More Chinese Opera Masks

This is a project that keeps growing. It's rare for something to hold my interest long enough to develop it over a series, but I just find Chinese traditional costumes and architecture and culture too gorgeous to resist. I had so much fun doing these. More soon!

Signs and Stickers

This week, I didn't get a whole lot of drawing done. For whatever reason, I just wasn't feeling very productive. But it wasn't for lack of inspiration - I have some of my best ideas while I'm on the commute to work in rickety old mini-bus climbing one of HK's hills at 80 km an hour. 

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I have been thinking about doing something with signage for a while now. Hong Kong is full of it. You don't have to look very far to find something quirky or quaint, and the signs are an amazing hodgepodge of old and new. Neon strobes here. Traditional hand-lettering there. Everywhere, juxtaposed against each other, fighting for space. So I decided to make some surface patterns, just because I hadn't really done one before, and I wanted to try it out. I had the idea in my head, but I wasn't exactly clear on how I was going to execute it. Big mistake. 

After having spent hours on the lettering (I did most of it by hand), I realised that I might as well just not have bothered. It was boring, and corporate. I mean, it was fine. But it just wasn't me. So after half-heartedly posting it up I had to pull the listing down again. I feel like I lost my creative voice on this project, trying too hard to make things look 'just so', and I forgot to make it fun, like my other work. 

The next attempt was a little better, but I still really didn't like it. You would never have thought that I spent hours making the lettering by hand. And now that I'm looking at it, I kind of have to wonder what the point was, when it just looks like an anonymous font from a word-processor. Hmm. 

Just so it won't be a complete waste (and because I don't believe in only learning from successes), I'm going to post them here, as a 'work-in-progress.' Hopefully, if and when I do attempt the subject matter again, it will look a million times better. 

I can't wait to punch this project up a notch and make into one of my best. But for now, here is the scaffolding. Have a happy weekend! 

Mini update…Chinese Opera!

It seems to me that 2014 is going to be a year of obsessing over things that I just HAVE to draw. I haven't been this prolific in a long time, despite working full-time and having a crazy commute to and from work.

My latest thing is Chinese opera. It's taken me a while to get to know Hong Kong properly, and I think for the first time I can say that I do love it. It is a very exciting and interesting city to live in, and I will be sad to say goodbye whenever I do leave. There's so much colour, everywhere! And reference materials all right there on my doorstep. Temples, pagodas, markets, ponds, koi, parks, boats, statues…I'm realising how much I do want to study and accomplish before I move on, so I know that I've made the best of this amazing opportunity to gather my thoughts and get my work together. 

I don't really have much to show yet, but I drew these guys up last night and I was so pleased with them I just wanted to share them. They're not exact or even close adaptations of actual masks - I wanted to explore with colour and shapes so I put my own spin on them instead. I really like the idea of doing a series and I want to see if I can make some full-blown illustrations based on the performers themselves (along with the huge list of things I've already decided to draw). 

Hopefully I'll have more to post up soon :D