Child's Play : Puppeteer

Puppeteer

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Child's Play Update

An update to our post here, we have move on to our second painting of the series with a screen shot of our progress and a update of the previous painting. Not exactly happy with the first one but guess it can't be helped because we're experimenting a new painting style and hopefully we'll be able to settle on a unique one that will represent our work well. Hope you like them.

#we've changed our avatar!!

Daddy Go Round

Puppeteer painting in progress

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STGCC Exhibition

The annual Singapore Games and Comic Convention just ended last Sunday. According to close friends, the event was way bigger and seems like more artists in Singapore are holding booths with great sales. Though we weren't there physically, our works were being exhibited in a small corner under the National Library.

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New Illustration Series: Child's Play

This is a new set of color illustration that we're working on but after three days the progress has been very slow. We're caught in a few issues especially the characters. We'll update this in a later time but for now, this is where we're at.

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Blog To Print

Fancy Printing Your Own BLOG? : We found an extremely interesting website call BlogToPrint. Basically, the website does what it says: Prints your Blog into an actual book without the hassle of you needing to organize anything. If you're using a blogger account like us, you can type in your blog address and preview the book before printing it. The website will help you to organize your post. COOL X 100.

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December Trees

We're currently working on a couple of pen illustrations regarding trees for a friend. Getting back to sketching on our little sketchbook has been fun and enjoyable partly because we've been lagging behind in terms of creative outputs. After using digital software for such a long while, nothing beats traditional form. There's just some magical or wizard craft around it that is extremely hard to explain.

We will post the drawings once its approved and we've got a new 3 page comic sketched out waiting to be cleaned up! (However it'll only be done when our computer keyboard gets delivered by amazon next week.

More stuff to come!!!

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Projects and Projects and Projects

Hi everyone, the holidays will be coming to an end for us soon as we daze off into korean drama and movies daily. With 2 weeks of slow progress in work we've decided to buck up and move forward starting... NOW. Why the rush and sudden change you asked? Well, if you follow this link HERE to dantat's blog site you'll understand why. We really should be working hard right now during our youth and not taking things easy. (^__^) With that said, here's a slight glimpse of the short film we're currently working on.

Sketch of city scape.

building variations

Concept sketch 1

Concept Sketch 2

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New House

As Thanks giving and Black Friday come to an end, so did our house. Well not exactly our house because it didn't belong to us to begin with. We just settled in to a new home which is closer to school and comes at a affordable rent. We finally have our own room and closet and today is the first day that the internet is officially running. There's two senior projects that we're involved in right now and a couple of stuff we need to build for Christmas. Also, the competition for Annobooks is still ongoing and we appreciate all the help we can get from your vote!!

Meanwhile, we're watching a few Korean dramas, trying to get back to shape on schedule at our own illustrations and comic. Its getting cooler and colder here in Savannah and we wish everyone a great holiday this December.

Cheers~

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Its The School Holiday~~

*Important Announcement*

Well Well, heres a couple of announcement from us. First off, we'll like to call your attention to this webpage here. Please do sign up and vote for us!! 10 being the best and 1 being lowest. (please don't be mean and vote 1~~) Its a competition that we're in and the voting ends in 1 months time. The top 25 artist will get to be selected into the final round where there's a possibility of getting your work published on the magazine. Which means exposure for us!! Thats the prize so, we really need this and do help us out! [ Just ignore the profile picture for the time bing. (^__^) ]

*Our current rank is 8th in illustration and we need to get in top 25 OVERALL which includes all the rest of the categories.

Secondly, the last day of the quarter was our final assignment where we use color pencil to depict form and shading. This is done over a black piece of drawing paper and its the first time we're expose to such drawing methods, not mentioning the unfamiliarity of color pencils. But it turn out really interesting and got us interested in the medium. Hope you like it. ( It will be up on the school's wall at Wallin Hall over the winter break)

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How To Make A Zoetrope!!

*Update: First off, just like to say that we uploaded the blog and its now enhance in terms of image viewing. So if you'd go on and click on the images it'll now enlarge and float above the blog keeping you in our site.

For the final project, we decided to build a zoetrope! But instead of the traditional zoetrope using only paper and strips, this one is made out of 3D carved wood and sculpey. Its a challenge at making visual 3D elements into 2D animated objects. So if you're keen on building one, here's the walk through. If you want to skip the making you can head right down to the bottom of the post to view the final video.

First off: A test of animation of our character

Setting up our work environment

We use a G-Saw to carve out the character

Each character took about 1 hour to carve out.

They are each around 1 and a half inch thus the hassle.

Here is the clean up process, using sharpie to clean the edges.
Heres a different of before and after cleanup.

There's a total of 15 frames so ya... we literary cut out

15 of them and including cleanup it took around 14 hours.

5 Minute Epoxy for gluing the wooden characters.

Preparing for the gluing.

Here's the Epoxy we use.

The turn-table we build. The base was ordered from Amazon.

The "Screen" is build out of black cupboard.

The slits in-between is the key to the zoetrope illusion.

Octopussies in the making.

The final Octopussies!!

Here's the final product.

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Small Works Exhibition

If you have been following us, you'll probably have read this before regarding our group exhibition. The show opened yesterday and will continue on till dec 30th 2010. This is essentially our first group exhibition with other selected SCAD students and faculty. The gallery ranged from all disciplines and its really amazing to see all these inspiring artists' work. We took a few photos of those that really stood out to us and if you'd noticed, most of the selected students were in their M.F.A studies! [Well except us (^_^) ] So its really an honor to be exhibiting alongside these great students.

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Graphite Rendering

Wall Display: Viola, its mid week and things are piling up on us. Our assignment on graphite rendering got displayed! The top image didn't come out well on our camera but as you can see on the wall display, the values and tones has much more variation. This assignment was insane because we decided to work on the difference in gray value in general.

Our thought process: If you take a closer look at our drawing, you'll probably notice the unconventional composition and rendering approach we took. First off, as artists we normally follow traditional composition rules like, 1) avoid having items at isolated corners which will distract the audience (we did it on bottom left corner) 2) avoid cropping away items chipping off things ( we did it to the toys on the left and top) But if you step back and take a look at our contemporary approach, the drawing still has a visual balance. That is because we planted a few hidden elements within which holds the drawing together even though we broke those traditional rules in composition. If you take a closer look at the values, there are only 3 main dark "spots" in the drawing which forms an invisible triangulation that ties the drawing to the center. Though our rendering seems light, you are still able to tell a certain depth out of the drawing which is what we wanted to experiment; using light gray values to depict and emote the drawing.

The hardest part in drawing especially in values is to be able to create depth just with gray. Just like in singing, although the chorus of a song normally has the highest pitch but they tend to be the easiest to remember and sing. The hardest and important part in vocal singing actually lies in the verse which tells the story and builds up the chorus. In the case of drawing, it is actually those gray values. We'll probably be working on a series of gray value studies from now on.

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2 Months in the States

Hi folks, its been 2 months and we've settled down quite nicely in our nest. Unable to let go of our previous job, we have been collecting every single receipt we got so we can have a better idea how much we're spending.

If you're a student out there who has decided to come to US to pursue an education, it might be worth while to read on. If however you're not, its also worth your time to go through these stuff and think about how you're spending your money away. Financial Planning REALLY is important in life. So here goes:

Days in Savannah: 62 $ in USD

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Groceries to date: $185.14

Art Supplies: $358.74

Textbook: $73.53

Food- 22 days of Subway $117.70

- 20 days of Chinese food $90

- Starbucks $135

Prepaid Phone $130

Transport- 2nd hand Bike $68.84

2mths Rent $509.79

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Sub total $1,668.74

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Misc

21inch Monitor $159.99

Intuos 4 Wacom Tablet(med) $313.17

head phone $30

Books from Amazon $80

Furnitures $147.50

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Total $2399.40

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Average Per day Spendings: $38.70

As you guys can see, it seems pretty scary to be spending 2 grand in 2 months as a student. What we eat everyday is either subway (which costs $5.30 after tax for footlong that makes up our lunch and dinner) or chinese food. ($4.50 per meals which we eat half for lunch and dinner) For breakfast we usually eat bread or skip meals altogether. As you can probably see, besides starbucks we don't have much of an entertainment. (Its a top up card that still has at least $80 bucks of value so its not really accurate to say we drink that much) If you look at what is essentially important ie; groceries, art supplies, daily meals, textbook, rent, transport and furnitures it already adds up to $1,551.24 for 2 months. So if you intend to come to school and party, you'll probably be looking at spending around 2 - 3 grand PER month.

Because we used to be financial planners (we think we still are), we know these figures can really go big if you don't watch yourself and track daily. This is a fair accurate figure for 2 months of expenditure and because we just settled in, its slightly higher. We're really lucky because our friendly housemates let us have their spare bed, table, chair and even mirror. ( they are really our angels in life right now and without them, we'll probably be in the streets) We would say the first settle in will probably costs almost $500 to $2,500 on furniture if you don't have any help. Our ideal scenario is to cap at $650 monthly (Yes it is tough because the rent takes up almost half). Lastly, if you're working in the society, we highly recommend you sit down with a financial agent and look through the variety of financial products out there if you haven't. Even if you think you know these stuff, its always good to hear more and get a different perspective. (^__^) Have a great weekend!

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"Small Works" Exhibition @ Gustien Gallery, Savannah

Open Waters

The Great Dive

RainDrops

First Ever " Commercial Exhibition: Hi folks, firstly we'll like to say this post was suppose to be made yesterday but we really crash out due to the huge amount of work we're handling. So what's happening is we were actually selected to exhibit in SCAD's Gustien Gallery from 12th Nov till 30th Dec 2010. It is our first "commercial" exhibition in the sense that we're actually really selling our artwork instead of just showing them for gallery purposes. We're just really excited to be able to showcase our stuff since we're barely two months here. We actually did a series of black and white illustrations theme: Black and White: SOCIETY. We're in the process of doing a whole bunch more of these and essentially they are our observations of the society interpreted in a variety of ways. The official reception is on 12th Nov 2010 6pm - 7.30pm and if you happen to be around do pop by to say hi to us. (well it'll be me instead since we both exist in one body in the real world.)

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Pre November Small Update

Doesn't this look familiar? Our drawings got displayed again!!

Another Master Copy that we did during class assignment. This time round we have to work on line quality and using hatching to achieve light and dark. This study is done on Michaelangelo's work where the process of drawing a human figure is created through sculpting the proportions rather than developing the lines from basic.

Our Hobbies and how we learn: Here's a couple of stuff that we ordered recently. All of them are excellent works by very good artists. Highly recommend these 5 books!! We normally read a range of books from indie works to pop stuff. Amulet as seen in the middle is currently in its 3rd volume. We've been chasing Kazu Kibushi for 8 years now. During his first year where he was doing web comic on his website BOLTCITY in flash instead of html, we started joining comic competitions. We've traded emails during those first 2 years but we changed our email accounts and went into army. Since then, we've been watching from afar and his now really way ahead in terms of skills, story telling, awards, professionalism than we are. It alway gives us mix feelings as we started on the same page as him but years later, we're so far behind. There's a whole list of rant we can go on regarding this and also the books that we're reading in terms of art styles, story narration, timing and pacing but we'll really like to leave that to your exploration while we go work on our skills. Till the next time, we wish everyone a Happy Halloween.

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Sculpture Assignment

Warning!! Long Post Ahead: Today marks the end of our third assignment in 3D Design. Finally managed to finish this epic Old Man Super Hero Wannabe sculpture. Attached is a documentary of the process.

This is the first process of Sculpture modeling for Sculpey. The armature is made up of 1/8 inch wire which makes a pretty strong foundation for Sculpey. Building of the armature is done with one single 1/8 inch armature wire.

More delicate features like fingers are normally made with the smaller 1/16 inch armature wire. An important thing to take note is that the wires need to be coiled tightly to prevent the sculpey from breaking up when it is bake at a later time.

Notice how the fingers get twine around the bigger amarture.

Front View of the basic armature made. The cape at the back is made out of mesh wire.

Side View.

Back View.

Because of the fact that the armature will eventually be mount onto a board, (This is because the model is in a dynamic running position is whole body suspended in mid-air less one leg and cane) it is always wise to leave enough armature wire for attachment rather than trying to epoxy when its done in this case.

A surgery is done at this point of time because without a skeleton for the foot, the sculpey might fall apart during baking or when the model is transported.

Close up of foot.

In order to make the movement more dynamic, the cape is enhanced with 1/8 inch armature wire to give strength and structural integrity.

Back View of the final armature. Aluminium foil is used to cover up any gaps that might have existed in the armature. It also helps to heat up the sculpey from within when it is bake in the oven.

The next step: Adding Sculpey.

Top view of the finish Sculpey foundation.

Texture is added to enhance the aesthetic look and design of the model.

The facial feature is created by adding layers of Sculpey onto it. It gives us more control over the model.

Moving on to the body.

Close up of face feature.

Because the model is eventually going to be an old man, it is important to research the body build and reference of the actual figure to create that believability of the model.

Front Shot.

Texturing of Cape.

Close up of boots texture.

Side View of Boots.

Once the textured is sculpt into the sculpey, the model is ready to bake. For Super Sculpey, the baking time is 15 mins under 275 degree.

Front view of the bake Sculpey.

When the Sculpey turns brown, it is probably baked and ready. Notice the top part of the model is burnt and the foot still looks like its not done. Don't worry about the uneven in baking, because as mentioned earlier, the aluminium foil in the armature will continue to retain the heat and bake the Sculpey from within. Be sure to set the model aside for 15 mins to cool off.

In this project, Acrylic is used to paint over the Sculpey. The good thing about using Acrylic is the fact that when it is dried up, it holds on very well to the model.

Side view of foundation color.

The wooden cane is colored multiple times with different shades of brown to give the illusion of depth to the model.

Final Finished Model!!

Side View.

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