Blog and Artwork updates of Singapore caricaturist, portrait artist and illustrator - Jit

Blog and Artwork updates of Singapore caricaturist, portrait artist and illustrator - Jit

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Caricatures in pencil

caricatures pencil 010508
A pretty simple job, and didn't expect to get a response from my client.

"Hey Jit,

Thanks so much for your drawing on Dennis!
When he received the caricature, he was amazed! And he likes it lots.
You are indeed very talented.

Anyway, thanks for the 1st caricature done on Dennis.
I will be waiting for the caricature of myself + the couple caricature.
Yup... thanks

Genevie "


Touched! Happy!

Caricature theme - wakeboarding

Email from the client:-
"I came across your website when I was surfing for a caricature artist for my godson's birthday. I planned to give him a caricature drawing for his birthday which is in May. I meant to go down to your shop but I found out that you are moving out. So, hence I decided to email instead. My godson will be 19 this year. He is an avid wakeboarder so I hope to feature a caricature of him wakeboarding. I would like one in colour, the one where markers is used. Size-wise, I'm hoping for a reasonably big one (maybe A3 or A2, maybe you can advise), complete with frame. "
Caricature wakeboarding
The photo provided by the client, shows her godson in action. Background is Marina Bay. The bright colour seats which we saw in the National Day Parade (NDP) can be seen. Thus, I retained it in this caricature. Made the buildings less static. Then I play on the waves, which I always loves to.
However, what I like most in this drawing, is the proportion of the figure. Bigger hands, smaller shoes, as compared to the hands. Slim and fit body, with the loose bermuda, to bring out the youthful and cheerful part of this teenager.
The client told me that it looks very nice. Thank you. I like it too. Didn't expect such result upon receiving this order initially. Sometimes, when I draw, I get some inspiration and catalyst, it will help to spice up the whole drawing. This is the satisfaction which Iget from drawing!

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Google PageRank 4 for my Blog!!!

Great day to remember!!!
My blog Google PageRank is just upgraded to 3 to 4 today!!!
Hooray!!! Same PageRank as my website now. 6 months 2 days from the last upgrade.
Have been waiting anxiously, and becoming impatient, and I know it is very hard to move from PageRank 3 to 4, and it is a less than 2 years old blog. Looks like my consistent hardwork pays off. So touched!!!
Even those urls with 'caricature(s)' are ranked 3.
Must work harder from now on.
Rank 5 6 months later?Heehee..... Getting greedy.......
Have been getting request to exchange links on my blog and website recently. Some even requesting to place ads on them, especially on my blog. Got to really give it a thought, whether they are useful/harmful to my blogs and website, in terms of ranking and SEO.

Caricature of Cristiano Ronaldo

The second commissioned sample.
Cristiano Ronaldo
"Jit
Attached are pictures of 1 player, Cristiano Ronaldo. Could you draw him being ecstatic after scoring a goal."

caricature Cristiano Ronaldo pencil sketch
Does not have any impression of this guy. Must be a very popular soccer player since I heard Wilfred and Adam talk about him. I only know that Brazil Ronaldo (from last two World Cups). Hahaha.... Ya, very outdated.

Emphasized on his mouth too. Another prominent feature will be his standing curly hair. He has a pair of pretty eyes too. Since the client requested ecstatic, I added in tears coming out from his eyes.
caricature Cristiano Ronaldo ink outline
This fist-clenching posture is inspired from what I read in those comic books. It enhances the overall feel, I think.

caricature Cristiano Ronaldo colour watermark
A lot more substance with the colours added on. Opted for a borderless background, to lighten up the whole caricature, since we are looking at ecstatic. Cannot be too static.

I should know the result soon, whether I am awarded this project. If the client doesn't like these 2 caricatures, I have nothing to say, since I have done my best based on their brief. Then we have to see what styles the other local cariatursists can come out with, in order to get this job.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Unique wedding theme

Couple caricatures unique wedding
Client's brief:-
"Below is the description of the drawing which I hope to see
1) girl will be on the left of page, guy will be on the right
2) both people will be wearing wedding suit / gown (but instead of proper dress shoes, they can be wearing soccer boots)
3) Girl will be holding on to a paintball marker with her right hand and left hand will be over the shoulders of the guy
4) Guy will be holding on to a camera with his left hand and right leg will be stepping on a soccer ball
Attached are the reference pictures
1) Paintball Marker (redsevens169.jpg or 98custom.jpg)
2) Camera (Nikon_d3_14-24.jpg)
3) Soccer ball (adidas-soccer-ball.jpg)
4) Guy and Girl’s face (Europe(24dec-1jan07) 031 – rheinfall, schauffhausen, Switzerland.jpg)"

Not the usual wedding design which I always draw.
Reminds me of the recent movie Ah Long Pte Ltd" (老师嫁老大) by Jack Neo (梁智强), though the groom is not the 'gu niang' type. Maybe it is because of the bride's hand over his shoulder.

Caricature theme - princess

Client's request:-
"Chanced upon your website and would like to place an order for a caricature in marker with theme? Just like the goddess sample in page 1........I'm referring to the phyllis quek picture. Please view the attachment. Also, would like to add a little character,just a guy clad in casual wear(any casual attire will do) at the side of the portrait, looking up at the portrait from the side."
Caricature princess
Took out the thumbs up posture as seen in Phyllis Quek's caricature. Think that was done sometime in 2000-2001. A bit outdated, and I don't think it looks good for a lady.
Gave her a more demure posture.
Upon receiving the caricature, the client thinks that the guy looks too big. Maybe too loud to him as an admirer. Heehee.... He requested me to paint over him with some background. However, the nature of the colour marker medium is translucent. I can't cover it like that. Thus, I proposed to have the lady caricature cut out and pasted on a colour mounting board, which should make it look better otherwise. He agreed.

Caricature princess cutout
Pasted it on a beige creamy colour board. Smooth and flat colour. No traces of overlapping lines as seen using colour markers.

Caricature princess cutout framed
Looks even better with a simple blue colour frame without border.

Monday, April 28, 2008

Caricature of Lisa Wang 汪明荃

Caricature Liza Wong 汪明荃 Beijing Olympic 2008 Torch Relay
Urgent order.

Client's brief:-
" Theme: Liza Wang wearing sport suit running for the China Olympic Torch Relay.
She will be holding the torch. I have provided some pictures in the last page
which you may like to incorporate into your drawing. Eg. China flag, logo, etc.
Please also put in the words “Liza 加油!” . Hairstyle: Not to bun up but the bob
style which I provided some pics on.
Special Request: I hope the drawing of her looks as similar to her as possible,
not something too comical, u know what I mean? I need this quite urgently
by next Tuesday (29/4)...... "

The client will be flying over to Hong Kong tomorrow, to give this caricature to Lisa Wang.
She told me the committee will be announcing the result, as in who will be appointed for the Beijing Olympic 2008 Torch Relay in Hong Kong. I am not sure if she gets it, at the time of posting. Didn't hear her name on the media.

Erhmmm..... think I have drawn her too young, but the client told me that the caricature looks nice, upon receiving the artwork.

Caricature of Thierry Henry

Thierry Henry
After four years, I am drawing this footballer - Thierry Henry, again.
The previous caricature is drawn as a guide and reference for me to model him into 3D caricature model (Just realised something wrong with the image proportionin this link. Will amend it later) in Maya.
This time, it is drawn as one of the 2 sample caricatures (commissioned) for a media company (Can't disclose the company name yet, since I haven't get the job yet, in case my competitors undercut by deliberately lowering his prices, just to get the job. They are hungry for jobs, especially for such big job. This is very common and I have seen many cases locally. Anyway, I believe this client would have searched for caricaturists in Singapore online. That's how he gets my contact.)
They wanted to create 100 caricatures of the footballers, but in an exaggerated form, which is very different from what I do usually. (Got license to distort them now) The client doesn't want these footballers to look completely like them, and yet can recognise them in a way or another. I have to omit the details and use the basic colour for the soccer jersey. No logos too. This is to avoid the infringement of copyrights. They will use these caricatures for mobile content download as wallpaper.
Quite an interesting job, but if I get this job, I may end up losing more clients, as this job would take 1-2 months to complete. I have to reject some urgent orders, and even those normal delivery one. Sigh. You can't have the best of both world.

caricature Thierry Henry pencil sketch
Spent some time doing up this pencil sketch. I emphasize on his mouth,, and his frown. Since he opens his mouth big, what should come out from it should be his saliva. Hahaha......
Blown up on the hand part. If not, it will be too small to be seen, since the client requested the head should occupy about 70% of the whole artwork. When downloaded on the mobile phone, their faces will stand out on the small screen. True!

caricature Thierry Henry pen
Put in the French flag, but not the usual flag with a pole. It is flying in the background. The client gives me the freedom to decide what to draw for each caricature.

caricature Thierry Henry colour watermark
Colours added on. The colours definitely bring out everything, especially the facial muscles, through the various layers of shades.
Added on the watermark to protect my client interest, which I never do for all my artworks. I think these watermarks will spoil the feel of the artworks. No choice. If my visitors download this cariacture (without watermark) from my blog, who will buy from them?

Caricature of Will Smith

Caricatrue Will Smith and gal
A birthday gift for this girl who's turning 21. She loves Will Smith. Thus, the client ordered a caricature of both of them drawn together. He will be flying over to Australia tomorrow. Hence, I have to complete it by this evening (few hours delivery!)
Wilfred saw this lying on my table. "Eh, is he Will Smith?" Think I have done my job, as I don't know who he is. The girl will be very sad. Hahaha....... The client (and Wilfred) told me he's an (American?) actor cum singer. Ok. Now, I know.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Caricatures for Tech Semiconductor Singapore Pte Ltd

Caricatures group poster Tech part 1
Caricatures group poster Tech part 2
The client's purpose of ordering this caricature is to use it for his company poster competition on "Chemical Safety".
He already had this idea in mind, with all his bosses and colleagues standing like what you see in games with those characters standing, descriptions below each of them. He will add in the words himself. My job is to illustrate these guys with their specific items/stuff associated with their jobs, in a comical way.
I showed him what I have done for Ministry of Manpower from this blog. (Good thing about blog. I don't have to print them out. Just type the keywords on the top left search field, and I can show them my portfolio instantly.) He likes the idea of having them standing on boxes to tight everything up, with consistency. These boxes will be where he writes.
Given of the space needed for his writing, I have to split this artwork into two A2 sizes. The bosses on top, while the rest below. The only lady - the nurse, meant to be small and short, as per requested by the client, since she has a small frame.

My iPhone

Jit's iPhone
Finally in my pocket. My 16GB version 1.1.4 iPhone, after 1 year and 3 months of wait.

My Sony Ericsson P990i failed on me, after 1.5 years of use.
Main reason is the common problem of most handphone - dropped on the floor/ground.
Keeps giving me SIM card error, and can't make and receive calls.

Have been deciding on which to buy when the P990i giving me the above problems.
The HTC Tynn II and the iPhone.
The former has everything - 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS, Qwerty keyboard, Windows Mobile 6, Words, Excel etc.
The latter doesn't have 3G, GPS, and runs on OS X (could be a problem if I need to install some PC softwares for PDA phone)

Why the last minute switch then? The DROOL factor.
The Tynn II is grey in colour, and the screen colours look undesirable to me. Price is high too. $1200 without contract.
The iPhone just looked so sleek, slim and cool. No 3G to access internet and make video call? I seldom use 3G with my P990i anyway, as it is too expensive to surf net using it. Seldom make video calls too. Give up the GPS, and stick back to my Street Directory, because I simply like iPhone. It feels so much different when you owned it.

When my brother-in-law showed me his iPhone, I saw the pinch-in (zoom in) and spread (zoom out) features, auto orientation feature for photos and webpages etc, but not much feeling, till I owned a iPhone. It is a totally different feel. Fell in love with it immediately with the beautiful screen (don't think any handphones in the market can match it), flawless running of applications, the Safari, the iPod, Mail, Google Maps, Stocks, Weather, YouTube videos (crisp sharp videos on this 3.5" screen), chat features on the SMS, Installer (install free apps right from the phone itself). Still can add in Messenger applications for my Skype, MSN, Yahoo. iflickr to let me upload photos direct to my Flickr account. The list goes on, and I have no time to play with it yet, as I need to finish a job collecting this evening. It is such a torture with this new toy staring at me, and yet I have to resist myself to touch it.

You will be dead busy and exhausted tonight..... hahaha........

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Couple caricatures in colour

couple caricatures in colour 260408
A wedding gift.
This order was placed together with the couple caricatures on mousepad, by the same client. Just that the one need to finish earlier to allow some time for the printing for the mousepad.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Caricature for Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

Caricature Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation 250408
Super urgent job again. 1 day delivery.
This guy is not smiling in the photo, and the client requested me to make him smile.
Told her can't change the smile on the mouth alone.
The facial muscle will change too, and everyone's facial muscle reacts differently when he/she smiles. Thus, I can't do it just based on imagination.
I can only play on the features, and the body postures to echo with the blur and 'gong' look.