Self Development - The Journey So Far...

I guess I'll keep drawing =P

Looking back at my journal entries, I think that my heart still wants to keep drawing, manga illustrations especially. I'm keen on pursuing a career as a manga artist after graduation, or work with a concept design agency somewhere.

I guess I've been holding off that dream for sometime because I've believed that I won't be able to earn a decent salary if I kept hoping to draw comics. Now that I've done some research, it seems the local comic industry isn't all that bad.

I feel even better now I know that the standard for good comics locally has been rising as well.
An acquiantance told me that the editor of a local magazine rejected his earlier work and pushed him to do better. He thought it was worth it, he's gone pretty far since that first encounter with the editor. And there's a company in Kelana Jaya that has done work for some international game firm too! Wonder if they need a fresh illustrator on the team...

I feel better now I know that. At least my parents won't be worried to death that I won't be able to support myself doing what I love, haha.

I guess all that's left now is to brush up my skills (Really brush it up man), and get started on a good portfolio.

That's all for now, til next time then!

Concept Artist – Stuff to Read, Stuff to Get 1

Hi all!

I seriously want to get this book!!!!



It's from Balistic Publishings, so that makes it pretty expensive... but really, I don't care! It's good!

It features work and interviews from a few top guns in the concept art industry.
My favorite entry would have to be George Hull's work, the man behind the MATRIX movies eye-candy The dude also did concept design for other movies like "V for Vendetta" (both movie and graphic novels are a fave) ‘Finding Nemo’, ‘Mission: Impossible’, ‘Constantine’, ‘Jurassic Park: The Lost World’, the special editions of ‘Star Wars’, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’, and ‘Return of the Jedi’, ‘Twister’, ‘Star Trek Generations’ and the Oscarwinning ‘Forest Gump’.

I didn't even know of the guy til I found this book, now I'm going to call him "sifu" XD



Here's an Easter Egg for you:

A Kickass origami of V's Mask!

And another good site for all things about illustration - LinesAndColors.com

Manga Artist – Exhibition

I’m not going to miss this one!

ZOMG! The One Academy is organizing the International CG and Digital Art Exhibition and Art Convention from the 8^th-11^th of May!

They’ve got a huge exhibiton showcasing multimedia, interactive and digitally drawn works. They also invited Benjamin Zhang Bin for a talk – this guy has won the highest award for commercial artists in China, which the Original Animation and Comic Competition in 2004.

Apart from that, they also have seminars and workshops during the 4 days.

They’ve also arranged to have a Cosplay contest and a Digital Manga Illustration competition with this event, think I’ll try my luck with the competition – it might be just what I need to get started with a career in local Manga scene.

After all, magazines like Gempak and Comic Fiesta are involved in this event too. Who knows, I might bump into someone who can help me along my way ;)

Manga Artist – Competition

Malaysia’s starting to open up more and more opportunities for local Manga Artists.

Unfortunately, I only noticed this one too late:

(Image - Putrajaya Arts Fest Original Manga Poster...)

Putrajaya Arts Festival - the Original Manga Competition.

I just had to stumble on this poster nearly 2 weeks too late...

(image - the bunting. argh...)

(image - the bunting closeup. bloody hell, why did they leave it outside the shop when it already ENDED?!)

The festival council teamed up with Komik Factory, another local comic magazine, to hold this competition. There also seemed to be a Manga workshop on the 22^nd of March, during the prize giving ceremony.

There wasn’t much details on the website apart from this poster, even the rules and regulation did not state the reason for such an event.

Apart for local mangaka to win a big wad of cash and potentially build some connections with some local industry players… Argh. TT_____TT

But I’m hopeful this will turn into an annual event – there was a huge turn out on the Prize Giving/Manga Workshop day

Manga Artist – Community

Here’s a place to go for the love! (unfortunately, it's going through some maintainence right now... check back later k? click here to head to the site in the future.)

Anyways, this forum is pretty big in the local Manga/Anime circles – the main committee is responsible for arranging some of the biggest Doujin markets and Cosplay events in the Klang Valley.

Over the years, this event forum has gone from strength to strength, even attracting big name corporations like Wacom and Anime to sponsor their events.

Anyone can join this forum, and the community here is pretty tight-knit.

If there’s anywhere to gain a foothold in the Manga/Doujin (Home-created Manga) community in Malaysia, this would be it.

Concept Artist – Random Links

I’m feeling generous, so here’s some blogs I go to for some gossip about the video game industries:

Kotaku.com – I go here for the free Concept Art leaks this guy posts. Loooove the images <3>

That Video Game Blog – this site’s got good scoop on the industry too. I usually check this site for info mainstream game sites don't publish first.

Concept Artist – Employment Part 3/3

Did my research and found out that Lucas Arts - George Lucas’s company, which produced the “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” movies – have a base in Singapore! Lucasfilm Animation is right next door!

Why does Singapore have so many good studios?

Here’s the man himself on moving to the Lion City (extracted from here)

"I've been a fan of Asian animation and illustration all my life. Asian cinema has had a particularly big impact on a lot of my work. When we began thinking about developing new ways to explore the craft of animation, it seemed a natural step to combine the two."

–George Lucas-

It’s obvious I would need the best of my art skills to qualify working here – I’d have to work at a level that would continue to impress and inspire generations that have already seen the amazing works that this line has already put out.

Also, I would need good story telling skills. This legendary household brand has always been associated to good, if not revolutionary storytelling, since its beginnings in 1971.

…and considering it’s Singapore, I can expect to have to fight tooth and claw to get somewhere in this company.

Concept Artist – Employment Part 2/3

I would probably start a career in concept art here – with this small studio called Imaginary Friends.

This Singaporean studio does illustrations for comics, trading cards, board games and video games. They also take on the occasional illustrations jobs from the local advertising firms in Lion City.

They have gotten some work done for big names like DC Comics (owns Superman, Batman); Upper Deck Entertainment, a company printing and distributing popular card games such as the English version of Yu-Gi-Oh and World of Warcraft trading cards ; and Viz Media which handles the English translation and international distribution of Japanese Manga.

Also, they produce really good art books (portfolios, obviously) from time to time. Check out their Pepper Project and Imagine books! (Click on the images to head to their site)

(Image - Pepper Project, click image to head to the site)

(Image - Imaginary Friends - Imagine Artbook, the annually released collection of works from this group, click image to head to the site)

They seem to have a tight bunch of creatives there in Imaginary Friends, and they are passionate about anything they do. It would be awesome to work with a bunch like that.

I guess to make it with this company, I’d need to get my skills up to their level, and be just as madly happy about doing work for the game and comic industries. I might need to pick up some basic web design skills as most of their best work is accessed by the general public online (that’s how I found out about them anyway).

Concept Artist – Employment Part 1/3

My first obvious step would be to post my portfolio (after a good brushing up that is) on this website – CGSociety.(click the banner to go to site)

I would be showcasing an unlimited number of my works among some of the best in the industry in this website, for a small annual fee of USD 29.95. This website would be a good place for me to start building connections with industry giants, and maybe even gain a mentor.

This online portfolio archive also has some HUGE contests – such as this year’s CG Challenge

An excerpt from the site explaining this contest:

“The CG Challenges are the largest online art contests of their kind, with huge amounts of sponsorship and publicity for each challenge. Working within guidelines and software limitations, artists are challenged to create outstanding artworks based upon set themes while showing their work-in-progress to the community.”

I suppose getting an award from this community would be a good career advancement - and I've seen some entries that won top honors were not very polished in an artistic sense, but were chosen for having a good story behind it. I'd like t to produce work like that.

Concept Artist – Brushing Up Part 2/2

My second option – second only because of the inconvenience of higher living costs of living in a country with a higher-valued currency – is Gnomon.

This institute is in Canada – which according to a few knowledgeable acquaintances of mine – is one of the best places in the world to learn about the film and games industry. This academy is more focused on 3D, but they also offer courses for Concept Design Illustration – Great 2D works are the foundation of great 3D productions after all.

I’ll probably be enrolling in their 10 Week Analog programme. This programme gets students to master the basics of illustrations and then gets them to learn how to apply everything they know into capturing their mind’s images and the stories behind them in sketches, illustrations and even sculptures. There’s even a class called Acting for Artists – to get the artist to realize the way their characters move relating to the characters emotions, environment and reality.

They’re really serious about their craft here in Gnomon.

And this just in, they have online courses and training dvds as well, so I might just start with those. (click images to view more)

Image - Chet Zar's digital creature drawing - quick and easy tips and tricks to for character design.

Image - Speedpainting to Concept Art - David Levy shows how to turn sketches into full fledged concept drawings. Just Amazing.

Concept Artist – Brushing Up Part 1/2

In the concept design industry, artists need to capture EXACTLY what amazing new worlds and their inhabitants they see in their heads on to a tangible canvas. How else can they engage their audience enough to transport them into this new world of theirs?

Right now, I’m quite stuck at drawing manga styled visuals in black and white, so I’m thinking of enrolling in some professional training courses that can get me creating some believably realistic images.

First place that comes to mind would be The One Academy.

(Image - Mixed media by Liw Chek Kee, One Academy)

This local institute is famed for its Illustration programme. Its students have proven this college’s effectiveness and through testimonials from friends (happy la y’all, I’ve got one more year in a Certain Somewhere…) who have graduated from there, this college has a very strong creative community spirit, everyone’s so motivated to produce great work. I need a bit of that in my life again.

Concept Artist – Further Self Analysis

I love stories. Stories move me. Stories have this way in making reality more real to me. Stories distill the true essence of life for me and allow me to experience. They open up new worlds for me, they allow me to walk different lives and learn from them so I may enrich my own.

And that is why I’ve also fallen in love with concept art. Concept Art is the first tangible stage of story-telling in the video game, movie and other similar industries. Whatever new worlds, new realities story tellers would need to share are made REAL in concept drawings.

Words can form images in your head, but seeing these images fleshed out in living detail in front of you is mind blowing.

Concept Artist

If I ever were to reach my fullest potential as a designer and an artist, this would be the job for
me - A concept artist.

A concept artist draws out imagined scenes, characters, objects etc - mainly for the video game, movie and the comic industries. Concept Artists need superb art skills in order to communicate their vision for completely (awesome) imaginary worlds and characters.

They are the creme-de-la-creme of today's artists.

And they get paid very well, or so I've heard.

We're talking seriously lofty aspirations here as it'll take me yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaarssssss to be even remotely worthy to post my work along side the masters on this site:

Click on the image and head to a more captivating world beyond our own...
(Artwork by Linda Bergvist. I did not create this or own it.)

Stationery Designer

Another thing I've always fancied is specializing in Stationery Design.

I always liked owning good looking stationery, especially since I used so much of it throughout high school.

During those years, I've noticed that this company stand out from the rest - a.e.i.o.u. Studio

It's a local design house that comes out with cutesy, nearly always girly designs in their wrapping paper, gift boxes, gift mugs, photo albums, greeting cards, etc.


(Image - a a.e.i.o.u glass)



(Image - an a.e.i.o.u greeting card)


(Image - an a.e.i.o.u gift bag. I see this one almost everywhere - from MPH to the little Ah Kow & Sons Stationery shop in front of my house!)

Also, I think I can meet the skill scope to work with this company - most of their products looks like they can be easily created with some illustrating skills and a vector programme.

Manga Artist / Mangaka

Hehe, I’ve kept my interest for Anime and Manga well and alive all these years through university.

I was introduced to this sort of comic during high school, and I’ve always been amazed at the details and the emotions that the Manga style can bring out. I’ve always been drawing some of my own doujins since then.

This job would require me to tell powerful stories through my art. I would need to design visual storyboards fluid and strong enough to inspire my readers, or at least, to entertain them.

I’m pretty confident that career prospects as a Manga-ka (Manga Artist) are looking up in Malaysia - there are many magazines that showcase local artists nowadays. One of my favorites would be Gempak! (Click on title to go to the website)

Gempak

I still remember a time where this magazine looked just like the other Bahasa Melayu mags out there – not that I’ve something against it, but it just isn’t my cup of tea.

This mag was one of the pioneers that pushed the Manga style; hence one of the first few tastes of Malaysian – geared Manga. It has, alongside some great comics, news on the latest movies, animation, comics and gossip out there.

It has been growing from strength to strength, providing a platform for local artists to produce and distribute their own graphic novels.

One of them, Ben, even received international acclaim for his graphic novel, Le Gardenie.

And now, Ben, has struck out on his own and is publishing his own Magazine, called Powder

I’m anxious to see how this all develops over the next few years. One day, we young Malaysian Mangakas might even be good enough that anyone would recognize our work at first look! Ganbatte! (Let’s keep it up!)

Fashion Graphic Designer

Hi again!

Recently, I had a hand at designing and selling some T-shirts with a couple of friends of mine. I like how things are going, and I am considering to continue this line after graduation.

It seemed like a fairly simple at first - then I found it was actually quite difficult to find out what the average Malaysian would like to wear on their shirts. Sadly, I think most are still content with Godawful prints of "BILLABONG" or "QUICKSILVER" stamped across their chests... sigh

Someday, I'll find out how to get better looking shirts to more people. Anyways, here are some links for you guys, for a closer look into fashion graphic design (Click on the link to go to the page):

tokidoki

The Top of the Fashion Graphics Foodchain...for the moment.

The creator's ITALIAN!! Yes, this Latino called Simone Legno started tokidoki as a brand fronting his Japanese-Kawaii vector art.

Soon enough, Hard Candy cosmetic's co founder stumbled upon his website and fell in love with his work, and was so into his designs they actually helped him build tokidoki from ground up!

Since then, he has gone and done work for Le Sportsac, which pirated versions you can see being sold everywhere in Sg. Wang, MTV, Volkswagen, Microsoft and even took the cake of LA's 2005 Mercedes Benz's Fashion Show.

I can only wish for half his skill and luck...and he's not even Asian for crying out loud.

Music = Life - My FIRST shirt!

This shirt was meant for the Audiophile in us - I wanted to make a shirt that expresses that music is the heart of its wearer, that they were permanently plugged in to their music.

Business is slow at the moment. It took me a whole week to come up with this design... mainly because I couldn't identify what the people at the LowYat forums would want to spend money on. I'm so going to design better ones! I'm working on a video game themed one right now... I welcome any suggestions!

Well, that's it for now. Thanks to everyone who ordered some! Shipment'll be here Early - Mid April, thanks for being patient yeah =P