This is a 1.5 hour speedpaint I did to show some of the shortcut techniques I used when it comes to painting cityscapes, reflections, fieheye effect and bright lights :) You can watch the full tutorial on my Youtube
Dappled light, filtered in gold
Teasing and ephemeral. fleeting to cold
Dances brightly
Irregardless.
Another painting of Fantine and Lala from Dream Without Dream, a children's book that I'll be making in the future. This one is partially inspired by BBC's Blue Planet II documentaries. I've been watching them the past few days and I'm just so in love with the ocean <3
Look through me
You can't hide
And I'll divide
You into your
True colors
Feb, 2018
Finally got to draw the Falcon Heavy Launch! I saw so many cool photos that were so inspiring :D
And yes, I know she would be dead if she actually stood that close, this is metaphorical about inspiring the next generation, not incinerating them lol
Mirror, mirror, on the the wall
Show me the future of us all
One of the hundreds of sketches I did during my last semester at college.
Today is Chinese New Year. I tried to draw something happy for it but it felt too forced and after a few failed attempts, I realized it’s because it’s hard to feel happy when I miss my family. My grandparents raised me when my parents weren’t present. My parents were emotionally abusive which took years of therapy to recover from, so my grandparents are more like my real parents.
The thought of family during the holidays has always been so bittersweet. The nostalgic memories of loneliness and longing. Some years I celebrate the holiday, some years it hurts to think about.
Inspired by a hike I had with my SO. We started in the morning and hiked the entire day until the stars came out. It was magical seeing the blue sky turn to red, dotted with clouds of all shapes and colors, and finally the starry night with the faintest trace of the Milky Way. We live our stressful and hectic days, but it's calming to step back and remember no matter what's happening in our lives, the sun will rise and set, painting the skies in a menagerie of emotions. We all have to do is look up and breathe.
Feb, 2018
Trying out more painterly styles :D
My contribution to the Gaia Vim Naturae charity art book to help with Colombia's flood disaster.
April, 2019
Terrarium headphones! There’s nothing more soothing than the sound of nature to cancel out the noises of city life~
I will fly.
Despite the struggle, we carry on. We carry on.
Freckles are like sprinkles of stars~
1 hour speed paint
The BP Gulf of Mexico oil Spill still gushing 4,200,000 US gallons of crude oil every day even after 40 days since the initial explosion on April 20th, 2010. The environmental disaster is astronomical, with over 4,000 species of birds and marine life in danger. Countless dead birds, fish, turtles, and other animals already been found on the shores covered in oil.
We can not let this incident go forgotten. So many oil spills in the past have occurred, so why are we making the same mistakes over and over again?
Remember this sin. Remember tomorrow.
Some rainy days are so nostalgic. I remember as a kid, whenever it rained, I was stuck at home watching the gray city while imagining a field of sunshine.
This my tribute painting to the Occupy movement. I was really inspired by all the peaceful and creative ways the occupiers were making their opinions heard, especially when the police try to clear them out, they've found ways to return in the form of tent balloons, book tents, and chalk people.
Even if you don't agree with the Occupy movement, you have to admit that they have imagination
Everything seen in this painting is inspired by real events that I've either witnessed first hand at Occupy Berkeley or photos of other Occupies online.
Finally had some time to paint between all the projects. I think I'm too in love with the Milky Way and paint it all the time :)
April, 2019
Growing with Time
Are you?
These porcelain lies
Crafted with precision
Fired with intention
Beautiful and frail
All doomed to fail
In time the mask will shatter
And as the pieces scatter
You'll be left all alone
With all the lies you've grown
Humanity's futile attempt to elevate their own image to the level of imaginary angels, and in the process have caged themselves with the ideology of perfection.
An exploration of my personal hopes and phobias.
Done in watercolor and pastel.
Despair is the inaction that keeps us down,
Hope is the will to create a better tomorrow.
This is a very old drawing of mine, but I still hold the concept close to heart.
The ironic truth:
Ever since the movie, Jaws, people have had an irrational fear of sharks. The ironic truth is that humans are the ones killing off all the sharks. You’re more likely to die from lightning strikes or falling coconuts than sharks. There are only around 60 shark attacks per year, and only around 4 of those attacks are fatal. The shark attacks are usually accidents in which the shark mistakes a surfer for a seal. However, over 104,000,000 sharks are killed by humans every year.
Around 78 million of the 104 million dead sharks are killed only for their fins to be put into shark fin soup. The soup is a popular dish in Asian countries, and falsely believed to have health benefits such as sex life enhancement. Shark finning is the cruel act of cutting off the shark’s fins while it is still alive, then the still living shark is wastefully thrown back into the ocean to die a slow and painful death. Can you imagine the agony of someone chopping off your arms and legs and leaving you to bleed to death just so they can have a make believe better sex life?
The irony of the situation is that due to all the pollution we dump into the ocean, the sharks and other apex predators like dolphins and whales have accumulated a dangerous level of toxins such as mercury (this process called biomagnication is not as bad with fish on the lower food chain so we can still eat those). Eating animals like sharks can cause mercury poisoning, which will not only cause nerve damage and eventual retardation, but also decrease your sexual performance.
Why it matters to you:
Sharks are an important part of our ecosystem. They have been around for 430 million years, and that time, all of the ocean’s life have evolved around sharks. If sharks go extinct, the fragile balance of the ocean will be thrown into chaos. Without sharks to eat fish on the lower food chain, those fish will breed out of control and eat all the plankton that’s needed to produce oxygen.
Unlike some fish that lays thousands of eggs every year, sharks only produce 2-20 pups per year. If we catch them at the same rate as other fish we eat, they will go extinct. What worse is that people don’t even eat the shark itself, just the fins because they believe it will help their sex life.
How you can help:
Shark finning is technically banned in many countries, but there is no real effort to stop the illegal trade of shark fins. However, just by simply spreading awareness about the toxic truth behind shark fin soup, we can help bring down the demand for shark fins which will ultimately break down the illegal trade. If people are educated about the fact that shark fin soup doesn’t actually make them better at sex, and that it can actually poison them, then they will no long want to buy it.
A simple way to spread awareness is to post this picture on your own dA, blog, or website along with the info above. You have my full permission repost this drawing anywhere you want. Also tweet and facebook it to all your friends and family. The more people who knows, the more difference we can make!
You can also help by donating to shark conservation causes at:
SSCS-----Oceana-----Save Our Seas-----Shark Trust
Special thanks to Wildfotog for contacting me and working with me extensively on the issue.
I wanted to try mimicking calligraphy brushes.
12/26/2017
In the freezing cold of... California.... I'm dreaming of a tropical paradise :)
My figure drawing professor told us to look at images of real people in motion and draw their internal skeletons, so I drew the top 4 in a walk cycle and the bottom 4 dancing to Beyonce's Single Ladies.
I can fly too.
The main illustration page has a limit of 100 images. Here are all of ones that didn’t fit.
I don’t want your concrete skies
Painted blue with clouds of lies
This rain, this pain
I rather feel
What is real
What is real?
Curled up under my own sorrow
Will I ever look up?
To see the sun will be shining tomorrow
Drawn in ball point pen.
Goodbye, farewell. I’m going home. I’m going home.
Autumn Spell - Winter Rose - Spring Blossom - Summer Glow
It started out with just autumn, but I was commissioned by a eco bag company to complete the set as artwork for their product.
I drew this as a speed paint and was recording the process before my computer froze and I lost the last half of the process orz.
Sometimes it's nice to just let my mind go blank and draw whatever comes to it.
Give me your wings
and teach me to fly
Show me the way
down the other path
So that I may
fall and fall again.
Speed paint of Helen from Project: WE.
"What is childhood to you? Do you remember much of it? How was the experience?"
I remember the absence.
The main illustration page has a limit of 100 images. Here are all of ones that didn’t fit.
We shall wake to sanity
Sometimes the trauma resurfaces. Sometimes everything hurts.
Helen from Project: WE
I always wanted to draw a piano with the higher keys out of focus.
Because violins are sexy.
The Chinese literally translates into "Without Knowing, without Feeling". However, the meaning can be taken as absentmindedly doing something, or so lost in thought that you do not notice your surroundings.
April, 2017
I've always loved Escher's mind bending work and I've been really into drawing glass lately so it's only natural to mix the two.
Sketching helps calm me at times.
The tedious process of combing out bedhead each morning... Who else feels this pain?
For when the cranes are gone, and only symbols remain.
These eyes won't shine.
I always liked the way shy canines approached people. I exaggerated the lowered head by elongating the neck.
Artwork done in my early teens.
But not of real skulls.
There's something to be said about art imitating mass produced plastic imitations of the human form.
Late night, can't sleep. Random designs cross my mind.
Once in a blue moon, I get the urge to sketch some random character outfits I'm not into fashion at all (I often walk around in my pajamas in public) so these outfits aren't fancy or creative but whatever, I had fun sketching them.
Why don't they have shoes? I don't like shoes, I don't like to wear shoes and I don't like smell of new shoes.
This is also the when I first designed Robin from Fisheye Placebo.
A simple fashion design I did a while back. Ocelli refers to the eye spots on the butterfly wings that's used in automimicry.
This is Amby, named after the scientific name for axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum (or Upa Rupa in Japanese lol). The wild type of axolotls are brown, but the leucistic and albino kind is used for research on regeneration because their translucent skin makes for easy observation.
That made the cat
Kill the butterfly
Don't look at me
Don't say a word
Close that door
Leave me unheard
Cold and trapped
Curled up in this apathy
Lost in my self-pity
Doomed in my ever self-fulling prophecy
I drew this a long time ago as a joke but forgot to upload it on here. The design is based off of my friend's Halloween custom.
Ever had an argument with your rat-like dog?
I know that feel, bro.
Design from one of my future graphic novels.
I've been messing around Z Brush and some other 3D programs to test out how well I can incorporate 3D human models into my drawing. I sculpted a few heads in Zbrush which I then painted over in SAI.
Hopefully I'll be able to use more 3D in the future to help speed up my drawing process and to save my hand from being over worked orz. It's nice to not have to paint everything from scratch~
