Oh yeah...

Larger version available on my tumblr.

Hello, friend

Remember that last blog post I wrote? Oh, you know... that one about a piece I drew when I was 7. What I forgot to mention in that post was how the discovery got me inspired and itching to illustrate! 40 minutes ago, it was the 4th of the Fourth month which is when I experienced an incredibly immense illustration itch! I drew 3 pieces... which is something I haven't done in a single day in a long, loooooooooong time! Also, 4 happens to be my favourite number... coincidence? I'm not actually sure; maybe my subconscious had something to do with this surge of productivity/creativity...

Anyhoo, here are the 3 illustrations in the order of how much effort was put into them.
(I saved the best for last! Heehee.)

I've been envious and inspired by her art since we met! She showed me her sketchbooks

from last and this year recently; I am still in awe of the things I saw! Keep up the indescribably

amazing work, Helen!

This could quite possibly be the first drawing of a scene I've ever done that doesn't look terrible.

I think it'd be nice to sing and watch a duck on a wooden bridge in a park on a nice day! Looky,

there's even a little toadstool!:D

This is the first time I've drawn a pigeon (quick doodles aren't counted!) despite having taken hundreds of photos of them. I like pigeons!

My new friend, Sara Peanut Butter(the camera), appears in the last 2 drawings. It just goes to show how much I like her! I can't wait to get the film developed!

I hope you liked my drawings! Tell me what you think of them.:)

I'm going to sleep well tonight! Good night!

A drawing from 1997

It says, 'I am going to be an artist', I drew/wrote it when I was 7 years old! I think my 7 year old self would be proud of what current-me can draw and for persisting with drawing for all these years. I wonder what I'd be like if I had stopped drawing somewhere along the way... what would I be doing instead? I can't imagine it! Heehee, I'm living my dream...

Blooper!

I wore a red beret in a feeble attempt to look more artistic!:P

The end of a comic dry spell

It's based on and inspired by a conversation I had with sir Chad! Don't get me wrong though, I am excited that Alice in Wonderland is coming out... it's just that... everybody on earth marching forth at the same time would be a huge demonstration of unity! It'd be nice; there's not too much global teamwork going on nowadays, I think.

As per usual, I have doubts on whether my comic has even just a smidgen of entertainment value. I sure hope it does for your sake!

This just in...

Up there? That's a blurry gorilla just like Damon Albarn. I've just discovered that he's the lead singer of the bands Blur and Gorillaz. I LOVE GORILLAZ. I feel really weird... I feel like I've reached a pivotal point in my life. I feel better now that I've let it out. Time for some deep breathing!

OH MY GOD-D-D-D-D-D-Duh.

(Disclaimer: I didn't draw that Gorilla.)

Ant, Moth, Me

I found a dead moth in the kitchen and brought it to my room, planning to bury it in the morning. As I slept, ants nibbled away at the moth. The ones that were still there when I woke up were squished as I reclaimed what remained of the moth. Now it's in the garden, resting under a tiny tombstone... and I dislike ants.

I've had an urge to express the mundane events and activities I've involved myself in lately. :|

The number of the day is...

employed and deployed

Yes, dear friends, I, Feng of the Chen genre, have landed myself a job! After constant tweaks to my resume & writing cover letters to no avail, I was nonchalantly offered a position by chummy chap, Chad at his mother's boutique at the Docklands(which I accepted, obviously). 3 shifts, 3 souvlaki lunches and 2 weeks later; I am awarded my first pay... which I used to treat my mum to dinner today!

During my daydream while waiting for the food to arrive, I noticed the moles on my skin... and appreciated them. I continued thinking about how even though they are imperfections, I still love them. Perhaps it's another step I've taken to being comfy about who I am.:P

Mole sharing time!

Highdrayshun station

28th July, 2009: Feng is in the shower... having a shower. She finds that her regular shampoo is no longer available in its bottle, but notices that fortunately, her mother has bought a different brand of organic shampoo to replace the previous one. Feng's imagination is sparked upon reading the text on shampoo's label.

'Hydra stabilising' is the topic of her thought for the duration of the shower, after which, she forgets about everything she dreamt up until she is reminded by friends(Janice & Annita) of her un-updated blog. The shampoo and the reminders from her friends then inspire her to birth her latest comic:

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LOL! I wanted to try writing a post in third person... it felt funny, I was giggling the whole way.XD The crazed, green hydra head is my favourite one... though I think it looked funnier in the draft version of the comic. Oh well~ My first non-food-related comic!:O

Do you get it?! Or is my sense of humor too lame/weird... or did I not lay the comic out well..?!D:

Comic I drew yester-yesterday:

I decided to take advantage of my comics not having boxes seperating each frame and playing around with things a little... the lady and man don't actually become the same person, okay? ...I don't know, is it too confusing?

Also, whaddya think of this blog becoming a comic blog? Lately, I've been getting lots of inspiration to draw comics... and it's really fun doing them and then reading your comments & feedback. Based on the comment count, it seems that my comics are more interesting to read than stories about my life.:P

This time, I have Mr.Andy Yu to thank for the inspiration! Yep, it only took 2 lines...

(9:41 PM) andy: what kind of soup did you have?
(9:41 PM) (tu) Feng: cream of chicken n mushroom
(9:46 PM) andy: yum
(9:58 PM) (tu) Feng: it was...
(9:58 PM) (tu) Feng: warms you up from the inside
(9:58 PM) (tu) Feng: it's like LOVE.
(9:59 PM) (tu) Feng: Soup is like love...
(9:59 PM) (tu) Feng: I could make another comic from that

Have you noticed that all my comics so far have been based around food?o.o Oreos, Coffee, Bacon and now Soup!

Doof si doog!
Food is good!

Another 'Comic I drew yesterday:'

My comics are slowly making less and less sense, I think...

Oh! And, thank you, Mr.Vincent Ma, for inspiring me to draw this comic by *drum roll* chatting with me on msn!

(22:52) vincema: we cannot be friends any longer.
(22:52) (tu) Feng: why naut?OAO
(22:52) vincema: -insert depressed emoticon-
(22:53) (tu) Feng: Sent an ink message: (it was a piece of bacon)
(22:53) (tu) Feng: BACON FIXES EVERYTHING
(22:53) (tu) Feng: omg
(22:53) (tu) Feng: BRB I NEED TO DRAW

I looooooove bacon, I really do...

EDIT: Don't worry, Vincent didn't reaaaally mean what he said... I think. o___o

I did it!

I made friends with the sewing machine(of doom) ...and made a dress while I was at it. The dress isn't that important (or spectacular, for that matter) though. What's important is that I USED THE SEWING MACHINE long enough to creative something!

What for? For the 'Challenge Yourself' brief presented to the happy students of Communication Design @RMIT by Elizabeth Farlie, Reinar Rivera and Chris Hewson(listed in the order of most dependable when it comes to attendance to least. Chris is such a rare pokemon...)

For my challenge, I decided to address my fear of the sewing machine(of doom). It's plagued me from my childhood 'til now, starring in my nightmares as the evil sewing machine(of doom) monster... I think I first started being scared of it watching mum work on it as a child. It made strange loud noises, shook the table and the super fast moving needle didn't make it appear more friendly either.

Before I started trying to work with it, I got mum to teach me the ropes. (Also got her to promise that it wouldn't eat me.) It helped a lot just knowing what things were for... made the contraption a lot less confusing/mysterious/scary.

I owe a huuuuuuuuuge 'THANK YOU' to Mummy dearest for supervising me through the whole thing, and to Elizabeth, Reinar and Chris(too; since he did help me that one time he showed up to class) for getting me to do it! Maybe, with enough time and practice, I can be a sewing machine-machine! Geddit? (I'm so lame when I'm feeling proud... :P)

Stressfrump

How to tell that your local Feng is experiencing stress? Look out for these symptoms:
-anxiety
-cravings of junk food: McDonalds, candy and a lot of bacon
-loneliness; wanting to meet up with friends, but doesn't ask to because
time is needed to fix whatever is causing the stress. (i.e. folio)
-runny nose
-further inflammation of eczema on the neck
-trippy nightmares of dooooom
-darker drawings

Oh, lookie what I drew today~

30min speed paint on Photoshop

I expect to recover by the 9th of June, that's when the folios for all my subjects are due. Until then I'm going work my bum off... Work/study hard everybody! Good luck!:)

on the side_
*giggles* I stole that from Sandra's blog
Anyway, some of you have noticed that my animated banner has been replaced by an art nouveau style design. This is temporary as I am currently developing the widescreen version of the animation. It will also be updated since my drawing style has changed since this blog was first made. Of course, I'll work on it after my folio work is complete.:P

Comic I drew yesterday:

I love & hate my scary coffee mug...

I had a really good drawing day yesterday! 6 pages of Feng-scribbles for me to amuse myself with in the future (assuming my sense of humour stays as childish as it is currently.)

My (day)dream

I had a daydream yesterday, it was weird... It felt exactly like a dream that one has at night while asleep, but I was sitting up and my eyes were open the whole time!(I know this because my eyes were feeling very dry by the time I snapped out of it.) Oh well, it was a nice (day)dream... I haven't had Oreos in a while.

(If you're one to pay close attention to detail, you may have noticed that in the frame where I'm showing the guy at the counter my empty biscuits, he's suddenly holding something. That's exactly what happened in the dream.:S)

Sweetbitter

(No doodles in this post... or any post from now on until someone can help me find a safe keygen for Adobe Photoshop CS4.)

There's nothing that makes me feel more motherly than baking a cake! I'd love to bake cakes for my (future) children (if any)! That being said, I plan to properly ensure that they do not become obese from my treats either. (Seeeee! I'm going to be a responsible mum! ...If I ever become a mum... I have many fears about childbirth. Not that you really needed to know.:P) Anyway! Back on topic, I made a chocolate cake on Friday!

Tadaaaaaaa~

It turned out pretty well; nice and moist. It was fairly easy to make, and surprisingly it wasn't messy... unlike my life-drawing class today...

Today, I, Feng Chen (also sometimes known as 'Chloe'), drew my first nude drawing. I got really nervous right before the class as my friends and I waited in the corridor for our lecturer. Especially when Jess complained about the previous week's model mooning her in a pose... but when the clothes came off (just the model's, of course) and the drawing commenced, I managed to draw the naked lady unflinchingly. So what was so messy about it, you ask?

The Charcoal.
I accidentally forgot and rubbed my itchy cheek as you
can see by the mark on my face!:(

Oh yeah! In case you were wondering about the title of this post, 'Sweetbitter'... it's like the word 'Bittersweet' but yeah, you know, swapped a bit. 'Sweetbitter' would be what I would use to sum up this post in one word... since chocolate cake is sweet and charcoal... I imagine to be bitter! ahh~ my lameness knows no bounds~

My Blog made it through it's first year!

My traumatic, near-death experience

No internet for a month! It was a miracle that I SURVIVED. (It actually wasn't too bad but yeah, I need something to write about...) Why didn't I have internet? I was moving house.:) I currently reside in fair Canterbury, close to the beaaaauuuutiful Maling Road. The process of packing everything into boxes made me realise how much junk I own... but that same process has allowed me to unearth precious photos of my childhood! Dammit, I used to be cute.:(

I also started moving house the same time I stared uni! I LOVE MY COURSE. My lecturers are all nice and have their little personal quirks. So far, my favourite is Alex, my Illustration lecturer. He shows us a lot of interesting animations and artworks from various artists and gives little honest comments of his opinion on pieces. Like, "This artist, I find very weird, his works are very grotesque, and I actually don't like his works that much... but oh well!" and continues showing us that artist's works for a bit. He's got a good sense of humour too, and has interesting approaches to illustration. In our first lesson, we were given a potato and were made to feel it in order to draw it instead of doing regular observational drawings. Then, in our last lesson, we got to make characters from PLAYDOUGH! Everyone was feeling happy and nostalgic~

My playdough lady, she has a very pretty spatula head.:)

Banned

...from potato chips. I developed a chips addiction ever since I started bringing bottles of Nandos peri-peri sauce around with me... potato chips + peri-peri sauce = a marriage in my mouth. However, since potato chips are unhealthy, I've decided to place a ban on myself, I am prohibited from:

1. Consuming potato chips belonging to another, even if offered.
2. Purchasing potato chips from any establishment, with the sole exception of "Chickie Babes" a.k.a. 'Asian Charcoal Chicken', Mt Waverley.
3. Entering the premises of "Chickie Babes" unaccompanied.
4. Forcing friends to go to "Chickie Babes" with me.

*breaks down crying*

I haven't decided how long to sentence myself to this ban for... at the moment, it's probably going to be for about a month, but if I'm 'lucky' (in other words, 'have no self-discipline') I may release myself on the grounds of 'good behavior'.

Another addiction of mine that some of you have noticed is *drum roll* WoW. Otherwise known as 'World of Warcraft. I got sucked in upon hearing that you could have pets as a hunter... which was a big deal for me because:

a. in every RPG I played, I would opt for the character class which employed the bow and arrow in combat.
b. I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooove animals, and I've always wanted a pet!

...mix 'em together and whaddya get? Feng's DREAM COMBO! How could I possibly resist my DREAM COMBO? It wasn't my fault that I joined WoW............

By the way, feel free to ask me out to Chickie Babes, kay?;)

Why, Hello there!

It's been a while since my last blog post... not to say I had forgotten about my blog! I kept telling Helen I'd write another post 'soon'. I got around to it eventually, as you can see.:) Anyway, results came out today! I did... better than I thought I would, though not something I'd broadcast to the world... the internet is daunting like that. I guess you could ask me though, it doesn't feel weird if I tell people one-on-one I think. Also, a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge Congratulations to Ivy, Helen & Jenny who got impressive results!

Today is also the day I got my first advisory letter following the interviews! I applied and went for interviews for Visual Communication at RMIT and Monash(Caulfield). It was today that I got a reply from Monash reading:

"...I am pleased to inform that you have met these pre-selection requirements. This means that Monash University is prepared to make you an offer for this course in the main round of VTAC offers provided that you achieve an ENTER of at least 70.00 and other selection criteria as set out in the 2009 VTAC Guide."

Yay! Looks like I'll be going to Monash next year... unless RMIT decides that they wouldn't mind having me in their course too. Then I'd be the one doing the choosing.:P

"Like receiving a love letter on valentines day~"

EDIT [16/12/08]: I got a similiar letter from RMIT today... which one, which one?!

So what's been keeping me busy? Well... there were... dates with Helen, 2 uni interviews, Cal's party, Rock Band at Phil's, charcoal chicken with Chad, schoolies at Somers, Richie's 18th, lazing around, sleepovers... oh. By the way...

I dyed my hair.
*runs away*

R.I.P. Kigengire-san

Yesterday, my wallet was stolen... in it was 3 dollars in loose change. :P Hah! However, I did lose my dear, 期限切れさん(kigengire-san) who guarded my wallet valiantly. He stayed at his post to the bitter end. It's quite ironic, 'kigengire' means 'expired' and now, Kigengire-san is dead to me because he is gone.

Coincidentally, the only photo I have of him is one where he is on a paper boat. It's as if he's going across the river styx. (The river styx is the boundary between Earth and the Underworld in Greek mythology, going across it would mean dying.)

Ahhh, I miss you , 期限切れさん!