`dry ice's Scrapbook.

Color Theory Class.

2009-04-29T04:40:00.000-07:00

A.k.a. the OH-GOD-SAVE-US class. This is our teacher, Wang Xiaoming, telling us how our homework sucks. OH GOD. He's a nice guy, though. This class is just tuff, is all.

Let me expound, using my own homework. "Your fish look too realistic."

"This is passable."

"The tree looks awkward." Okay, I admit it. It does look strange.

"The red could be a little darker."

Hanging at my classmates' dorm after homework check-up.

Pretty ladiiiees.

Have I mentioned that I ended up spending three nights in one week with these two gentlemen just doing homework in our cold, cold classroom? I guess I was really kind of bored.

Anyway, two said gentlemen are Liu Fengyuan...

... and Wu Chenyang.

They look sooo tired. XD

The truth is, I wasn't planning to pull all-nighters at all, but the first one got me started. How? I left the classroom too late and realized that the gates were locked. OTL I didn't want to jump them gates...

I got a flower the following morning, however spontaneously. That was sweet though.

Later...

That night, Liu Fengyuan was playing with calligraphy ink.

Prettyyy.

Day 3.

Ahaha!

We did steal a few winks of sleep every now and then.

5:30 AM -- off for breakfast at Shaxian, before heading back to our dorms to catch some zzz's before morning class! Que Yifeng, Liu Fengyuan -- wondering what the hell I was doing lagging behind XD-- and Wu Chenyang.

Day 4... ?

Aww, such a short lifespan. 8 (

Four weeks of mental torture had come and gone. Grading nao.

My column. I was the first to put up their homework, just cos I wanted to get that over with.

Whuuut. I'm sorryyy.

I did help out a handful of classmates put up their works that day, and ended up spending the whooole day in the classroom.

Chen Wennn.

Zhang Xiaolong, he whose height -- or lack thereof -- gets in the way! XD

Color class, still life version. Gah.

GAH.

Oh yeah.

More tug-of-war!

Our class just kept PWNing all. XO

The talk that I didn't end up attending. Short attention span.

At Wang Laoshi's kewl office, gaping at the awesome homework that was not made by us.

Mm-hmm. 8 )

Lingyin Temple (Pt. 2).

2009-04-29T04:01:00.000-07:00

More photos from that trip.

Yuxi and Lai Chenlin.

Ha-ha.

In the temple museum, where taking photos wasn't allowed...

So that's all I was able to. *___*

A Japanese monk. His statue was erected to symbolize goodwill between the Chinese and the Japanese peoples. But, uhmm... the "Japanese" in "Chinese-Japanese friendship ties" engraved on the plaque is crossed out... XB

Buddha-sama.

Gah, that day was the first day in a long time it didn't rain, so a lot of people went downtown -- it took us three hours to get back to our dorms because of the traffic! I don't regret it, though, if only for the peace of mind visiting temples brings.

Winter Break + Back to School + Lingyin Temple (Pt. 1).

2009-04-29T03:03:00.000-07:00

Lunch out with Uncle! This is he and his grandson.

Outside the restaurant.

That day was also Chloe's birthday. We went KTV-ing that night. Whoo!

Now, back at school! Homewaaark. Aaall. Rejeeecteeed. In the end. =^=;;;

In class...

Ah, photos from the freshmen tug-of-war game, which my class topped, BTW! Ran down the rest of the 36 classes without a hitch, yup yup! ; O These are my classmates doing their thing during the first few rounds.

From when I visited the Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou with three batchmates.

The stone bed on which Qigong, a Buddhist deity, apparently once slept. It is said that if you run your hand all along the edge of it, you'll have good luck!

A classmate's friend. I never got to know her name! =x=;

Yuxi, a classmate, bending over to get back to the outside. D8

Lai Chenlin, from Cartoon and Animation Class 2. (I'm from Class 1, FYI.)

Till the next *coughfloodishcough* post!

Guanyin Mountain + Guanyin Temple + Tudigong Temple.

2009-04-29T02:26:00.000-07:00

By the seaside at Guanyin Mountain, a tourist hotspot during the right season. It was almost deserted when Uncle took us there, though.

Sand sculptures with themes from the Beijing Olympics.

Uncle also drove us to the Guanyin Temple.

A map of Buddhist deities.

Lastly, Uncle also took us to the Tudigong Temple. *x*///

Tudigong, the god of wealth.

Wen Caishen.

Wu Caishen.

Guanyin.

In the end, I ran back to get a fortune stick. *x*/// The Qian that I got to pick was this story...

Winter Break + Dadaogong Temple (Pt. 2).

2009-04-29T01:55:00.000-07:00

Yamcha! Me and my second cousin Chloe. She's currently studying college in Australia. *O*/

My mom and Chloe's little bro, A-Hyak.

My daaad.

Auntie A-Xing.

We were invited for a seaside picnic by my uncle, who'd heard that I was bored! *sniff* TTvTT/// This is my mom, Uncle's grandson and daughter.

Mom and Uncle. 8 )

These are from our second visit to the Dadaogong Temple. *v*/// This is the mini-temple halfway up the stairs leading to that huge statue of Dadaogong.

After climbing all those stairs with my mom!

This statue of Dadaogong, a great Chinese physician, is huuuge. ODO

On the way back down.

Behind the Temple.

The temple museum.

Till our next visit then...

Dadaogong Temple.

2009-03-27T21:05:00.000-07:00

Photos taken at the Dadaogong Temple from last winter vacation!

My dad. 8D

My mom and Uncle.

Along these steps are statues of many of the famous Chinese physicians throughout history.

My mom.

Looking like a dork, as usual. I actually climbed up all those stairs the second time we visited! Photos in a later entry.

In our new home in Xiamen.

I was bored. 8 )

Christmas Dinners + School Fair '09.

2009-03-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

This is a really, really outdated post, but for the sake of sobriety... ; )

From last year's Christmas dinner for international students...

... and, dinner again, with classmates. Of course, the latter was a lot more fun. I love my class!

We get these quite often here. And, I get the urge to take photos every time.

Taken of the school fair earlier this year. For the record, I didn't take photos of everything... =v=|||

Illustration and Manga...

Product design, I believe...

Photography...

Urr... miscellaneous! *shot shot shot*

Animation. 8 ) Can't see them clearly but this was how they were exhibited.

Character design...

More photography...

You guys can figure the rest out on your own!

Oh, one last mention, this was the booth of Dongmanyou, our school's animangaming magazine... that I'm now the vice president of. *A*///

Studying for our anatomy exams! Waaah!

See you guys at the next post! *O*///

Along Hupao + Hangzhou Zoo.

2008-12-22T11:51:00.000-08:00

Nanshan Road + Sketching Class: First Grading

2008-12-16T01:31:00.000-08:00

I went to Nanshan to withdraw some pocket money last Monday -- decided to take yet another bout of nature photos along the way! Mmm, autumn.

Last Friday, our class went on a trip to the Hangzhou Zoo to try our speed drafting skills on animals. That kept our classroom empty for professors to examine the works we put up for grading that day.

So anyway, here is my cornerrr. *hides under a rock*

Here's and obligatory close-up of my head bust piece -- the shading seems even lighter in this photo 8 [ -- ...

as well as my speed drafts. (The 'speed' part hardly counts, as you would imagine.) Head. Too. BIG.

(Oh my god, I'm seeing so many mistakes right now. 8 )))

Tried pulling off the volume-through-linework thing with this piece.

Finally, the only piece I'm actually proud of... Aren't you surprised. 8 )) Prettyyy.

I also included two of my speed drafts from the train station trip, ...

a random manga-style doodle of our ever-sarcastic class president, Chen Wen, ...

and, another random sketch -- of Du Liniang from the Young Lover's Peony Pavilion. The sketch is actually teeny-tiny. X3

Aaand, that's it.

... Believe it or not, the academy has selected my head portrait piece to add to their collection of selected undergraduate works -- they select a few during each grading -- and I'll be getting a certificate of recognition for it! WTFGETOUT.

Hrmm, well... I guess there's always the at-least-I-didn't-end-up-almost-having-neurosis-for-nothing bit... as well as the I-guess-I'm-not-so-bad-compared-to-my-classmates bit? Though I still kind of find it hard to grasp, haha. For the most part, I'm just proud of being able to make my parents proud of me? TTuTT;;;

REALLYGLADTHAT'SOVERWITH. <3

Sketch Trip: Train Station + Sketching: Week 5 + Comic & Illust Exhibit.

2008-12-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, I and some of my classmates decided to spend one night at the train station to do our sketch homework. Why at night, you ask? Well, that's because people who travel at night, tend to nod off while waiting for their ride -- ideal, when you're trying to sketch them. 8O

It was really cold, and I, for one, kept getting sleepy while trying to sketch, but, it was fun! I'm glad I didn't miss the experience.

As for sketching from life in itself, well... In order to do that properly, you'd have to pay attention to all the technical elements of drawing, as well as make the execution as natural as possible. Apparently, there's no better way to do so than by making models of random people doing random things.

There's a difference between a model who is trying to maintain a pose long enough for you to draw it, than one who is not. Sure, at our level, our models would have moved several times before we finish our sketches. Then again, this is called 'speed drafting' for a reason -- we have to learn to memorize poses at a glance.

One way to do that is: first, familiarize yourself with the structure of your model -- know where the light falls and shadows are cast, why one part is lighter / darker than the other, etc. Second, learn to pinpoint the center of gravity -- make pose look natural, and not forced.

Lastly, develop a sketching technique that you find comes naturally to you, and practice it. Don't think that you have to draw in a certain way. The sky's the limit with art, and, the more unique, the better! Also, don't stick with a technique that you're uncomfortable with! Masochist. X ))

Here are some of the speed drafts by Chinese master artisans that Gu laoshi showed us. Confident strokes, confident dabs -- there are no words.

Also, there's this one artist whose style I've personally fallen in love with! His name is 顾生岳 (Gu Shengyue), and you can find some of his speed drafts here.

Sketch class: week 5. We're still doing speed drafting, with two quiet male models this time.

Gu laoshi also took us to see selected pieces created by 'pure FA' students -- that is, students who are taking up sketching / painting courses. You'll notice how their works look and feel 'complete' compared to ours. ^x^

These are their speed drafts, ...

paintings, ...

and, sketch portraits.

Here are some of the selected works exhibited by Comic -- not [Japanese] manga -- & Illustration sophomores and juniors. There were only a handful of digital works there, and these that I took photos of, are all traditional. Impressive!

Some departments in the School of Media and Animation also recently updated the contents of their showcase.

Whenever I see vectors and typography, I remember ADMU -- so sue me. : ))

Anyway, a hell of a lot has happened since I last updated, so I think I'll be blogging again real soon. Till the next post! *3*/

Yue Opera + Clover Leaves.

2008-11-24T14:03:00.000-08:00

It was my first time watching a Chinese opera performance live at our campus' mini-theater last Friday. There were five skits; I couldn't understand every word, but at least I knew what was going on. : )

Skit 1: a scene from the Butterfly Lovers.

Skit 2: a scene from The Peony Pavilion.

This actress is a first-level opera performer and opera professor / researcher. *A*

Skit 3. I don't know the title of this play. In this scene, a poor but honest farmer brings an unwilling bride, who he bought with his savings, to his home. The problem is, the bride has no idea of the sale, and thought that the man has kidnapped her. They settle the misunderstanding and decide to live as husband and wife.

My relatives often mention during reunions how my mom used to play the role of the woman in this play. My mom, she was quite pretty when she was young. ; O

Skit 4. I loved this skit -- it was comedy. <333 It's about this merchant looking for a third bride, and this humble vendor's clever daughter is just what he's looking for. Their dialogue was very interesting!

Skit 5. It was about this scholar who just topped the national exams, but could not win back the heart of his love, even with a beautiful crown as a gift. His mother played matchmaker, and advised him to just admit his mistake and apologize. It was a happy ending.

The cast. It's interesting how most of the roles -- even those of male characters -- are performed by actresses, while in the past, men used to run the show.

Yujiao brought me some four-leaf clovers -- 'for happiness'! -- when she came over last weekend. <333

Sketching Class: Week 2 + Doodles.

2008-11-22T16:58:00.000-08:00

Sketching: week 2. For this week, we had to draw four bust portraits of two middle-aged models from different angles: mug shots, and bird's worm's eye view.

PSP. I now see why a lot of my classmates are always bored while sketching, cos I now more or less share their sentiments. XD

Zhang Xiaolong is amazing at this.

Liu Hao, too.

Bird's eye view.

After the monitors cleaned up. : )

Not going to say much about how I've been doing, except that I don't really like what I've drawn so far... which is why I'm not posting mine here. Not to be emo, but I'd really just prefer not to immortalize it on my blog. =D=

For one thing, I find the size at which they normally draw head busts -- almost life-size -- overwhelming. I prefer to draw smaller, because I'm used to drawing manga. I strain to draw smaller heads, to fit more into each panel, to fit more panels into each page, not the other way around.

Another thing. My pencil sketches always come out gray and toneless, because in drawing manga, I'm used to sketching out each page carelessly and using the same pen pressure all throughout, cos pencils are erased after inking. It's not the same case with life sketching, where pencil technique and contant change in pen pressure matter.

I have to break these habits in order to get better!

I dislike doing something I'm not good at, so I tried to be good at sketching, but I just ended up tiring myself out again and again. So now, before I get neurosis, I'm putting all my sketching books back into the cabinet and taking a break from realism. I'll go back to work on my weekly sketches when it's close to grading time in early January, and post them up here when I'm done. Hopefully I can be less uptight about realism then. ^A^;

Here's a study I did on my own, of someone you'd think I'd like to draw...

~~Sakurai-san, I have failed you! OTL~~

Needless to say, this isn't halfway done. OTL I guess I just really have a short attention span, no matter how pretty the model! XD I didn't even get to the hair, and that's normally my favorite part, LOL. I'll redeem myself some other time.

This actually reminds me of when I first tried drawing manga, back when I was twelve. At that time, it was so frustrating, that after a few pages, I gave up and decided that I won't be a manga-ka when I grow up afterall.

Four years later, the art director of Otaku Mangazine contacted me for a manga gig. I declined, saying that it wasn't for me, but then he said, "Have you even tried it?" to which I thought, well, it's been a while, so maybe I will give it a shot. And, before I knew it, I was drawing manga! What's more, I no longer found it difficult, but fun and gratifying.

Anyway, here's to hoping that it will be the same for realism -- that the reason why I keep on running and getting nowhere, is cos of this masochistic overachieving attitude. >___>;

Here are Liu Man and Lu Chen doodling while taking a break from realism during class. Doodling or "fast drafting" is actually a part of our class, and they're actually doing homework. We have 20 pages due tomorrow.

Lu Chen asked me to pose for a doodle / caricature. Hehe, it's just 5 degrees and I'm already dressed very very warmly.

Yang Xuemeng, Cai Lu, and Mr. Skeleton.

Here are some shots of doodles that I took from the pages of two of my male classmates' sketchbooks. Everyone here is a varied artist! Absolutely amazing.

Roomies.

Self-portrait. Way cool!

Yang Yujiao, a PE classmate, came over to my room yesterday. She doodled me while I was sketching... realism. TTvTT; I made spaghetti for us last night, haha.

Zhang Xiaolong drew me in his anime-style. It doesn't look like me at all, except for the blank stare, haha! Too pretty.

For the first time in a handful of weeks, I tried to draw in anime-style yesterday. I found it shocking that my pencil wasn't as confident as it used to be! Before, when I want to draw a character, all I had to do was know that which character I wanted to draw, and that's exactly who would come out on the paper. The pencil strokes come out almost automatically.

But, this time, after deciding that I wanted to draw Hongfei, I put my pencil to paper as I normally would... but, while sketching, I was surprised to find myself worrying about technical things, such as camera angle, head structure and proportion, lighting... so much so that in paying attention to following these rules, and at the same time, trying to hold back cos I was not drawing realism afterall, Hongfei was starting not to look and feel like Hongfei!

And, let me tell you it was kind of horrifying, cos for a moment, I thought I somehow unlearned how to draw manga... O___O;

But, yeah, it turned out pretty okay afterall... Hongfei still looks like himself, but even Yujiao said that he appears to be more 'dimensional' here, not to mention more "man," LOL! I dunno, that was actually was traumatized me at first -- that he came out manlier than usual, haha. Not quite sure if the mediocre image quality captures that feel, though. ; ))

Our realism sessions are over and done with, but I still have to learn doodling techniques, and I still have a an obligatory contest entry, plus 12/20 pages of doodles due tomorrow! I miss my charas, and I miss drawing anime-style, but, I gotta learn how to deal, srsly.

Belated congratulations on bagging that student exchange program to Japan, Tif! <333

Sketching Class: Week 1 (Pt. 2) + Homework.

2008-11-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

Sketch class: Days 3-5. I've never seen so much fog...

Gu laoshi looking over Liu Man's drawing.

... Leftovers. XD

The drawing at the very front is a sketch demo by Gu laoshi. She always tells us -- my classmates, mostly -- to try to make our portraits look like 'real people' by using softer shades.

As for how I've been doing with this class, well... I have two words to describe everything so far: BRAIN DRAIN. My teacher and classmates have been more than appreciative and encouraging, however, so this is all probably just me angsting around in my head.

I really didn't think it'd be this torturous mentally... that is, when you know theoretically what you need to do, but not how to pull it off, so you do trial and error, but then you keep phailing and phailing... and phailing. I do know that I shouldn't try to learn so much in such a short time, and maybe I'm trying too hard... Guh, I've been having so many 'Lan moments' lately, ahaha... ha...

Anyway, without further ado, here's my Week 1 sketch, version 1... ~~aka. IS THAT A HUMAN BEING...~~

... XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

It's gone, by the way! I tossed it to one side and a classmate asked if she could use the flip side for charcoal practice. At least the paper didn't go to waste -- yay!

Here's version 2, which I started on day 3. I fixed the proportions slightly, but the shading is still weird.

... and, it got weirder and weirder the longer I worked on it. OTL Gu laoshi said, albeit very nicely, that the face looked 'dirty.'

... so I erased and redid the shading on day 5. This time, I paid attention to the below-the-skin anatomy, and used some reference books. The outcome looked pretty okay, but still too gray...

I actually worked more on this in our classroom over the weekend, and even erased the whole face to fix the proportions... but in the end, I still threw it out. Because I'm not happy with it one bit, and I can't sit with that... ! TT___TT;;;;;

As for my resolution, I'm redoing it, for the third and last time, but! I'm doing some studies first, so I have something to refer to and not be so uptight when I'm doing the real thing.

I've tried to draw this guy in this angle so many times that I've almost memorized it -- it's just tragic! BUTTHISTIMEI'MGOINGTOMAKEHISFACEnotLOOKCONTORTED. Wish me luck!

Fun fact: I actually spend most of the free time, including weekends, in our classroom now, just trying desperately to get my sketches to look right. Of course, some my classmates like to do overtime as well. It's really quite intimidating cos they draw so efficiently already. For example, Zhang Xiaolong here is polishing his week 1 sketch.

Liu Fengyuan doing some studies for his anatomy homework with charcoal. He's long done with his week 1 sketch. I'm still in awe with how my classmates wield a range of mediums so confidently and effortlessly...

Of course, we aren't just art nerds... we're also music nerds. Here's Zhang Yuxi playing her erhu while procrastinating, hahaha. Liu Man was just yelling for her to stop playing the whole time, but it was okay, I guess. XD Hey, it's hard to learn an instrument!

We also had sketching homework over the weekend. For week 1, we had to draw twenty pages of this head structure shit. This is going to sound absurd, but I swear, I never felt so utterly miserable in my whole life. I think I was about to vomit blood while trying to draw in this style...

But, you know what... I actually realized how much these made sense while sketching just this morning. O___O So much so, that I think I couldn't have gone for long without this 'shit.' Absurd!

Here's last week's anatomy homework.

These actually took me like six hours, even with a direct sketch reference. Liu Fengyuan's charcoal sketches on the left of the bottom photo, on the other hand, took no time at all.

Anyway, sorry for putting you guys through this emo shit. I've been really tired and rather cofused lately, I don't know how I can let all this get to me so much... I miss drawing in manga style, but, yeah, I do believe this is all for the best... *nod nod*

BOOYAH!

Sketching Class: Week 1 (Pt. 1) + Classmates.

2008-11-16T14:08:00.000-08:00

For week 1, we were made to sketch a head bust, a plaster flayed head bust, and a plaster skull in reference to a live model's facial features.

Day 1. Meet model #1. My classmates draw fast -- they're used to doing a single head bust in just three hours. Liu Hao, the guy on the left, seems to sketch really efficiently... *awe*

Model #2 -- we got this guy.

Meet Gu laoshi, our lady professor who came home from Italy -- to teach our class? She's super nice and encouraging, and I really, really like her... apart from the amount of homework she gave us last week, that is. TTDTT

This is how my classmates drew in order to pass the entrams. The outcome doesn't have to look 100% like the model -- the fact that the drawing looks 3D is more important. This means having a good grasp of human head proportions, flesh-and-bone anatomy, balance / contrast, and overall rendering technique. Superficial elements, such as pin-point-accurate facial features, came in last.

Lu Chen made made a heartthrob out of our model. 8D

I'll show you guys my sketch in a separate post. *cough cough*

As for the weather, by 4:30 PM these days, we have a sun...

and a moon. oOo The sky starts getting dark at around 5:30! Winter n00berrr.

Goat herd! So that's where all the goat-poo comes from.

Sketching class: Day 2.

It's called, signature style. Though the concept isn't really exclusive to one person. ; )

Art History class discussion group, for which we each had to write a 1,200-word essay. We had to choose three people whose essays to read aloud in front of the class tomorrow, and mine was among those chosen, cos it's in English -- amusement -- and no one else was volunteering their essay. We are so 无聊! XDDD

Meet Lu Chen (and myself)...

and Liu Man.

Now see them on the poster of the loli-cafe cosplay event organized by the Qingniao, the school's ultimate animanga org.

Oh. My. God.

Animanga Fans: Vol. 5 Feature.

2008-11-08T22:28:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of the issues I have of 动漫游 -- that's Animanga Fans in English -- just so you guys know how the mag actually looks like in case you're looking to submit your works.

First off, the mag is just a little smaller than A4. See pencil by the lower left corner for reference. On the left is a 2005 issue, and on the right is a 2007 issue, one of the latest.

Here are the back covers. The 2005 issue featured the cover submissions that didn't make it to the front cover, as thumbnails on the back cover. The 2007 issue featured a cover art runner-up on the back cover.

This is the first page of the 2007 issue, the left page of which features the cover art runner-ups for that issue. Please note that I probably won't be able to afford to send copies to people who sent in illusts that don't make it solo, either on the front or back of the mag. Sorry!

Aside from Feature articles and manga, exceptional school projects by Cartoon & Animation as well as Manga & Illustration students are also featured. This is animation storyboarding.

Finally, for those who sent in manga, your work might be published 1:1 -- that's one manga page per magazine page -- ...

or, 2:1 -- two manga pages per magazine page, in landscape. Oh, and, we accept submissions no matter the reading direction. XD

After talking with my editor Zhang Cong, I've decided, for now, to submit per issue, only (a) 3-6 pieces of colored illusts, and (b) as many manga titles (usually oneshots) it takes to reach 10-20 pages, since that's how much they probably need from each of us Features peons within that time frame.

You'll always be welcome to submit your works, and, though you'll probably be on the waiting list, just know that you'll be published eventually. ; ) First come, first publish. If I get a lot of submissions, however, I'll probably start pitching more per issue.

For the next issue, which is scheduled to be out by late November - early December 2009, I'm pitching Rei-nee's Karma.

Aaand, for some sample pages. If I wasn't so anal with translating text and editing SFX, I would consider a job as a manga editor. @v@

For those interested, the original, colored English version is up and available for online reading over here.

I do have a question for Rei-nee: I'm really curious as to why Dominic and Reign seem to be... stripping in the last few panels... ; ) ; ) ; )

WHY.

Xiangshan Campus + Basic Form Grading.

2008-11-07T05:40:00.000-08:00

More interesting architecture within the Xiangshan campus.

Tennis lecture. o___o

Basic Form grading time! >___< Our sleepless nights are over... temporarily, anyway!

I climbed this thing, but I don't think I could have sat on it... @___@

Projects: Weeks 1 and 2. My classmates' works.

and mine. I carelessly arranged my work on the cardstock not as Gu laoshi instructed, i.e. 3x3. Luckily, as the foreign student of our class, I'm always the last on the class list... This time, I got to use the extra space at the end of the wall and posted my work in landscape. ^___^v

Close-up of my first project, which I redid. I used photography.

Project: Week 2. Here are some of my classmates' works.

Mine. I used watercolor pencils.

Project: Week 3. Again, here are some of my classmates' works...

I used a black dermatograph / crayon for mine. Again, I went for a weird layout. But, I forgot to leave a border around it so I had to cut it up, and, yeah... *looks at the fourth drawing* It looked much better IRL. TTATT

The next class's final projects (for a different subject).

Xiangshan Campus + CICAF Film Showing.

2008-11-03T06:15:00.000-08:00

There were taken while practicing tennis.

Pink + blue skies! *nudges Tiffany*

CICAF Film Showing: China.

Hong Kong.

Clips.

Autumn Field Trip.

2008-11-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

Four bus stops away from our school.

Barbecue = <333

LOL.

Beer game: mystery number.

Consequence time. The question is, who gets to marriage-carry who?

Our class VP swinging our president in his arms. XD

*v*

I was one of the 2-3 people sitting at the table who didn't lose a single game, while there some people had to face consequences a handful of times, LOL! I got lucky, I guess. XD

The view beyond the bridge at the bus stop.

At the KTV bar.

... Liu Fengyuan was hogging the mic.

Well, I really got to know my classmates that day. Ang kukulit sobra, buti na lang walang tuluyang napikon... Haha!

Anatomy Class.

2008-10-31T06:09:00.000-07:00

BAHAHAHAHA.

It's the anterior view of the skull, if you haven't realized. *trying not to think of eventually having to draw and label from memory the human skeletal and muscular systems*

OTL

OACC Artbook Preview + First Basic Form Project.

2008-10-30T22:03:00.000-07:00

OACC. n. a Chinese annual nationwide animation and manga competition.

I squeeeaaled when I got to these next pages... Aren't you surprised.

Yueshuxin! *loves*

Denise and I are hoping to enter a oneshot into the shounen manga category for next year's competition. ; ) Not really for the win-win, but more for the exposure. I could really use a new springboard into the Chinese manga industry, cos my Chinese publisher hasn't paid me yet. (Not to mention one of the manga judges is a professor in our university... *O*/)

Anyway, if you're interested to see what Chinese animation and manga artists have come up with for the last competition, here.

Still remember my first Basic Form project? Looks like I went overboard. Think abstract. Abstract.

This is my final, approved work for the point, line, and surface subtopic. Yes, photos.

I'm currently working on my second project, whose draft has been approved -- huzzah!

Meanwhile, I did this realism portrait trial of human Longnu. I'm only familiar with the bone / muscle structure of the head, so the rest of the drawing is most likely riddled with errors... o___O

Played around with this on Photoshop for a little over two hours... Mac screens chew away from the already deficient contrast in my drawings. TTiiTT

Xiangshan Campus + Sketch Studies + Basic Form Project.

2008-10-26T06:10:00.000-07:00

The second day of the Sportsfest. As far as I know, high jump and track and field events were held that morning.

The other day, I was trying to practice tennis against the wall when my ball flew out of the court and out into the road. I snapped some shots as I went to fetch it. XD

This is our tennis court. It's right beside the smaller Shannan basketball court as well as the Shannan cafeteria.

The [back of the] Shannan cafeteria. *mouth waters*

The Shannan dormitories. (I stay at the Shanbei dormitories.)

Buildings along the South Gate.

This is my first shot at copying a portrait. (I'd copied plaster busts before.) ~~The nose looks punched in~~ I mostly tried to pay attention to the shading, but, it still came out too gray... OTL

Anyway, remember when I studied -- for like a single session, cos I got bored -- under Chen laoshi in Hong Kong? Back then, I knew zilch about anatomy and portraiture procedure. My mom sat for three hours as I drew my first ever graphite portrait.

... and, I made her look fat. XD But, anyway, she was uber happy -- she insisted that I take a photo of her and the portrait, as seen below.

The other day, I thought I'd take another shot at drawing my mom using this very photo as reference, and this is how it came out.

Frankly... it almost looks like her, but, I feel like I've redeemed myself anyway! /*D*\

Please take note that all of the fine art pieces that I've been posting up are just self-studies -- I've just been living off tutorial books, as well as comments and advice from classmates and friends.

We have FA classes scheduled in the following months, and the profs most certainly won't be teaching from the basics. Afterall, most Chinese students in art colleges nationwide likely have trained for 1-4 years before taking their entrance exams, and so carry over considerably mature FA skills to their college classes.

As for me, I'm trying to learn as much as I can now, hoping not to lag too far behind behind when the time comes... Points for effort! \@A@/

"The first principle of the science of painting is the point, then comes the line, then the surface, and then the body bounded by a given surface." - da Vinci

For our Basic Form project, we were asked to pick three mediums, and use each to illustrate (1) the point, (2) the line, and (3) the plane. That's nine 18 x 18 cm, b/w images in total. It's really quite a simple project, but I ended up spending most of my weekend working on it anyway.

I'm not saying I'll get a high score for my project, but, the fact is, I'm quite proud of it! It's the first time I drew something in other than manga-style, and using 100% traditional media. We were also asked to back each picture up with cardboard in case we chose to use plain paper, but I went ahead and made this mini-album package...

For my three mediums, I chose (1) drawing pen, (2) cotton buds, ad (3) a fork.

This first image is supposed to illustrate the line made using cotton buds. (The black I used is leftover calligraphy ink.)

Flip... The left image is supposed to illustrate the point made using cotton buds. (Anything can be a point -- even this ink monster!) The right image is supposed to illustrate the plane made with the drawing pen.

Flip... The top image is supposed to illustrate the point made using a fork, while the bottom image, the plane made using cotton buds.

This is how the very inside of the album looks like when fully opened.

These two images, both made using a drawing pen, are supposed to illustrate the point and the line respectively. (Longnu~~~)

Finally, these two images, both made using a fork, are supposed to illustrate the line and the plane respectively.

As for the very last image, I guess it's turned out to be some sort of Halloween tribute. I was just going to draw a skyline against the night sky, but then what looked like a skull appeared amidst the clouds, so I went along with it. Creepy. XD

Advance Happy Halloween!

Sportsfest.

2008-10-23T05:26:00.000-07:00

Most of us were at the soccer field for the opening ceremony.

The Chinese flag and the athletes make their entrance.

The foreign students team. ^o^

Purple balloons. Purdyyy.

The athletic assembly.

Giant cotton candy cloud.

Spear technique.

Foreign students performing fan wushu.

Taichi with song number.

This dance number was entitled "Colors."

Cheering.

What can I say? The organizing committee seems to have tried to recreate the atmosphere from the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony... but, of course, they could hardly have practiced as long! ; O

Downtown Hangzhou.

2008-10-23T04:41:00.000-07:00

Do ignore the grain and focus on the pretty Wushan Hill Pagoda.

Taken while walking along Nanshan Road to my bus stop.

I still would love to live in a traditional Chinese house. ^___^

Calligraphy Final Project + Sketch Studies.

2008-10-23T04:13:00.000-07:00

We spent our last day of calligraphy class doing our final projects -- freestyle.

This is our adorable and sarcastic class president, Chen Wen, doing hers.

Our class VP, Cui Zhaokai's.

Zhou Lixi's.

Lu Chen's. I never thought she and Liu Man could write this well!

Liu Man's.

I was the last one to finish. My writing came our waaay too stiff... But, I guess this isn't so bad -- for a foreign student, anyway. =v=;;;

Meanwhile, I now have a love / hate relationship with still life objects, particularly apples. Reference photos borrowed from devART.

My first still life set-up. It took me about two days to get the sketch to look the way it does, after which I gave up. It's still way too gray. OTL

Onto the next set-up... I thought putting that jug in there was masochistic, but, I didn't really know until I started blocking out the reflections on its surface... OTL

So, I think my contrast got a teeny bit better... Just a teeny bit. Will have to try again some other time.

Xiangshan Campus + Calligraphy Class.

2008-10-23T04:12:00.000-07:00

Students sketching the campus environment, under the shade...

... and by the second, smaller lake, ...

... by the Administration Building,

... and at Building 9.

Taken around the school dorms and campus while biking to our evening class.

Statues by the lake.

See that thing in the sky? Whatever it is, I thought it was a shooting star -- blurted it out loud, too. LOL.

A few days ago, one of the school orgs organized a get-to-know-foreign-students project, and this girl named Xiao Yanhui aka. Xiao Yue was assigned to me. I took these while we talked by the lake.

We later transferred to the soccer field. It's too bad our photos turned out crazy cos it was getting dark. ^A^;

Meanwhile, in calligraphy class, we were asked to replace the writing we initially posted up with newer, better ones.

These are Zhou Lixi's...

... and mine.

Liuhe Pagoda (Pt. 2).

2008-10-23T00:43:00.000-07:00

From when I visited Liuhe Pagoda （六和塔） aka. The Pagoda of Six Harmonies with fellow foreign students Adrian, Chen Gong, and Andy.

Chen Gong and Adrian taking a break.

King Qian.

Andy attempting to climb the elephant. XD Behind this gate lies a showcase of miniature pagodas, so many that I didn't get to photograph each and every one.

Adrian showed him how to, LOL.

*speechless*

Andy kept on asking for breaks. It was quite amusing. 8D

The area outside Liuhe Pagoda.

Waiting for our bus to arrive. So, I didn't feel like sitting down. We were going to the Nanshan campus for Chen Lin's birthday bash that evening.

Liuhe Pagoda (Pt 1).

2008-10-23T00:36:00.000-07:00

From when I visited Liuhe Pagoda （六和塔） aka. The Pagoda of Six Harmonies with fellow foreign students Adrian, Chen Gong, and Andy.

Andy, Adrian (acting like a dork), and Chen Gong. XD

The stairs were pretty steep, and slippery. OTL There were about six flights.

This pagoda, looking out over the waters, was initially erected to look out for tidal waves.

Back on the ground.

Towards the back garden.

Calligraphy on cold stone.

TBC.

Nanshan Campus.

2008-10-22T22:27:00.000-07:00

These were taken when I stopped by the downtown Nanshan Campus to claim my living fees with my classmates Lu Chen and Liu Man on the way to Gonglian shopping bazaar. They dress very fashionably, and were nice enough to accompany me to go shopping for warmer clothing.

Lu Chen and Liu Man feeding the carps while I took photos.

For the record, Xiangshan Campus, where I reside, houses the general and design courses, while the downtown Nanshan Campus houses the 'pure' FA courses -- mostly traditional media-oriented courses.

Just one sign post, and already so many art departments... @ii@

Well, we got lost trying to find the school cafe.

Outside the school cafe.

Inside the school cafe.

I think it's genuine... ?

Sculpture work.

After we got back from shopping, my mom asked me to take a photo of myself in one of my new autumn / winter clothing. Finally, some variety, haha! Koalalala~

Sketch Studies + Calligraphy Class.

2008-10-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

On the left is the tutorial book; on the right is a page from my sketchbook. The girl at the center was copied using charcoal; the rest are graphite. My portraiture needs a lot of work.

Eye studies.

Reference photos were taken from Google and devART. Not enough contrast.

The largest apple is a shading demo by Inhye. I'm quite proud of the last, smallest apple. 8D

Our first Chinese calligraphy writing class. We were asked to copy from ancient manuscripts. In the back with the beige cap is our very awesome teacher, Zhang laoshi, doing some demos.

Written by Zhou Lixi, a classmate. He used to watch his dad write calligraphy. 甲于天下 means "the best in all the land."

My seatmates and I got to copy manuscripts written in 隶书, a very wide and easy-to-balance script. IMO, it's much easier to write than the standard Chinese script.

Here is Zhang laoshi doing a demo for my seatmate, Fan Chuchu. ^o^

We got Zhang laoshi to write everyone's names in calligaphy to label our works with. I think we owe him several lunches now, for when we go down to the province next spring for our sketching field trip.

He finally got to my table. Such poise.

我叫邓莲梨，是菲律宾留学生。

As it gets closer to grading day, everyone is allotted a space on the wall on which to display their works for the teacher to evaluate.

Mine, Lu Chen's, and Liu Man's.

Obligatory close-ups of my own writing. Zhang laoshi said that my writing is neat, but... a little too neat. This apparently results from writing too carefully. Must vary the width of my strokes more. But, he was very appreciative, haha.

These are works from the class next door.

Graphite portraiture and still life painting from last year's entrams. @ii@

Computer Basics Final Project

2008-10-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

CorelDRAW 12.

Showcasing functions.

Fully vectored Mickey Mouse. @ii@

Layouting.

Photoshop 7.0. This was... easy. But, it would have been similarly hard had I not been familiar with the functions, just cos the lessons were in Chinese. XD;

We had to recreate a painting by use of PS brushes and textures.

Adding color to a b/w image -- I took shortcuts with this one. ^___^;

Photomanipulation. I didn't really try that hard... Plagiarized a Disney song while at it.

Xiangshan Campus.

2008-10-21T20:13:00.000-07:00

Taken atop Building 11 -- quite obviously, the Architecture Building.

Legend says that within this building, you'll get to your destination no matter which direction you take.

Out on a corridor.

Building 9. As far as I know, it houses the Pottery Department and some general FA offices.

It's right beside the soccer field, ...

... the flagpole, ...

... and the basketball court.

Taken while biking along one of the main roads inside the campus.

The roof tiles on this building, I believe, were taken from traditional Chinese houses that were to be demolished.

Geese. <3

Xiangshan Campus Dormitories.

2008-10-21T17:06:00.000-07:00

Settling into campus life in the Chinese Academy of Art. I study at the Xiangshan campus, and live in the Shanbei Student Dormitories, Building 5 Room 619.

I'm still in the middle of making my room feel roomy. My fellow international students have come in here and told me that it looks like an office. *A*;

I've been decorating the walls -- I've decided the theme of the room will be blue, orange, and green. <8d src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/twisted666/PHOTOS/9d9337a1.jpg">

The view from my balcony. Yes, that's a mountain and a small lake. Down there is where I first and finally learned how to bike. ^^; Took me about three days to get the basics. It's still very dangerous to bike too close to me ATM.

My still meeessy work desk, featuring Mewmew the cat, Fei-fei, and Lan-lan the goat, courtesy of Denise and Ellaine. ♥

Only three textbooks for the rest of my four-year degree course: College Language and Literature (1st year), Chinese Art History (2nd year), and Foreign Art History (3rd year). My Chinese classmates received a lot of books on learning English -- a course foreign students are exempted from.

My first ever attempt at creating a wholly traditional media piece. I think this style is supposed to be called 'speed drafting.' In my case -- minus the speed. @___@;

I came to this college not knowing that I have to take basic fine arts classes before I can get to my elective (most likely 2D animation). To start off, I tried copying this bust with my ignorant, barbaric methods -- I gave up two days into it. You can say I naturally phailed at generating contrast. As luck would have it, a few of my fellow foreign students have offered to teach me...

Mika is a second year architecture student, and one of the first foreign friends I made here. She was also the one who informed me that I had to take basic FA classes. I showed her my previous sketch, and she did this crash course demo for me, focusing on which ways to shade. She made it look so easy... Like, she only measured the proportions in her mind. D8

This was what I came up with after Mika's demo. Basically, I made sure my strokes were clean and even... This little chunk still took me around eight hours. This is a big deal because on average, students should only need 3-4 hours to finish such a decent bust sketch.

Inhye is a Korean student attending high school here. After seeing my first two attempts, she showed me step-by-step how to measure and effectively flesh out the three-dimensionality of the whole bust before delving into the details. She did this in less than two hours.

Here, I tried to do the same thing that Inhye did -- tried... and promptly lost interest. XD; I took a lot longer than she did, but at least I know how to already. I still need to practice a lot to gain speed, accuracy and confidence, however.

Some speed drafting trials.

Random sketches.

All of us taking up Cartoon and Animation get three months of Speed Drafting real-life models. Each piece should take only 15 minutes, whereas this n00b took little less than an hour.

Xiamen.

2008-10-21T06:52:00.000-07:00

This was how my work desk looked like during my last month of 'freedom.'

Outside Lujiang Harbourview Hotel (鹭江宾馆) and opposite Gulang Island (鼓浪屿).

Opposite Gulang Island (鼓浪屿).

Inside the hotel.

At a local park near Xiamen's famed Wanshi Botanical Garden (万石植物园).

By the sea.

Lunch at Uncle's.

My latest favorite fatty food from Xiamen's Yazhu Seafood Restaurant (亚珠海鲜大酒楼).

Statues during a stop on one bus ride to Hong Kong.

Shenjie Plushies.

2008-10-21T06:16:00.000-07:00

Shenjie, Hongfei, and Lan created by art*spark. Plushies commissioned from Buta-chan.