Caricature theme - Lexus + Lacasa

Their new house is at Lacasa. Added in the icon upon his request.
Lexus could be his or dream) car.
Since he didn't provide me the plate numbers, I put in "Lacasa' instead.

Close on 25th Feb 2008

I will be out for an event on 25th Feb 2008.
Portrait Workshop will be closed on that day.
Please email me for urgent matters and enquiries.
I will reply you at my soonest possible time.

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.

Caricature live sketching for Misumi Southeast Asia Pte Ltd D&D

An hour event at Carlton Hotel.


See what the event company (Events Architects) did for me?
Saw it in yesterday's event (by organised by the same company too.)
Think they may have snapped this photo in one of their events, while I was in action.
The sketches should be ripped off from my webpage.





Look here, look there, except looking at me. Too shy? Hahaha.....


Family caricatures.
This boy is really cute. Styled his hair too, with a tie.


She doesn't smile, even when I told her to smile so many times. Give up.



All waiting for the ink to fully dried up.
Like to snap such photo. Can see how many sketches I have done in an hour, with quality control.
This round quite a lot - 10 caricatures! Usual was 9.

Caricature for Caricatures for Cosmic Harmony International Pte Ltd

One more order upon his collection of his 2 caricatures.
This time, he wanted a magician theme, pulling a rabbit out of his hat.
He provided me a photo (those makeover type one) of him without frown.

Caricature live sketching for Hypercoat Enterprises Pte Ltd

A late event (8:30pm-9:30pm) at Amis, Song by the Sea, Sentosa, as the guests will be coming in late.
So the client requested me to start my part later, instead of the usual 6:30pm.


Super long event name:-
Hypercoat Enterprises Pte Ltd Client Appreciation Dinner 2008 & Grand Opening of W.S. Wilson Asia Pte ltd

My part started about 10 mins late, because of the VIP speeches and the grand opening ceremony.


I used the bounced flash for the first short, but the ceiling is those grill wooden plank type.
The light didn't bounce back and fall nicely on the subject.
No choice, and I have to use the direct flash.

Exaggerated on the size of her mouth.



This was a nice one.
I like it.



He looked so sleepy when I was sketching him.


HIs features are comical. Fun to draw.


He's very interested into photograpghy.
Asked me about my Nikon D80 body and lenses, and the Nikon Sb800 flash.
He intends to get the D200.
Told him if he has the budget, of course get the D300.

Farewell caricature

Very urgent job too.
1 day delivery.
Luckily a straightforward and simple job.
The client requested me to layout out their 30 signatures which he will be emailing over.
Told him I don't have the time to do that, and they have to pay extra for that service (which won't be cheap, as it will take longer than the drawing time) even if I can do it.
He decided to let his colleagues to sign on it directly instead.

Portrait sketches in pencil

Very urgent job.
2 days delivery.
The client is preaparing a book for this guy who will be going oversea.
These portraits will be inserted in between the pages.
Luckily, what she wanted are simple sketches of portraits in pencil, or else I won't be able to finish in time.







Different expressions and angles captured. Looked so different in all the 7 photos provided.
So the sketches all looked like different persons.
Think he should look closest to this portrait above.

Couple portraits in pencil

Not a really straightforward job here, as the photo provided has a teddy bear in between them.
I have to omit it and imagine the parts and shades behind it.

Caricature theme - proposal

His initial plan is to do a live sketching in my shop, without letting the girl know that I will be drawing the proposal theme.
But my workload doesn't allow me to do so, as I have too much stuff to handle during my operating hours - replying emails, answering enquiries from phone and walk-in, do some drawings which I need to do in my shop etc.
He has no choice but to draw up this caricature from photos.
Put in the diamond ring and lily as per requested.

Caricature theme - Kota Tinggi waterfall

Meant to be presented as a Valentine's Day gift, but my orders was full then.
Think she postpones or uses it for another occasion.
Her request:-
".... I need the background with a waterfall in it. Particularly Kota Tinggi because that was where we met. It would be nice if you could draw him piggy backing me. Attire wise, i'm easy. Sports wear like shorts and shirt will do, because it was at a camp....."

Did some research on the Kota Tinggi Waterfall. Looks rather dim as the whole background is covered with trees and bushes. I omitted these on top of the waterfall, to give the whole drawing some breathing space. Didn't colour fully for the water below to echo the top. The effect looks quite good.

Caricature theme - wedding

Followed the posture as in their wedding photo provided, as requested by the couple.
Nothing much to play with this time.
Background is Esplanade.

clearing up for my SOHO

Finally decided to give these stuffs to Salvation Army, rather than sell them on eBay.
Too much trouble for me.
"If it is too good to throw it away, give it to Salvation Army."
Think they can use them in a better way, rather than collecting dust in my study room.
Took a snapshot of them using my P990i.
Said bye bye to my Yamaha external Cd writer (bought in 1995), PowerMac G4, Lexmark monochrome laser printer and Epson 1520 A2 size printer (bought in Dec 1999 - antiques now.), Hp Office Jet 950 (wedding anniversary gift from my wife few years back) and an A3 laminator.


My shop lease contract expires 31st March 2008, and 28th March 2008 should be the last day of business day. The management of China Square Food Centre will be revamping the whole building with carpark at basement (crazy for such a small space), banking hall and restaurants for 1st storey, offices for 2nd, 3rd and rooftop. Wondering how they are going to do it.Anyway, I will be working from home after that.This could be a big challenge, as now I don't have exposure to the public like in Clarke Quay (with pushcart), busking in Orchard Road, and a retail shop currently.What gave me the courage to do so is my website and blog exposure on Search Engines like Google and Yahoo. When you search for 'caricature Singapore', they appeared on the first page, and occupy about 3 (sometimes more) out of the 10 links on the first page. It was a totally different case about 3 years back. You can hardly find them on the search engines.

Most of my clients found me online now. They place their order via email and phone, and collect the finished artworks from my shop. There are some walk-in too. Giving up a retail shopfront, meaning that I will lose a fair bit of the latter.

Think my competitors are the happiest bunch, when I work from home.
Next should be my kids. They can see me at home most of the time, provided they are at home. Hahaha....
My wife should be glad too. Can ask me to run errands for her, so that she doesn't have to take leave to do such things.
Last, should be me. Save on the rental, petrol, season parking, expensive business broadband plan of $172 monthly, electricity and phone bills, ERP etc.

Let me try it out first. If it doesn't work out, or one day when I would like to get a shop again, I will be back.
Two and a half years back, when I setup this shop in a food centre, my competitor and some customers think that there must be something wrong with my decision, especially this place only crowded between 12pm - 2pm. But it works!

Anyway, my backlog orders are pretty huge recently. My clients are puzzled why they would need to wait for about 3-4 weeks to get their drawings delivered. Even when they are willing to pay more for express service, I can't accept their orders due to my workload at that time. I hate giving empty promise. Rather give up that deal, then not able to deliver when collection date is due.


Back to my SOHO (Small Office and Home Office).
Was planning the space and layout when I move all those stuff from my shop back.
Since I bought them from IKEA, I went to their website to get the dimensions.
And surprisingly, they have their own 3D software for their customers to do simple planning.
Too lazy to fire up my 3DS Max to do the visual (which may take me few hours or longer), I decided to use the IKEA software.
Considering a software of less than 20mb when compressed, it is quite acceptable, though with some limitations here and there.

This is my initial plan of the SOHO layout.
Colour scheme may follow the current shop one.
It will be a super big challenge, as first I have to clear up the mess in my study room.
It has turn into a big store room for my comics, cd, IT gadgets, drawings etc since the day I move in 5 years+ back. It became worse when I have my shop, as I seldom work in this room. It was well-known to my friends and relatives who have been to my house. Quite a shame, but still put up a photo here, as this is going to be history.


My wife has thrown away the sofa set few months ago. I have donated my PowerMac and printers etc. Still very messy. Tak boleh tahan.

Clearing up this mess will be my biggest project in the coming weeks.

Caricature for Raffles Education

If you read The Edge Singapore magazine frequently, you should be familiar with this face.
He's the CEO of Raffles Education Corporation.
His features are quite unique, especially the mouth/smile.
I used a more cartoon approach for his caricature, and focus less on the shades and details of his features, for this round.
Just a slight shift in style, that you may not notice it at all.
As the photo of the school provided was not a full view, I have to shift it to the left, and the other side blocked by the caricature, and (added in) the tree and bushes.

Caricature theme - 公主小妹

Last Valentine's Day order.
Followed the poster of “公主小妹”, without the other characters at the side and in the background.
The client requested to have the pastel background as in the poster, but it won't look good, since I am using colour markers. The colours were too strong, and especially awful with the overlapping marks, when it was meant to look soft and sweet.
Thank goodness that he headed for my advice.
If not, the whole caricature will be gone.

Caricature theme - Austin Power

Back from my CNY holiday.
Still in holiday mood.
That's why it took me ages to complete this caricature.

Used to draw this Austin Power's theme years ago.
This client likes the theme, which she saw it on my portfolio.
So I draw it again, but the guy without the Austin's glasses.
Added in the Mondrian type of background this time (previously was white background withthe flower icons). It was in the original movie poster, just that I added in 2 more black vertical stripes.

祝大家金鼠年好運到!

祝大家鼠年平安順心,永保安康。

好運到
~放~輕~鬆~ Relax.....

Go Go Japan!!!

Client's request:-
"...I would like the theme be in Japan tower, and my friend and I are the parachuters. And if possible add in a Japan flag. Maybe add a word "Go Go Japan " . I have attach a sample japan tower picture as well for reference. "

Gave them same colour outfit. Looked more like buddies.
Isn't the Japan Tower same as Tokyo Tower?
Looked similar to what I have seen when I was in Japan 3 years ago.

Phew!
Last job before I go for my CNY holiday.

One'derful birthday!

Turning 1 year old.
Taken the snapshot of this caricature in my shop. Mixture of cold and warm lighting. Looks quite good on this pencil caricature. Not on the original artwork, of course.

Couple caricatures in colour

Valentine's Day gift. Not sure whether they are an item yet, so I didn't draw them so close.

Caricature theme - honeymoon at Tibet

A different honeymoon venue - Potala palace in Tibet.
Unique, right?
The whole palace is huge. I can only draw in the most significant part, which is the main palace in the centre (the maroon part).
The groom is 'piggy-backing' the bride up the steps. Xiong!
See the difference in caricatures black and white ink, and colour? Which do you prefer?

Close from 6th Feb 2008 - 10th Feb 2008

I will be out of town during this period, for the Chinese New Year's holiday.
Please email me at jit@portraitworkshop.com, for any urgent matters and enquiries.
Business resumes on 11th Feb 2008.
Sorry for any inconvenience caused.

This year, the Chnese New Year (CNY) and Valentine's Day are so close.
Worse is that Valentine's Day comes later, and I don't want to spoil my CNY mood ( think this is the only holiday in a year that I want myself to relax) and work so hard on the V Day orders. If the V day is before the CNY, I can work harder, and clear all the orders before the CNY holiday.

Since I am not working during CNY, I have to cut down on the number of orders I take in for V Day, and it is full about 1 month ago. Current next available date is 12th March 2008, for normal delivery. Express service subject to availability, i.e. my work schedule and workload.

lady caricature in colour

Think I made her look more comical than the original face.
Red singlet..... because the client has chosen red frame. Hahaha.....
Works the other way round.....