Caricature theme - police woman

Meant as a gift to congratulate her on switching from an engineer to a police.

Drawn her taking down the construction hat, with a pair of "Phua Chu Kang" boots, put on the Singapore Police Force hat, in police uniform.

My crazy weekend starts from this caricature. First one done, and 4+20+47 more caricatures to be done in 3 days. Don't know whether I can finish them on time. Crisis!!!! Damn stressed............

Caricature theme - wedding on fire engine

This Malay couple intends to display this caricature at their wedding dinner.
A rather unique one, as this time is on a fire engine, as the groom is a fireman from Civil Defence.

Caricature of Rain

This caricature is meant to be used as the graphic to be printed on T-shirts.
Their initial idea is to have a flat colour, simple lineart.
Realised that what they are looking at is a mascot of Rain, after some discussion and understanding. However, the price they can afford is caricature in marker with theme, not mascot design.
Mascot design involves a lot of sketches, development, refinement, and finally reduce to a few simple strokes.
My clients always think that a few strokes is a lot easier to draw, and hence cheaper.
Yes, it is easier to draw - less lines, but not easy to derive.

无招牌云吞面

Eddie大力推荐地云吞面，位于森林广场#02-01，要不是他的引路，也不会来到这个角落。
无招牌的云吞面，吃进口却是另一番滋味，不能说是与众不同，却说不出浆料那里特别，配合像快熟面的面条，加上好象有特别馅料的炸云吞，稍微烤焦的叉烧，可口的汤底，就是好吃！
下次再来慢慢地品尝到底特别在哪里！

Upgraded my M1 Broadband plan!

After 12 days of using M1 of 384kbps, I upgraded it to 1800kbps yesterday. In fact, I can make do with 384kbps, but there's so lag in the realtime updates of the software I used. So, no choice but to upgrade it. It will take about 1 day to do the upgrade. M1 told me I can see the speed increase after 12 midnight.
Yes, the download speed is about 4 times faster, but the realtime update is still lag.
Damn! Spent more money and still the same problem!
Guess the problem lies with the software on my laptop.
Now, I can't downgrade, unless I am willing to pay them some fee to downgrade.
Sigh..... still to it lor....just my luck!!! Didn't check thoroughly...... too bullish again.....!@#$%

Portraits in Pen and Pencil

Same girl in both portraits. But looks rather different to me, even in the photos provided.

Caricature for Standard Chartered Bank

Really last minute order.

The client walked in my shop this afternoon, requesting it to be done on the spot.

I am rushing on other jobs, rejected her request.

Later compromised and squeeze in her order and let her collect this caricature tomorrow, with surcharge for super express service.

Caricature for Energizer

A gift for the boss 15th anniversary in the company.

The client wanted to feature him as an intellectual, working at his desk.

The mortar board on his head was her idea too.

After I have inked in the caricature, I received an email from her:-

"Further to the caricature sketch – as mentioned we’ll like it to be sort of like it’s a ‘graduation’ for him… suggest he be drawn in a convocation robe, with scroll (word ENERGIZER on the scroll), sitting at his desk. You can include 15th Anniversary somewhere hopefully….."

Too late to add in the convocation robe, but added in the 'Energizer' on the sleeve.

Caricature theme - Manchester United soccer

Birthday gift. Manchester United soccer jersey. No. 7 - who's jersey number?!!

Sorry, but me not a soccer fan at all.

Caricature for Nestle, Singapore

Farewell gift. He is working as a food technician in Nestle, now leaving the company (the Jurong industrial area in the background on the right, with the factories and chimneys) into the finance centre in Raffles Place (high-rise buildings like Maybank Tower , Fullerton Hotel, and OCBC building on the left, with a huge $ sign signifying the finance sector). The client is wishing him a prosperous future with this caricature.

Caricatures for Standard Chartered Bank, Singapore

Second job from this Standard Chartered Bank group, after the above job about 2 years ago..

They are thinking a similar concept of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) building at 6, Battery Road for their boss below.

I proposed to have something different from the above, since he has seen and he is inside that drawing. The client agreed with a huge SCB logo, with the boss leaning against it. My initial proposal is to have him smartly sitting on it, but the client afraid that it is impolite in doing so.

Pencil sketch. Messy?

Getting clearer in ink.

Best in colour, with facial muscles being shaded in. The different colours of the clothing break the monotonous of the drawing too.
Notice the extra person?

It is added in when this group crowded in my little shop to check the spelling of the names.
They felt that it is better than the above, in terms of the sculpturing and capturing essence of the caricatures and finishing touches.

Names added in the softcopy, scanned in from the original A2 size artwork.

Half day break!

Brought my kids and wife to Wild Wild Wet at Downtown East, with the complimentary tickets from my tour guide friend, Eddie. Promised them, even though my group caricatures job for Standard Chartered Bank is behind schedule.
Saw some vacant shop spaces available there. Nice size for my shop, but just too far and out of the way for my clients to come to place order and collect. Can foresee that they will end up doing so at my place in Ang Mo Kio. Then what's the point of setting up a shop there?
Another reason is that there's another caricature shop there! Surprise? Heard from my friend once. My kids are interested to paint the figurines in the shop, but the artist isn't in.

Outlook Express error - resolved!!!

Finally!!! Nearly wanted to change server to Usonyx (local server - faster and cheaper which I have been considering these few months. Just too lazy and busy to do all the transfer.) if they still don't resolve it by tomorrow.

My Outlook Express (OE) on my 3 computers has been giving me this error message for the past 4 days:-

"An unknown error has occurred. Account: 'jit@portraitworkshop.com', Server: 'pop.bizmail.yahoo.com', Protocol: POP3, Port: 110, Secure(SSL):No, Error Number: 0x80004005"

My web hosting company -Yahoo, replied my email, told me that it could have been my modem settings or I have changed my OE settings. I am very sure that it could not be these both reasons, as I didn't do anything to them. This problem persisted even if I used my M1 Broadband to check emails on OE!!!

The problem arose when I was checking email through OE on 22nd Aug morning on my laptop. Around 10:38am, it suddenly gave me this error message above. This was using my laptop, home internet connection at home. When I reached my shop, the OE on my PC gave me the same problem. Then I suspected it could have been the Microsoft automatic updates which has caused this conflict, as I still can access my email through Internet Explorer.

That evening, I used my home PC, which I have not used it for the pass few days. Surely, the automatic updates should not have done its job on it. Ran my OE. Still the same! Went online to check. The common solution is change the inbox.dbx to inbox.old. That is totally discard the old inbox and create a new one. It doesn't solve the problem at all, after a few tries.

No choice. Got to report to Yahoo on the second day, as initially, I thought I can wait for 1 day for it to resolve it automatically, but it didn't. My wishful thinking only.........

They told me about the modem and OE Settings as mentioned above. Requested for my email address and password to pinpoint the cause of this problem and explore possible solutions.

This morning, I received the reply from them - "We have reindexed your mailbox and believe this solution should resolve the issue."

Quickly went to use my OE to check. Hooray!!!! It works fine now, though I still don't know what is "reindex mailbox".

Emailed Yahoo.
Reply:-
".......As you have noticed, we've experienced some technical difficulties. We have corrected the issue at the server end( Reindexing your mailbox)." !@#$%^ Gave me so much problems! My previous hosting company Network Solutions didn't give me such problem.

Think I should really give it a serious thought of whether to change to Usonyx, at least I can call them direct, not incurring any IDD calls cost. At least, I can solve the problem a lot faster, no need to wait for 1 day for reply, due to time zone difference.

Caricature for Allen & Gledhill LLP

For Mr S Iswaran (Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry).

Client provided a low resolution and small photo.

Asked for more photos of high resolution and larger photo.

He doesn't have any.

Sigh..... again I have to search for it online., and found quite a number of them.

Chose this profile, and a slightly more exaggerate approach - a slightly more protruding jaw and a wider smile.

The client wanted him to be standing on a globe, surrounded by students and youth.

Caricature for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)

Client's initial idea was to have her eating a lot of junk food.
After some discussion when back in office, they decided to make her a queen, but still using this photo of cheeky expression. I like it too as it is fun to draw, as compared to the normal smiling expression, but there's a risk that they may not recognise her through this caricature. She looks different in this photo given, as they have provided me some photos of her normal smiling expression. Highlighted this issue to them, but they still stick to this expression.
Luckily, no complains from them when they collected the caricature.

Caricature theme - Koh Samui beach

A birthday gift. They are going to Koh Samui Beach Resort for holiday, hence the client chose this theme. This setting was found on Google Images. The Koh Samui link sent by him doesn't have any ideal photos, at least don't have a nice beach resort photo. Didn't check through it thoroughly, as I usually go to Google Images (Yahoo Photos or Flickr if I can't find a good one) to look for reference. I find it more efficient that way.

How long can you hold your breath?

Emailed from my wife.
Uploaded to youtube and then found out that there were so many uploads by others.
Hahaha.... 'suagu'
But quite an entertaining video though.

Comic Illustrations for NTUC

Client's request to illustrate PMO Minister Lim Swee Say's speech of 2 scenarios:-
when buyer, supplier and worker work hand in hand. It will be a sunny day. Cliff with greenery.

If they don't work together, it will be a stormy day, whereby the buyer on a rocky cliff, supplier hanging on the cliff, and the struggling worker in the deep red sea.

They will be using this in an exhibition on one of the display panels.

She promised to send me a photo of the setup on site when it is done.

Hopefully we have the chance to see it here.

The above 2 illustrations were ink on hardcopy, and later scanned into Photoshop and rendered.

I used a softer rendering method for the thunder stormy background, while a flat tone (cartoon effect) for the foreground, to give the 2 illustrations a more contrasting effect between the former and latter. Wanted to do so for the sunny cloud part, but think that it looks better like with lines and flat tone. In addition, a clearer cloud (sunny) contrasting with a less defined outline stormy cloud will give a better impact, implying an unforeseen circumstances ahead for the second illustration.

Caricature for Standard Chartered Bank

The client doesn't have a specific theme in mind when they place their order. They just want something oriental and Singapore skylines or landmarks.

Thus, I proposed to have her dressed in cheongsam, with a fan in her hand and a Standard Chartered Bank logo on it. They wanted a Singapore flag somewhere in the caricature, since she's leaving Singapore - something for her to remember. I made it a tattoo on her left arm. Have her on a rickshaw with the Merlion, Esplanade, OCBC building and a palm tree in the background.

Caricature theme - nurse

A gift to congratulate her on switching to new job as a nurse.

Gave her a big syringe, a shivering patient, and lots of huge pills and capsules.

Caricature for RSAF

That RSAF Aeromedical Centre building again. Third time! Think I have drawn enough of it for this year.

Same lady as in previous job. This time is a farewell gift for her. She's dealing with people. Thus, the client wanted to have people behind her. Of course, I draw in the happy faces for them.

Caricatures in ink

Wanted to use the other more exaggerated photo initially, but worried that the client may not be able to recognise that caricature. Gave up in the end. Now, a normal and quite boring caricature. If it is not customer's order, I will use that photo. Hahaha.......

M1 mobile broadband

Subscribed M1 Broadband yesterday, after finding a good excuse (finally). Hahaha.....
Need it for next Monday when I am outside.
Took the lowest price plan of 384kbps., $22.42 per month.
Try out first. If too slow, still can upgrade to 1800kps plan. - $38.72 per month.
M1 doesn't allow downgrade.
Anyway, my shop one is using Singnet 256kbps. Still acceptable, though dedicated.
Checked that I can use it when roaming in Kuantan, though need to pay roaming partners there - Celcom.
Thank goodness. No need to use dial-up anymore.
If too expensive, worse comes to worst, still can subscribe Celcom Mobile Broadband. RM$8 per day, unlimited usage, since I am there for a few days usually.
Put in the M1 3G Sim card into my P990i. No fuss. Can surf net. Hooray!!! Next time can surf without shock when receive my phone bill. 5gb is more than enough for me to surf net and check email.. Starhub is charging me about $10 for 1mb, for using the current 3G phone Sim Card to download and upload data. Damn expensive!

蔡琴新加坡不了情演唱会2007

一波三折，终于与老妈欣赏到这一场蔡琴新加坡不了情演唱会。
在进场前在楼下The Mushroom Pot 长生锅 吃了一锅很不错的野生菌菇火锅，要不是就要开场，肯定将这锅汤喝完！四年前与父母妻子前来观看谭咏麟演唱会，因妻子不爱火锅而错过，老爸也因此而永远错过了。唉......
看现场演唱会是市面上的DVD与VCD无法比拟的，现场的音响加上蔡琴低而细腻，高而激昂的歌声，出乎意料之棒，绝对值回票价。
无数经典老歌与金曲，回味无穷，唯独欠缺我接触蔡琴的第一首歌曲~抉择。
演唱会中，蔡琴说了一段挺有意思的话，大意如下：

“为什么你的孩子会觉得你落伍，因为你没有自己的音乐地盘。翻开家里的CD架子，全是孩子的喜爱歌曲。你让他们不尊重你的爱好........你们也曾经年轻过......他们也会有老去的一天......谁说老歌落伍，老歌词曲都很棒，不像现在的流行歌曲没有内涵......拿出你的影碟与唱片，大声骄傲地对他们说这是好东西！"

虽然说我还不至于这么老，可是我确实认同她这一番话。经得起的时间的考验的歌曲都是好歌，始终觉得以前的歌曲朗朗上口，现在的听了就忘记，就算同一歌手如张学友与刘德华等，昔日的的叱咤风云已不复再，除了天时地利，相信歌曲是主要原因。也许你会认为当时的歌曲太商业化，但听众往往记得的就是这些歌曲，高格调的需要时间的磨炼，经得起考验的就成为经典，经不起的就被淡忘，歌手的演艺前途也往下滑。始终相信歌红人红，人红后可把歌带红，歌不红，长久下去，人就不红。有实力的歌手也得碰上好歌，才能延续其演艺事业，无实力的，碰上好歌会一炮而红，过后碰不上好歌就成为一片之星，一糜不振。这其中当然不能全部抹杀天时地利人和的因素。

这演唱会最大的遗憾是不能与老爸共赏，相信他会非常享受这场演唱会，这些经典都是我儿时他常爱播的歌曲，耳濡目染下，我也爱上这些老歌，听着听着，儿时回忆一目一目地浮现眼前。
老爸在生时，当时新加坡不流行老歌手开演唱会，不然我一定带他前来观看。

另一遗憾是我的Nikon D80 不能带进场，原因是太专业了。岂有此理！上一此谭咏麟演唱会，朋友带的D100也可进场。只能大叹倒霉。用手提拍摄的录像过后也被制止! 唉....

李香兰的<三年>。


李香兰的<夜来香>。

Caricature theme - Surf's Up!!!

The client gave me the Surf's Up poster to follow, but replace the penguins with them.
Since it is meant as a birthday gift for this lady, I proposed to have the guy holding the birthday cake, while surfing. The pig she's holding is her soft toy. So is the monkey. The dog is her pet.
The client wanted this caricature to be printed on a mouse pad. Unfortunately, the machine is out of order at that time. Thus, didn't get it done in time for her birthday.

Caricature theme - bike + Labrador Park

Client's request:-

"Caricature as an anniversary gift for my boyfriend, Kelvin Tan.

Create a portrait of him riding his Suzuki GSX1300R K6 - also known as Hayabusa (he has great passion for riding) and me as the pillion. Through this caricature, I hope to bring out the character in him as a sweet and loving boyfriend."

Then she requested to have Pokka Green Tea and Sushi in their hand, with the Labrador Park setting. The yacht in the background was one of her other requests too.

Feedback from her:-

"Hi there!

Thank you for the job well done...
My boyfriend likes the caricature alot. =)

Regards,
Sharin"

On Wealth Magazines

Magazines with the caricatures I have drawn for them in May and July, sent in by my client. Think she missed out the on the lady's jogging caricature. Or it was in these 2 magazines and I missed it?

Caricature for ERM

Farewell gift. The draft was given by the client. Background is the chemical plants of their company, and the usual Singapore landmarks like Merlion, Esplanade and OCBC building. That piece of paper he's holding is the company logo.

Caricature theme - Air stewardess + Marathon runner

Anniversary gift.

The lady is an air stewardess from Singapore Airline (SIA).

Her boy boy is a marathon runner.

So, I proposed to have him chasing after her who's on the SIA plane.

Changed the posture of the Merlion, which curls backward, with a hand pointing at the plane.

Swapped!

Spot the difference from the original?

Ya. Drawn the wrong person as the main character.

Hence got to some touch-up on the softcopy which the client has requested for it earlier on, and have it printed out as hardcopy.

Caricature theme - giraffe + Singapore Botanical Garden

Used for this baby girl's first birthday party as poster placed at the entrance.
She likes Giraffe, and the 2 swans in Singapore Botanical Garden.
The client requested it the original artwork to be scanned into softcopy and printed on a roll-up banner.


The bag for the roll-up banner.


The aluminium casing.

The roll-up banner, about 3feet by 7feet.

Portable!

Caricature theme - wedding

Another wedding caricature. This time, I have a simple posture of the groom standing behind the bride, with his hand on her waist, since they have no design in mind. Looked more like a wedding photo, but in caricature form.

Caricature theme - wedding on DHL hot air balloon

This couple will be using these for their invitation card and wedding (or ROM??!!).

This is where he proposed to her - on the DHL hot air balloon at Beach Road.

Singapore skyline below. Think they are fascinated with the love-shaped eyes Merlion when they collect this artwork - laughing away.

Even my son too. He asked me why do the Merlion have love in her eyes?

Caricature for Ritz Carlton, SIngapore

This is another client from Ritz Carlton.
She wanted the same concept which I have done for her colleague for the previous job.
If possible, I usually won't draw the same design unless the clients insisted.
At least, I will try to do something different.
She agreed.

This is meant as a farewell gift.
The main guy (in the centre, foreground) is from the Food and Beverage (F&B) department. For him, I have him holding a wine glass, toasting. The other 2 guys next to him also from F&B, holding wine bottle. The guy on extreme right is in charge of banquet - have him dining. . The extreme left one is the lounge manager - so on a sofa.
The second row:-
From the left, first guy is the room service manager, so with a trolley, serving food.
Next to him, the secretary of the main guy, jotting down appointments and notes for him.
Next to secretary, the manager of the Green Restaurant - a plate of salad in her hand.
Next to her, the concierge manager - checking available rooms on a PC.
On extreme right, this guy is in chatge of the Chinese Restaurant. So I have him in Chinese Cheongsam with "DimSum" in his hand.
Third row:-
From the left:- in charge of the dish-washing, if I remember correctly.
Next to him, in charge of Snapper Restaurant. Drawn a fish for him.
The 3 guys behind has left Ritz Carlton, but wanted to join in and present him this farewell gift.


Started inking before constructing/sketching the Ritz Carlton building.
A different process, as I don't want the many construction lines of the building messing up the pencil sketches of the caricatures. Another reason was that I don't like to draw buildings, with so many repetitions in the windows. Tried to leave it to the last stage.
Didn't inking still at this stage, as the faces are inked in. Didn't want to smudge the ink while constructing the lines. (The ink is sticky even when it is dried, till colour marker added in.)


Added in the inked outline of the building after the colouring of the caricatures were done.


Finally done!!! Phew!!! Took me about 2 hours on this building alone, which is equivalent to the time to draw about 3-4 caricatures. But this time, the building turned out a lot better than the previous one, at least it was an improvement!!! Glad!

Caricatrue theme - wedding on Melbourne tram

Client's brief"-
"i) Caricature of us as a couple, me in a white wedding gown and my bf in a black suit;
ii) A university of melbourne logo in the background (please write the word "The University of Melbourne" near the logo) (that's our uni); and
iii) A picture of the melbourne tram (tram colour to be yellow and green as per picture and tram sign to say 'Melbourne') in the background (to symbolise Melbourne, the place where we met). I have also enclosed a picture of your caricature of a couple in a beetle. Would like to have something like that with the tram replacing the beetle, is it possible? Do include some colourful confetti flying around as how you did with the beetle picture to add more colour to the picture."

A new caricature theme! Outcome quite good. Added the word "Melbourne" on the tram front, instead of in the background.