Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas my friends!
Have a safe and happy holiday!

2.55: The Dream Purse

Actually, I am not a fashion snob, but I believe that dressing up and make yourself presentable is important. (I am the kind of woman who will never leave the house without make-ups and dressing up properly, but I am not high maintenance either.) It's not only fun, but is a great boost to a person's confidence. And I believe in accessories, because no matter how your size change throughout your life, they won't abandon you, and they can instantly lift an otherwise plain outfit.

I recently read Nina Garcia's book "The One Hundred". She talked about if you can only invest in 4 bags in your whole life, the 4 bags should be:
The Birkin by Hermes
The Chanel 2.55
Louis Vuitton Speedy
The Jackie O by Gucci (now being called The Bouvier)
(According to Nina, all the other bags are actually variations of these four.)

Well, I am not rich, and when I do have the money, I probably will buy some new windows for my house... ha ha, talk about the reality! But I do own a small Louis Vuitton Speedy (thanks to my mom... she spared me one of hers during when she visited me this time), and let me tell you, it does have magic power. It's not a vanity thing. It will last your whole life, and it goes with any outfits that you put on. I don't need to have all four, but I do love Chanel 2.55 and the inspiration behind the design. It is so classic, iconic and timeless... I just love it.

For now, I can't afford it but at least I can let my character carry one... :)

IF: Similar

Mushroom hair

Big Hair

Playing with lines this morning.
It's so cold over here... How about where you're at?

Vampire Owl with Moustache

I had to do this...

Love Child of 3 Trends

This is a messy one because it's a quick 30-second doodle.
It was born this afternoon, out of a conversation about some current trends...

Anyways, it sounds like a cool band name... hee hee.

IF: Balloon

IF: Pretend

For this week's IF topic: pretend

Luna's Portraits

How are you, my friends?! Things are crazy at work, as you can tell, and I didn't have time to doodle. At the same time, I've started a blog in Chinese so I can keep in touch with that side of the globe, and I am still trying to figure out how to use that website. So my time is spread thin even more. So bear with me, would you?

Meanwhile, I've done these little portraits for my friend Luna in Taiwan. She saw my profile picture in my Chinese blog and she was wondering if I could do one for her when I have time. Of course I said yes! She was my mentor and my partner in my first job after college. I worked in a huge famous record company with her for almost one year... She is one of the hardest worker I've ever met and I learned a great deal of stuff from her. These are for her! Which one do you like?

Happy Halloween!!!

My oh my, I've been so busy with works (as you probably can tell already). Sorry I've been neglecting the blog recently; you know how it is to have a full time job in a big corporation, plus my mom was visiting me for a month earlier. It all adds up.

Anyway, my team got a little break yesterday and we went to Kearny to carve pumpkins! (My company owns a farm house in Kearny, Missouri, so from time to time, we get to go there and do fun stuff together; it's a real treat. I have cleaned pumpkins before but never carved one, so this is mt very first! His name is Bosley (like the hair restoration company because I implanted crazy hair for him)! He and his 17 pumpkin friends will be displayed tomorrow on our annual company Halloween party as table decors.

So here is Mr. Bosley wishing you guys a happy Halloween! Be safe when you go trick or treat! :)



Here are some freshly picked pears from the tree...



And a gorgeous horizon...

IF: Strings

This week's topic is perfect for me! : )
Here is a real photo of me and my cello Tony.

(Photo credit: Geoff Greenleaf)

IF: Sugary

Softee EP Review in The Pitch

We saw this in The Pitch this morning... We got a preatty good review! : )

To read it online, click here.

The EP cover design is a group effort, but mainly by Steph and Sarah, and it's hand screenprinted and numbered! Check out Steph's and Sarah's blogs too; both of them are great artists!

Here is the visual of the booklet cover. The four of us contributed our own little characters and then we put them together for the cover design. Can you find the sleepy-eyed birds and toothy aliens?

Brief recap of Softee's Opening Gig for Maroon 5 + Counting Crows Concert

Some photos from our last Friday evening gig.

Technically speaking, Softee did open for the Counting Crows + Maroon 5 concert in the Starlight Theater, but on a different stage (a much smaller one in the VIP area, just around the corner of the huge big stage)... We played 2 mini sets; didn't get paid but we got free dinner and enjoyed an awesome concert for free as well! Our seats were not bad at all; We could see the stage pretty well. The guy (Paul) who invited us to play this gig was so nice and supportive of us, and he told us that we could possibly open for The Killers next year ON THAT HUGE STAGE!!!! Really?? For real?? On THAT STAGE???? Man, I am going to pee my pants if that really happens! Over all, it was a super fun night with the perfect weather for us to play an outdoor gig.

(We didn't get to meet and greet Maroon 5 because of some timing issue, but it didn't spoil the fun at all. They were awesome on the stage, and Counting Crows gave a super great live act too!)







This is how big that stage really is...



Maroon 5 on the stage...

IF: Clique

Inspired by the Jazzercise clip I blogged about earlier. Hot dog!!!

You Got to Jazzercise that Boogie Body!!!

Another real gem from YouTube sent to me by my co-worker!

I swear I am going to learn all the moves in this film!

A Must See Music Video

Actually I've heard about Sodagreen (蘇打綠), a super popular band from my native Taiwan, for quite awhile but have never listened to their music. So when my mom told me about them again a couple of days ago, I went on YouTube and watched this amazing video, and I was like "How could I not have been listening to this band already?" They are great! The singer is a guy, but he sounds and looks like a girl; it might be a different style of music from what we would normally hear in the States, but he really does have a great voice. Here is a video from them and the title of the song means "Little Love Song" in Chinese. Even though you might not speak Mandarin, I think you would appreciate the video from the design point of view. I love how the animators combine real band members and animations... it's really lovely.

What I am up to right now and bunch of other stuff

I am currently reading this wonderful book called Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards. It's been around for a long time but this is the first time for me to read it. I am almost half way through and I can already see improvement in my realistic drawings. I am a designer, not a fine artist, and I've never taken any real fine art lessons at school, so it's true when I said that I am not good at realistic drawings like human forms or faces or other objects in our life. But I have always loved to see portraits or figure drawings, and I wish I could do that, too. This book has helped me understand how to draw from my right brain and how to really see as an artist, and I had a lot of fun doing the practices instructed by the author. I think anybody who wish to draw better (even though if you are already an artist who draws well) will really benefit from reading this book.

On top of me reading this book and practice everyday after work, my mommy is visiting me from Taiwan for a month. So if I am not too productive in the blog land, that is why. 

Also, there is a article about my band Softee in today's local newspaper. You can read it online here if you wish. Here is the photo of us taken from the article. They shoot bunch of nice photos outdoors but ended up using this one inside the studio. I only wish they had used some color paper as the background or at least cropped out those junk behind us. Oh well... The article makes everything sound more dramatic than it really was; maybe it's just the newspaper style.

And last but not least... a lot of you guys are asking me why I don't have an Etsy shop. I really am very flattered that you guys think my works are worth being displayed in your homes. The truth is that I am not allowed to have income other than my full-time job due to my foreigner status right now. (As for my band stuff, I never get paid a dime that's why... I am doing it as a hobby and I love it.) As soon as it becomes legal for me to do so, I will set up a shop. I promise.  Hopefully it's in the near future that's not so far away.  :)

Painting Tonight: YoYo Master

My brand new paints arrived today... couldn't wait to try it.

Tonight's Drawings

Chatty Birds | ink on Kraft paper

Dream | ink on Kraft paper

ロリタ (Lolita)

I redrew Lolita digitally. I wanted to keep the roughness and kid-like quality as my original doodle did. One trick on using Wacom pen to draw free hand: if you find the tablet surface is too sleek, put a piece of paper on top of it and draw as usual. In this case, I used a piece of craft paper and it helped me preserve the rough lines.

This is the original doodle on paper:

Quick Doodle

If you want to draw like a 5-year-old, just hold the pencil the way you normally wouldn't and draw really fast...

Duotone Shy Girl

I tried use different medium to transfer the image and went for a more distressed look. The pencil drawing and acrylic dots were added after. I'll later varnish it with gloss varnish which will really bring out the black and the details.

IF: Clutter

Most of the time my head is all cluttered with thoughts / ideas and I can't rest well unless I release them somehow. This is kind of a self-portrait too.

Girls on Wood Panels

I put the girls on wood panels over the week.





And also we went to check out Dick and his booth at the Westport Art Fair. Look what we got. Isn't it awesome?

Artist: Dick Daniels

(All artworks by Dick Daniels)

This is a quick shout out for my buddy Dick Daniels! I've blogged about Dick's artworks before in my old blog... Well, it is this time of the year again. Dick will be showing his awesome awesome artworks at the Westport Art Fair in Kansas City starting this Friday. If you haven't seen his works, I suggest you go check out his website "FunHouse57". Super fun stuff! Talk about putting artworks on woods, he is the master (and I LOVE how he uses found wood so each piece is different)! He also makes really fun ceramic pieces like skulls and bunny+kitty heads! If you are not in the K.C. area, you can still browse his online shop or you can just email him I believe!

This photo is taken from Dick's site... Look how awesome the display is! It's like a candy shop.

And I put this FUNHOUSE sign above my loveseat in the studio.

Profiles Pattern

I had to try this just to see how it will look...

Animation : Paper Horse Rider

A combination from the profiles doodle and some footage I saw last night on National Geographic's "Taboo" program.

Profiles Doodle

I was practicing drawing profiles...

Doodles from Today

The doodles were actually from last night when I was watching TABOO on National Geographic... I LOVE THAT SHOW! So amazing. The hair style in the last doodle was inspired by one of the tribal hair I saw on the show.

One more day to go before I have to go back to work. Sign...
(I did mow my lawn! YAY!)