Professional Insanity

Henshin

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:02:40 GMT

It is really so weird finding some character designs I did over a year ago and thinking "I don't really draw like that anymore". Heck, I look at my first comic Murphy's Law and think "I don't draw/ink/tone" like that any more. I've been evolving and improving my craft over the past year or two to a point where I can see a big difference in the Then and Now. Even if it's not as apparent to the outsider, on the inside I know the artist I am is different from the artist I was...

Sometimes you look back and trace your change in direction to a gradual process. This, I can trace that my progress to that one catalyst encounter that set me on the path I'm on today, and I can say I don't regret pushing myself out of my comfort zone one bit.

/Weird rambling.

What am I up to

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:18:21 GMT

It's not often that I do traditional media stuff, so here's a pretty picture of the table. At last I TOO can feel like a proper arteeeeeste, with palettes, brushes, pens and colours strewn about.

Part 2 of this jobbie is already done. :) It's a nice break from staring at the monitor all day...

Weddings and Birthdays: Pic spam!

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:48:02 GMT

Past few weekends have been a nonstop whirl of travelling.

Last weekend, fuuringo , wyldflowa and myself were invited to Sally's wedding, so we went a-trundling up to Nottingham for the joyous occasion. Was rather rubbish at taking photos, but here are some of the lovely low-key wedding.

The amazing tea sets and cakes(which I was told belonged to Sally, who is a teaparty fanatic it seems.)

I had the sparkliest cupcake I'd ever seen, with purple cream and glitter. The lavendar flavour wasn't my cup of tea, but isn't it pretty???

Sally being the crafty goddess, made all of the decorations by hand. From the origami swans to the very impressive paper flower arrangements in the vases. Aren't they cool? Has a very minimal-modern chic feel to it...

Guests were given a crossword puzzle (is that what its called?) to solve, with staples like "love, family, friends, hugs etc", and super cute geeky things like "the internet, open source, tea, robots..." which made me laugh. :D Here's wyldflowa pulling a face at having to solve it...

We found these adorable little meringue puffs being served, so wyldflowa and I, being the hooligans we are, had to draw faces on them.

IT was a lovely lovely event that I was very honoured to be able to attend, had to blink hard and fast to not get teary when Sally and her new husband were exchanging vows. Super romantic! I wish them a good and happy life together!

=============================
NANA & FAYE'S BIRTHDAY JOLLIES

... or so the event was called.

We had a small small joint birthday party, fuuringo and myself, with some good friends in London. The Covent Garden Christmas market was a bit fail, as I had imagined it was going to be like those German Xmas markets with jolly red and gold stands selling candy apples and bratwurst everywhere, but no.... it was just the regular old Covent Garden market with pretty lights all round. Either that or we were spectacularly bad at finding the REAL Christmas market.

What we did do is chill at this gorgeous "steampunk pub" (as John calls it), where there was a lot of brass, brass, and more bolty-brassy-pipey goodness in the decor. At which point Fern pointed out that Susan (who was seated between Fehed & John) was in a "manwich". XD I have picture of said manwich, but will refrain from posting. It is made of LOL, and will get poor John into trouble.

Chloe trying on my flower clip, with her gorgeous new fiery red hair. Which is awesome btw.

Went to Sushi Hiroba after for the real party, where I nommed myself silly on awesome sushi. LOVE. We got really thoughtful presents from everyone, THANK YOU! But it was just awesome to hang out and eat good food in good company. Awesome is a word I abuse too often.

On the way home, Fern & Chloe attempt to recreate the (wo)manwich with a sputtering Nana. Isn't she just cute?

Today I feel tired and ill, but its been a really good run for the past few weeks. Must get back to work now! ^____^

Vector in Pun major.

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:08:22 GMT

I like inserting humour into my art whenever I can.... not often does the chance come around. I think that it's incredibly uplifting to see, when you least expect it, little surprising elements of whimsical silliness amongst the seriousness of everyday life.

.... even if it is quite a bad pun. XD

What's my favourite colour?

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:00:33 GMT

Let me rot your brain. Has a very Eastern European feel that oddly enough, reminds me of Borat. O_o

Warning: Do not blame me if this sticks in your head all day....

Morning warm up: Skin study

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:51:55 GMT

Haven't done any painting in awhile. BAAAD!

Was inspired to do a skin colour study based off one of my favourite DA artists who has the most amazing sense of light and colour. Everytime I do one of these it always surprises me how much I assume about colour. For example, upon first glance I assumed there was muted green tones in the skin where the light doesn't hit, but nope. Is just oranges, beiges, reds, plums and pinks.

The amazing original here, by Janaschi & Algenpfleger.

Though Bubble 2009

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:09:49 GMT

Last weekend was my first time at Thought Bubble 2009 in Leeds, and I went up there with fuuringo to do some time behind the SelfMadeHero table for our books Merchant of Venice + 12th Night!

Here's us in our kuro + shiro loli outfits, lovingly sold to us by loli dealer sonia_leong .

Guess what we found at one of the tables? koalapuff 's Momiji goodies! (pictured here with Nana making a weird face)

We spent time (all day) behind the SMH table signing our books, thanks to all the lovely people who stopped by to pick them up! ^___^ Also, we were provided with giant A1 pads to sketch on, and here are our Merchant of Venice + 12th Night crossovers below!

Shylock + Antonio (Merchant) being watched by Aguecheek + Belch (12 N)

Malvolio (12N) propositioning Portia (Merchant)

Here's me camwhoring in my loli dress, which Nana so cheekily described as "I was taking photos of Faye in the shower last night!" XD It is true that that is the hotel bathroom, which was LOVELY. One of the best hotel bathrooms I've been to so far with good lighting and so much space!

I was much too tired by evening to actually function at the afterparty, so after a cocktail and head pounding from the loud music, unfortunately I had to retire at 10pm like a good little girl. Maybe next year!

The City Inn Leeds hotel is hands down the nicest hotel I've been to, with the most amazing value for money. We were all spuffing about how lovely the decor was, and it was a steal for the price. Would recommend this hotel to anyone I know! I could be boring and post up room shots, but I think I'll let the complimentary English breakfast sum up how awesome it was.

After checking out von_pud , emmav , fuuringo and myself went to town to do Emma's workshop, and here they are trying out an alternative career path in front of the gorgeous Central Library and cathedral.

High fashion models, Yea or nay? XD

All in all was fun, need more sleep/ less early trains next year, thumbs up to Leeds Thought Bubble Festival and all the good work put in by the organisers and staff. ^___^

Makeup matching etiquette

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:33:19 GMT

Is it bad taste to match an all black dress + hosiery + boots with peachy taupe smoky eye (warm neutrals) and stupidly bling silver glitter (think discoball) nail polish?
/ makeup query
=========================
M.A.C. Liquidlast Eyeliner

Thinking of chucking my MAC Liquidlast Eyeliner. Annoys me that this supposed "non budge non smudge super clubbing eyeliner" still smudges, is tough to remove, has the consistency of tar and is doing one hell of a number on my poor eyeliner brush. ;__; It's practically new! My inner Asian housewife cringes at the thought of just chucking it but it's so shit that I wouldn't want to wish it on anyone else.

Am contemplating whether I should get that Estee Lauder eyeliner that koalapuff swears by in time for this week's workshop. >_< I can afford it, especially if it's going to be a holygrail item....... but still. Spendy Faye is spendy.

=========================

I hate to say it, but I think my skin loves the workouts I've been doing. Been a good girl and doing my hamster routine every morning, and my skin is practically glowing. As much as I hate strenuous physical activity, I may have to keep this up just for the facial benefits alone. >_<

Sonia is a dealer

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:18:14 GMT

She gets you hooked on the Loli drug ... XD

Today was a super fun day of girlie insanity at sonia_leong 's, full of cake, non stop yapping and trying on her wardrobe of corsets and BURANDO loli things.

Sadly /shamefully /spendthriftly, after many years of never touching the loli/EGL/loligoth fashion scene, today I've made my first loli-related purchase from Sonia in the form of a gorgeous black Innocent World dress that fortunately does not make me look like an oversized meringue. Housemates fuuringo and wyldflowa were fellow victims of this spending/ fashion spree. Look forward to seeing me and fuuringo making our loli-esque debut at Leeds Thought Bubble! :D

Now after all that nonstop chattering about petticoats, corsets, hemlines, sashes, wa-loli, stockings, parasols and shoes......... I am very tired. It's tough being a woman. XD

Wonderfail WIP

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:52:23 GMT

This is what happens when you don't plan your drawings in advance....

Deciding to add in some sort of background halfway through..... means painting around the character.

Mishap of the day

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:05:04 GMT

1 loosely screwed on lotion bottle cap + butter fingers = what looks like a bukakke party all over my room + 1 very well moisturised carpet.

¬___¬;;;;

Relax relax

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:57:54 GMT

What started as a quick idea for a cute 60's inspired singer turned into something much more complex....

Spent the past hour or so noodling at this to relax from staring at vectors all day, still incomplete.

I've only just realised I don't know how to paint/ depict a girl of oriental descent. O_o Its hard!

For all you grumpy folks out there...

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:42:05 GMT

Gladys Knight - The way we were.

Beautiful song, and coincidentally, has the same title as my RSOM winning comic entry. ^____^

Another fishing Expo recap???

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:13:07 GMT

London Expo was super fun this time, with me being awake and functioning as opposed to my May Expo zombie self. Tried cosplaying as Faith Connors from Mirror's Edge for the first time, and it was really cool walking around as not-myself. Plus getting people who recognised and like my costume was awesome. ^_______^ (pictured above: fuuringo , myself, koalapuff & pinkapplejam )

This Expo both my new books came out, so thank you to everyone out there who bought a copy of The Merchant of Venice & Talking to Strangers (also featuring Nana Li, Wing Y. Man, Chloe Citrine & Sonia Leong). I had a lot of fun drawing them, and I hope you enjoy them!

Some very surreal "oh-my-god-is-this-happening-to-me???" moments at Expo include:

sitting behind the Signing table with fuuringo signing copies of our books like celebrities XD
having people asking for my photo/ complimenting me on a Faith cosplay well done.
being on a panel with bigger fish like Ben Templesmith, Jamie McKelvie + Kieron Gillen, Antony Johnston, Declan Shalvey, Al Ewing, Dan Boultwood (who were a very nice and fun bunch).

Goes without saying that hats must be taken off for Pud & emmav for working their asses off making sure the Comic Village went along like a well oiled machine of ~~destruction~~ awesome.

I really enjoyed Expo this round, and having a good time being with Fehed and all my Sweatdrop buddies (both during con hours and drunken-post-con mingling) just made it GREAT!

ps: Fehed commented that the photo above looks like I'm about to get punched by fuuringo , poked in the eye by koalapuff , and happyslapped by pinkapplejam . Photo with SFX below. XD

Foundation Miracle

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:50:48 GMT

Warning: Vain Makeup ramblings below.

Clinique Repairwear Anti Ageing Foundation SPF15
Went to Clinique counter to get my skin matched for their Repairwear Foundation that many rave about. The MA put in on along with some blush and gloss, let me look in the mirror................... and oh good gracious me, as wyldflowa would say: "Jesus wept."

It was a horrific cakey mess that made me instantly 10 years older. Even with the pore-minimising whatnot the MA put on me, it still emphasised whatever pores,fine lines & dry patches I had, and I look like I'd applied beige cement on with a trowel. I've seen it look awesome on sonia_leong , so obviously this is a case of it just not being for me. The Repairwear gets a thumb down from me. :(

Guerlain Parure Extreme: Luminous Extreme Wear Foundation SPF25
Later at koalapuff 's, we were swapping notes on foundation and after hearing about the cakey mess of doom, she excitedly insisted on swabbing my now-cleaned face with her foundation. Wasn't expecting anything awesome (since IMO all foundation is foundation, no matter how expensive/branded it is).................

HOLY COW I may have just found my perfect foundation. ME! Miss-I-hate-feeling-gunk-on-my-face Vainpot. So far first impression is really really good. This is the first ever foundation that I actually like the look of on my face. If it looks this good on my bare face, I can't imagine how awesome it would be on a properly moisturised and primed one. Plus, it beats the Clinique one on SPF powaaahhh!!!

Thankfully koalapuff had a spare half-finished bottle lying around that she gave to me, so I'm spared the shelling out of many monies for this baby. Can't wait to put it to the test of all-day-wear! Update of complete review to come in the future, fingers crossed that I've found my HG. ^o^

Dinner is made of LOVE.

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:04:07 GMT

Pelmeni & Shee (or my faux poor-man shee) is SUCCESS! Many thanks to toothycat for introducing me to this amazing Russian work of art. ^______________^

I wanted so badly to take photos (to present to Sensei Mr toothycat for approval) but unfortunately fehed 's camera is on loan to his sister, and we were a little busy stuffing our faces with meat dumplings & vegetable broth topped with creme fraiche. OM NOM NOM NOM NOM....

Now that hunger + cooking mania has been appeased, the Pelmeni & Shee monster can go back so sleep so I can work in peace....

Best part is? I get to have it again tomorrow!!! ^o^

Today's culinary adventure

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 17:09:57 GMT

Tonight, I am gonna attempt to replicate something that resembles Mr. toothycat 's amazing Russian dish of pelmeni & shee (spelling approximated)......... the poor man's version. XD

Why poor man? Taking out the pork because fehed will complain if I don't & replacing the proper meat joint broth with a stock + bouillon imitation. Didn't have money for a joint, and stupid Tesco didn't have any anyway. >_<

:D Now, must work!

Our House!

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 08:21:10 GMT

Has been thoroughly warmed. XD

BBQ was moderately successful I think, where food we made wasn't too bad/burnt. Weather cooperated by being lovely, and we were all spread out higgledy piggledy on our huge backyard.

Was feeling a bit bummed that fehed couldn't come. At some point later in the evening I realised I should fulfill my lifelong curiosity to get utterly utterly shitfaced, so proceeded to snarf down a bottle of champagne with some help from Mr toothycat . Suffice to say I now finally know what it's like to get properly drunk. :D

I remember at some point towards the end, fehed showed up to surprise me, and by then I was faaaaaaaaaar too gone on the champagne to be surprised. I spent rest of the evening being very certain that he was a figment of my wishful drunken imagination. BLIMEY imagine my surprise to wake up to find him here! ^o^

As fun as it was, I don't think I want to get drunk drunk again. Curiosity has been fulfilled. Slept like the dead, and woke up at 6am. Sadly I don't have much of a hangover. It's probably a good thing, but I will never know what it feels like to have one. At best I could say that my head feels a little tender/dizzy.

Thanks to all the pals who came and made it fun! :D We hope you had fun too!

Sprint sprint sprint

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 18:21:20 GMT

7 pages more, COME ON COME ON COME ON! Final sprint!!!

I can do it! *snorts Red Bull*

I can smell the imaginary shiny!

Stupid Shoujo Rant

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:16:21 GMT

I think I'm really outgrowing shallow shoujo fluff.... or at least badly written, badly drawn shallow shoujo fluff.

( In every single title by this author) Why on earth does the featherbrained heroine, under the guise of being a "kind hearted" person, go out of her way to help every single other idiot man/ woman that appears in the book, at the expense of her beloved? Every time the same thing... "Oooh l HAVE to help this person, because I can't bear to see them in pain. What? My boyfriend will be really hurt by my actions? Ah screw that, I NEED TO BE KIND!"

That, and the 10 year old pretty heroine with the bouncy gravity defying DD ~~breasts~~ lumps that only a bad plastic surgeon could've given her who is of course, masquerading as a 16 year old. ¬___¬;;;

Why do I read this? WHY? Even though I know the art is bad masquerading as "pretty", and the stories are rubbish, and all the characters are the same 2D cardboard cutouts.... why Faye, WHY????

October Expo coming coming...

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:32:50 GMT

Oh man, where does the time go?

October MCM Expo 2009 is just round the corner.... and I'm looking forward to this one. :D Last Expo in May I was wandering around stressed up in a semi-comatose state from trying to meet work deadlines, so this October I'll be going there full force with batteries all charged. Plus, The Merchant of Venice will be getting its first official event outing! X3

Ye Olde BL

Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:06:22 GMT

I'd been meaning to post this for awhile, but kept forgetting.

Jean Delville - School of Plato

fehed, koalapuff , and myself discovered this weirdly pretty painting in one of the artbooks sold at the Royal Acadamy of Arts recently. Upon first look, I wondered whether it was some bish version of Jesus & the 12 apostles (if so, rather too gay-pr0n friendly version)... but caption says it's the School of Plato.

It looks like the 19th century version of BL & Yaoi. Call me a pervert if you want, but COME ON! 12 bish men lounging about sensuously naked, some coiled around each other.... not BL-tastic???

Review: The Body Shop VS Superdrug Vitamin E eye cream

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:20:00 GMT

I'm always on the lookout for decent skincare stuff, always hoping for that miracle cream in a jar/tube that doesn't cost a bomb. Today, feeling particularly broke and running out of my favourite The Body Shop Vitamin E eyecream, on impulse I decided to give the brandless Superdrug Vitamin E eye cream a go.

After all, there must be some truth to that myth about how everything is made at the same factory, but packaged differently to look more posh/cheap right?

** Please excuse scruffy appearance of Body Shop tube, it's endured many a bashings in my giant handbag,

What it says on the packaging:
Helps reduce appearance of fine lines, puffiness & dark circles.

What it actually does on me:
Admittedly I've always been a bit of a brandwhore when it comes to my face stuff.... but this cream seriously does justify the chinese saying of "Cheap things no come good, good things no come cheap".

The Body Shop eyecream (favourite!) sinks in almost immediately upon application, keeps my eye area feeling nice and well hydrated, and IMO does help A LOT with my late nights + dark circles. I do notice when I'm on deadlines and keeping monstrous late hours, using it does make me wake up looking not as dastardly the next day.

This Superdrug brand eyecream however.... is rubbish. My motto about skincare is that it's supposed to feel good going on, make you feel good after putting it on, and keep you looking good. This cream FAILS on all counts.

Texture upon going on feels like weird chalky cream, with a unpleasant latex powdery feel that tugs at skin. Does not sink in at all, but stubbornly moves around face as white cream patches while I'm trying to pat and rub it in. Granted it could be the SPF, but I've had SPF 50 stuff on that never gave me as much trouble as this. Application leaves a faint white film over skin (like when you're applying super thick strong sunblock, but much worse), with a unpleasant matte chalky feel. Also, this stuff contains glitter. YES. GLITTER. What, the whitish residue not enough to "brighten under eye circles"?

3 hours later, I could still see the bits of whitish patches around my eyes, and it feels like the cream just sits on my skin rather than sinking in and doing it's job. Eyes feel dry and tuggy. Eventually wiped it off and reapplied my old Body Shop favourite. Experimenting, I applied some on my legs. No kidding, it was like Michael Jackson's dream come true. I had horrifying 2-toned legs (white shins and regular coloured everything else) that were still dry and had that same chalky gross feeling.

Conclusion:
Does nothing, and feels unpleasant... might as well save that £1.22 and not apply anything. Who knows there might actually be *SOME* sort of minute long-term benefits, but I wouldn't want to put that stuff anywhere near my skin ever again.

As with all skin care and makeup, what doesn't work for me may not be ineffective for everyone. Someone out there could possibly swear by this cream as the secret behind their eternal youth. Personally though, not for me.

Location, location, location

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:30:36 GMT

Having drawn 3 fairly long comics, and co-drawing my 4th, I'm coming to a realisation how important boring little details like floor plans matter to me.

By long comics, I'm talking about the longer-than-RSOM one-shots, where you have characters in a fixed world, with recurring locations. I'm not sure if it's the overwhelming sense of logical right/wrong, or just sheer OCD-ness, I've find myself getting more and more nitpicky about the backgrounds I draw. Even when reading comics, unless the art and/or story is exceptionally good, I find "shoujo shortcuts" don't cut it for me anymore....

Why is location planning & set design essential in comics? Consistency. Consistency, consistency and consistency. I think partly because I too am progressing in my comicking skills, I find myself noticing more and more things that look "wrong" or "lazy". Bad planning (or more often in the case of new comickers- NO planning) leads to classic errors of the magical warehouse-room (where rooms magically expand into warehouse proportions), doors that open on different sides in every page, furniture that swap around/ disappear when no one is looking....

In an adventure-travel sort of story (ala Dragon Heir, Alice in Wonderland), where characters are always moving around from location to location, or in "misc" places like forests/parks, one can get away with little set planning as chances of recurring locations are slim. However when drawing comics that have a slice-of-life element, you'd be surprised at how hard it is to draw the same bedroom/ living room/ cafe from multiple angles.

Then again, perhaps I only notice all this in the things I draw and read because I AM an artist, and an obsessive compulsive one at that. Does the average reader notice things like this? Does it bother them when the heroine's bed swaps positions all the time? Or that cozy living rooms take on epic never-ending proportions in the next panel?

Your thoughts? :D

Sunday Goodness

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:49:15 GMT

Had koalapuff over today for some prawn pasta and movie (Definitely Maybe), and fun-filled discussions about bitchy/slutty women, home-made vs professional porno, & fehed 's many "babies" (past, present and soon to come) with other women. XD

Good food, awesome company, NSFW conversation. My evening is complete. :3