Deciphering Korra

lol (yes that's all I can say to begin an entry)

My friend was showing a (apparently leaked?) tidbit of the upcoming Avatar series. Homg. It looks awesome man. Even though I've never really watched Avatar before (you guys can smack me with a brick if you want). I'd prefer to watch the new series since it's going to be short, and I prefer it that way :)

Anyways, this also gives me an excuse have first shot at studying an action sequence. I've always wanted to know the magical secrets behind the excitement of fighting! I know it was going to be a challenge... but I never expected to spend so much time on this. I ended up nitpicking all the compositions while referencing the film in a badly deformed screen ratio, not really a good thing.

There are so many things I liked about that short sequence. It made my thumbnails look really awesome.









Right, I also didn't notice Korra is emerging from the window in the last shot when I did this. Most of the shots were rather easy to figure out, but that ONE bit, the shot with Korra tossing the guy... WHAT WAS THAT SORT OF TRICKERY?! I don't get it. Was it one continuous shot? If it was how did they manage to animate the guy turn around to smash the door? And how did the background change from swooshy-swoosh back into a normal street? It wasn't a screen wipe! I feel so dimwitted! ARG someone enlighten me!

Also, in the beginning I was planning to just draw the camera moves, but in the end I dropped it because... well... the template. Duh. But that made me draw so many more panels. Guh.


Anyways, can't wait for the new series!

Might as well!

I never put up my life drawing stuff. Ever. Because they're terrible and make me claw my face out. Life drawing has always been my weakest subject, but I'm making an exception today.

I was messing around with markers.





30 sec






1 Min




5 Mins





Also, this rather old pastel drawing of a horse I did during Royal Winter Fair. Instead of buying chutney, I blew my money off pepperoni and now my cupboard smells like... well, pepperoni.

Oh yeah, critiques. Please. I really need them.

Italy update again

And raging about my computer! My computer decided to restart behind my back and when I came back I realized it decided to close Photoshop along with all my unsaved drawings on it. ARG! What's worse, after it updated it's now running slower than ever! Curse you Microsoft Update! Curse you!!!


Anyways, I've never gotten myself to upload my sketchbook from Italy, but now I shall dump all my scribbles on my blog, yay!

















Most of the things are self explanatory. We all glued whatever we could in our sketchbooks, so yeah, those are real gelato spoons. I regretted using a moleskine for this trip, the pages were too thick and too few. I later bought another one with the thinner pages during my trip because I ran out of pages (can be nicknamed volume 2 of my trip, haha). That sketchbook... well, I still have no idea where it is right now.

Also I should add how cozy our room was. Funnily enough, there were these really gorgeous white flower. By the time we left our apartment, the flowers are all gone and wilted. It's like the flowers are saying goodbye to us, but I guess also because it was nearing summer.

Anyways, I gotta go update more of my old stuff. :P

So finally...

It's done! I may fix it or something but... I think it's alright for now.




The story of a cockroach running away from a fly swatter.

So many things have happened during the making of this that I don't really want to say anything about it =_=. No actually, I will. Somewhat. Like sleepless nights. And kicking myself many many times. And raging. And many more raging. Mainly the compositing part because After Effects hate me.

And, I'd like to talk about stress levels. You know how when people get stressed you'd eat more? Stuff yourself with ice cream? Then there's that level BEYOND that. The level where you're so stressed you don't even WANT to eat. Yeah.

The part I liked the most? The layout and the dust animation. The rest? Eh....

Anyways, here's the layout. I really wish I can paint details but... for some reason I can't let go of that large brush. And, it looks rather desaturated on my laptop, but it's supposed to be nice and brightly colored.



Who doesn't like rainbows?

Thought I'd...

Update something else about the group film, hehe :D These are monster poses and concepts.





I remember that night I had an ultra rage-fest. I was so angry I couldn't do anything but draw the monster raging. Seriously though, I was sincerely furious.

How silly of me...

To forget putting up my Italy trip drawings, haha. Consider it a drastically late update. My sketchbooks are still hanging around with my teacher, so I can't scan anything from there :(

I love Italy. I love how artsy it is. It's like a magical fantasy land. I love the Tuscany country side (Vinci, San Gimignano, Pienza), I really, really, love Florence. I love Bologna. Strangely enough, I don't like Rome. Too similar to North America and too many thieves in the subway, I guess. Or maybe I just forgot to bring my camera.

I remember how we first saw a shady gelato store just right where we live that we never went until the last quarter of the trip, and it turned out to be the most amazingly cheap and delicious gelato store. I remember how I'd be so happy in Florenece I was literally flailing my arms around and skipping down the streets in the middle of the night (and no, I was not drunk). I remember how I wanted to explore every part of Tuscany whenever the weekend comes (and took the train whenever we could). I remember how my and my roommates would try out a new Italian dish whenever we got inspired by the food we ate at the restaurants.

Also, I remember how much money I spent during my trip (and almost went over budget)




Florence, there was an opera beside the tower, that's why it has all this cool red lighting. I remember squatting on the pavement with a bunch of other people around. Acrylics on Bristol.



Vinci, watercolor on Bristol. Most memorable moment: A pigeon poop landed squarely on my copics, which was luckily inside a plastic case.



Ah, Venice. I wasn't too fond of this place. Ultra classy rich people with too many Asian tourists from cruises trying to look high class O_e The smell of the sea is nice though. I was talking out loud to the sea and people thought I was crazy. I admit it.

There was also this master glass artist who makes beautiful dainty glass birds and insects (His name is Vittorio Costantini, by the way, look him up!). He doesn't speak much English, and he has this odd secret look at him. The kind that looks like he knows that he's really good at what he does and he was unfazed by our showers of compliments.

Heck, his works are so insanely expensive. I still bought it though, and left me basically broke, hahaha. But I thought if I wanted to buy Murano glass, why not get the most memorable, impressive ones than those that you would find in souvenir shops?


Anyways, in the end, I was so obsessed with Italian cuisine, on the last few days I stuffed a bunch of Italian ingredients in my luggage. I flew back to Toronto and cooked a full 4-course Italian meal for my parents, and served them some Chianti wine.

Trying out different styles

For our upcoming group film :D