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

Kindly note that rates quoted do not include the release of copyright ownership.
All copyright ownership resides with Portrait Workshop.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Thank you, mentor!

big hamper from Robin
Received a call from the hamper company, told me that there was a hamper for me from my mentor (not art mentor), while I am on my way to his office.
Oh, so touched.
Second hamper I received for Chinese New Year over these years. Miserable......
Reached home and saw that it was not the usual hamper somemore.
There were abalaone, bottle bird's nest etc. Woo.... must be damn expensive.
The message on the card;- 'Thank you for your support and beautiful painting!'

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Couple portraits in pencil

Portraits pencil couple 300108
Another Valentine's Day gift, but it is couple portraits in pencil, instead of caricatures.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Another princess!

Caricature princess
The big glasses + this cheeky expression made this caricature turned out different.
Since this caricature is without theme, this princess has no tierra.

The Monkeys Market (Satire)

Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers
that he would buy monkeys at $10 each.

The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around,
went into the forest and started catching them.
The man very gentlemanly bought thousands of monkeys at $10 each,
but as supply started to diminish,
the villagers slowed down and eventually stopped their efforts.

The man then announced that he would now buy at $20.
This renewed the energy and efforts of the villagers
and they started catching monkeys again.
Soon the supply diminished even further, and people started going back to their farms.
The offer was then increased to $25 each, but the supply of monkeys became so little
that it was a almost a miracle to even spot a monkey, let alone catch one.

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50 !
However, since he had to go to the city on some business,
his assistant would transact on his behalf.

In the absence of the man, the assistant assembled the villagers and told them :
“ Look at all these monkeys in the big cages that the man has collected.
I will sell them to you at $35 each, and when the man returns from the city,
you can in turn sell them to him at $50 each.
Deal or no deal ? ”

The excited villagers, smelling a quick-profit killer opportunity,
immediately rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys.
Then they never saw the man nor his assistant again,
and there were just monkeys everywhere!

Ladies and gentlemen :
Now you have a better understanding of how the stock market works.

Caricature theme - cupid and angel

Caricatures couple Cupid and Angel
Valentine's gift.
He wanted to be the cupid with a 'heart' arrow, and she will be the angel.
Noticed the overlapping lines of the dark blue sky?
This was the nature of colour marker.
When you colour over the existing patch, it will add on another layer. It would be good for building up shades and textures for the facial muscle etc, but not for smooth area like sky and flat colour background. That's why I seldom colour the sky. I would leave it blank instead, add in the clouds and birds etc. It can't help in this case, since we need a dark ble sky to bring out the night sky effect, with moon and stars.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Caricatures for Deloitte

Caricature Deloitte soccer
Soccer and golf theme.
They got the samples I have done, from my website.
They wanted the same design, but replace the 'Sharp' logo with 'Deloitte' logo, and the other was to add in the name on the cap.
Caricature Deloitte golf

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Caricature for Barclays Capital Global Services Singapore Pte Ltd

Caricature Barclay 270108
Drawn his mouth and teeth exceptionally big. Turned out quite good.
This time, I didn't colour the base biege colour over the teeth as what I usually do. to make this set of teeth bright and shinny.

Caricatures for Central Provident Funds (CPF)

Caricatures pencil CPF Board
Think these were the staff/committee members who didn't get their chance to be drawn in their company D&D last December. I guess only. Hahaha.....
Anyway, this drawing took me 3 days to finish!
Unbelievable, right?
In fact, I finished two-third of it on Friday night.
Ding-dong here and there, and too many stuff to settle during weekend, it was finally done on Sunday night.
No more delay, as I have other orders piling up, and terribly behind time.
Noticed this time round, I drew the caricatures quite close together, which was quite different from my usual way of drawing group caricatures? Maybe that was the main reason for the lengthy time for completion. This whole drawing was A2 size. The faces were relatively big. To squeeze in 12 of them, I felt stressed. But luckily the final outcome looked quite good.

over-sensitive?!... moving forward

Case A:-
Did some searches on Google yesterday, and found a few Singapore artist websites and blogs follow the way I blog.
They put up client's request and sketching process etc. (maybe these are what artists can blog also.)
Maybe they are eyeing on this url too, since they got another similar url.
Thought I can be more easygoing now, since I have another bigger goal.
Now I may need to stay more alert.

Told my wife about it.
She said they follow your style, maybe because they think yours is good.
Hmmm.... is it? Should I be happy or .....?!

It may be unwise to talk about all these here. These artists (competitors and friends) could be following my blog. (If they didn't follow, they won't see this post; If they follow, I could be right.)But since this is my blog, I should have the freedom to talk about anything. Isn't it? Not those very sensitive issues though. Too many factors to consider. Maybe I can tell you more about this artist ring (like takeover etc) more if I have time and mood, and if you are interested.

Case B:-
About 10 years ago, when I was strolling with my wife along a Pasar Malam just opposite my workplace (where I draw for business). We were looking at the displays on the tables, and we stopped at a table, with black and white caricatures displayed on it. We looked at each other. The first thing appeared in my mind was that how come my drawings appeared here? But I didn't draw these faces before?

We looked at the artist, then we walked off.

My wife said that artist's drawing style looked so much like yours. I agreed.
Perhaps you may think I am over-sensitive or whatever ...... Perhaps you are right.
We take note of that artist's face.
He's now quite a well-known artist in Singapore.

That day, this artist told me, in an event, that he is using some of the caricature postures I used for the guests in events. I won't say no to him. He has the freedom to draw these postures. I have no rights to stop him from doing so. But this justified what I thought earlier on, in a way.

My friends told me that there are artists following what I am doing, just that I used certain styles which they can't copy easily.

Yes, I used G-pens, fountain pen and brushes. I learned to express the lines with brush and pen strokes through comics. I learned the cartoon, expressions, body proportions, cross-hatching styles, rendering (digitally too) methods etc through comics too. From there, I digest and put them in my caricature and portrait drawings. If you do notice, these are seldom seen in caricature drawings especially.

When I first started out as a portrait artist, I gave my company a name - Portrait Workshop.

Many clients thought that I am conducting workshop for the public. In fact, it is a workplace that I explore different methods of drawing style, method, expressions etc. I am excited every time I thought of one new method to approach the drawing in front of me. I will spend hours on it to get it done right, with satisfaction. Before entering this line, I was already exploring on acrylic painting, then airbrush rendering. I drew my own comic strips.

Over the years, the flame dies down. Maybe I have reached the bottleneck. Maybe I have another vision. Have been reading up a lot on another subject recently. Acquiring a new living skill. (It is still not an appropriate time to reveal it here yet.)

But after seeing that the competitors are catching up with me, I have the urge to push myself harder to move further ahead. However, all this while, I still try to make myself to draw something different. If not possible, at least I can work on the execution - finer rendering, strokes and postures etc. Play on the angles, expressions, features. Most importantly - QUALITY! If my customers (including the potential ones) can't tell the difference, either I have failed in expressing them on my artworks, or I have not done enough to tell them on artpiece.

I am definitely not the best here. But I must make sure that I am not the worst, and stay above the water. Always good to have friendly competitions, and I believe that I can perform better in that way. I still remembered that I have sketched in an event with 6 caricaturists. I was so excited, and I performed far better than my previous events.

学如逆水行舟,不进则退。

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Close on 28th Jan 2008

Out for an assignment. Portrait Workshop will be closed on the coming Monday - 28th Jan 2008. You can email me at jit@portraitworkshop.com for enquiries etc, as I may not be able to pick up calls.
Business resumes on Tuesday 29th Jan 2008, 12pm - 5pm.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Caricature theme - cowboy

Caricature cowboy boxer Subaru
His friends wanted to give him a full cowboy suit initially, and then changed their mind to have him in brown G-string. They added in his blue Subaru and his boxer dog. Can't remember why they added in the US and Japan flags. The sandwich with the 'Hotboxe' logo on it was retained, as he has his own sandwich vending machine business. Cool!

Caricature for Baker Tilly TFWLCL

Caricature IPO Emperor Baker Tilly
Client's brief:-
".....need to include the word of IPO Emperor as the heading and the emperor will be stepping on all the pearls & jewels. With a lot of eunuchs or shou xia with him to show that , there is wealth and luxury...."

Emperor dealing with IPO?

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Caricature theme - roller blading and cycling

Caricatures couple roller blading cycling A4
Guy roller blading, which the gal cycling, along the beach.
Left the solid ground white instead of colour it with grey, so that they will stand out better, and the drawing not looking dull.
She was in this caricature artwork I have done for Lasalle Investment Management. Can you identify where she was?

Monday, January 21, 2008

Caricature for Tridium Asia Pacific Pte Ltd


He must have a craze for Harley Davidson bikes, as the client requested me to draw him riding it. Turned out quite good, slightly beyond what I have expected initially. Maybe because of the big curl (I exaggerated it slightly) on his top, and his beard. Think the treatment of shading part of the face helps a lot too.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Caricature live sketching for DynaForce Gala Dinner

Quite rare to have events on Sunday, especially at Sentosa.
Nevertheless, still took up this job, as this event organiser (Jason from Vision Event) was one who appreciate my art and skill. Though I have increased my rate, he still engaged my service. He will always tell me, after the event, "You are the best caricaturist I have seen in Singapore!" "You are the best at your works!" etc. Makes me feel as if I am really that good, though I know I am not that good yet. I know myself better. Still have lots of room for improvement.

The event was held at Amara Sanctuary Resort.
I was there early, just in case I am caught in a traffic jam along the way, CTE especially.
Jason afraid that this event slipped my mind.
He gave me a ring to check, and I was already at the carpark.

Amara Sanctuary exterior
After setting up, the guests were not here yet, not the time to start yet, and nothing better to do, brought my Nikon D80 to snap some photos of this new building. Testing how wide my wide angle lens can cover. Not as wide as I thought.

Amara Sanctuary interior
It was slightly brighter in this photo, as compared to the actual lighting in this lobby.


Kicked off by getting this lady to sit down and being sketched. If not, I will be bored to death.
After that, the guests started to crowd around and have their names written on the queue list.



Quite a good one, right?


This one even closer resemblance.
Shorted the feather on her head, so that there won't be a big gap on top.


This guy was easy to draw. Long face, closer eyes, long nose with 2 moles. Can't run away one.


He told me that he will look boyish if he smiles. But a smiling caricature is always better than a serious one. The outcome was quite good, isn't it?


This guy can really hold his smile.


Summary of what I have done for this event. All lying on the table, waiting for the ink to be dried, before inserting into the plastic bags.

Lady portrait in pencil

Portrait pencil lady 200108
I like the overall feel of this portrait.
The hair, the eyes, the overall mood and feel, her expression, the hatching method on the clothes, the distinction between the treatment of the hair and shirt.
Most importantly, the photo provided was not really good.
The face was in the shades, especially on the eyes part. I tried to shade less to bring out the brightness of her eyes. Perhaps her features were quite pronounced, it turned out better than what I have expected before I started sketching it.

Caricature theme - wedding

Caricatures couple ink wedding
This couple will be using these caricatures for their wedding invitation card.
In fact, if they want to lower the cost of printing in choose one colour printing, they can opt for caricature in colour with wedding theme.
With the shading, it brings out the facial muscle better.
To reduce cost by using one colour, they can opt for sepia tone printing.
The outcome is a lot better.
One of my clients did that before.
Just that I don't have a copy on my side.

This round, I am still using fountain pen for this job. A different feel from using the G-pen and brush. Wonder how it will turn out on the card when it is a reduced version.

Caricature in ink

Caricature ink 200108
The client wanted an A5 size caricature. Rather small.
Used fountain pen for it, instead of the normal G-pen and brush.

Caricature live sketching for a birthday party

A 2-hour (9pm - 11pm) event at IndoChine in Asian Civilisations Museum.
Was there around 8:45pm, but the client was not there yet.
Took photos of the night scenes along Singapore River, since I have nothing to do and my Nikon D80 with me. Without tripod, I can only look for supports I can find there.
Asian Civilisations Museum
Caricature birthday party 190108 1
The client who engaged my caricature sketching service. A nice guy.
Saw the flyer he was showing his guests. Think he got it from my shop.
He asked me whether I need any champagne.
Wow, I would love to, but I can't as I need to sketch them.
Just afraid it will affect my concentration.
Moreover, I need to fetch my mum and uncle from their friend's wedding dinner after this event.
Thus, I declined his offer.

Back to the drawing part.
His eyes was rather big when I was sketching him.
Perhaps due to the bright flash, I tried 3 snapshots, and still can't get his big eyes.

Caricature birthday party 190108 2
The client's wife - the birthday girl.
He asked me to be careful for this caricature. Hahaha.......
A nice one. No worry.
In fact, her birthday is tomorrow.
She asked me what date I should put when I signed off?
I preferred to use the date when this caricature was drawn.

Caricature birthday party 190108 3
He asked me how I know his name is James?
Hahaha..... just want to draw him touching his beard.
Since he mentioned that, I added on smoke coming out from his index finger, and drew in a bullet and a bullet hole, to make it more complete.

Caricature birthday party 190108 4
Requested to draw her three-quarter view, so that we can see her hair being tied up.
If not, it will be mistaken that she has short hair if I drew her caricature from the front.
Looked quite good, right? Can see her big eyes, with curly long eyelashes.

Caricature birthday party 190108 5
She requested to make her looked very pretty before she was drawn.
Pretty enough?

Caricature birthday party 190108 6
Caricature birthday party 190108 7
George Bush's eyebrows and eyes. Quite close.
I thought this caricature was quite a good one in terms of resemblance, but it was not shown in this photo, due to the bright flash.

Caricature birthday party 190108 8
This one was a good one to me too.

Caricature birthday party 190108 9
She said she looked very sweet in the caricature. Her friends said so too.
I think so too. Once again, the photo didn't said so. Smaller eyes when the photo was snapped.

Caricature birthday party 190108 10
She was very nervous when I was sketching her, but was happy upon receiving her caricature.
The caricature reminded me of Karen Mok. Do you think so too?

Caricature birthday party 190108 11
This hair can't be missed, but have to miss some lines on her face. That's what her friends requested for their own caricatures too. I told them under the dim lighting of the restaurant, they should be rest assured that I wouldn't be able to see those lines. Hahaha......

Friday, January 18, 2008

Caricature theme - lovely princess

Caricature lovely princess
A regular customer, who frequents my pushcart in Clarke Quay and booth when I was busking in Orchard Road. He gets me to do caricatures for his girlfriends (not concurrently, of course) on any occasions, usually for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas Day and Valentine's Day.
He will tell his friends what he wants for his birthday presents beforehand. He will instruct them to come and look for me to draw caricatures of his friends and him. That was what his friends told me. Hahaha.... Thank you, Jason.
This time he's featuring this girl as a lovely princess.
Sent me the photos of dress and posture he wanted. I added in the background that appeared in the photo.
Didn't colour right to the edge of the drawing. Think it looked better in this way. More sleek.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Caricatures for Cosmic Harmony International Pte Ltd

This client dropped me an email, after digging through his piles of business cards.
He told me that he was very happy when he managed to find my contacts.
Thank you.

"I remember meeting you outside Paragon many years ago and I have taken one of your business card with me.
I am a retired senior corporate executive who is now doing freelance training.
I wanted to have good caricature of mine and spent a few month searching for your card until tonight. I am so happy that I have found it.
I would like to make appointment for a face to face discussion and if necessary a live sitting to get one done to my specifications.
I see myself as a lively, humorous and action based trainer rich in life experiences, able to teach complex concept using simple and practical approach. So I want to create something to reflect this image. I do not mind you proposing more than one option. I would like it to be in full color so that I can use it on my PowerPoint slides and also for future advertising materials like promotional leaflets, website or banners."



Pretty straightforward job.


This design was chosen when we surfed on Google Images (think under the keyword of 'Professor"). I added in the whipsaw shadow to achieve the illustration feel, which we often see in illustrations. Looked better than a normal shadow, isn't it? In fact, since it is a flat panel, logically, it shouldn't have a shadow, if illustrated in the real life style. It should be one panel darker than the other.

Caricature for Sim Mong Teck & Partners (SMT&P)


The company intends to use this caricature artwork to be printed on the red packets (Ang Bao) against a golden background. These 2 girls were from the company.
The red packets will be given out to the company's clients before the Lunar Chinese New Year.


They wanted long hair for both of them.
The photos given by them, were snapped against a dark background. Thus can't see the long hair.
I added in on the spot, upon their collection.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Caricature theme - traditional Korean lady


She loves all Korean stuff.
Thus, I drew her in traditional Korean costume.
Just happened to see this caricature and the previous caricature the client has ordered, on her blog, when I did a search on who's linking to my blog just now.
Nice to see that.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Caricature for Singapore Air Force

Caricature Singapore Air Force Stretch Apache
This client used to be my regular, who has asked me to draw many caricatures (think more than 10) for his colleagues when I was drawing in Clarke Quay.
I can't remember his face, but knew there was such a customer.
Asked him how didhe get to find me again?
Thought he will say from Google or Yahoo Search Engines.
He said from the url I have written on the caricature.
Oh! Some of my clients told me that it looked too commercial, but I believe that they may need it one day. And now it served its purpose (again).

Back to this caricature:-
The "call code" (is it?! can't remember) is 'stretch' from '120SQN'.
The client initially wanted him to stretch out his arms, with the Apache on them.
I proposed to have his arm stretched up to reach the Apache.
(He has some hard time deciding whether to stretch this guy's arm or legs, but I told him the latter will not be that obvious.)
Due to the bird's eye view angle and big head nature of car, the stretch is not really that obvious in this final artwork.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Caricatures for Givaudan Singapore Pte Ltd

The client will be using these caricatures for their Powerpoint presentation.
Not sure of what the presentation is.
She wanted them to look professional, and not too funny in the caricatures.

I used the 'Hero" fountain pen again.
Think I can express better with this pen, and also I can draw faster.
Refilled a new bottle of Chinese ink, especially for this project.
The old ink is too thick, after some evaporation over the time.
The ink won't flow smoothly.

Big guy riding a kid's bicycle.


Tennis player.


Professional baker.
This was what I saw in Pietra Ligure, Italy last June.
Now, I begin to miss the 2 weeks life there. No stress (except financially - Food there is expensive). Everyday just walk here and there in that little town.


Carrying a laptop stroller.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Caricature order from Norway

Client's request:-

"We are a school class from Norway that has been on holiday in germany. We would realy like to have caricature pictures from everzbody that was on the trip. We are going to make a memory book and the caricature would fit perfectly.... We live on the countryside and we don´t have streetnumbers. The postman knows everybody. So the drawings will come to this address."

Caricature pencil Norway1
Caricature pencil Norway 3
Caricature pencil Norway 2
Caricature pencil Norway 4
I like this caricature. Distorted her face more than others, but not making her looked ugly.
Think this is the style what my clients like. The difficulty lies here too - Don't want to look normal as in portrait. Want to look cute and good, not definitely not ugly.

Caricature pencil Norway 5
Caricature pencil Norway 6
Caricature pencil Norway 7
Caricature pencil Norway 8
Caricature pencil Norway 9
This guy is fun to draw.

Caricature pencil Norway 10
Caricature pencil Norway 11
Caricature pencil Norway 12
Caricature pencil Norway 13
Caricature pencil Norway 14
A mistake made here. The person on top and below is the same person.
I only realised it when I checked the filename (same person's name) of the photos sent by the client. So, this boy gets 1 free caricature.
Caricature pencil Norway 14a
Caricature pencil Norway 15
Caricature pencil Norway 16
Caricature pencil Norway 17
Caricature pencil Norway 18
Caricature pencil Norway 19
Caricature pencil Norway 20
Caricature pencil Norway 21
It is always easier to capture the essence of the Caucasian, as compared to Asian, as they have sharper and more distinctive features.
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