Dream

A couple days ago I dreamt about being in an art exhibition. Pretty normal dream I guess... (I expect to go to Narnia in my dream, but noooo, I went to a normal, non magic, non futuristic art exhibition). Don't get me wrong, it's not like I hate exhibition, but, come on, it's a dream. I want to meet Aslan at least, or go to Mr Wonka's chocolate factory.

But I'm pretty glad. In my dream, I saw a beautiful painting. A painting of a lady holding a smoke pipe in her hand. She looked a little sad, but she's beautiful, from her get up, I guess she's a geisha.

When I woke up, I don't want to forget that painting so, I tried to 'reproduce' it, orrrr bring it to live? made it? Well, afterall it's my dream, so... I guess I'm the painter? Illustrator? creator?
Okay! Whatever. Here's the illustration from my dream :

I guess I'm failed.
The composition is right, but this illustration is not really resemble the one I saw in my dream. The colors are too dark compared to the real one (in my dream) and I can't remember the shape of the ornaments behind the lady.

Still, I spent 5 hours to did this with water color. The small parts were killing me! So I want to post it in this blog

The Butterfly Lovers

It's been a while since the last time I updated my blog.
Currently, I'm working as an intern at a publishing company.
I have to wake up early (not really my life style) and go to work. When I got home, I feel so tired that I don't have the energy to draw anything.

It's a non-paid job because I do it  to fulfill the condition my university set to graduate. But I'm pretty lucky to get a job that I like and fit me (I work as an illustrator at a children magazine) also, I get more knowledge from the people at work.

Since today is Sunday, I spent my spare time with drawing this illustration.

There's a story from China which resemble the story of Romeo and Juliet, It's called The Butterfly Lovers. It's a love story of Zhu Yingtai and Liang Shanbo. Here's the story from wikipedia :

Zhu Yingtai is a beautiful and intelligent young woman, the ninth child and only daughter of the wealthy Zhu family of Shangyu, Zhejiang. Although traditions of that era discourage females from going to school, Zhu manages to convince her father to allow her to attend classes in disguise as a young man. During her journey to Hangzhou, she meets Liang Shanbo, a scholar from Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing). They chat and feel a strong affinity for each other at their first meeting. Hence, they gather some soil as incense and take an oath of fraternity in the pavilion of a thatched bridge.
They study together for the next three years in school and Zhu gradually falls in love with Liang. Although Liang equals Zhu in their studies, he is still a bookworm and fails to notice the feminine characteristics exhibited by his classmate.
One day, Zhu receives a letter from her father, asking her to return home as soon as possible. Zhu has no choice but to pack her belongings immediately and bid Liang farewell. However, in her heart, she has already confessed her love for Liang and is determined to be with him for all eternity. Before her departure, she reveals her true identity to the headmaster's wife and requests her to hand over a jade pendant to Liang as a betrothal gift.
Liang accompanies his "sworn brother" for 18 miles to see her off. During the journey, Zhu hints to Liang that she is actually a woman. For example, she compares them to a pair of mandarin ducks (a symbol of lovers in Chinese culture), but Liang does not catch her hints and does not even have the slightest suspicion that his companion is a woman in disguise. Zhu finally comes up with an idea and tells Liang that she will act as a matchmaker for him and his "sister". Before they part, Zhu reminds Liang to visit her residence later so he can propose to marry her "sister." Liang and Zhu reluctantly part ways at the Changting pavilion.
Months later, when Liang visits Zhu, he discovers that she is actually a woman. They are devoted to and passionate about each other and they make a vow of "till death do us part". The joy of their reunion is short-lived as Zhu's parents have already arranged for her to marry a man from a rich family called Ma Wencai. Liang is heartbroken when he hears the news and his health gradually deteriorates until he becomes critically ill. He dies in office later as a county magistrate.
On the day of Ma and Zhu's marriage, mysterious whirlwinds prevent the wedding procession from escorting the bride beyond Liang's grave, which lies along the journey. Zhu leaves the procession to pay her respects to Liang. She descends in bitter despair and begs for the grave to open up. Suddenly, the grave opens with a clap of thunder. Without further hesitation, Zhu throws herself into the grave to join Liang. Their spirits turn into a pair of beautiful butterflies and emerge from the grave. They fly away together as a pair of butterflies and are never to be separated again.

I don't really like a sad ending. So, to make it less sad, I drew the scene after their death. They get together and live happily ever after in the kingdom of heaven

Wishlist book

I made this wishlist book for my friend's little sister.
She was about to celebrate her 17th birthday, and ask me where she can find or make a wishlist, so, I offered to make it for her as a gift.

I was invited to her birthday party and luckily, she likes it!

 Front cover, I really suffered when I made the little roses for the dress

 Same with the front cover, I use little roses which I made with double origami paper to cover the dress

 For the mirror, I use the metallic inside of fox candy packaging. 

I covered the stiletto with glitters

 Memento page with an envelope to put mementos from the party such as invitation or photos

 The opened envelope, resemble a heart shape

 I made 2 layers back cover. The inside has the picture of the birthday girl waving as  thanks for her friends who has came to the party, the outer layer has the picture of a window which can be opened and closed. So, if the book is closed, on the back side, there's a girl who's waving from the window.

It's all wrapped and ready!

Happy Wedding

Made with Illustrator CS3

Real Man won't hurt Woman

Campaign poster which I made for my class.
Made with Adobe Illustrator CS3 and adobe photoshop cs3

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf

Water color practice.
This time I made it on A3 paper, but my scanner can't scan A3 size document, so I photographed it with my cellphone camera, that's the reason of the bad quality.

I'm quite happy with my result this time. It's still a bit messy but I actually think it turned out well.

My inspiration for this illustration is "Little Red Riding Hood".
I think the actual story is too gory for children. Even if they covered it with the hunter saved Little Red Riding Hood and her grandma (Little Red Riding Hood and Grandma are suppose to be dead in the original version).

So, I made the cute version where no one die and Red Riding Hood just having a relax time under the snshine with the cute little wolf on her lap.

Cute aren't they?

The Crow and The Dove Wedding

Another watercolor practice.
I'm dissapointed with this one though. I failed to make the pink-blue gradation for the sky color.
I failed miserably....

Oh... I really want to get better...