment? What are they saying to each other now? The effect that came out of it was totally unexpected, but I'm glad it happened. I like this piece very much.

Maybe I'll let you guys tell me their story. Well, the one or two of you who actually follow this blog. HAHAHA... But yes, tell me their story or what they're saying or give it a caption, either through the comments page or e-mail if you don't want to publicise it yet. And then I'll share my idea (yes, I do have one at the moment). Hmmm... Did I just organise my first web-competition?? Eeeks. I think I just did. Ok the prize for my favourite entry is... I will post your entry on Siew Mai Can Bite!!!

What... You think I really got enough money to provide a prize issit?? At the most I buy Scottish keychain for the winner when I go back larr...

Pray

2006-06-12T04:11:00.000+08:00

Ok. At first I was reluctant to call this piece finished because I didn't like that arched window thing I drew. But then I couldn't think of any other designs for it, and I really wanted the effect of a girl praying/pleading with a cross-sort-of-thing in the background. Finally I just shaded the background and that kind of made the window a bit more bearable. I still don't like it mind you that much. But well...

No effects, one reason being I don't have Picasa on the school computers. But mainly coz effects would have been redundant in this case.

Pencil & Paint

2006-06-10T04:41:00.000+08:00

Haiz. Would you believe that this is my second attempt at putting this piece up? The first time I tried couple days ago, Blogger ate it up and all was lost. Then I tried to rant on Siew Mai Can Bite but that post got eaten up to. Probably some maintenance was going on at the time. Haiz.

Anyhow, daffodil-like flower I picked up from Seaton Park on my way to the beach. This was done maybe a week or two before my exams started. Currently it's up on our flat fridge at my flatmates' insistance but personally I see it as one of those getting-back-into-the-hang-of-it pieces. You may notice that the water-colour version isn't too fancy and in fact is more than a little amateur-ish. My excuse is A) I'm not that proficient with paints anyhow and B) there wasn't very much I could do with the paints I had on hand. They were those convenient pallate types that are basically just round circles of dried up paint powders. You can see the little bits of testing I did on the bottom corner, trying to see if any shading could be done with them.

Think I'll stick to pencils for a while more.

踊るよ！

2006-06-03T23:32:00.000+08:00

Dance on little girl

Ah! At last I regain a fraction of my past prowess! The words in Japanese mean "Dance! This daughter of spring!" I think when I drew it I'd just come back from a jog and was high on endorphins. Once again, without any effects editing, simply coz spring is about just being. Isn't it? That little scribble on the bottom right end corner is me trying to do a signature in Chinese...

Turn Away

2006-06-03T23:29:00.000+08:00

Turn Away

Ah... More practice work. But practice makes perfect doesn't it? Ok. So here I'm trying to draw a back view sort of, precisely because I know I'm crap at drawing back views, and side profiles. Grr... I will perfect this somehow. Did some sharpening in Picasa and saturated the image, which gave it a sort of old papyrus kind of look. I like.

Ashley Pig in Pencil

2006-06-03T23:26:00.000+08:00

Ashley Pig

Finally I picked up my pencils again and got busy. In order to ease myself back into drawing, I targeted the first thing I saw on my table: the Ashley Pig handphone holder. Not exactly my best, but not awful either. Decided to just post this one up without any effects.

Soon Soon...

2005-07-22T15:14:00.000+08:00

Dammit... I have committed blog abandonment again.

I will draw again. Soon, soon. Next week stopping work liao. Confirm will have time to draw and post. Soon. Promise.

Vietnamese Doll, May 1998

2005-06-17T20:19:00.000+08:00

Vietnamese Doll 1998

I really really promise that new ones will come. But for the moment, I have found this very old still-life I did in Sec 3 of a Vietnamese puppet. Decided to leave the original signature in. The scribbling on the top left-hand corner is courtesy of Nekoweenie, who at the time insisted that it had to have a title and wrote it down for me. Hahaha... Brings back memories.. This was done just before we started the whole Japanese manga obsession I think. Heh.

Oops.

2005-06-17T19:30:00.000+08:00

Big oops.

How long have I neglected this art blog?? Oh dear. I'm so sorry!! *hugs blog* Will update soon. Scanning as I type. (^_^) Forgive me!!!

天使の祈り

2005-02-08T17:48:00.000+08:00

Prayer

The Angel's Prayer. Hmmm. This was actually just meant to be a rough sketch that I would transfer to a larger drawing space. So you'll notice a lot of vague lines, like I can't decide exactly what I want to draw. I wanted to try my hand at colouring actually. But I never got round to doing it, so in the end it's being published in this original, erm, planning state. Originally named it "巫の祈" which sort of translates to "The Priestess' Prayer". You can still see that title in my sketch book. Please ignore that celtic cross thing. It's not really part of the picture. Just, as I said earlier, some more rough sketching.

Picasa2 Editing: I hit "I'm feeling lucky" first, which basically just darkened the lines I think. That was followed by very very light tinting with a yellow-green sort of colour. Tried out the Glow function for the first time after that, using slightly heavier intensity and a small radius. Finally used the Focal B&W function which desaturates around the centre, and ended up with that mild halo effect around her body. All in all think the picture now has a rather ethereal effect, which is what I was aiming for. Yay!! Success.

Androgyny in The Wind

2005-02-04T14:57:00.000+08:00

Ambiguity

Disclaimer: The title of the post comes courtesy of Nekoweenie. So if you think it doesn't suit the post, you know who to speak to. Hahahahahah!! (^_~)

I drew this... Can't remember when. I think I was trying to manga-fy some model/idol I saw in a magazine or on a website. Can't remember who though. The numbers at the bottom are actually the score I gave myself... Might've been too generous though. Notice his "right" eye? The eye on our left. It's quite disproportionate to the other eye, and a bit crooked. I'm just lousy at drawing on the left-side. Ha. Anyhow, editing details with Picasa2: Tinted it, as you can see, in a cool tone. Thought it brought out the character of the drawing more somewhat. Then used a soft focus effect with a medium/relatively larger radius, mainly so that most of his face is in proper focus. Thought in the original sketch he was looking a bit fierce, so this sort of mellows him out a bit. Makes him... Strong but with a touch of vulnerability??? Hahaha.. Don't know what I'm saying also.. Lalala...

Together Forever

2005-02-01T21:54:00.000+08:00

Together Forever

I drew this somewhere last sem when I was... Waiting for Mel Fann or waiting with Mel Fann at the Gecko. For some reason, I suddenly remembered that old animation "The Last Unicorn" and got quite inspired. I remember someone telling me that my "unicorn/horse" looked demonic... (-_-)"' I know I'm lousy at drawing animals... *sniff* No need say so loud. Dunno what Picasa2 did this time. It's got this button called "I'm feeling lucky" for random lighting/tuning fixes. So I tried it and ta-da!! This is the end product. Cheers people.

Translated words on doodling: Surely, we will be together (lit: together with you). Forever.

2 Feb; Response to Comment:

"i think its so cute that the unicorn and girl lookalike" ~ Monkey

(O_o) I nvr noticed that. Really. Monkey has a very keen eye. *bows in reverence to Monkey* And to other commentary... I insist that my unicorn is NOT demonic, no matter how strange it looks. :P

First Pic!

2005-01-31T22:52:00.000+08:00

Rescue

This is a very old drawing I found lying around. Drew it in Sec 4 I think. I remember Nekoweenie and Lee Su Mei asking me why the girl had pieces of cloth instead of clothes... Artistic license Daaaaah-lings. Anyway. I was playing around with some features on Picasa2. So the pic has been saturated, warmed and sharpened. Kinda like the effect, though I'm no expert yet. Hee! I like my picture blog.

Test Image

2005-01-31T19:19:00.000+08:00

I think the last time I posted a test image on my Whatever blog, it was also with this particular drawing. Oh well. This shall be my official test image then. First time I'm using Hello/Picasa2/BloggerBot too.

Pixie Girl

New Blog!!!

2005-01-31T19:00:00.000+08:00

Hahaha...

Those of you who've been with me from the beginning, you'll remember that I once stated that I'd use my blog to post my drawings. It never quite happened.

Well, that's all going to change now. Because here is my NEW blog! Siew Mai Style! Featuring Siew Mai drawn anime/manga images -- Siewmanime!! Get it get it?? Hahaha... It's partly Sing Yee's idea. So if you don't like the name then it's HER FAULT!!! Wahhahaa... Just joking Sing. No need to glare at me like that. Yes yes. So this is my online art gallery debut!!! Whahaha..

Will try to get another tagboard soon so you guys can post convenient passing comments. For the meantime, I can only offer you the Blogger comment feature.

Be kind ok? Although I would also appreciate honesty. It's been 10,000 years since I've drawn anything and am seriously out of practice... erk...

*~Siew Mai Style~*