Cristmas loot!

I got lots of cool stationary, home made presents and pirate stuff this year!

The Pirate Balthasar - BLOG: Out there! - Page 13

The Pirate Balthasar continues.
Now with the new specials.
At this point I stay away from Romance for these stories - not that readers seem to enjoy that, nevertheless I will continue with these new storylines.
Enjoy.

The Pirate Balthasar - BLOG: Out there! - Page 13

Grdens by the Bay

Hong Kong!!! Pow!

Enjoy the photos of my trip to Hong Kong! I spent 3 days there. Day 1 Disneyland Day 2 Toy shopping Day 3 Around town I found a lot of nice vegetarian restaurant but the Astroboy Shop was closed already so I could not shop there. Victoria's Peak by night is fantastic, it really does feel like Ghost in the Shell (like Nat said) but the new terrace is pretty up high and it gets cloudy and humid really fast! Anyways HK is fun but the street signs look pretty dangerous LOL and walking through the people is like a videogame where you have to kill zombies.

Hong Kong Shopping gashapon and sonny angels

This is my first time something completely digital.
Usually I have a pencil drawing or the basic color is done with markers or watercolor... I do that because... let's face it you've seen my stuff so far: I suck at digital painting. I cannot move the paint around, the pigment stays there dead and does not spread and I have a BIIIIG problem with Wacom too.

 I haven't figured out the background yet so... here it is.

Now curse of the wacom tablet (feel free to skip) 

When I bought my Intuous 4, 2 years ago, the THING could not feel pressure had all these crazy useless buttons to the side and all the stuff they advertised about it? Absolutely not true. So I went back to intuous 3 and struggled with this teeny tiny soft round brush. Hours of layering and not matter what I do... blur! Total blur.


 Then a few weeks ago I bought an inkling for outdoor sketching (needless to say another major disappointment) and the moment I install the Inkling the wacom settings disappear. I talked with tech support for weeks and you have no idea how many things they made me try. I mean, it's not like they told me: oh, sorry about that, we are looking into a patch because yeah... actually our products conflict with each other!
 No... they send me a list of very long procedures and they didn't work. So every time I switch on my mac I have to install the wacom tablet... then the inkling software started starting up on its own when it was told not to, it froze my mac, slowed it down and hence I unistalled it.

After that I am still left with having to install my drivers all the time but guess what??? Two years from the release of Intuous 4 the drivers finally make the tablet work! Pressure, tilting... all in place.
Wow, I said, I am going to try again.

This time around I opened aaaaall my brushes in photoshop and started doing spheres, cones and cubes, yes analysis of form, using all the brushes. Then I found the square brushes. I did a sphere, a still life and then I was like... mhhh, let me try a portrait. So here it is, it took me for ever!!!
Like 1 hour and 23 minutes!

 The paint is still dead, does not move and cannot bleed and cannot be moved, but at least now, with square brushes and a fully functional wacom, I can try to paint alla prima.
What and adventure! And in the misfortune (inkling accident) the good finding of a good new driver for the wacom tablet. It makes such a difference to work with proper tool.
I hope to improve because I still can't say to be happy with the final result... but at least I finally understand a couple of more things and I shall not died extinct like a dinosaur.
 And sorry for the blabber but that's how it went hahahaha.

IED borsa di studio.

Contest
L’innovazione nei cartoni animati.

Nell’ambito dell’iniziativa Sperimentazione e innovazione nei Cartoon, organizzata dal
Master in Cartoon Animation dello IED di Roma e da Cartoon Italia, Associazione delle
Aziende Italiane di Animazione, IED Roma indice un contest per progetti innovativi e
mette in palio una borsa di studio del 50% sulla retta di frequenza del Master in Cartoon
Animation.

Il tema del contest è l’innovazione nei cartoni animati.

Il candidato dovrà presentare un progetto d’animazione (serie animata, lungometraggio,
videoclip o altro). Il documento da inviare (in formato doc, docx o pdf) che spieghi il
progetto deve essere massimo di tre cartelle. Oltre alla sinossi e alla documentazione
necessaria per presentare al meglio il progetto, il candidato dovrà anche motivare perché
ritiene il proprio progetto innovativo.

Per partecipare al Contest è necessaria la presenza dei seguenti requisiti:
a. Essere in possesso di una laurea triennale o titolo equivalente, o di un diploma
dell’Accademia delle Belle Arti. Oppure dimostrare di essere un professionista del
settore.
b. Requisiti importanti sono l’abilità nel disegno e una buona conoscenza del
cinema d’animazione. Inoltre è necessaria una media competenza informatica,
soprattutto di programmi di grafica.
c. Conoscere la lingua di erogazione del corso.

Materiali da inviare, termini e modalità di consegna:

I materiali da inviare per partecipare al contest sono i seguenti:
a. Curriculum Vitae aggiornato;
b. Lettera di motivazione nella quale si espongano le ragioni per le quali si ritiene il
proprio progetto innovativo.(massimo 1 pagina)
c. Il progetto d’animazione in formato doc, docx o pdf (massimo 3 cartelle)

Il materiale va inviato per posta elettronica all’indirizzo master@roma.ied.it entro e non oltre il 1
ottobre 2012.

Nell’oggetto dell’email dovrà essere specificato “Contest Sperimentazione e innovazione
nei Cartoon”

La commissione valutatrice sarà composta da responsabili di Ied Roma, i docenti del
Master in Cartoon Animation e rappresentanti di Cartoon Italia. La valutazione, basata sul
merito, avverrà a insindacabile giudizio della commissione.

I criteri di valutazione riguardano l'originalità e la forza delle proposte in termini
d’innovazione tecnica e narrativa.

Condizioni e termini generali di partecipazione

IED Roma declina ogni responsabilità qualora si verifichino condizioni non ad
esso imputabili che compromettano l’invio delle proprie candidature, come il
malfunzionamento di dispositivi elettronici.

Il materiale inviato deve essere il risultato di un lavoro inedito. Lo IED Roma si riserva la
facoltà di utilizzo dei progetti.

Valutazione, assegnazione e comunicazioni

La valutazione dei progetti avverrà a insindacabile giudizio della commissione
giudicatrice.
Il vincitore e assegnatario della borsa di studio sarà avvertito telefonicamente o a
mezzo posta elettronica entro il 15 ottobre 2012.
Entro 7 giorni dall’avviso l’assegnatario della borsa di studio dovrà inviare formale
l’accettazione a mezzo posta elettronica all’indirizzo master@roma.ied.it.
Dal momento dell’accettazione, l’assegnatario avrà 10 giorni di tempo per formalizzare
l’iscrizione al master per il quale gli è stata attribuita la borsa di studio.

In caso di mancata accettazione, la borsa si intenderà rifiutata e la commissione si
riserva di assegnare la borsa di studio ad un altro candidato.
IED Milano

N.B. L'assegnazione della borsa è conseguente alla effettiva attivazione del master una
volta raggiunto il numero minimo di iscritti.

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

Cartoon Italia è l’associazione delle aziende italiane di animazione.
Presente dal 1998, ha come finalità la crescita e la tutela del settore e la
promozione dell’animazione italiana in patria e all’estero.

Il Master in Cartoon Animation dello IED di Roma, al suo secondo anno, è un percorso di
studi che avvalendosi della collaborazione di numerosi esperti dell’animazione ha come
obbiettivo quello di creare tecnici nella produzione e realizzazione di contenuti audiovisivi
animati competitivi nel mercato del cartoon.
http://www.ied.it/roma/scuola-arti-visive/corsi-master/cartoon-animation/VMB1236I

Nomination ma...

Ma non vinceremo niente e siccome stavo già ponderando di lasciare il sito vuoi che non mi piace essere affondata, vuoi che conta molto essere attivi nel forum...  nella vita del sito e io non posso... vuoi che non riesco proprio a starci dietro.... penso che questo award possa essere la mia ultima presenza sulle loro spiagge.

Anche quest'anno le nomination sono divise  tra i soliti nomi e credo proprio che il best romance andrà al fumetto che non lo ha vinto l'anno scorso per colpa mia.
Tra le altre cose è sparita la categoria Best Couple. Sigh, e io che avevo messo Cat e Callista (una win win situescion proprio).

Ad ogni modo non riesco a stare dietro a tutti i siti e DD è quello con meno lettori in assoluto ed è quello in cui i lettori sono spariti in massa dal giorno alla notte passando su Smack Jeeves.

I posted this comment yesterday.
It was ignored.
I am going to post it again today with some visual aid.
"I wonder why people complain when others repeat the same stuff over and over again. They can't take it from parents, they can't take it from teachers, they can't take it from friends... but they take it from Hollywood, Books, Tv and even look forward to it. I guess humans are creature of comforts only when it comes to not making effort and having to think."

The "over the skyscraper shot" is shown in every single episode of Suits.
How annoying is that???

A series of quotes on Originality

"All profoundly original art looks ugly at first." Greenberg, Clement


"But it is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation." Melville, Herman

The Flower and The Nose: Pencilled Illustration

The Flower and The Nose: Pencilled Illustration: From rough sketch to pencilled illustration... to be inked. I will fix the lamp post to the right first though. You can see the tweed p...

The Flower and The Nose: Synopsis

Una piccola anteprima della mia prossima serie a fumetti.

The Flower and The Nose: Synopsis: A "nose" is the expert whose fine sense of smell and skills in smell composition brings forth the creation of perfumes. Lani's nose d...

Musicals

If you wait for others to agree on doing something you'll never get it done.

Hence this time around I went myself and enjoyed the show.
I always liked A Chorus Line, it's a story about missed opportunities and trying hard to live a passion to the fullest.
The cast was quite nice, Dance 10 looks 3 was sang quite sottotono which didn't bother me because it's a hella of a difficult song to sing and the person who sings it... well it's supposed to be super pretty, good at dancing but not extremely talented hahaah. I liked the soft version.

I teared up a couple of times during What I did for love and At the ballet. Absolutely loved Morales and her performance of Nothing. Zack was brilliant.

Upcoming shows: La cage aux folles (adapted to Singapore), Annie... apparently Evita and Mary Poppins.

Bangkok - Thailand.

Here are the pictures of my weekend in Bangkok. The temples you see in the photographs are: Wat Pho (the temple of the reclining buddha), Wat Arun (the temple of dawn, the one with a 76 meters tall stupa), Wat Kaev (the temple of the emerald buddha) which is inside the Grand Palace (king Rama the v's palace) and then Erawan Shrine (the four faced buddha). The restaurant is called The Blue Elephant.

La scommessa - The Bet

Italiano La Scommessa English The Bet

May the 4th be with you! :D

Bali

First upload, more pictures will come tomorrow! :D This is Ubud in Bali where I stayed for 3 days and 2 nights.

Sketch crawling in Bali (Indonesia)

Malaysia

Kranji Fish Farm

We went to Kranji Fish Farm today with the year ones (we also went to Bollywood veggie farm but I did not draw there as I was busy eating banana bread). I managed to draw 6 fishes in about 40 minutes. The price of the last fish was soooooo high, you could buy a car.

Chinese New Year's eve

Dinner at Clyda's. I saw a real hbd flat built in the 80's. Yishun area is really pretty and lively, a true melting pot. Dinner was delicious and Clyda's parents are awesome! Her wardrobe is too. I wonder why she cannot pack her suitcase the way she packs her wardrobe though ha ha ha. I received my first anpao! Too bad it was raining. Some of the old shops still have the old doors and signs. They have payphones too.

Viva la pirateria, siempre!

Ask me again: why should I buy a movie ticket to see these amateurish mistakes???

Give me a Billy Wilder movie, I’d buy a DVD any time!
But this kind of crap I wouldn’t even print it as texture on my toilet paper! - the stupid director was so caught up in making the fancy camera move on Angelina Jolie’s face he completely forgot how to do a simple Over the Shoulder!

I SHALL NEVER PAY FOR THIS!


 Don’t come and bullshit me saying that piracy is killing you! YOU SHOOT on your own foot every single time YOU CROSS THE LINE! How can a professional cross the line????

p.s. I knew the ending the moment the movie started! It was such an obvious twist, like soooo predictable! The only fun part in the movie was to see the Italian actors get pissed at a dumb tourist speaking Spanish to them!

Sorry for the black out today, guys, I'm participating in the SOPA/Pipa protest.

In Advanced Comic and Illustration class we get to experiment with different mixed media on illustration board.

It's hard to find illustration board in Singapore so I use the closest thing I could find and I gesso over it.

Yesterday I was making a little demo on gesso lift up and how different media react on gesso and why it's always nice to have the board primed with gesso.

Just for the sake of demonstrating materials these little things (about 7 cm in height/length) ended up having watercolor, gold poster color, silver poster color, markers, colored pencils, markers, salt and glaze on it. They took more or less 9 minutes in the making.

My next t-shirt!

Welcome to the adventures of Ichigo and Ugly Cat! XDD

New Year's Eve and January first

I post these two albums together just to show how long are the lines to the temple for the first visit of the year.
... and the Japanese aren't even religious (more superstitious), imagine if they believed! But probably superstitions drive men more than faith. Who knows?

In this second album there are also pictures from Shibuya and Harajuku.

I also have sketches to show you and more picture of Ginza that I just received.