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

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Monday, June 30, 2008

Caricatute theme - Seed of Love

Couple wedding caricatures Seed of Love
Client's brief:-
" I kinda like the one you did on of planting seeds of love (http://www.caricature.com.sg/2008/05/caricature-theme-seed-of-love.html) but in color marker and the couple are smiling sweetly. Possible a stork (bird) carrying a newborn baby. "

Thus, this is the colour version of 'seed of love'.
Which one do you prefer?

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Caricature theme - traditional Chinese Kua

Couple caricatures Chinese traditional wedding Kua
A different type of Chinese traditional wedding gown - the "Kua'
A good switch from those which I usually draw.
They wanted to hold a wedding flower ball. I draw them pulling it from both ends.
Added in a double happiness "喜喜". in the centre, so that it won't looked too empty, given the format is landscape.
Notice the magic of using smiling photos?
It helps the caricature a lot. It will spice up the whole drawing.

Illustrations for CNB (Central Narcotics Bureau, Singapore) - Essay 1

An essay for you to read. 2 illustrations per essay. 18 winning essays of an anti-drug competition, in total. Long way to go.....

Asey Koh
Ai Tong School, 6C

Her name was Tanya and she was my best friend. We had known one another since ten, and had stuck together ever since. I had always looked up to Tanya as an elder sister. She was tough, cool, and sophisticated. I was doing quite well in primary school, but when I entered my teens, I buckled under pressure, and started failing my subjects. As I was good at tennis and the star player in our school team, the principal was more lenient with me. He told me he would let me stay in school, but gave me an ultimatum for the coming semester—buck up or ship out.


Ai Tong School  Asey Koh - illustration 1 colour revised

I will never forget the day I discovered Tanya’s secret. It was the day after my examinations, and I was feeling very depressed. I headed to the carpark near my house, our usual rendezvous. When I found Tanya, I cried out my heart to her, all my frustration and anger. When I was done, she smiled at me and said, “Do you want to know my secret? Why I’m always so happy?” I nodded my head vigorously. Being a rebel, Tanya had been kicked out of school long before I started to have my problems. Yet she was always carefree and bouncy. I leaned closer to her eagerly, hoping she would impart some good words of wisdom, but instead, she fished out a plastic bag from her back pocket, revealing small pills, almost like medicine. A spark of suspicion caused me to gasp, “Is that a … drug?”

“No, no!” Tanya laughed. “This is called ‘yaba’, a sort of sweet. It’s new in the market.” At first, I was dumbfounded. Tanya’s source of happiness lay in … candy? A small voice at the back of my head whispered that I had nothing to lose, so when Tanya handed me a pill, I popped it into my mouth. I was overwhelmed by a feeling of pure ecstasy. I was floating over the clouds, soaring, flying! I went home happy that day, deliriously so, a packet of pills nestled in my jacket.

Within a week, I started to experience what Tanya called the “side-effects”. I was starting to feel extremely tired at school, and I had to take two pills of yaba a day just to feel better. Then came the time when I ran out of my daily supplements. The side effects hit me in full force. All at once, I was getting angry at everyone, feeling anxious for no reason, and having thoughts of suicide.

It was getting worse every day. I started to have hallucinations, and finally when I met Tanya, I asked for another packet. Tanya refused to give me any more pills. “What do you think I am doing? Running a charity? Come back with some cash!” Tanya, I found out, was in cahoots with a gang. This group of rebellious teens made money by selling the “sweets”.

By now, I had already guessed that yaba was actually a drug. However, I didn’t care. Yaba was what I lived for. It was my elixir of life. I would perish without it. So I joined Tanya. I sold yaba to anyone interested in it.

Ai Tong School  Asey Koh - illustration 2 colour (revised)

The day of judgement came when a youth around twenty approached me nervously, asking for yaba. He handed me the money, and I handed him the drugs. The young man’s nervousness fell and away, and he pulled out a pair of handcuffs. I was tricked. The man was a policeman in disguise, and all he wanted was for me to confess by handing him the drugs. I was guilty. So I was sent to a girls’ home and a drug rehabilitation centre to undergo treatment.

When I was there, I was told that I was right. Yaba was an infamous drug, which had many other names. It was actually called methamphetamine. I cried then. I wept for hours, but not because of I had been caught. Those were tears of joy. I was finally free. I was free from the grip of vice that drugs had held me with. I realised that when I was experiencing the strong, passionate emotions of hate and regret, I had to escape from the truth. That was what had caused me all the pain. My own insecurities and how naïve I was.

That was three years ago. I am now an ordinary citizen with a good, stable job. I never saw Tanya again, but I hope that she has turned over a new leaf and is starting anew, like me. The price for taking drugs is too high to pay. I found that out the hard way.

Rejected sketches......

These sketches are (36) illustrations for 18 essays, 2 illustrations, are all rejected by the client.
Spent so much time to do them up. Nearly jumped up when the 'middleman' Outlook Editorial and Research (OER) emailed me ,when I was in Kuantan few weeks ago.
"The gist of it is that they have a different style in mind, so they sent us some illustration samples from their other publications to show the style that they are looking for. I don't understand why they did not provide us with this from the start, or why they didn't give us this feedback once they saw the initial pencil sketches." as said by OER in their email.

In fact, I was so angry. First, this client saw my portfolio. They knew my style, and chose me for their job. Next, I did the book cover illustration for them. They accepted it happily, meaning the style was accepted too. Now, they saw first done up illustration, and said wanted a different style. What was really ridiculous was that the sketches was sent in different batches, over different time. At this stage, then they said that they have a different style in mind. Faint...............

My guess for this sudden change was that, there was another party came in to takeover the job, just like the job for BCA. Are all gxxxxxx staff do things like that? Grrrrrrr........

Ai Tong School  Asey Koh - illustration 1
Ai Tong School  Asey Koh - illustration 2
Anglo-Chinese School Basanth Sadasivan - illustration 1
Anglo-Chinese School Basanth Sadasivan - illustration 2
Canossa Convent Primary Debbie Michelle Ng - illustrattion1
Canossa Convent Primary Debbie Michelle Ng - illustrattion2
Nan Chiau Primary School Gwyneth Lee Yi Xin - illustration 1
Nan Chiau Primary School Gwyneth Lee Yi Xin - illustration 2
Princess Elizabeth Primary School Chay Jia Min Elaine - illustration 1
Princess Elizabeth Primary School Chay Jia Min Elaine - illustration 2
St Anthony's Canossian Primary Jerika Low En Ru - illustration 1
St Anthony's Canossian Primary Jerika Low En Ru - illustration 2
Tao Nan School Benjamin Aw Ka An - illustration 1
Tao Nan School Benjamin Aw Ka An - illustration 2
Tao Nan School Callie Hoon - illustration 1
Tao Nan School Callie Hoon - illustration 2
Temasek Primary School Danyel Ong Wei - illustration 1
Temasek Primary School Danyel Ong Wei - illustration 2
Ai Tong Primary School Dawn Oh Ruini - illustration 1
Ai Tong Primary School Dawn Oh Ruini - illustration 2
Ai Tong School Wilson Wu Fan - illustration 1
Ai Tong School Wilson Wu Fan - illustration 2
Concord Primary School Naomi Chua - illustration 1
Concord Primary School Naomi Chua - illustration 2
Henry Park Primary School Isabella Loh - illustration 1
Henry Park Primary School Isabella Loh - illustration 2
Henry Park Primary School Sofia Amanda Bening - illustration 1
Henry Park Primary School Sofia Amanda Bening - illustration 2
Madrasah Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiah Nuha Amani Bte Misbahuddin - illustration 1
Madrasah Al-Irsyad Al-Islamiah Nuha Amani Bte Misbahuddin - illustration 2
Ngee Ann Primary School Zachary Lim - illustration 1
Ngee Ann Primary School Zachary Lim - illustration 2
Rosyth School Yew Kai Ning - illustration 1
Rosyth School Yew Kai Ning - illustration 2
Zhangde Primary School Chia Yan Min Kimberly - illustration 1
Zhangde Primary School Chia Yan Min Kimberly - illustration 2

Second batch of revised sketches, but still didn't reflect to me on the style they want.
Tao Nan School Callie Hoon - illustration 2 (revised)
Ai Tong School  Asey Koh - illustration 2 (revised)
Ai Tong School Wilson Wu Fan - illustration 2 (revised)
St Anthony's Canossian Primary Jerika Low En Ru - illustration 2 (revised)

Ai Tong School  Asey Koh - illustration 1ink
Did this lineart, scanned in and coloured in.
Ai Tong School  Asey Koh - illustration 1 colour
Style I have chosen is flat tone (with minimal shades, original quote was flat tone; added in shades to make it look better, but no surcharge) for the character, and waterbrush strokes with organic edge for the background.
As mentioned above, of course rejected. They said this style was outdated! The reason for me to choose on this style was that there were a lot of scenes in these essays which required expressions. Easier to express in this more realistic style.

Ai Tong School  Asey Koh - illustration 1 style test
Gave them detail style, they don't want. I think of another simpler style.
Guess what?
Email received from OER:-
"Thanks very much for the illustration. We really like it, and more importantly, the client really likes it (client says: "Great! this looks very nice. I'm happy to go with this style.")."

Happy? Yes, but nearly vomited blood.
Tell me earlier, and would have saved all parties lots of time, and effort on my side.
Anyway. We got the green light to move on.

Caricature for Seletar Club

Caricature Seletar Club golf buggy
The client saw one of the buggy theme caricatures on my website (but I can't find it! Hahaha.... no time to search for it thoroughly), and requested a similar one, but without the dog, as in the original sample. Changed the design a bit to fit his expression.

Family caricatures - a day at the beach

Client's brief:-
"....I prefer the beach related theme. I like to see the people in action in the sun. A hawaii theme like the hunks(my husband and son) in colourful beach shorts and coconut husk bikinis and straw skirts for the gals doing something together looks fun? windsurfing, speedboating with water skiing are fun too. Anyway, I will leave you with the brillant ideas. I am running out of ideas. Just something with the sunshine, action and colourful....
I think it will be fun."


Family caricatures at the beach
No space for the windsurfing, speedboating etc, as it will be too spread out. I have to 'tie' them close together. With the Hawaiian mum, the most ideal part will be at the shoreline.
The hunk dad will be the one who bring all of them together. The son climbing on to the dad's shoulder with a watergun. The daughter with a pail and spade.

Feedback from the client:-
"Jit Leong-

Thanks for drawing the family portrait for me. My family likes it very much esp. my children and my hubby actually thinks it is a very special gift. It is now hanging in my living room and it is definitely good memory for us on our 10th wedding anniversary.

With thanks and regards,
Kerry"

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Caricatures for Carl Zeiss S.E.Asia

Couple caricatures fishing
The client 's request:-
"1) The gentleman likes fishing and can draw him catch a big fish
2) His wife can be helping him to pull the fish in
3) We need with Photo Mat and wood frame (like the previous one you did for us in March this year)"

Searched on Google Images for quite some time, and can't find any good images of showing the interior of the fish mouth. Thus, got to put in my imagination here.
Since it is based on imagination, I got to put in more effort in the execution part, to make it looked convincing. Put in some motion strokes on the fish head to show it being pulled out of the water.
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