shin

one foot boy

2009-11-05T05:41:00.000-08:00

pudding from my brother's piano teacher + chem

argh, life gets busy.

shin is creating tons of visuals for PW, meanwhile trying to create pages for graphite 2009. once this is over shin is really going to take a break from photoshop, yah really.

in other news, the book for the muhammadiyah home is getting published, my art isn't much but at least it's going to be for some good :)

mika's soundtrack is the best inspiration for the now (:

A bit of promotion (for JC1s to be)

2009-10-28T04:38:00.000-07:00

RIJC H2 ART FAQs: (not written by me, but just thought i'd share)

Is art a really stressful subject?

like duh... which subject isn't? but unlike other subjects, this is one subject you really don't mind spending time on. Firstly, what you're doing is fun, it's interesting. You can go trawling the net for interesting ideas/ facts on famous artists/ strange artworks by random people all over the world. Next, you have a fabulous bunch of people you work with. which is totally incomparable to your classmates; they'll give you suggestions, sing you songs, have mass brainstorming sessions, laugh at your Monalisas. They are your beloved artclass! (well and of course your seniors)

What do you mean when you are talking about 'fun'? How can drawing a bunch of kettles/pots/plates in pencil be fun?

Art itself is fun! and you don't do 2d drawing all the time! In fact, you do much much more other stuff like drawing. Furthermore, you get to try, and are made to try, many many different mediums and interesting techniques. These include oilpainting, furniture-making print making, clay, plaster casting, mush making… etc. PLUS! The art class goes for many exhibitions and openings together, and we all have fun running after our most enthusiastic art teacher as he zooms arounds the different venues and going out to eat swensens’ icecream together! We organize exhibitions as well and chiong together for projects, catering and having picnics are just part of our weekly routine. It’s art life, we get used to it! It’s fun!

Does taking Art make me an Arts student?

This question is most often asked, and asked again and again, by prying parents/ concerned individuals who come to visit the exhibition.-.-‘’’ We are ART students, not arts students. Many of us are in the science stream, like the senior mentioned above who takes PCMA, contrarily to popular belief. If your parents are worrying about you not having a future because you don’t take economics and wish to waste your time on a supposedly frivolous subject, please tell them that they are wrong, and most wrong! Art is a difficult subject. It is not easy. Neither is it easy to score in. It requires time, effort, and good attitude. If your parents are still very hard to convince, tell that that there are rjc art seniors who have entered the medical profession, as well as fields such as engineering. Most have secured scholarships and places overseas in prestigious universities. Art gives you an edge, it says that you’re different and special. You take art! :D N.b. This question seems to imply a sort of unstated, yet existent prejudice against art students, and yes we cannot control about what others think about us but I must state art students are one of the most wonderful and talented people I know!

<3 RJArtclass 09-10

My take:

That said though, taking art requires alot of commitment and initiative. Be prepared to go the extra mile for class assignments, like coming back to the art room during weekends to finish pottery (on the bright side, the art room is a really nice place to hang out!)

Taking H2 art was a really good way for me to delve deeper into the fine arts. Before this, I didn't have much of a clue of art history (ask me about famous artists and i'd name the better known ones and that's it =_=") and i didn't know what was the proper way to approach art-making process. (there are 2 main components to h2 art, the practical aspect and the Study of Visual Arts aspect that's heavy on history).

Some of my art classmates have compared taking h2 art to attaining nirvana of some sort :O I think it's because in some ways I've felt more enlightened about stuff like "what is art?" and "why is something that looks like child scrawlings hanging in a museum?". Taking art has made me feel like I've truly started my art journey (: like this is truly the beginning...

---

k, I hope this helps u make an informed decision about subject combi! if you have any more questions feel free to ask (:

had a bad day

2009-10-26T05:39:00.000-07:00

WORK IN PROGRESS

graphite

2009-10-06T22:58:00.000-07:00

drawings by ash, colouring by shin. storyline by the both of us.

something that seemed so utterly unachievable, so impossible, outta-this world occured last year around this time. for us noobs to flesh out a 16-page story in full colour was a wonderful experience (ashirogi muto!)

it's been one year and i know we will do better this final time we take part in graphite.

art spam due soon (:

2009-09-26T07:50:00.000-07:00

PROMOS

abstraction: leaving out all the superficial details and using only the basic elements to create a non-representational composition.
p.s. good luck

id

2009-08-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

ex-ncc land, lion dance, runway, h2 art, ecolit.
sometimes it's like nothing fits, and you're an amalgamation better left in a zoo.

sometimes it's not about what you do, it's all just about the passion all about trying new things, all about finding things to appreciate in even the most mundane aspects of life. even if you fall, tumble, hurt, bleed...

...at least you know you're being you.

----

tough week, tougher weeks ahead *puts on camou cap*

of pw and art

2009-08-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

fell sick last weekend and missed lessons on monday >_< these are some illustrations i did for a book project on a voluntary basis. the book is a compilation of true stories of children from the Muhammadiyah Welfare Home.

first time trying out illustrations, realised my skills of composition need lots of sharpening. need to explore the realm of non-representational art better. i hope i did these stories justice.

well, there's a long weekend to catch up on work >_< who is going to STCC (Toycon)?

nothing scary, i promise:
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=22913

.

2009-07-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hey Monalisa, who was Leonardo?
Was he Andy Warhol?
Were you Marilyn Monroe
Hey Mozart, what kind of name is Amadeus
It's kinda like Elvis
You gotta die to be famous
I may not go down in history
I just want someone to remember me

I'll probably never hold a brushthat paints a masterpiece
Probably never find a pen that writes a symphony
But if I will love then I will find
That I have touched another life
And that's something
Something worth leaving behind

-- lyrics from the awesome-sauce song "Something worth leaving behind" from OSL 2007 o.o

these are foolish and unthinkable dreams but i'm going to hold onto them come what may.

art room stuff

2009-07-18T03:51:00.000-07:00

a corner of the school to ourselves, where colours can fly everywhere and creativity is synthesised (:

spend last afternoon and this morning piecing together this cardboard sculpture as part of our sculpture module. super proud of this door-frame-wannabe (: guideline was that it had to be taller than the tallest person in the group, so yeah, hanjie fits!

and epic:

hanjie: your chinese is good

(and no he wasn't being sarcastic) xD

k, right now h1n1 seems to be plaguing the campus. hope everyone feeling sick gets well soon.. take care of yourself, guys.

boo

2009-07-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

speedie, i feel rusty >_<

i love my art class. we're all very diverse, come from different places, have different motivations, but somehow all bonded by the invisible fibers that make us artists. and yes artists are all weird people (:

CTs over!

2009-07-02T10:20:00.000-07:00

well, almost (:

where have i been?
haven't seen you in a while
yet as i carry on,
i feel your presence always lingers there
(the art world always waits)

---------

wow, it takes a staggering time for me to update. schools the word.

i should really thank stella and ann for being my mugging buddies for the past few mornings, thanks for staying with me from 8am till 12.30pm to mug for our topics that day. it's extreme but i daresay it works =_=" (thanks guys!)

a handful of people asked me about my painting, that i'll upload real soon! sorry to keep u guys in suspense and thanks for the concern, yup!

drug song of the moment, yup it's a slow, jazzy song but the mv is strangely moving.

ahh, right now, i wanted to type alot since alot of things entered my mind during my current discussion with ash but words seem to escape me.

let's take a break...

coursework 2009

2009-06-18T02:44:00.001-07:00

something related to my painting. yes, robots fascinate me.

gonna be glued to my seat for the next few days. good luck to those camping out in the art room!!

musings:

me: i use a wacom bamboo
mr chia: bamboo... *sniggers*
me: *borrows wacom intuos from art room*

me: just let me take a photo of you for reference
bro: no way, i don't want to
me: it will only take a while, why can't you do it!?
bro: ...i don't want to take off my shirt

holiday

2009-06-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

it's the june holiday period again..

stuff i haven't blogged about:
- rproject show
- og chalet
- class outing
- rproject post-production party

even though there is no idyllic Imaginary Friends Studios internship period in my june schedule this year, i still have coursework so.. bring on the photoshop.

holiday agenda:
- STUDY
- coursework (i really, really want to come up with a quality digital painting)
- book illustrations for cip
- ecolit art comm designs

devMEET Singapore (:

2009-05-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

devMEET in Singapore, thursday

about: http://hq.deviantart.com/

I rushed down after my PW lesson which ended at 4.40pm even though the meet started at 4pm. I didn't know what time it would end so I was super lucky I managed to be part of the group photo, talk to some fellow like-minded deviants and also get a chance to talk to zemotion, a photographer whom I admire very much, not just for her artwork but for her character.

in a photo (courtesy of adelin) with stanley, heidi, spyed and zemotion (left to right). k i'm grinning like an idiot but i could have died happy right then and there! surrounded by all these amazing people, it's enough to give you the jitters.

http://rh89.deviantart.com/art/devMEET-Singapore-123224872

i got energised enough to create some artwork, hence i will definitely spam all the art i've been doing this semester here over the holidays!

(._.)/ for now.

to all mothers

2009-05-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

especially mine (:

happy mother's day!

i always see some interesting clouds on my way to school, today i finally put my observations to the canvas.

---

it has been a rough week, but although things were tiring, they have also been fun. had art class outing on thursday to a digital art exhibit, before that we celebrated mr chia's birthday.

it was xinwei's birthday on friday, and some art classmates watched shaolin soccer (courtesy of long) at some corner of the art room). after that i went for dine in the dark -_- eating in the dark was an interesting experience.

well, those were the highlights of my week in condensed form. all the best to us rproject designers next week, it's our final sprint before the fashion show. after that it will be our models doing the walking. for tickets, just approach me or any other designer.

cya in another week (:

yelloe

2009-04-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

stuffings

2009-04-15T05:15:00.000-07:00

long time no post, lots of stuff has happened in the few weeks concerning lion dance, runway, h2 art class, pw, etc. and although i'm not involved in these things, the"seasonal" stuff like council campaigning, syf, etc, is still worth mentioning too.

last wednesday, some of rgsnccpartds08 visited rg (: it was awesome seeing the platoonmates, the company and the school again. surprised how nostalgic i was feeling being back in rg o.o didn't get to talk to our part but partas gave us cupcakes, wasn't expecting something so thoughtful. i really wanted to tell them that 4 years in rg is really something to cherish.

on to lion dance, our batch is still learning all the performance steps. i can't wait for the day we can make the lions come alive like jiao lian does it. the first performance is in july, meanwhile we still have to work on our zhan jiao, emotion, etc.

for runway, our designing deadlines are coming soon o.o and the JC1 Art Exhibit is open from next Monday to Friday 11-4pm!!!! Please check it out if you're free (:

still gotta remind myself about what i love about lion dance/ runway/ h2 art (: though things are getting busier, if i look ahead, there's still so much to expect.

perceptions

2009-03-25T04:46:00.001-07:00

rare fanart from me! aeris from final fantasy 7/ advent children
this was actually done in january.. it's kinda unfinished in certain ways. I wanted to touch it up but after I started on realism it'd be hard to get back to it since i didn't use any reference at all so I'm just posting it up so it gets to see some "light of day".

this is unrelated and perhaps it's stunningly obvious but there are tons of people in this school, some whom you'd like/ dislike/ idolise/ despise.

sometimes though, first impressions don't work, so it's best not to devote too many feelings and make life complicated. it's only after you really, really know the person, before you're qualified to make any judgement.

if you don't like a person, it's usually either because you/the other person has flaws (but no one is perfect, duh) or you just had a big misunderstanding.

i'm guess i'm just saying this cos i got a letter today from a new friend BY POST, it's awfully unexpected and sweet. oh my tian, my first impression of that person and how i now feel is completely different.

i think all the reflections in class camp are getting to me too, more about it another time!

btw, thanks wanqi (:

practice

2009-03-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

30-min prac to destress a bit, the character is actually someone from a story a friend wrote, i hope she continues writing it.
it's been so long since i've talked to ash, finally got the chance today during rproject consultation, she told me she's still drawing in class and stuff (unlike me ><). sahhh, i really miss those days when we art-jammed almost every recess.

after the rproject consultation we crashed rg to see the sec 4 fashion show, this years show looks awesome, there's a wide variety of designs, unlike our year, which was mostly evening gown-ish.
van and anqi look good in their visual kei influenced outfits xD

stuck around rg for a while since we both missed the place, ate prata sausages and ran around the empty canteen.

it's good the press refresh once in a while. thanks ash!

black friday

2009-03-14T02:31:00.000-07:00

ALL HAIL SHE WHO POSES WITH COMPLETE STRANGERS (: you've got guts.

i had another awesome friday the 13th.

noon: had lunch with jiau and fenglan, we wanted to go to karaoke but due to expense, we dropped by all the far east plaza cosplay shops instead. blood romance was having a half price sale o.o so feng lan went on high (: apparently i like skulls but i don't suit skulls because of my lack of height, i suit hearts. gah.

mid-noon: i left far east and made my way to CATHAY to join stella and people from our options class for a movie (see pic). after the movie she cosplayed around the cinema in her rorschach outfit! STELLA ROCKS!

the movie was AMAZING, but perhaps i should be discreet to those who haven't read the book yet. i agree with stella that it should not be compared to the book. different mediums = different things to consider. both are masterpieces in their own rights.

evening: met HH05 at bishan mrt after they also watched slumdog at the CATHAY (face palm moment cos i could have met up with them afterwards instead of going to bishan by myself). we went to watch the chorale concert.

i think there is nothing like hearing music first-hand. unlike mp3 players, first-hand music is just to much more powerful and tangible. the songs were soothing too, and it didn't come off as boring because there were efforts to engage the audience through tiny actions and cool acapella sound effects. cheers michelle, laura, cassandra and anastasia!

that's the end of the day, time for holiday homework, designing and all that. i'm glad i got some time to R&R, with old and new friends for that matter. thank you friends (:

i love goldfish

2009-03-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

our class has been bombarded with holiday homework today! i have to add planning for 3 fashion designs, a cca shirt design and our MEP/ AEP project to the list. notice how it's all art? o_o it's right brain damage... the good kind.

regarding fashion designs, this ominous warning was posted on the rproject yahoogroups: "NO CHANGING OF MODELS. Brains and hair have been torn out to allocate the models. So NO CHANGING."

my models are stuck with crazy designs, joy.

anyway, over the past few hours there has been major spamming in my inbox because people are trying to hand in their "art assignments". basically, it's an e-discussion on whether a goldfish in a blender can be considered art and everyone has to have an input.

i just have to say, i LOVE this discussion. it's like everyone is pouring out their opinions, forming this mix of intellect. if i had more time i'd post my opinions for everyone. seriously. this topic is awesome.

to super-condense it. there was conflict regarding the definition of art, ethics and personal opinion towards the art piece. while i'd love to share what i said, it might be as drab as recounting bio facts to non-bio students xp and my blog is drab enough to the non-art student.

that being said, i realised that a few of my art classmates watch this space, but i think even you guys might find it drab. please tag to satisfy my curiosity! ...and this is unrelated, but i know i have alot of typos >_< a few thoughts:

- there will be more posts about cca in future, there is ALOT of interesting stuff going on in lion dance and runway (haha, these ccas are at different ends of the cca spectrum but they are spectacular) so i'll post more some other time when things slow down. right now it's like alwrhblaeubhe.

- the JC3s did REALLY WELL for A levels, teachers love to quote statistics about how this percentage got distinction for this subject. it's cheesy but i get proud of RJC when even non-rafflesians mention that to me. ONWARD RAFFLES (:

- to my friends (PLATOONMATES AND EX-CLASSMATES) whom i rarely see now: I MISS YOU GUYS!!!! muchly.

edit: oh.my.TIAN. it's 12.20 now and yahoogroups is still regularly churning out responses -_- gotta sleep but i'm tempted to stay up to see more.

stuffings

2009-02-25T06:11:00.000-08:00

i spent the weekend attending the national sustainability conference, basically it was 3 days of continual talks and lectures about sustainability. although some bits were interesting, i had no time to mug xia ):

i had some art homework to do today, realised that i actually did it way ahead of time (just cut and paste blog posts and filter a bit). EPIC WIN.

lion dance and runway have been great so far, feeling excited about everything i'm going to so through this year: lion dance (stella chen!) and design lessons sans the modelling with all the process bits like photo shooting. i never expected to be in either of these ccas but i'll treat it like a case of eyeshield 21, like monta. just make the best of it and have fun and don't regret at the end of these 2 years.

lessons so far are alright, but tomorrow is the day when i have can only eat at around 1pm+. gotta love being the class subject minority.

gg, long day tmr.

and i'm still looking for inspiration to start on something, but i can't find it anywhere...

why art is fun and why it isn't

2009-02-16T01:05:00.000-08:00

I suspect I'm going to do this after every art lesson.

Today, we had a collaboration lesson with the MEPers since we're going to do a paired project we have not been briefed about yet. So basically, we repeated some of the same exercises from the previous lesson plus another practice that involved portrait drawing with a marker attached to a long stick.

Many learning points from the previous lessons were repeated. Our assignments were also given a review by Mr Chia, after this, he made it clear that we still have a long way to go, and we have to draw a whole lot more in order to develop artistically. While I completely agree, here is something that's bugging me:

Although I've done very little recently, I constantly think about art, how to improve it and how I want to apply it in my career.

I think about what I've read in art books, think about re-creating the scenes I see on the morning bus ride and the way colours interact unexpectedly in reality.

But I'm sick of thinking, I want to draw.

However, now every step I take towards my artistic development now will bring my further away from my comfort zone. I can no longer say that drawing what I've always drawn is practice because right now the suitable form of practice requires observing reality for what it is and casting aside all my pre-conceived notions about reality.

Basically, this means I'm going to draw in "my style" a whole lot less, unless I just want to enjoy myself and learn zilch.

Now, I understand why Mr Chia parallels studying art to "inflicting torture" (yes, he came up with that exact phrase) to oneself. It's not easy, one must be meticulous in execution and preparation. For those seeking artistic development, unlike hobbyists, us students have to constantly challenge ourselves with new methods.

Well, there's actually a lot more I want to reflect on, but I'm failing to find words to describe some of the new things we experienced today. Every art lesson so far has left me with more questions about art. I now look forward to Mondays in hopes I might find some answers, and I have an awesome teacher to thank!

"Art is a mission, not a competition"

ash is awesum!

2009-02-15T03:25:00.000-08:00

this is one of the many reasons why ash is awesome. THANKS ASH!! your giftart makes me smile, not cos it's zutara but because of the gesture. chocolates and flowers can be bought but art comes from the heart xD

worhx.

new classes and first art lesson

2009-02-09T01:54:00.000-08:00

today started of with a general feeling of unease as our batch shuffled along to their homerooms to meet their new classes. it was very unsettling to be separated from my og and moving onto another class. i think the main worry that was on everyone's mind was whether they'd get to make new friends again.

man, i miss HH05 already and i really hope we'd meet up often even now after orientation is over.

i was "sorted" into 10S03J, a class where everyone takes "BCM-something". our class is rojak because we have people taking art, music, theatre studies, japanese and of course those normal "BCME" people who did'nt expect to get into such a rojak class.

so far i've only spent about 1 hour or so with my class but everything seems optimistic. people are willing to bond, i like our civics teacher and i know about 2 people in the class and even that few is a relief to me.

time will tell what 10S03J is like, meanwhile, i'm trying my best (and i can see everyone else is also trying) to adjust to this weird new system/ timetable/ syllabus/ UNIFORM.

jia you, batchmates!

----------------------

on to the first art lesson today: (everyone can shy away from this part, i won't blame you.) i shall go all "ben aw" on this post (sorry for using your name, if you're reading this, but your style of posting is seriously detailed like what i'm going to do here)

overall, this was one power-packed lesson but it was exactly the reason i chose to take h2 art. if art lessons were anything other than what i'd experienced today, i'd feel wasted.

when the lesson ended, i was feeling exhausted, surprised, happy, anxious yet enthusiastic for future lessons and a whole plethora of conflicting emotions.

to recount quickly:
- we started off with an introductory talk. mr chia, our new art teacher, made things very clear that because we were offered h2 art, there were actually some people who were declined such opportunities. it was a privilege, and to honour those that did not make it into the class, there was no way we could slack off (not that i was ever intending to), but his words reinforced the reason why i was determined to put extra effort into this subject.

- first practice involved drawing someone from our art class, it was my first time ever doing a realistic drawing of a guy. it's good since drawing guys would help me change my bad habits. according to mr chia, this drawing would be the worst drawing we would do today. looking back, it was not really the best way to draw.

- second activity involved closing our eyes and drawing blindly to some jazz music without forming recognisable shapes, this enforced the concept of confidence in your drawings and the pride one should have of their own drawings.

- third activity involved walking around school blindfolded while being guided by a partner who could only communicate with you verbally. this example was used to parallel the concepts mentioned above.

- for the fourth activity, we did blind contour drawing, blind contour drawing with our left hand and gesture drawing. subjects differed, but the main learning points were similar to the above exercises, with an additional point that artists do not create photographs, but they draw their own interpretation of reality.

what we did today made me question just what kind of art i was creating over the past decade and a half of my life. i also realised that i give anime/manga art more appreciation than necessary. today i was taught this statement that i would surely try to dissect over the subsequent lessons: beautiful art does not mean good art.

there is so much more to what meets the eye, how many people actually observe the creases on skin or stare enough at other people to realise just how unique everyone is. of course, no one does that because only fine artists know the value of close observation.

this brings me to my point: everyone is unique. anime/manga artists tend to over-simplify people such that some characters look the same with only exception to the hairstyle. i'm not criticising this art style as everyone has their own way of representing reality but i'm just making a note that perhaps i give this style too much credit as "great art" because i value things on how "beautiful" they look. oftentimes, the concept/ quality of the lines/ things that are more prided in fine art should be considered merely than the superficial quality of "beauty".

after this lesson, i definitely will not stop enjoying anime/manga, but my own personal style will change so as to follow fine art guidelines.

i don't view this as switching over to the "dark side", confining myself to realistic portraits and such, but more as a liberation. after all, manga artists can only draw manga, fine artists can go in virtually any direction that they desire.

in short, i've decided to re-learn everything again, starting from what i've been doing since i could pick up a pencil,

draw.

(if you have read up to this point, THANK YOU! please TAG cos you must be super patient :D)