Artist impression for TeamSystem

The client emailed me some elevation drawings and photos as reference for the artist impression they commissioned me to do.

This is the site model of the factory ( I guessed so, looking at the design.)


Side entrance view of the actual site.


Before the actual illustration, it is always safer to get the angle right, as it is not done in 3D softwares. Gave them 2 options to choose, based on their brief over the phone.

Then, they come back to me, saying that they want a front view, as they want to see teh central building. Given the wide proportion of this building, we won't be able to capture it in the first 2 angles.

Another draft.
The client come back to me saying that the pitch roof will be chnaging to an arch roof.
Now then I know that they want to show their own client( of this building), the artist impression of the new roof of the central building.
They didn't explain it in the initial brief. I keep wondering why do they need an artist impression in the first place? For their keepsake, since the camera cannot capture the building, given the fence and containers in front of it.


Came out this 2-point perspective, based on their elevation.
Changed the roof to an arch one.


Added in the colours in Photoshop after scanning in the black and white linework.

This building is quite mundane and flat.
I put in a yellowish orange sky to contrast with the blue building. Added in motion blur to give the whole perspective some dynamism.

The lineworks are done freehand. But I felt that the lines are really unacceptable crooked when I zoomed in to render the details. Got to do extra works to straighten them.

Added in the company signage, some shades and textures on the building, road and the pavement, so that the whole artwork will not look flat and raw. You may not see the details at this scale.

Hand-painted the trees using my tablet. Yes, still need to hand-draw it, even on a computer. It is just drawing on a different medium. But most people (my clients and even those who are computer-literate like web designers) think that Photoshop or computer can do wonders and magic. You don't need to know how to draw. Just a few clicks and the computer will do everything for you. To some extent, yes! But for this kind of illustrations, beside having some Photoshop knowledge, you need to have the skiill and experience. And it is not easy. You will know the difficulty in using a tablet to draw on a tablet, but not looking at it but the screen. Then you have to control the strokes and weight of the brush.

So much on the computer illustrations, back to the drawing. Added in the fence, some cars and human figures generated from 3d Studio Max RPCs. Made them translucent so that it will not block the building's frontal view, which is the most important for this illustration.

Printed out the finished artwork, and realised that I missed out something.

Did the amendments, and printed out the above copy, before mounting it on a board for the client's presentation.
Can you tell what have I missed out? At least my wife can't tell the difference when I showed her the 2 printed copies.

Cover illustration for CNB

Finally done.
Part and parcel for illustrations.

Clinets usually need to see the pencil sketches.


Revised, fine-tune, and outline it.
Shortened the hands of the 2 teens on the left, as I felt that they were too long.


Coloured in Photoshop.
My approach this round is gardient for background, added in texture and shades.
As for the characters, I used flat colours, to give it a more cartoon effect.
The shades are already taken into consideration in the linework earlier, so that the overall effect doesn't look flat and dead. As I have expected, the final effect is quite different from the initial pencil sketch, when colours are added in. Not that it became worse, but looks so much cleaner now.

illustration for Ngee Ann Polytechnic

This illustration will be used as part of the graphic for the Science Faculty banner to recruit new students. From what the middleman told me, it is more like a pitching job. If Ngee Ann Polytechnics likes my illustration style, she will be awarded the whole project, which includes a series of illustration for various faculties.
They wanted this in black and white lineart, as the graphic designer will use his own colour scheme. They afraid that my colour scheme will not blend in with theirs.
Used G-pen for the face details, and fountain pen for the thicker lines. Pilot V-7 pen for the medium thickness lines.

Revised cover sketch for CNB

Client's feedback:-
".....I also preferred options B and C, but the client's view was that they want to reinforce the idea of friends supporting each other and saying no to drugs together. If you have a different idea of how to show a group of four friends together that you think will look better, then let's go with that and hopefully the client will like it too; otherwise, I guess just amend the option A sketch as mentioned below......
....please proceed with a different design showing a group of four friends (preferrably a mix of boys and girls). The other elements (i.e. title "Be Cool, Say No!", showing the kids happy/cool with their decision to say no to drugs, etc) remain the same....."


From the artist point of view, I like this pencil sketch a lot.
Raw, sketchy, but can feel the message I wanted to convey through the strokes.
Maybe a bit abstract for you to understand and to see it.
Hopefully, the final illustration comes out as good as this too.
However, usually the final artwork needs to be a lot more refined. I can foresee a different feel when the latter is done.

Some cover sketches proposal for CNB (Central Narcotics Bureau) Singapore)

An illustration project for CNB, via Outlook Editorial and Research.

I have to illustrate one book cover, and 36 illustrations of the 18 winning essays (results out around mid to end-April) and they would need the artwork finalised by mid-June.

This is the first stage, in which the CNB is seeking the right direction and style for the book cover. The theme is "Be Cool, Say No!" to drugs, targeting at teenagers of age around 11-12 years old (upper primary students).


First draft I showed the client when he came to my shop.
After showing CNB, he requested for additional 3 more different sketches.

His requests:-
" two "cool" kids jumping into the air and giving each other a high-five (maybe one of them can be wearing sunglasses, and their t-shirts could say "No!" on them)
- kids with some sort of sports equipment (scooter, football or skateboard, etc.)
- kids in a band (playing drums or guitar) and shouting "No!", or maybe with "No!" on the front of the bass drum"


This is what the client (Outlook) has in mind.
Don't really like it.


Modified based on what the client wanted.
Have a bird's eye view so that the index finger (signifying "No") stands out better.
Graphicall, I think it looks better.


This one is my favourite among the 3 sketches, as the "No drugs" theme is more vivid.

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.

Mosquito illustration on Classified Advertisement

Finally see the product (Mozzie-busting devices) of the mosquito illustration I have done.

Should be selling quite good, given the peak of dengue fever cases in Singapore currently.

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Wilfred's birthday today!
So make this mascot for him which he has requested long ago to be put on his blog, like what I have done for my 2 kids., but hold back due to my tight schedule.
By the time he sees this post, he should have the artworks attached in his email, unless he doesn't check his email often. That's not my problem. Hahaha......

Did this pencil sketch based on my impression of him, together with his photo.
Not much like caricature, but more like a mascot to me.
Hopefully he won't complain, as my son can tell it's Uncle Wong.

This was done in Macromedia Freehand - more of a vector graphic.

Added this black background for his use in his blog.

Go Go Go!!! Buddy!!! Cheer up!!! Hahaha......

Caricature theme - DJ

This client used to work in BEA, and engaged me to do this caricature of his boss in Mona Lisa theme. Now, she's working in IBM.
She doesn't know that I am the same person till she walks into my gallery.
As usual, I can't remember most of my customer faces. Hahaha.....

This time, this caricature was meant to be used as a poster for the cheer team for this girl 哓云, who will be participating in a Star DJ competition in Bishan Junction 8 this Saturday, held by FM Yes 93.3, as what the client told me.

Instead of having her holding a mic, which may make her look more like a singer, I have her standing on a golden mic, doing her favourite posture.

As the client was going to blow it up to A1 size, I did this caricature on an A2 size marker paper (biggest size available in the market). This was scanned in and I did the rest in Photoshop.

This was the final outcome. Not bad, right? Spent about an hour in spicing up this caricature.

Looked more like those flash card which was very popular in the 1990s.


Edited version, as the client wanted longer eyelashes and brighter eyes. I have toned down the yellow a bit, so that it will look better when she get it printed out.

Portrait for AFPD, Singapore

A birthday gift for the boss, with the AFPD building in the background, based on the similar concept I have done for the Singapore Air Force 10 over years ago. (See below)

Map illustration for Optara Pte Ltd

Finished this aerial view Singapore map illustration after the event for Terrapin. Shacked!!!
This time, they wanted a higher scale. Still on the School of future, but more Singapore context, with the existing landmarks like Merlion, cable car, Changi Airport, National Library etc, and landmarks in the coming years, like Integrated Resorts(IR) in Marina Bay and Sentosa island, and Singapore Flyer Ferris Wheel. Added in the Singapore Sports School, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technology University, and Singapore Management University. Religious buildings like mosque, church, Chinese and Indian temples. Older generation HDB flats and new generation flats like Punggol 21. Also added the existing infrastructures like the plants on Jurong Island, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, PSA ports, Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, Singapore Expo, some neighbourhood schools. All had relations with education.
Landmarks in the background are Taipei 101 Tower and Paris Eiffel Tower were requested by the client, as they will be communicating with them in the education field.

Illustration for Optara - School of the Future

On School of the Future again.

This time, in SIngaproe context. Thus, I put the 4 schools on the Singapore island. These schools photos were found online. I made some modification to them, to create a neighbourhood feel, based on what the client had briefed me. Text will be added in to this scaaned copy later.

Think a lot more jobs on these School of the Future illustrations to be done in the coming weeks and months, from what the client had told me.

caricatures illustrations for MOE workshop

These were the illustrations I had done for Optara Pte Ltd for the MOE (Ministry of Education) Workshop at Rosyth Primary School in early March (Ehmmm.... that was the school my son will be going for Primary One next year). Finally got these sketches after 2 months. There were used in their discussion of the curriculum in 2015 - School of the Future. That was where Optara came into picture, in tying everything together. The illustrations were used to help them to visualise better besides the wordings, and also to break the monotonous of the discussion.


Institutions - branched out into Language, Religion, Legal Framework, Military, Political, Maritocracy.



Hotel - branched out into Logistic/SCM, Integrated Resorts (IR), Finance, Bio-Medical, IT, Education, Manufacturing, Interactive and Digital Media and Design Center.

Cultural and Social - branched out to Arts, Family, Media, Museums, Native, New Immigrants, and Transnational.

The following were the live caricatures sketches done during their discussion in the workshop.

These included the scenario as well as the postures. Hard to capture as they keep moving.

mosquito mascot illustration colour artwork

Considered closed for this job, with the colours added in as the client was very happy with the final illustration.

This was his feedback:-

"Beautiful! I couldn't be happier. Nice work Jit. I will recommend you to anyone looking for your kind of talent........... Thanks again, your work is superb."
Glad that he liked it too.

Quite a different feel from the sketch. No choice, as this was in vector file format. It can't have the raster image effect like the sketches - with differnt patches of colours added to it.

This mascot will be used in the clinet's website -http://www.skeeterbugs.com/ which will be up in a couple of weeks.

mosquito mascot illustration b/w lineart

Time to come back to do up this linework in Freehand, after clearing those orders before this.
After the client had approved this, I shall proceed to the colouring part and that will close this job.

Arist Impressions for First Ship Lease Pte Ltd

These sketches were done live at Labrador Park. An disastrous event!

After I have finished the above pencil sketch, I started inking and the guests came into the cell. My view was fully black. I spent almost 1.5 hours to get this done. Can you imagine? Later, instead of peeping through the moving guests, and thank goodness I have the scene captured with my camera, I sketched and colour based on the image display on my 2.5 inch LCD.
As I was engaged for 3 hours to sketch 3 scenarios, I can't put more details in, given the limited timeframe.


The nightmare became worse at this sketch. The linework in black and white was still fine. However, when it came to the colouring part, I can't see the true colour under the dim yellow lighting. (I was sketching outdoor.) This was a totally different from the previous sketch. The previous one was pale in colour, as under the yellowish indoor lighting, I kept telling myself not to apply too much colour, so that it will not look too heavy.
This one, the lighting was very bad. The shadow casted on the drawing when I coloured, can't see the true colour, can't find the markers I need due to dim lighting. All these frustrated me.
I had highlighted to the client (the event organiser) the day before the event, that I would need a good and adequate lighting for a good illustration to be done. If they can't provide me a daylight lamp, at least adequate lighting, with a table and chair.
Lighting was not provided when I was on site!!!
I highlighted this to the client when I am going to do the below sketch. Before this, they told me to go in the restaurant and look for a place to sit and start sketching the scenario. However, when I went in, there's no place for me to sit at all. I told her the problem. Her client came to talk to her and she was distracted. And I was ignored. Fine. I had to make do with what I can do now, given current situattion. I used the camera to snap and draw from there. Still under the dim lighting.

When all these 3 sketches were done, the client's partner told me that she expected more fromthese sketches. I told her the problems I faced and the ignored part. I was left with no choice, but needed to complete them within the timeframe.
Looked at the quality of these sketches when captured under dim lighting. Even after some touched up with Photoshop, the quality was still very bad.
My conclusion, and I was very sure about it after this event- In the future, if the client can't provide me with good lighting environment to sketch, I won't take up that job. It affected my mood, and most importantly, my artwork quality. I couldn't tolerate this! And I was not happy after this event. Yes, not happy at all, with the artworks produced and the way I was treated.

Amended walkway perspective

Amendment - the client had no budget for the framework Blue Screen had proposed. So got to make changes lor.Here, the frame was taken out, added in the existing walkway light, and a red carper with the rangoli designs. The flowers on both side of the walls were added in Photoshop after the 3d scene was rendered.

Cartoon illustrations for First Ship Lease Pte Ltd

These cartoon illustrations are for their IPO Closing Dinner slide presentation which will be held at Olive Ristorante @Labrador park, Labrador Villa Road this Friday evening. I will be sketching 3 scenarios for them in colour too.

They requested pencil sketch previews before the final artwork illustrations.



Picture 1 "The Conference Call"Left part: Guy with sunglasses and cigar plus sexy girl in a convertibledriving fast and having a cellphone to his ear.Right part: A few guys and girls in business attire around a conferencetable on a conference call - hearing static from the guy in the convertiblewho is patched into the call.

Picture 2 "Suicidal Tendencies"A guy (with untidy hair) in a hotel bed sitting upright and watching CNBC at3 am in the morning seeing how all STI stocks are down by 5% (all red) andthinking to himself that he might have to commit suicide the next day byjumping from the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco.

Picture 3 "Bankrupt Issuer"Two guys and one girl successively offering their credit cards at checkoutin a 5 star hotel - all credit cards are declined as the credit line is exhausted.

Picture 4 "Analyst Joys"4 am in the morning - one guy and one girl (intimidated faces) huddledbehind their computer screens with two guys (mean faces) standing behindthem and holding a whip to make sure that the analysts work faster, longerand don't fall asleep.

amendment...

Added in the curtain and change the Rangoli on the carpet, as requested by the client. This new Rangoli didn't looked better than the previous one. Had a feeling that the client will change again. Sigh...........

Perspective illustration for Blue Screen Production Pte Ltd

This was the 3D job which kept me busy for the whole week, and shacked after this.
Good relief that it was finally done! And hopefully no changes....... then it will be considered job closed.
These were the visuals for ABN-Amro NRI Credit Card Launch in Asian Civilisation Museum on the 27th April 2007. Blue Screen engaged my service to create these visuals for their client.


This ballroom (River Room) was created in 3dsmax. In fact, I can go down to shoot some photos and used it as the background, modelled the cones, planters , showcase and stage in 3dsmax. That should save me quite some time. But being lazy, and also felt that I may not get the angle I want. The security guards may not allow me to wind up blinds at the door etc...... I decided to model the ballroom in 3dsmax.
What were done in Photoshop editing were the cocktail tables, the volume light effects on the stage (this will take a long time to create the effect in 3dsmax), the human silhouettes, teh artifacts, and the lantern lights hanging down from the ceiling. No point modeling this since I can cut and paste from the photos provided. All these saved me time on other parts of the project.


This is the river terrace visual. I modelled the lighted sphere, sitting platform, cushions and bolsters, plinth with lighting systems, stage for the musicians. Then the rest were all done in Photoshop.
The first part of the visual was editing the background. The photo given was in the daylight, without the tent. I tried dimming down the sky and building, but the result looked fake. I went to Google Iamge and Flickr to search for Boat Quay's night scenes. The latter was better in terms of resolution. I cut and paste in. The result was convincing. (Later, I found out that the night scene was taken along Clarke Quay river bank. Hahaha... Hack care. No one can tell after the umbrella and lighting with silhoutte pasted in.) The tent was also cut and pasted. Of course with some editing. It will take a long time to create the cloth effect at this scale, in fact impossible, taking into consideration of the tight timeframe and amount of work involved.


This was all done in 3dsmax. It was a walkway leading into the River Room, where the black part was. Quite lucky in getting this lighting effect with a few hours. The Rangoli effect on both sides of the text, within the frame was created and edited in Photoshop to use as map before putting into this scene. In fact, the client wanted the Rangoli (made of rice) for the text too. I told them that the details won't be seen at this scale. So they didn't insist on it. They will tell the client verbally instead.

This was the reception area. Quite simple as compared to the first 3 visuals above. The only 3d modeling done in this visual were the pedals in front and the frame work with the ABN-AMRO watermark behind. The spotlight in the middle. In front was the while cloth. The highlight on the cloth was done in Photoshop. So were the rest. There was an existing painting and chairs in the original photo provided. I needed to clone and wash them away. The 2 Indian Statues and Rangoli on the floor and flower decorations above the door was edited in Photoshop, with shadows added. Oh yar, the Indian pot with lights was also modelled in 3dsmax (from previous scene) and pasted in here.

P/S: These 4 visuals were posted based on the time (also priority) I finished them. In fact it should be in sequence of reception, walkway, River Room, and River Terrace.