roar

Various things have me frustrated and angry recently, so I drew my character Freddy. She’s a good outlet for these kinds of moods. Feels good to draw for myself again, too!

blood in the water

Sadly I haven't been working on a whole lot of things I can actually post just yet, so not much of an art update for February, but here's the drawing I did for Girls Drawing Girls' theme this week, Mermaids. I thought I'd do something that's a bit of a departure from the norm c:

I'm proud and happy to say that I'm now a member of the awesome art group Girls Drawin' Girls! I applied for membership when they opened up last month, and while I was at it I felt like drawing some new art I could use to submit for that purpose, so here they are. I was trying to show some variety in character design with these!

I haven't been compiling my art here as much as I'd like, so I'm thinking that at the end of every month I'll do a post of my art summary - mainly personal, but whatever work stuff I can post too. It'll help me keep on track I hope!

the fawndog trot

whew, busy as usual, but here's a little animation I did tonight of my mascot character to unwind and practice a little.

do drop by my facebook page for more art and doodles! I'll still be updating here, but they'll typically be denser and less frequent.

happy place

quickie idea that's been in my head for a while.

I need to draw stuff other than us, but eh.

dive

I don't think I'm afraid of great heights so much as I am of the possibility of falling from them.

not really a vent piece but definitely based on things I've felt. features my character Switch.

dive

I don't think I'm afraid of great heights so much as I am of falling from them.

not really a vent piece but definitely based on things I've felt. features my character Switch.

red tape

feeling a little glum because of recent developments in my situation, so I doodled.


be thankful if you've never had to deal with immigration laws ever.
don't be fooled - he's mainly annoyed because my butt is less than a foot from him and he can't reach it. ♥

three tigers

"The White Tiger is connected to the symbol of jinx in China history. Some Chinese might consider that 2010 White Tiger is a bad year....

...Tiger contains Mainly Wood, Fire and little Earth. Wood and Fire together will make Fire stronger. Metal is afraid of Fire and Metal is also against Wood. That means Metal and Tiger together will fight each other, which implies 2010 won't come quietly and peacefully. We can image that 2010 is a Tiger wearing armor. This Tiger doesn't like armor on the top its body and keeps jumping around. For safety, we should keep our distance from it. That's why many Chinese don't like White Tiger."
-Chinese Fortune Calendar



A year ago, whilst celebrating Lunar New Year in Chinatown with my buddy Ivey, I slipped and fell down the steps of the subway, giving myself a massive bruise on my hip, and breaking a bracelet that a friend had made me in the process. A week after that, my wallet (containing my immigrant work permit) and mobile phone were pickpocketed. This was the start to my third Year of the Tiger.

I had meant to draw this picture back then, but the incidents listed above put that thought out of my mind for quite some time, and after that things just seemed to keep cropping up. A recent trip to the Singapore Zoo (it's beautiful; I took lots of pictures :D) made me remember it, and I figured might as well do it before the year officially ends. I try to draw a Lunar New Year picture every year, and I had meant this year to be far from an exception.

The Tiger is the year of my own birth, which means as of this year I've completed two twelve-year cycles (a complete cycle is 60 years, which means I've gone through the years of each animal in each of the five elements). Tiger Year children, generally speaking, are not traditionally favoured in Chinese culture (in the year of my birth, 1986, the birth rate fell dramatically in predominantly-Chinese Singapore), and girls particularly not so - apparently because it is supposed to make them overly aggressive, which is not a value that Chinese women are traditionally supposed to aspire to. The Chinese equivalent of the term 'bitch', at least where I come from, is 'mu lao hu' - 'tigress'.

It's been an interesting year, to say the least, definitely a year of extremes and firsts. A lot has been going on, some things nice and others not-so-nice, but one thing it has certainly not been is forgettable - as tigers never are. I've been very fortunate this year, but with all the good fortune came a great deal of stress and wear, and I've been trying to hold it all together and keep everything in check. Exhausting, but worth the effort in the end to my mind. Similarly, with all the not so nice things that happened, there was always a silver lining somewhere -- the day of my fall in the subway, there were good samaritans kind enough to help me up and give me tissues for my bleeding wrist; and the day my valuables got stolen, my friends pulled through for me unbelievably while I was being a hysterical mess. Also, I had already sent in the application for my work visa, so that was unaffected by my permit being missing (applying for my social security number on the other hand was another story, but thankfully that's all in the past now and didn't really affect anything either).

So here's my image for the Year of the White (Gold/Metal) Tiger -- the White Tiger himself, sitting in foreground, the Yellow Earth Tiger (1998) in the middle and the Red Fire Tiger (1986) at back. I'm amazed at the ease with which this picture appeared within the space of a day or so, given that it took me long enough to get around to making the effort.

Anyway, actual Lunar New Year picture coming soonish. :B And a fond farewell to the Year of the White Tiger -- it's been rocky, but grrrr-eat.

Oh oh also! Going to the zoo gave me the idea of possibly making some prints to raise money (and awareness) for conservation efforts. I hope I can find a good way to do this - since I've never done anything like that before and am not sure how to set it up. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

brave new world

this is late, but better late than never eh? happy 2010! :D



my new year's resolution is to cut loose all the emotional and mental sandbags, and do my best to fly. the real world is terrifying, but I need to stop being a wuss about it.

and, just because I can:

that joke will never get old. :)

hello hello

to break this awful habit I have of not posting, here's more stuff people paid me to do:

pet portraits for a couple friends!





I am still taking orders for pet portraits if anybody is interested. :)

I've also been very busy with sticker-making -- I love sticker-making so much! will save those for another post though, I still have to sort out all the scans and photos. I've got an account on etsy now and once I stop procrastinating I will have to get active on there with art. such a lovely site!

couple drawings of a new character of mine. or rather one I've had for some time now but only just managed to be able to draw to my satisfaction.



more about her later on, if enough people want to hear about it. I figure I should stop being such a wuss and post more about my personal art here, since most of what I seem to post are random crap and work-art.



I was having a not so nice day. but it's all good now.

♥ !

trust

20 years and I'm still learning how to do this.
(personal art, obviously.)

Here's to a new year, a new start. *clink*