A stressed birthday

Think this is my most stressful birthday, because of the jobs piling up, especially the 55 caricatures for Microsoft lining up, due next Saturday. Moreover, the setting up of the new school stuff like getting company secretary, doing advertisement layout, searching for venues for seminars etc etc, added more workload to me.
Not a very 'happy' birthday. In fact, not much feel for my birthday this year.
See the previous post. I still have to draw on my birthday, which I usually don't do so.
At least a break for me, every year.
But can't afford it this time.
36 years old. Maybe half of my life gone. Could be even shorter if I keep on working like that.
Everyday wake up at 8am+. Work till 2am+. Work almost non-stop, except eating and fetch my son from school. Weekends burned off.
I don't think this is the lifestyle that I want to continue.
Need to give it a stop, at least not working every minute when I am awake.


Anyway, my wife bought me a chocolate cake yesterday. Had an early celebration.
She bought me a suit for the school seminars and courses.


This evening , my elder and younger sisters gave me a treat at Sakae Sushi at Wheelock Place.
They gave me a watch. This T-shirt I am wearing from my mother-in-law.

Another cake.
My daughter asked me "whose cake is this?"
"Daddy's"
"Why you birthday again? Why you have 2 cakes?"
"......."

Brought them to Toy's'rus after the dinner.
Few hours break, and I am back to my drawing desk.........

Rates adjustments

Just adjusted the rates of my services.
Same reason - cut down my workloads.
Not to show off, but the jobs are flooding in till I can't breath.
Mentally very stressed.
Thought after the previous adjustment, it should cut down my workloads, but it didn't.
After I moved out from my shop, and work from my SOHO, thought it could be a challenge to get consistent orders. Orders should be lesser, but it was the reverse. I am getting even more orders now.
Wilfred told me it will be a challenge to your competitors instead, as I have too much jobs till cannot handle, but to raise my rates. Hmmmmm......
One of my clients told me that when they need my service, they won't really care about my price.

Anyway, the only way I can think of, is to increase my rates.
Think it should cut down the demand.
This is a self-fulfilling market.
When the price is higher, demand will be lower.
This move may upset my potential customers, but will make my competitors happier.
One of them has been telling me throughout these years, that my rates are too low. (A strong hint to me that I am blocking their business?)
Now, they should get more jobs, as my prices are considered one of the highest, if not the highest, in local market. Of course, they are still considered relatively low, as compared to those caricature rates oversea.

Another reason for this move is that I am appointed another bigger task to work on in the coming months (and perhaps years). I have to setup a company (trading school), create a website (with SEO, registration, spice up the contents, video editing etc), blog, design logo, namecards, design advertisements and brochures, spice up the Powerpoint presentation contents etc etc. This will definitely take up a lot of my time.

Anyway, the rates have been adjusted. Let's see how it goes.

Copying openly?!

Went to Hougang Mall for brunch and saw some art activities at Hougang Central Hub.
My gut feel told me that there must be some artists doing caricatures and portraits here.
Guest what I saw?


I saw one of the caricatures done by me (my wife can't tell it was my drawing, but Ivan can tell) on this artist's table.
I don't think this was drawn by him, as this was one of the 100+ pieces of pencil caricatures I did for Sony's event as doorgifts, years ago when I was still drawing in Clarke Quay. I can recognise my own pencil strokes and style.
The chances of her getting him to draw a caricature was very slim. Then I saw my signature and website url on it. Next to the caricature, was his sketch of this caricature. Hmmmm..... copying openly?!
Told my wife. She said, " Wow, you are the idol of many people. They all copy your art!"
不招人妒是庸才!
Is it?
Should I be happy?

Anyway, this was the caricature ripped from my website.


Didn't went up to ask him why he used my caricature.
At least, he didn't use my caricature as display and get business for himself like that Eugene and 朱学伟. The latter was a student from China. He met me in Clarke Quay about 13 years ago, saw my portraits displayed there. He befriended with me, and subsequently asked me to lend him some of my portraits to photocopy, so that he can copy and learn some skill for me and draw for his colleagues. Seeing that he was quite a poor student, I allowed him to do so.
Few month later, I went to Kuantan for holiday. When I came back, I saw him sitting at my place, setting up a stall, displaying my portrait drawings, to get business for himself. Damn! I asked him why did he do so? He couldn't give me an answer.
Though I don't like people to copy what I draw, (as what some local professional artists are doing currently) which I can't help, I really despise people who displayed my works as their works. These people are the worst type! Even if they can get the business, but cannot deliver the similar quality or standard. How would they answer to their clients? It is like I am cheating their clients indirectly!

What a small world! This Singapore Arts Street 2008 @ North East is held from 21-29 June 2008. It is the second day, and this is the second time I come to Hougang Mall, and I saw my drawing here. Think he didn't expect to see me here. Anyway, I don't think he can recognise me, even when I stood in front of his table and snapped these photos.

My baby is finally back!

Nikon Service Centre finally smsed me, saying that my Nikon D80 is ready for collection yesterday. Finally! After 3 weeks+. They told me they have no stock for the shutter unit. Hence, I couldn't get it back for my Kuantan trip. Anyway, they told me that they have replaced the main PCB, shutter unit, AF sensor, with general servicing. That girl who served me, couldn't give me an answer for the fault. Either she doesn't know, doesn't bother to tell me, or doesn't want to tell me. Anyway, this baby was finally back. The total fee of $370 will be paid by Harvey Norman, under the 4-year extended warranty. Think I paid about $365 for the extended warranty. So, one more failure, they will have to lose out. And of there's any failure, please do so before my warranty expires.

Tested some shots in that service centre. Wow, back to life, and felt like a new camera to me. Everything was so clean and new, and the photos taken appeared crisp and sharp. Happy and contented.

Went to the PSA Building, opposite of Fuji Xerox Building where the Nikon Service Centre was, for my lunch at Ah Hua Bak Kut Teh.
Still very good service on the soup refill. First refill was after my first sip. Second refill came after my fourth sip, last refill when I almost finished it, and these refills not those diluted one.
The only complain was the small portion of Bak Kut Teh, and the quite a lot of bones. Maybe food prices went up too much over these few months. This lunch costs me $6.70, with the towel. Still the market price, but cannot filled up my stomach leh.

Bought a bun after the lunch. That auntie asked me why so miserable? One bun for my lunch?

......................maybe I didn't have my breakfast this morning. That's why the Bak Kut Teh's portion appeared so small to me............

Bomb from Starhub!

Got the shock of the day after seeing my Starhub handphone bill.
$2425.58 for 236MB 894Kb of data usage!!!
Faint faint faint!!!
Luckily, it was capped at $88. $2387.58 was deducted from the bill.
My wife said I am like those people appeared on the newspaper.
Charged for high data usage, unknowingly.

Thought I off the Edge data usage on my iPhone?
And I only use WiFi to surf the web and check email?
Don't feel like calling Starhub to check.
They will sure tell me that I did use up that amount of data.
Waste my time.
The only thing I did was to remove the 'shwapint' from the Edge setting.
No setting. I will only input it manually when I need to use it.
That's the only way to make sure that it doesn't logon to the Edge network by itself, when there isn't any internet access.

Just my luck...............

Back!

I am back! Postpone my stay till yesterday. Decided to spend one more day with my family.
This morning, I received many calls on enquiries, placing order and collection.
Looks like I have to come back by today.
Can't afford to stay any longer.

Stupid jam at the Malaysia custom took away 1hr+ from me.
Keeps checking email from my iPhone in the jam (happened to have free WiFi, near the custom) .
Tons of jobs to clear, though I have cleared some while away in Malaysia.
But new jobs coming in, and all deadlines meet at end June, and they are not small jobs.
See how I die this round........

Out of town from 11th June 2008 till 16th June 2008

Paying my mum and brother a visit in Kuantan, Malaysia during this period.
Please email me at jit@portraitworkshop.com for any enquiries.
Will be using dial-up there. Thus, will not be accessing my email as often as what I am doing in Singapore.
Alternately, you can call me at +60139121884 from 6pm tomorrow onwards. This is the temporary prepaid card I will be using during this period.

Encouragement!

Email from a visitor:-

"Hi Jit,

Came across your website while searching for 'caricatures' in SG.
Yours is the first one! I have spent more than an hour browsing your
website (can't finish it). Am deeply impressed by your dedication to
your craft and though worried that your competitors might copy your
style, you still put your work up in high resolution. Thank you so
much! Your website really gave me great pleasure browsing through all
your works.

Would like to request for a caricature in color with a theme. It's a
wedding gift for my very best friend, but I'm afraid it's not in
enough time for it (12 Jun) since I just came across your website
today. Am so looking forward to working with you next Jan. (Her
wedding is in March)

Until then, keep up the fantastic work and constant upgrading of skills!

Cheers
Sherry"

Sure! I will. Thank you, Sherry! :D

Problem solved!

From Usonyx:-
"There should have been no problems with portraitworkshop.com, but we had DNS problems with domains hosted on the same server as "caricature.com.sg" (so this domain had problems)

This was already resolved and will not reoccur. We sincerely apologize for inconvenience caused.

DNS for your domain didn't work properly because of Control panel bug. Bug is fixed now."

Stupid.......
Just my luck.
Hope they test their software next time before updating their control panel next time.

Confused!!!

Usonyx hasn't come back to me.
http://www.caricature.com.sg/ and http://www.caricaturist-jit.blogspot.com/ don't work on my laptop and my son's laptop.
http://www.caricature.com.sg/ works , but http://www.caricaturist-jit.blogspot.com/ does't work on my PC.
Same for Wilfred's case.
Don't know what to do now.
Maybe just wait awhile before I do updates on my website again.

www.caricature com.sg is down!

Down. Don't know why. Contact Usonyx but not working on weekends. Very bad techincal support. Changed the url back to the original blogger url to caricaturist-jit.blogspot.com on my website. But individual posts are down. This will affect me a lot as my links on search engines all direct to http://www.caricature.com.sg/
Got to complain to them on Mon. 2 days. How much is the loss?!!!

Second cheque from Adsense!

Got my second cheque from Adsense - $179.79, after 2 months.
Not bad. Quite an improvement from last time.

Looking for me?

Received 2 enquiries today, and happened that they are looking for me, but don't know that I am the artist who used to do the caricatures for them.

Enquiry 1:-

This guy attached the above file in his email.

"Hi Jit Leong,
Came across your website whilst googling for it, and I love your works!
I actually looking for a caricature artist to replicate the picture as attached for your reference. In addition, I also need to add in a few missing persons who are omitted from this picture......."

"Thanks for your prompt reply.
I've attached a copy of the past caricature that we've used, and do you have any idea how much it will cost for this?"

"Thanks for your email.....
......Well, I was trying hard to locate the artiste who drew that, and whilst googling for caricature artistes I came upon you.
I must say that I really love that piece of work, it was great!
However, I guess I need to give the chance to work with you a miss then, as I need the picture to be ready for a event on the 29th.
Nonetheless, thanks for your prompt reply, and I do look forward to working with you again."

"I'm afraid I need the picture to be in by the 26th May, because we will be printing cards as well, and need to cater in extra time for printing and production.
We are looking at around 40 odd people around a Coca-Cola banner....."

Didn't get the job, but glad that he loves this artwork. It is my record too, with the highest number of people (87) done in 1 drawing, and every caricature is very small in size. (second is job for Phillip Morris)

Thought I have put in my website url clear enough in that drawing? Seems like it is too small to be seen. Some clients asked me not to put in the url in my drawings. Some clients told me that they are glad to be able to find me again for more drawings, thanks to the url. I like the latter, as that's my purpose (and quality-guaranteed) for including in all my drawings.

Enquiry 2:-
A Citibank client requested a Citibank staff to look for a caricaturist to do a job. He said that he has his wedding caricatures done by an artist in Clarke Quay, who has a booth there. Told that staff that I am the artist. Gave her the link on my website as the proof.

Seems like my 8.5 years of hardwork in Clarke Quay wasn't down in the drain. Just a pity that I didn't do enough publicity of my company "Portrait Workshop' at my pushcart. They know that there is a portrait and caricature artist stationed in Clarke Quay, but can't remember my name or my company name. Didn't realise the importance of marketing in those early years till 2 years ago, when I get to know an artist online. He taught me the importance of marketing, beside having a good drawing skill and producing good artworks.

巧合？！

取自妻子所收到的一则简讯:

1月25日，雪灾＝天灾
3月14日，藏独＝人祸
5月12日，地震＝地灾
1＋2＋5＝08
3＋1＋4＝08
5＋1＋2＝ 08
08年08月08日是奥运会！
巧合？
地震发生那天正好是距08年08月08日奥运会，还差88天！再加这个，都是巧合！
而李白远在唐朝早已寓言北京奥运，四川地震了：

北暮苍山兰舟四
京无落霞缀清川
奥年叶落缘分地
远水微漾人却震

前四个字....... 北京奥运
后四个字....... 四川地震

真巧合吗？！

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.

My 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........

New blog of Airbrush Tattoo artist - Ivan Chew

Finally managed to get Ivan and Lee to start a blog.
I setup a blog for them when they were at my house.
They envy me of getting many online orders, including events.
Told them you need to let people know about your works.
If they don't publish them, no one will know about them.
Take a look and see his marvellous airbrush techniques.

If I recommend his blog and leftout these friends' blogs, I will have a hard time in my coming weeks. Hahaha.....

Ok. Wilfred's blog:-
If you need photographer for your functions and events, click here.

Adam's blog:-
If you want customized 3D caricature dollies and figurines. He's the founder in Singapore.

Welles blog:-
If you need caricaturist, shadow/silhouette cutter and palm reading for your events.

These 3 guys complained about low click rates on their blogs.
So, if you find any ads which really interest you......

Buddies...... hope this posts help you....... Hahaha!!!

My first cheque from Adsense!

Finally received my first payment from Google Adsense. No gimmicks! SGD$158.73, but gave it to my wife. Hahaha...
They stated on their website they will pay when I have made my first US$100. I hit the target in mid February, since I started it last December. Considered not bad, since it is a passive income. Do nothing, and it gives me US$2+ average per day.

Think my competitors (especially those following the way I blog one) saw this post, will follow also. Told my friend of these copy cats, they have no prides. But he said they won't care one, since they have no prides. Over time, nobody can tell who copy who. (Some of my friends even mistaken one of the blogs I showed them is my blog. Faint!!!) True. Given all these being equal, what I can work on now, are on the service and the quality if my artworks. They will still copy, but at least not so easy in terms of style and execution, as these need time and years of experience.
No choice. If I need to have online exposure of my artworks to the mass, I can't avoid such case.
They want to copy, let them copy. I will just move faster ahead. See how much they can/will copy. Sooner or later, all blog contents will look identical, except on the quality of artworks.

My friends asked me to add watermarks on my works. That's too much work adding to my current workload. If they want to copy the designs, they can copy and draw in their own style even if the watermark is on top of the artworks. Unless some idiots really download, cut and paste heads on it. I have nothing to say. I put up the high resolution fo my artwork online, so that my visitors and clients can appreciate the details and strokes etc. With the watermark over the artworks, they will look very awful.

Continue copying, if you really have no pride as an artist.
Be original. At least I will respect you as an artist.

I will miss you!

All stuffs moved into my car and Ivan's van, with the help of Ivan and Lee. Seems like I am the last one to move out at this level. The other tenants have shifted out as early as 2 months ago, as this building will be undergoing a revamp.
Used my P990i to snap the last photo of my first shop, as I forgot to bring my Nikon D80 to snap a good photo of it. Bye bye.

This page is going to be history.
Updated the 'Contact us' page with new map, address and contact numbers.
I will miss this shop, the roast pork and duck in Grand Building, Nasi Lemak, Bak Chor Mee and fish soup in Golden Shoe Hawker Centre, the Curry Chicken noodle and fish soup in Hong Lim Hawker Centre etc...... hahaha.... seems like I miss the nice food around this area more....

Moving out!

Tomorrow (27th March 2008) will be my last day in China Square Food Centre.
Initial plan is 28th March, but I have to sketch for a wedding event in that evening.
No choice, but have to bring forward 1 day.
Thank you Ivan, Lee Lee, Wilfred, Adam for their helping hands in packing and shifting, voluntarily.
Thank you my 2 sisters-in-laws and my wife for helping me to paint my SOHO, and clear the mess.
Thank you my parents-in-laws in looking after the 2 kids, so that I can concentrate on the transition.

2 years and 5 months. Time really flies.
This shop has brought awareness of its (Portrait Workshop) existence to the public, and of course with the help of my SEO efforts to my website.
Think the shop has done its job, and it is time to give me a new challenge - from retail shop to SOHO. Quite crazy and risky, and let's see if it works.
And I look forward to my new working environment.