Malaysian Photos

Long time no post! I've just returned from three weeks in Malaysia (a few sketches later) and thought I'd share a few of my favourite photographs. These were all taken with a Pentax K-x with an 18 – 50mm lens. Postwork was done in Photoshop CS4:

 Rajah Brooke's Birdwing Butterfly (the national butterfly of Malaysia) at the Cameron Highlands Butterfly Farm.

Racoon at Zoo Negara, KL – I'd never seen a racoon before, and this one knew how to play for the cameras. 

Camel at Zoo Negara, KL.

Horned Tree Lizard at the Cameron Highlands Butterfly Farm.

Inside the Batu Caves, KL.

BOH Tea Plantation, Cameron Highlands.

Tugu Negara War Memorial, KL. 

Baby Orangutan at Orangutan Island, Bukit Merah, Perak.  

Dancers preparing at the Bon Odori Festival, Georgetown, Penang.

Illustration: In the Rain

My father wanted company when he went for an appointment, which meant I had an hour to kill in a waiting room. So I sketched myself (for a given value of myself, all I had was a lipstick mirror) in the rain. It was very wet that day, and I'd already had to change my clothes once, due to being caught out without an umbrella. 

The umbrella is a bit wonky. They've never been my strong suit, and I was drawing and inking on my lap, in a narrow Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. 

So the inked version sat in my sketchbook for a few days, and I just sloshed some paint on it in a sketchy sort of way (it is in a sketchbook, after all). Marvel at my utter inability to be in fashion. =P That is, by the way, my favourite hat. ^.^

Artline Drawing System pens in 0.1 and 0.4, Winsor & Newton watercolours in Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.   

Illustration: Reading

The latest of my little watercolur paintings, done in odd moments over the last three days, and finished up while I was waiting for some job info to come through this afternoon. 

Artline Drawing System pens and Winsor & Newton watercolours in Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook.

I'm making a small series of quick watercolours of children; previously was Ready For Anything.

If anyone wants to see the linework for this, just let me know. =)

Misc Sketches 2

Some more miscellaneous sketches. 

Some family friends holidaying in Canada sent me a lovely photo of a historical dress (it looked to be 1900s-ish) as they know I love historical costume, so I wanted to do a sketch based around it. 

This is the result:

And here are two pages filled with random sketching.

This lot was started while I was accompanying my father to a doctor's appointment so I was sitting in the waiting room. The little girl was sitting across from me, playing her DS in a variety of poses, although this is the only one I caught. 

The Roman-esque girl started as a doodle with big hair (I'd seen a lot of big 80s perms just prior), and the chair I saw on an episode of Time Team. The medieval woman was also inspired by that. 

And these are some sketches from today's Weekend West. One Thai dancer, and a bunch of kids. It's easier than stalking real children and hoping you don't offend their parents. =P 

All 0.5 mechanical pencil with #B lead in a Jasart 'My Memoirs' sketchbook.

Sneak Peek: Bawang Putih

Here's a peek at a portfolio illustration I'm currently working on. It's a double page spread storybook illustration for the Malay Peninsular folktale Bawang Putih Bawang Merah, which is a Cinderella variant, quite similar to the Chinese variant, known as Yeh-Shen, but instead of golden shoes, Bawang Putih has a magic swing that only moves when she sings, which captivates the prince. I thought that was a lovely image, so chose that scene as my subject.

Since the beautiful Malaysian national dress really only came into existence in the 1790s, and dress worn before then was a bit on the dull side, I've smoodged together aspects of a number of traditional costumes from various Malaysian states with the Kemban, the sarong-like garment worn in more ancient times. So we're not exactly accurate, but it's a fairytale, so it doesn't really have to be. 

This is good practice for backgrounds – I've never done a rainforest type of background before, and trees have never been my strong point. I'm getting good use out of the reference photos I shot (on the offchance) when in Malaysia last year.

Adobe Photoshop CS4 with Wacom Intuos 3

Illustration: Showgirl

We went to see WAAPA's (The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts) performance of Crazy for You on Tuesday night, which was great fun. Lots of Gershwin music and a silly plot. =) It also included Showgirls, and I realised that despite my large musicals collection, I have never drawn one. I think the closest I've come was an arial gymnast while watching the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony - back in 2000. It was ....not good.... =P 

So after the show I doodled this Showgirl in my Watercolour Moleskine, and I inked it the next evening, while accompanying my mother to her quilting evening. Because of this, my lines aren't as crisp as usual - the table was very wobbly. 

I watercoloured it this afternoon, and just now I digitally coloured it, as I'd run out of actual work to do for the moment. I've got to do something while waiting for feedback, so I tried out an attempt at the 'painting on cardboard' look.

Artline pens in Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook, Winsor and Newton watercolours with Prismacolour coloured pencils, Sailor White Writer and PITT Artist's Pen in gold. 

Digital version done in Adobe Photoshop CS4 with Wacom Intuos 3. 

Illustration: Ready For Anything

Here's a quick little piece I whipped up in spare moments over the last two days. I'm still practicing kids. 

I did the sketch and most of the inking while watching tv on Sunday night. I'd been planning on watercolouring it too, but I was called off to tech-support for an uncle, which ate up my time. So I did my watercolouring as a warm-up before work today, and then (after I'd done six work-related pictures and decided to call it a day) I thought I'd try the effect of digital colouring as well. So here you see the linework and two colour variations. 

The sketch and inking took maybe an hour and a half all up, with Artline Drawing System pens in 0.1 and 0.4 weights in my Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook. (No reference)

The watercolouring was done with Winsor and Newton watercolours, and took about half an hour. 

The digital colouring was done in Adobe Photoshop CS4 with a Wacom Intuos 3 and took about 40 minutes.