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Illustration - A Visual History

'Illustration Visual History' (by S. Heller & S. Chwast) is a very good book to understand illustration history, with its cultural style in particular period from 18th century, eg. Art Nouveau, Art Deco. We will understand the movement along with the changing of political and economic background.

The Gruffalo and its making of

Shout 'Gruffalo' loudly to Eva when I discovered 'The Gruffalo' at St. Martins's library. It was originally a children's illustration book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. I like this very much as the monster Gruffalo is so cute (and should be scary...which Axel never imagined his Gruffalo is the favorite of many families).

I was happy to watch its animation version as well as the making of. It is interesting to know how the illustrator, writer, director, animator, sound actors worked together. It reminded me the happy moment when I was working on the TVC with Yellow Page. Although most of my time I was working with the designer, I really enjoyed the meeting we had with the director and animators. Everyone had different roles and gave ideas from various angels. And...the most enjoyable moment must be chatting and eating with the art director and the account executive near office, although we needed to work after dinner in the midnight :)

With candies

Size: 40x40cm

Drawing with acrylic helped me to think of the texture of the rabbits.

I did not apply background colour cos' I hope to keep the natural canvas colour.

New header

Happy New Chinese New Year and I'd like to give my blog a new look. I have been using the old donut header since July 2010. After I started my work in Shenzhen, I was looking for a new start and I created a 2nd blog for sharing. I gave the blog the name 'Whatever Smiles', as smile makes us happy. Happy to smile, smile to be happy. I enjoyed my happy donuts (the old header on the top), but it is too sugary for me now...so better change again~

I had no clear idea what to put on the new header. So, I drew every characters I designed yesterday night. May I introduce them to you here?

1. Me: 'Me' is the girl I drew on comics in Singtao Daily in 2008-2010 (Thanks Jan). Her hair is curved on one side. It is the same as mine when I was in primary school. Due to my heavy workload at company, I gave up the column, which has provided me the opportunity to draw comics to the public.
2. Olga: She is the main character in my DIY book 'Mind the Box' at Kongkee's workshop. Olga was looking for her box with dream and passion. I was really happy to exhibit and sell this little wooden book at a YMCArts in Education DIY bookfair (Thanks Kongkee, Sandy and Miranda Yiu, all encouraged me a lot to create. Olga and I are looking for the box together).
3. KaKa: She was created for a large scale X'mas decoration at Windsor House, 'Magical KaKa Factory'. I hope she'd bring happiness to the public with her magical desserts. Thanks for the frequent homemade desserts from my dearest friends, I hoped I'd make it with KaKa's magic to them as reward.
4. Nadia: She is the earliest character I created after my A-Level. No eye and no mouth, to observe the world with heart. She appeared on Swatch watches in 2011 and 2012.
5. Rabbit family: Their names may be Meca, Uni, Pudo and Peco. Meca and Uni developed from Nadia and they are love partners. Pudo and Peco are friends. I will be working on my MA final projects with them :)

Yes, I can't deny that they are very cute, maybe too cartoon and commercial, but they were all created with my sincerity and from my experience, to deliver positive message to the audience. And I will always insist with this belief with my illustrations :)

Scratch

Ultimate the flexibility...

Working hard

I hope I could be more hardworking to make everything perfect...I tried 2 drawings before working on the actual work to be exhibited in Chelsea in February. I don't like the final result...feel sad. I will further modify it and hopefully all the trials will make my final MA work to be better. 2 trials are never good enough...

Good news

I am pleased to discovered 'The Good Times" in Shoreditch in London. It is a free paper with all good news, actually it mentioned the problems in London but it suggested solutions to keep everyone optimistic. It is an alternative to miserable Metro. Apart from the content, I was inspired by its graphics layouts as well as the illustrations. Nice :)

Happy Chinese New Year

Wish you all the best in coming year.

Welcome dragon, but never bye bye to rabbits ^^

Hong Kong Comics!!!

Excited to discover this book at my college library, as I am really interested to know more about the comic history in Hong Kong. As mentioned in my previous interviews, I was greatly influenced by the comics in Hong Kong, including 'Ngau Chai (牛仔)', 'Old Master Q (老夫子)', and McMug series. I really enjoy reading them, because I discovered the power of visual language, with very few dialogue from them. There are few books introducing HK comics, and I really hope there will be an archive on HK illustrations very soon.

With kimono

Mum received a parcel from my dad in Japan when I was a kid. There were 4 kimonos for my mum, my sisters and me. Mine was orange in color, mum's was purple and my sisters' were red. It was difficult to wear this and we wore them once only...but my dad enjoyed taking photo of us.

Unknot please

Silhouette animation

"The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed)" is an silhouette animation by Lotte Reiniger. It was first screened in Germany in 1926, and now it is restored. It revealed the beauty of silhouette, with stunning and lively visuals on beautiful monotone background.

Bleeding

Dip pen & indian ink

I bought the dip pen and ink in London finally, actually I have them in HK...

Personally I prefer brush and chinese ink,

but this dip pen created another drawing and visual feeling which I enjoy as well.

Research in Salisbury

I was looking for bunny houses in Salisbury

He could not lie

Espresso and you are both lovable

Could you please complete a questionnaire for me?

Hello all, I am working on my MA Visual Arts (Illustration) project at Camberwell College of Arts. I am collecting some information on the relationship of human's emotional response and the weather. Could you please spend a few minutes and fill in the following questions for me? The data collected will be only used for academic purpose only. You'd answer the questionnaire in either English or Chinese.

You can 1) Copy and paste the questions with answers and email me via jasminef@gmail.com, or h.fung2@arts.ac.uk ;or 2) Answer in the "Post Comment" box in this blog post.

If you'd like to receive and work on a separate MS Word file (or forward to your friends), please feel free to let me know here or via email. Thanks very much!!!

Part 1) Your Personal Information

Name:

Age Range: Under 16 / 16-25 / 36-45 / 46-60 / Above 60

Gender:

Nationality:

City you live in:

Marital status: Single / Married / Divorced / In a relationship / It is complicated

Do you own pet: Yes / No / Planned to

Do you plant at your home: Yes / No / Planned to

What is your interest:

Part 2) Your Emotional Response to the Weather

1) What is your favorite weather?

2) May I know why?

3) What do you mostly do in this weather?

4) What do you really hope to do in this weather (have done or haven't done)?

5) What people you'd like to spend your time with, or being alone in this weather?

6) Is there any weather you don't enjoy?

7) May I know why?

8) What do you mostly do in this weather?

9) Do you have any idea to enjoy this weather (have done or haven't done)?

10) What people you'd like to spend your time with, or being alone in this weather?

11) Lastly, do you have anything to say about the weather in your living place?

This is the end of the questionnaire, thanks very much for your kindly help and information.

27-30Dec2011 Salisbury with Eva

4 days 3 nights in Salisbury. Breathe to work.

Happy 2012

I missed the firework in London!!! As usual, I counted down in front of the sketchbook. Reviewed what I have done last year and wrote the 'to do list' in coming year. I'm glad everything done as schedule and got surprises sometimes. No regret~ It will be an exciting 2012, and I am sure everything will be pretty fine. Count down to HK and Taipei! Um...will I have chance to travel in Europe in between? keke...

Recruiting travelmates to Spain, Italy, France, Scotland from HK, if I have time and chance~