Here are some designs i did.. for Artemis Fac Comm Publicity IC interview.

T-shirt design (back):

I went to do abit of research about Artemis.. Artemis is the greek goddess of hunting, the Moon, forests and hills, and fertility (gosh i never knew the last part) :/ So I tried to incoporate as many symbolic meanings into the design as possible, such as the bow and arrow (hunting), the cypress trees in the background (cypress trees are considered sacred to Artemis), as well as the Moon! The Artemis mascot of the wolf now seems howling at the moon Personally i think the wolf is a great choice for mascot, as wolves hunt in packs, and we are one big pack of Artemisians! xD And the alpha wolf has great leadership qualities, as well as great vision (or ‘foresight’) haha.

Poster Design:

And here’s my poster design for a hypothetical fac outing.. I am quite enthu about this fac outing!! Hope it can really come true xD Inter-CT friendly competition within Artemis to find the ‘werewolf’ first.. within the dark, silent school compounds at night, with nothing to lead you on other than the chilly moonlight xD Sounds so interesting right!! haha. and if it’s really on Halloween night it’ll be even more fun, with the atmosphere and stuff (ppl can dress up as monsters/witches etc).

Anyway, i was trying to incorporate the word ‘Artemis’ into the ‘ART of MISTERY’ (mystery) .. but couldnt find anywhere to put the E.. sigh. And the 3 strokes of lighter blue is supposed to look like the scratch marks of a wolf/werewolf.. and at the same time like an imprint of the ‘M’. Since mystery is an essential part of this hypothetical fac outing, there are very few details about it on this poster.. to add on to the ‘MIStery’! xD

Yep. and anw here are my initial sketches for those who are interested:

That’s all! Comments welcome!

Yay! I did a card for my mom for Mother’s Day! (Ok not the whole thing, the card itself was bought from the Interact Club booth.. but i threaded the beads, arranged and glued them onto the card! not forgetting the pop-up heart xD)

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to mommy dearest!!

After Cairns, we headed to Sydney to visit Grandma and Uncle’s family.. as well as to celebrate xmas and grandma’s 80th birthday!

Here are some photos:

(4 above) Art Gallery of New South Wales – in which we happily whiled away the afternoon…

The next day, we went on a Captain Cook Cruise of the Harbour, travelling to Middle Harbour and beyond, then back to Circular Quay. This is a photo of the Harbour Bridge taken onboard the cruise ship.

The Opera House with the Harbour Bridge in the background.

Sydney CBD skyline with the AU flag from the back of the cruise fluttering in the seabreeze.

A nice, quiet little rocky shore (:

One of the many bays which we passed.

The view of Harbour Bridge and Opera House from the other side.

That night, we saw the wondrous light show cast on St. Andrew’s Cathedral, so real and natural that our eyes were conned into believing that the actual cathedral looked exactly like that when the lights were projected on it..

The next day we went to the Sydney Tower:

a 360 degree bird’s eye view of Sydney.

Sunset, taken  from Sydney Tower.

On 23rd Dec, we went back to the Opera House for Christmas at the House show, which was real good entertainment =)

And that’s e Opera House by night, after we came out of the concert hall. It’s a bit too dark; i should have use a tripod and increased the exposure.

Bondi Beach, on Christmas Day (to avoid the usual crowds). The weather wasnt as ideal as i wished it to be, but decent enough for a long walk..

.. where we saw some amazing rock formations en route. These rocks were probably under the sea millions of years ago to be eroded as such, then the earth gradually pushed it out of the water.

And last but not least, time for our journey back to Singapore!

Though of course we werent on that flight. Hahahaha.

Comments r welcome!

Just came back from our trip to Australia (Cairns and Sydney) and here are some photos! — the more scenery-type and presentable ones of course.. as this is not exactly a personal blog.. it’s supposed to be an e-portfolio :O And the other photos with us in it are really just for documentation purposes.. though they’re quite funny and bring back all the fond memories!

Anyways. first up, the photos from Cairns, where we spent 5D4N:

A huge, tall Kauri tree in the rainforest on the way to Kuranda Village.

The trickle that’s supposed to be Barron Falls.. only in the wet season -.-

And this was at Kuranda – Aboriginal art! Oooh for some weird reason I really really love these aboriginal art, many of which i realised made use of tiny dots of paint to create the entire picture. And the way they depict animals and humans is just so adorable!!! Their art is truly unique and has its distinctive style and identity.

This was a merry little shophouse selling aboriginal art works.. and i daresay the shop itself is a work of art! Sort of reminds me of a barrel. xD

Flight of the Spoonbills! So named cos of their long, flat, spoon-shaped black beaks. This was a chance shot as this flock flew past us and landed shortly after. (Hence their outstretched feet). Haha.

‘The Creation Windows at St. Monica’s Cathedral in Cairns.. with its world’s largest collection of themed stained glass, that tells the story of.. what else? Creation of Earth and life!

Another photo of the stained glass… with its colours so vivid and vibrant!

Cairns Esplanade – The Lagoon

On the way to Green Island for some snorkelling at the reef!

Green Island!

More Green Island!

And we saw a stingray in the shallow waters of the reefs surrounding Green Island! :O Better watch out!

The beautiful outer Barrier Reef.. taken from a semi-submarine as i obviously didnt have an underwater cam Hence the colours are bluish-tinged.. with some reflections and polarisation due to the glass windows of the semi-sub.

We ended the day by have a delicious seafood dinner.. a fantastic feast for all the five senses! =D Mmmm! Black mussels!

And Cairns – or Australia as a whole – has really diverse flora and fauna.. all around, even at the roadside. Here are a few photos:

On the flight to Sydney:

Farewell to Cairns and all your treasures! <333

Yupps! that’s all for today! =) Comments welcome.

Finished a day’s tiring work and came out into the world again… and the sight that met my eyes was more than enough to rejuvenate me again. It was one of those days that you just had to stop and stare at the wonder of colours that nature brushed – intentionally or not – into your path, and you feel the urge to grab a camera to capture this memory.. only to realise that you of course, did not bring a camera with you for work. A phone camera was all that you’ve got, and ‘click’ it goes, nature’s wonderful handiwork unfairly represented in a lousy-resolution photo. But ah wells, you cant always set your expectations so high, can you? Yupps, so here is the photo (which, incidentally, became my phone’s wallpaper afterwards XD) :

Well well well… seems i havent been posting for a very long time. but since chi o lvls are over, here i come my dear e-portfolio! haha. Anw, slacking is really productive today, as i experimented with some black and white shots as well as some normal macro shots of my little garden (after the rain)! here are the more ‘artistic’ ones..

My first shot – trying out the nearest focal length my cam lens can go.. not much. sigh. but at least the background is blocked out (:

Nothing special about this photo actually… but i was just quite pleased that my cam can pick out all the details on the leaf – veins, stomata (!! ok maybe.. bundles of them :p) and of course, water droplets. The flower looks as if it’s shying away from the sunlight! XD

My first b/w shot! It turned out quite acceptable.. the composition is not bad, but i think the aperture too small/focus at the wrong place. maybe if i had focused at the front part of the leaf it’d be nicer? not sure though..

This is the photo i like best!! I love the composition – the crumply focused part of the leaf, and the part of the leaf in the foreground which curls up, leading the viewer’s eye to the stalk. I think the composition makes the photo look quite artistic ~ hmm though the foreground may be abit distracting cos it’s like one of the brightest part of the photo..

Another photo.. just like to say that it makes me feel peaceful and happy.. cos of the parallel leaf veins.. haha.

Comments anyone?

here’s a brief writeup i did for my art coursework’08:

coursework-write-up

Happened to see a beautiful photo taken by my primary school friend Joewie (who’s currently in RI photog. society). Here it is:

(Taken at Punggol Beach, at sunset)

I was really taken by the vibrancy of the colours, the composition and the beauty of nature captured in this photo! Firstly, the beautiful colours of sunset - yellow, orange, red, black and various shades of blue - are nicely captured here and really add spice to this photo. There is also a stark contrast between the shadows and the sunset colours, making the photo stand out. The photo is also well composed, with the aesthetically-appealing rule of thirds obvious- horizontally, the water and the horizon occupies the lower one-third of the photo; vertically, the sunset and the cloud formations occupy the the rightmost one-third. I especially like the sun’s golden rays and the peculiar but pretty cloud formation blocking the sun. The sunlight highlights the contours of the strange-looking clouds with glowing golden edges.

If you look closely, you can also discern the silhouettes of some tall buildings against the red glow of the setting sun, somehow bringing in the concept of man and his environment. it is interesting to note that the red actually looks really ominous, and can represent the ‘evilness’ of industrialisation as compared to the peaceful beauty of nature. The red background and black silhouettes of the buildings look as if they are foreboding something bad (and reminds me of Mordor :p) 

Just as a suggestion, perhaps the photo can include something/someone (eg. fisherman) in the waters with the background of the reflections of sunset, so that his silhouette can be brought out and that will make the photo look more interesting – as it is not only about nature, but also about the interaction of man with nature. And, perhaps too, the fisherman will bring out the contrast of a simple livelihood dependent on nature, and the notions of bustling city life represented by the tall, ominous-looking factories in the red background. XD This way, the photo will have more meaning and will become more interesting!

Last year, I chose the theme of ‘Me and Middle Earth’ for my coursework, since i was really crazy about LoTR then. (still is now, but not so much XD)

Anw, i decided to illustrate (using colour pencil) the various major places of Middle Earth as described by Tolkien in LoTR, and you can say that my sources of inspiration were totally from Tolkien’s genius – his beautiful lines

Cover page:

The Shire – Bag End:

‘Their houses were usually long, low and comfortable… thatched with dry grass or straw, or roofed with turves, and having walls somewhat bulged… A preference for round windows, and even round doors, was the chief peculiarity of hobbit-architecture.’

I feel that I have captured the simplicity and peacefulness of country life in this drawing. However, one of the things i can improve on is to make the colours more vibrant and add more contrast in the colouring. 

Rivendell:

‘terraces above the loud-flowing Bruinen’
‘the pale, cool sun rose above the far mountains, and shone down, slanting through the thin silver mist; the dew upon the yellow leaves was glittering, and the woven nets of gossamer twinkled on every bush… The snow was white upon their peaks (the great heights in the East)’
‘A wholesome peace lay on the land.’ 

I have improved here, as my colours are more contrasting and more intense. This is one of the works which i am most satisfied with. (:

Moria:

‘dolven halls and endlessly branching stairs and passages’
‘towering pillars… Their stems were smooth and black, but a red glow was darkly mirrored in their sides’
‘At the end of the hall the floor vanished and fell to an unknown depth. The outer door could only be reached by a slender bridge of stone, without kerb or rail, that spanned the chasm with one curving spring of fifty feet.’
‘The Bridge cracked… and the stone upon which it stood crashed into the gulf, while the rest remained, poised, quivering like a tongue of rock thrust out into emptiness.’

For this piece, i coloured on rougher paper, so as to emphasize the rough texture of rock. This piece is the one which underwent the most transformations in composition, and i decided on this finally (: Perhaps i can improve by making it look darker and more gloomy. the red should also be more ominous and fiery-looking.

Lothlorien:

‘mallorn-trees of great height, still arrayed in pale gold. High amid the branches of a toweing tree that stood in the centre of all there gleamed a white flet…’
‘Night came beneath the trees… and the Elves uncovered their silver lamps… In their (the mallorn trees) many-tiered branches and amid their ever-moving leaves countless lights were gleaming, green and gold and silver.’ 

Although this piece is quite a rough colouring, i think the overall drawing has the effect i wanted – magical, peaceful night in Lothlorien. I also like the way i left areas lighter so as to illustrate the moonlight filtering through the mallorn trees.

Falls of Rauros:

‘At the far southern end rose three peaks. The midmost stood somewhat forward from the others and sundered from them, an island in the waters, about which the flowing River flung pale and shimmering arms.’
‘The summit of Tol Brandir was tipped with gold… Its sides sprang sheer out of running water. High up above the tall cliffs were steep slopes upon with trees climbed, mounting one head above the other; and above them again were grey faces of inaccessible rock, crowned by a great spire of stone…’
‘the fume of Rauros rose and shimmered before them, a haze of gold.’

This is also one of my favourite pieces, as it portrays a sense of natural beauty. I added in many colours when colouring the waterfalls, as I wanted to try out the effect of some reflections on the smooth water surface. I am also quite satisfied with Tol Brandir (centre peak), as i have used colours and shading appropriately to create the picture of a rocky outcrop.

Fangorn Forest: 

‘Great trailing beards of lichen hung from them… trees that stood silently about them, rank upon rank, until they faded away into the grey twilight in every direction.’
‘Most of the trees seem to be half covered with ragged dry leaves that have never fallen.’
’suddenly the dark and unknown forest… made itself felt as a great brooding presence’
‘dark and tangled forest’
‘musty and shabby’

I think the forest is not dense and messy and dreary enough – i like only the foremost tree but it is not obvious enough. The tree trunks should be more twisted and i should have added more vines/creepers/fallen logs etc to make the forest look more forlorn and messy.

Edoras:

‘Before them stood the mountains of the South: white-tipped and streaked with black. The grass-lands rolled against the hills that clustered at their feet’
‘a white stream that comes down from the snows.. where it issues from the shadow of the vale a green hill rises upon the east. A dike and mighty wall and thorny fence encircle it. Within there rises the roofs of houses; and in the midst, set upon a green terrace, there stands aloft a great hall of Men. And it seems to my eyes that it is thatched with gold… Golden, too, are the posts of its doors.’
‘in the wet meads and along the grassy borders of the stream grew many willow-trees.’
‘At the foot of the walled hill the way ran under the shadow of many mounds, high and green. Upon their western sides the grass was white as with a drifted snow: small flowers sprang there like countless stars amid the turf… Seven mounds upon the left, and nine upon the right…’

I am most dissatisfied with this colouring, as i think the colours are too light that they look bleached, instead of the ‘golden’ and ‘green’. There is also not enough contrast in this drawing. The composition is also bad, and i should have either left more space for the sky, or have the whole background of mountains with no sky. The foreground looks very empty and boring too.

Minas Tirith, the White City:

‘… the dark mass of Mount Mindolluin, the deep purple shadows of its high glens, and its tall face whitening in the rising day. And upon its out-thrust knee was the Guarded City, with its seven walls of stone so strong and old that it seemed to have been not built but carven by giants out of the bones of the earth.’
‘… the walls passed from looming grey to white, blushing faintly in the dawn; and suddenly the sun climbed over the eastern shadow and sent forth a shaft that smote the face of the City… the Tower of Ecthelion, standing high within the topmost wall, shone out against the sky, glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver, tall and fair and shapely, and its pinnacle glittered as if it were wrought of crystals, and white banners broke and fluttered from the battlements in the morning breeze…’

I find that the foreground, once again, is too empty and boring. Perhaps i should have added in more shading and contrast into the rolling hills in the foreground. The mountains in the background are not dark enough too, as the city should stand out more. only the peaks of the mountains should be lighter and tainted pink, as this is during sunrise. The lower parts should be much darker. I should also add more highlights to the Tower of Ecthelion (spire at the top of the city), or add more contrast to the mountains behind it. However, I am happy that i have dared to experiment with a different colour – one which is ‘not-so-normal’ for shadows of a mountain – purple. Just another thing – i like the little far-away mountain to the left, as it looks nice and impressionistic! haha.

All in all, this whole coursework has been an enriching experience for me! (:

Medium used: Colour pencil

Size of works: A5

Comments please!

Yesterday was the deadline for submission of coursework! it was frantic + hilarious + tiring + fun! hahahaha. Note: here follows a long long post. If bored, please scroll down until you see another bolded line.  Anyway.. somehow i was very sway.. -.- first i realised that the final work (illustration book) was going to be graded – mrs teo told me otherwise some days ago, so i thought when e new printer comes we’ll be printing our book again to be graded for final work. so i was frantically trying to finish my board and print my book at the same time, using the inkjet printer. as my files were all in another desktop, i had to transfer everything over. but i only copied over the final indesign file, so all my links were missing. i thought it’d be alright, since we test-printed a page and it looked good. and then i clicked print all, and started doing my board. after printing like about 10 pages of full-colour on some pearl paper, i realised that the colours, especially green, turned out horrible! weeeell done yingda. and just then mr lim came in – oooops. i know i wasted a lot of paper and ink! ackkk. mr lim was like.. um.. staring daggers. hahaa. and then! yellow ink ran out! and there were no more spare ones!!! sigh. then we decided to just use the laser printer; at least better then nothing. so mr lim loaded glossy paper and we printed all again! AND THEN realised all the pages were pixelated! cos of the missing links -.- i copied the whole folder over again then clicked PRINT! took a long long time. i wondered if the printer has decided to go on strike.. mr lim then realised it was past 7pm and the connection was cut off or sth. ahhhhh. wanted to bang the wall. but nvm, i kept calm! (too calm, said mr lim :p ) he went to fix some stuff, and finally the printer choked back to life. the pages came out pretty! now came the gluing part. mr lim was so nice as to help me glue the pages together! but… my swayness refused to leave me.. so we realised that 2 of the pages were stuck slanted, so when they were scored the centre of the book wasnt aligned! and mr lim resignedly told me to print again – the whole booklet, cos that printing option didnt allow single pages – and i had to go through everything again. i happily took back all the reprinted pages, and e searched for the 2 pages we needed. just so sway again – of all pages, one of the 2 we needed was the ONLY one printed slanted! WTH. >< >< >< we couldnt possibly print again, so mr lim had to painstakingly aligned the 2 pages by putting them against the light.. and the gluing was even more painstaking. finally. all the pages done. phew. i went to search for the book binding stapler, and realised that it wasnt working!!! of all days! ahh. nevertheless, i tried my luck, with mrs teo helping, and the staples went through! but crooked. eek. i tried a few more times, and even mr lim tried, but to no avail. i suggested the primitive eraser method, but the normal stapler was too weak to penetrate thru all my pages. then mr lim had this crazy idea to get 2 staples out and drill 4 holes through the book and fit the staples in. XD desperate circumstances call for desperate measures ya? haha. he went to get his ‘Singapore’s smallest drill’, but realised that it is supposed to be electric-powered. So we carefully made our way down to the 1st floor art room, since the stairway was already pitch dark. (who’s afraid of the dark? XD) haha. after ages, (where the drill just refused to work smoothly) mr lim remembered that he had a stapler gun!! sigh. after all that effort. i was really relieved, cos i have one at home too, and i know how it works and that it WILL work. so in the end, we used the very primitive but reliable method of using an eraser to help staple the book. and this whole affair took me like more than 1 hour, with my poor parents waiting for me outside the school in the dark >< and i ended up being the last to finish (though i was one of the first to start) sighhhh.

End of long long story (I know i’m long-winded. Dont have to tell me that. XD)

ok, so now i shall post the pages (excluding text) of my book.. which took me much time, effort and sweat..

Cover page

Pg 1 & 2

Twigs and leaves
Ferns and trees
In the dense mass of the Sumatran Jungle
Little Ah Meng was born wild and free.

Pg 3 & 4

Twigs and trees
Vines and berries
In the dense mass of the Sumatran Jungle
Ah Meng frolicked, merry and carefree.

But meanwhile,
a plot was hatching…

A crack, a rustle
A hushed rattle
The fragrance of bananas muffled
The sinister click, click, click.

Pg 5 & 6

 “Look Mama! The bananas look delicious!”

Mama skidded to a halt
The barrel looked ready to assault
Horror dawned…

Pg 7 & 8

With one swift bound
Mama threw Ah meng behind
Eyes glaring,
Nostrils flaring.
Face to face with
the rifle aiming.

Pg 9 & 10

 CLICK.
WHISH.
SPLAT.
THUD.

Pg 11 & 12

 Horrified, petrified
But wails and cries
Could not revive Mama

Meanwhile,
Stealth and peril
came from behind…

Pg 13 & 14

 Pitch blackness
As dark as night
Dark as the nightmares that
gave Ah Meng a great fright.

Pg 15, 16

 Bump bump bump
A tiny square of light
That offers no delight
Bump bump bump

Pg 17, 18

 Ah Meng awoke
To faces all around.
Mocking eyes, leering mouths
And flashes of light, blindingly bright.

Pg 19 & 20

 Then into a cage she was thrown,
For as long as she had ever known.

No vines or leaves
No trees or berries
Ah Meng was all alone
No longer wild and free.

Yupps! haha. just in case it’s not noticed, i’ve added in watermarks for all of them! heeehee.

Size of original paintings: A4

Comments please!