A Peek into the Past...

Well... my presentation for Asian Art History is coming up soon on thursday, and there are still soem stuff I wanted to clarify, one of it was the term 'Austronesian'. Seems like some civilisation thing to me, and immediately got the wikipedia article for it. Somehow, the term 'Singapore' caught my eye there, haha. Just curious, I clicked on it, hoping to see something about my home country's past. Well... not much, but another link to the early history of Singapore, and taa daa~ Some info. Just some, not very in depth, but still some stuff, some things that I never really thought about. (Link link!)

Seems like the earliest records from the Chinese called Singapore 蒲罗中 (Pulau Ujong, which meant 'the island at the end') and in the 14th Century, it became Temasek under the Srivijayan rule (talke about the AAH module... really forces one to look at the ancient stuff.) Then the story of Sang Nila Utama.... Unsure about that, but after the previous week's AAH presentation on the Bataks and the Singha motif, it makes me wonder what really is a lion to the people with Sang Nila Utama and was the 'lion' seen a tiger... The Batak Singha motif doesn't look like a lion at all, more of some mystical creature made of different parts of animals.... Maybe some animal, extinct by now, was what they saw? Why the hell am I speculating all these when I have a presentation to prepare...... T_T

Distracted. But it just got me interested. Maybe there are archeological treasures buried in Singapore telling of her important history (man, the Chinese have such a record in the 3rd Century, surely something is here that made them even bothered to write it down?) but seeing how little space we have in this country and how much was urbanized, doubt it's even practical to go dig for them.

Transience

Aye!! Done!!!! T_T T_T T_T.... Slaved over it for sometime. Getting stuck most of the time starting from 2 minutes onwards.. But glad that it's done!!!! And I used the entire song!!!!!!! T_T T_T T_T....

Whew.... Okie, we were told to choose a song and do out an mtv on it. I liked this song and having thought about doing an animation on it before, it was my first choice. However... it was five minutes long. Very long for a tight schedule... but I just wanna do it, for the song. Although I was happy about the entire story, the timing is just haywire... Not gonna look into that now, since nailing the storyboard was my main motivation. Time to start on my next assignment.

Plan for compositing assignment: Nailed.



Time to plan for presentation...

Puppet-ed

Finally done with my stop motion puppet. I was rushing it out cos I need it for my compositing assignment, which is gonna be due on April 8th.... along with the animation essay (that I had yet to start working on...) >_< Kind of satisfied with the final result, although it was not the initial design I planned for.



Aye, wires with foam, covered in stocking.

The stocking idea was something I observed from a doll a friend gave me. It was a handmade doll, and the body of the doll was cotton covered with some thin, white stretchy fabric that resembled stocking. Since I wanted a thin and slender body, and the foam was making the puppet look fat, I got a pair of stockings from the friendly neighbourhood shop and experimented with it.



Prof Eileen then showed the class some sculptor who uses stockings to create real-life looking sculptures.It was totally real-like... and you don't see the ends of the fabric. Wonder how she did that...



Anyways, added the hair and gave her some hairstyle... I'm a bad hairstylist, haha. I forgot to take the pictures for the process in between this and the result, cos was chionging late into the night. Sewed some cloth for her pants, glued whatever that need not be sewed.... how convenient, hahahaha~ UHU glue rules....



Front. Added some beads for jewellry.



Back. Added some beads for her hair, an idea from Jack Sparrow design (since I'm doing a mystic-gypsy.... but she ends up looking like some dancer-gypsy...)



The eyelids- eyeshadow idea was suggested by Eileen. She commented that the puppet had some sensual look to her, and the beady eyes were kind of not fitting well to the entire image. She suggested some eyeshadow there, similar to those chinese maiden's eyes you see on TV... Had some time figuring how to do that, and thankfully, there were some slits around the eye socket that allows me to stuff some paper into. Aye, UHU glue to the rescue.



Dancing dancing....



Somehow, I had this love-hate relationship for the hair. Used a new bunch of DMC thread for that and it just gets tangled up easily. It has this messed up look occasionally, but it is able to hold still in certain positions.



Had a lot of fun playing with it, but I fear the armature breaking. The foam is already starting to crack.... >_<





One down.... Many to go!!!!!! Focus focus!!!

The Bald Birdie

Trying to make myself draw as frequent as possible, even if it's all crappy... Well, this is a bird... some mynah I saw while on my way to the 179 bus stand. This bird was walking straight ahead, cross my path, unafraid. It's bald head kind of made me stop to take a look at it. Heard that's what the strong birds who get into fights and wins would end up having, a bald head. There was one which used to fly into my kitchen window and made some noise years back, but never saw it again anymore, guess it probably passed on. This one is a bit different. It still has some black feathers on it's head, just traces of it.

I thought it was the most significant thing I witnessed today (other than hearing a bunch of secondary school kids debating about the definitions of aethist and free-thinker). It is a victor of it's own kind, parading proudly in front of a line of people waiting for a bus. Normally, these birds would just hop by quickly or fly away when someone approaches, this one (I dunno what other words fit it) parade past and in between people, stopped and chirped loudly in front. Probably it's trying to taunt? Or maybe it's trying to say 'hey I came and conquered! What about you little smarties??!!' No matter what it was trying to say, it was pretty brave.

2 Movies in a Week

Aye. Good movies seems to be screening on busy days... Not say good, but movies that i wanted to watch. The first one was on Friday. It was a last minute thing and I promised to bring my bro to the cinema for it. Yeap, Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva. The kid was very engrossed in the game, and loved to watch the animation whenever it was screened at a particular point of the games. I thought he would like to watch a whole movie of it, but warned that it was dubbed in Japanese and he must rely on the subtitles to understand what was spoken. He didn't like that idea at first, but after showing him the trailer, his eyes kind of lit up and decided to go along. Haha, took him about 10 minutes to get ready, cos we were rushing for the morning show. (yea, planned for homework after that, but as usual....)

It was the kid's first movie trip and he was a bit noisy at first. Yea, the enthusiasm of seeing your favourite characters on a big screen and naming each and every one that appear. Thankfully, there aren't many people there (less than 10 including us). I was glad he enjoyed it, though plot wise, it was pretty clear who was the 'behind-it-all'. Animation was pretty smooth and neat. I've always loved the stylistic design of Professor Layton games, and the nostalgic color palette. Somehow, Layton's and Luke's hats were kinda glued to their heads. Even in the sword fight, Layton still remembers to keep his hat intact. Haiz.

Second movie... Alice in Wonderland. Went with Alton this time round for that, knowing he might be interested in the show after his recent revisions on the story again. I never really finished reading the story before, it was pretty haywire for me when I first read it at a young age. Couldn't comprehend it and after a couple of pages, my mind shut down... It's kind of a forgotten story for me, and after reading a review about the show from 'F***' (oh, it's a magazine created by the ones who made the 'FIRST' magazine), I decided to take a look at it. A whole new story with mad people eh... Tim Burton... Since I'm doing something depressing these days, might as well give it a go.

Aye... it wasn't a movie that will make one go wow immediately, but one that would leave you with some thoughts about madness, the 'in-between' and existence. Lots of symbolism going on, Alton revealed about the subtleties in thhe movie. The personifications of wisdom and wonder following Alice around in her real world. Hmm... wasn't the blue caterpillar there in the first place? Somehow, the Mad Hatter reminded me of myself getting lost in what I'm currently doing and forgetting the real agendas... haha. Even as I type these words, I haven't done much work.



Quick sketch on the photoshop. Doing storyboards these days made me realise how little about composition I know. Inspired by the movie Alice in Wonderland!

Counting down to the last...

About 40 days more to go and that signals the end of the semester... Right now, feeling sian. Not that I have nothing to do, just frustrated at what has to be done and not having the idea to move on. Assignments are piling, and I guess that's the main reason for my lethargy these days. It's starting to make me feel sensitive to the slightest problem that I come across, even though they are indeed minor problems. Guess that's how over-sensitivity begins?

Went back to NYP again to look at the graduating batch's works. I was quite annoyed that the timing stated on the website and the actual timing was a total difference. But anyways, my brain wasn't functioning enough to think straight about the near impossible starting time of 7.30am. How stupid of me yea... Haiz. As always, just had that 'what am I doing?' thought whenever I go back to see the graduates exhibition. Meeting with the couple of '07 DMDers made me feel very detached from the industry, perhaps even socialising. Even more sensitive in this period of time... Not good. Good too probably, that I'm starting to be aware of that.



Trying to channel my stress to paintings as usual, but this time, I didn't finish the painting in one go. Due to the wet weather, the watercolors took a longer time to dry, so I end up waiting for quite a few hours for that. In the meantime, I felt calmer to face the storyboards, although it wasn't for long that I start drifting again. I wonder where will these lead me... Trying to believe what Professor Heitor said about people going with what they enjoy and eventually finding a place for themselves with what they like. Maybe he felt the same confusion when he was young too, especially what he loves to do was watching movies. I never really thought that habit can lead one to the path of Phd and teaching animation history. Anything goes... a preference?

Aye, I went too far again. Homework is the problem... now back to it.

The New Gen of Priests....

Just something that my aunt sent me and I thought was cute... Still can't believe a priest did it. -_- Hmmm.... I wonder if Singapore is less strict on the religion issue, would these have surfaced too? Quirky ideas though, still can't believe it. A priest is doing this...... Nice by the way.

Fish!

Just a random doodle of fishes and a boy... Wanted to play with colors, maybe just wanted to avoid work somehow. Met up with Shengyi finally to discuss out stop motion idea. The storyboarding process.... is always difficult... Hopefully we're not choking ourselves to death there.

Forget

Trying my hand on something that looks more depressing then the usual. Guess every semester, I'll be doing at least one... haha. Anyways, it has been a pretty queer day... Came back home seeing my bro playing the computer as usual. I asked him how long has he been playing, and he told me for a while. Knowing that everyone will want to have some form of relaxation after work, yea, I just let him be. There wasn't anyone else at home, and when Mum and Ting got back from their lunch, I was informed that the kid has been playing since morning 11am. It was around 4pm when I returned. Yea, I got angry. Very very angry. Haven't brought out the cane for quite sometime and demanded that he get his ass out of the chair immediately. I hate it that he didn't tell the truth and roared at him... Kind of... Not that I never shouted at him, just that this time was pretty different. My voice was deeper, hand was shaking with fury, but never hit him in the end. I didn't like that. Ting told me later that I looked like a mad woman, roaring pretty loudly.... Wonder if it had to do with the stress load and PMS.... -_-...

After that, I was pretty much back to the 'I'm shagged' mode. The boy wept while on the phonecall with his friend. I wondered if I went too far... Sat down, wanting to draw some stuff, something that suits my mood... And did that. It was an idea I had while brainstorming on the MTV storyboarding project, about forgetting memories. Wanted to bring out the photos of 'blank faced' people together with the girl, but guess the attention went all to the latter. Tried to keep to a three color palette, in line with the Watercolorists Club's 3rd project. While doing this, a funeral was just being held for the first day opposite the study room window. Just beside the funeral along the pathway, someone just jumped off the building and landed face flat. The police had just left a couple of minutes ago... wonder if it has been a depressing day....

Astro Illustrated

Yes, I went for astronomy lecture today. It's been a few weeks since my attendance... And being the first lecture after the
hols, it has the highest tendency of being the Quiz-Lecture. They love to do that, quizing people after the hols. However, it didn't happen. So I stayed there, listening.... or maybe I was drifting. I wasn't listening at all. I took out my sketchbook, wanting to draw. However, it was not the usual casual drawing I wanna do, I was aiming to start the collaborated doodle practice again, this time, with Beryl who happens to be sitting beside me and falling asleep.(Psst.. I'm not alone, she haven't been attending for the past one month, and also thought there might be a surprise quiz).

So.... I initiated the game... Drew a star, and turned to her with sparkling eyes... hahahhaha~ "Wanna add on???" She gave me a broad smile, and took over.


It was a warm up at first, I guess. She added the head, and I had the idea of a basin. Think that kind of signalled the quick end.



Then she started a new one, with a cute little girl who seemed to be reaching out for something. I added that red fella holding onto her ankle, and she brought the picture to a different context. They became a hairpin for the weeping lady. Lol, took me a while to add the hand in there, plus some feathery-like bg. She drew some random James Jean inspired portrait with the red pen. Somehow, everthing got a bit creepy looking when I randomly added those eyes and hands (inspired by FMA yea~). She kind of laughed and added some lines, and an eye, using the silouette as the profile of a random face. I went with her idea but took the silouette to another direction, some geisha-like woman. She took the remaining white space and drew a hand, kind of creepy.... Haha, but the both of us agreed that it was a nice one, far better than the first.


So the next one started with me again, some bald headed, graffiti like image, a totally different style. Somehow, I think she had an idea what to add to it while I was drawing, but the last few strokes (to show some blood) probably changed it when I saw her making a 'what the?' face. She added some fish to it, and I did a Patapon-ish (plus one raving rabbid) chase. Passed back to her, and she added a monk on a boat. It looks cute~ While I penciled my next drawing, the lecturer had finished his talk... It was a disappointment though... it was starting to get fun and it had to end there.... Anyways, maybe that was enough.

Speaking of which... My youngest sister came back with a really interesting consent form from her school. It revealed that she had been selected to be trained as part of her school's badminton team and it wasn't relaly a consent form. It was a notification, more than a consent form, telling my parents to attend a talk with the coach and teachers. Mum was shocked. She laughed while she spoke, almost like the parts in hero movies when the bad fella had lost and is laughing while he speak his last words kind. Should have videoed it up. THis morning, she was talkign about how bad Ann's spelling had been, not just getting 3 straight zeros for the english one, but 5 straight re-spelling for the chinese too. Guess the world is fair. I think.

Behind the Mask

The stop motion video done with the collaborated effort of Yin Huey and Eunice. It was a messy period of time, the class clashing with the Chinese New Year holidays and stuff. Anyways, yea! Managed to get it done in one day, but we do learned a lesson... never try doing stop motion films in one day... the time rush is reflected in the work...

Hols are going soon...

Yeap, this is the last of the term break, and it's gonna be the second half of the semester... So fast. Wanted to do a random doodle with a repeated icon, but I don't see it going anywhere other than decorative... so added a little sick patient there. Quite changed the entire meaning of it.

Anyways, met up with Ada a few days ago. The science centre trip was cancelled to a regular chat session at the airport. Haha... yea, I just want to find a place to catch up with her, since it was a few months from the day we last met. I wanted lunch, and she was in favour of Popeyes', at the Flyer. I thought the Flyer isn't a nice place to hang out, so we went to the airport. She haven't been there for a while, and even if she did, she never really wandered around the area.

Well... pretty much the same. She told me about her temporary job at Simei, the inspiration she got from reading the books she was supposed to sell, and how friendly the boss was, who asked her to work there again when the oppurtunity comes. She's still drawing (even at the mrt while waiting for my arrival), something I was relieved to know, and this time, her style of drawing quite inspired me to pick up my pens again (Must have been the flat style I'm looking into now...). Somehow, a part of me still wondered if this might lead to anywhere. I'm sure she asked herself that question too... survival while doing what you like... but if I were in her shoes, yea, I think I'll stay at home and take up a home based or temp job. As for the handphone issue... I brought along my old handphone with charger and offered to lend her. She thanked me and declined. Her old childhood friend offered hers too, and she didn't use it even though it's lying in her house. She explained that handphones are a very personal thing, and using others' handphones are very much an intrusion of their privacy to her. True in a sense, impractical in sense, but very Ada, haha, someone more stubborn than me. Hope to catch up again with her, it's always a pleasure to chat with her.

Back at home.... haiz. So far, I managed to finish only two subjects worth of homework out of the many that I wrote down on my pending list. Shucks nia...

(Personal religious blatter ahead... stop reading if you dun like that issue, yea.)
Went to church yesterday at St Mary's and it was quite a shock... I didn't know it would be so crowded that even the back of the altar was open for the congregation to sit. Almost like a coliseum setting, just that my view is blocked by walls and people. The sermon was interesting, the parable of the fig tree seen in a different light. I didn't enjoy the sermons at St Joseph these days, didn't get anything much from them, and Xiu intro me to St Mary's again, telling me about a few of the sermons she heard the time she was still in sg. The interpretations were interesting, looking at Jesus not as a magician, but one who invoked the magic in all. An issue of empowering lives more than overpowering.

Recently, Aunty Peck showed me an email sent out by her friend regarding the misleading concepts of Conversations with God. It was a freaky book of revealations, one that quite changed certain perceptions of God in me, I must admit. Being a christian since young and following everything as I was told by the church and all, I didn't think much about them other than what is said, although certain times, contradictory ideas of love and fear in the bible just aroused questions in my mind. I came to read that book just around confirmation period, I think (or was it after?). I took the sacrament seriously, even in the questionaire of 'why do u want to be confirmed' appeared to be simple question that could be answered with random crap. I remembered sitting there thinking hard, while others had skipped by to the interview room. I was stoning away for an answer and my aunt throwing in suggestions as she looked at my dilemma. Then the inspirational thought of it being my choice all the while. It was a very real thought, an answer that just want to leap out of myself. Till this day I wonder why would say that... I didn't settle for a confirmation name either, one name is enough, 'Celestine' is enough. (androgynous name by the way, I still identify with my chinese one, though it is also androgynous when spoken of).

Somehow, I stopped going to church after that. I would cry during mass times, I have no idea why. That got my aunts worrying, depression wasn't new to the family. I was confused with the church's ideas and what I feel. Reflecting upon the new ideas that have been buried away each time they arise during my christianity life till then had been disturbing. Or maybe I was brainwashed pretty badly. I brought these perspectives to my poly days, and realised they were one of the happiest times of my life. It felt free, and the interactions with the minds of artists had created new ideas, some which worked and stayed with me. I see gifts instead of devil's making. Or possibly that DMD is one of the happiest places back then despite the on going commotion of goats creating a slaughterhouse.

5 or 6 years since my regular seating in church began again in 2010... God became a personal God, more than the guy up there who merely sits on the throne. No regrets reading the CWG book. How I would even pick it up in the non-fiction area amazes me, must have been my love for the mystery of Time. (I didn't like reading books other than comics, haha.) And the email warning my aunt showed me became a nice check, checking if I am beginning to be grasping too tightly onto this concept. Lol... the Buddhist Psychology book was great at explaining that. Strangely, it brought me out of church, but closer to God. I wonder if one would call me an atheist or free-thinker or what not category that the human mind is always seeking to classify and relate. I would go to church, but wish to burn a joss stick or two for my mum next time in the future. Hopefully no screams of blasphemy from anywhere.

Come to think of it, maybe confirmation was the end of my christian life and a start of a new one. Wonder where does it lead to... heaven? Abyss? Or really nowhere... However I do feel an assurance, that no matter where I end up, God is around tugging at me, can't miss that fella. Maybe that's faith, or probably just my crazy thinking, haha.

Day's Eye

I know I have a lot to do before the term starts again... but I just wanna paint a bit more... Maybe these days, I'm just too stuck with the digital painting... Recently took up a job to help the year 4s background painting. I agreed, but somehow, I realised later that there's a lot of research on my part too... That sucks, cos I thought I wouldn't need to be concerned with the layout other than just painting what's there... haiz.

The digital painting kind of got me doing traditional as a stress relief I guess... This took much more time than I thought. Guess the style is still new that's why. Daisies! Her look reminds me of some Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicle CD cover art I saw sometime back. Ah well, I wasn't concern with the character design, since all I wanted was something to paint. Trying to go for the simple look these days... haha. When it comes to self expression... I realise manga isn't really what I'll do... Or maybe I'm just a bit tired of trying to get everything right.

In the State of Suffering...

The second stop motion project I did with Rui Fan... Currently facing a similar situation with homework, just that i dun have exams coming. Oh boy...

Too much acting, but we had fun animating the mannikin then. Posting the clown stopmo soon.

Quick Sketch

Lucy and Natsu from Fairytail, in a somewhat cartoonish style. Trying to get that flat look down, but the 3D-ness remains. Yeap, trying to get into the drawing mode again.

1st of March le... one more month and I'll go 'ahhhh' with Asian Art History presentation... Things are coming in more... hopefully the rest of the semester would be smooth sailing...