01.

(courtesy of fromapapercup, 2007, because she let me ❤ )

I borrowed this particular photo for the purpose of illustrating some things, and after a round of psd, I showed g the results. Well you see, the thing about black and white photos is that the lack of colour obscures the sometimes unfortunate palette, in this case those hideous tones of green, the composition presents.

Now I can’t tell real grass from weed because it’s too much of a mess, methinks. It makes me wish that she was on an artificial grass patch when she snapped that shot. This is how it should look like:

02.

The benefits of an artificial grass patch include the time and effort it saves you on its maintenance that frees up enough time for you to organise a picnic with some sophisticated pocky, milk tea and delectably sexy ice pop made with bloody real fruit juices, with an entourage of your classified potentials to boot.

Besides, you honestly wouldn’t mind being on it barefoot cause there’ll hardly be any insect heading in the direction of your little tea party anyway.

03.

On the other hand, when it comes to the real kind of grass you find in green meadows and on mountain tops, treading on it is definitely out of the question.

When you imagine the the unknown lurking beneath the the soles of your shoeless feet, the dreadfulness – very much like accidentally stepping on a delicate animal, for example a beautiful swan – the kind that sends you leaping, shoots up both legs and much more if you actually do happen to step onto it.

The feeling clings like a leech you can’t shake off. (come to think of it, some people are also like leeches, no? just saying, lol)

04.

In the event that you really squashed the poor creature, an overwhelming gut-churning sensation would follow, not in the breathtaking way but that of which automatically renders you breathless, don’t you think?

*gasp! gasp!*

05.

A situation like this can be fatal, so at the very least, get the hotties to dial home first. You would be considered lucky if you even happen to have an inhaler along in your black picnic box.

On closer inspection, though, it says:

06.

However it does the trick of restoring your breath is beyond me. In your state of semi-consciousness, you woefully spin a coin – behold! your personal totem! – and wills it not to fall, while going off on a tangent, thinking maybe you’d still like to hop by (for the reason why they invented convenience stores) and extract inspiration nested within the synapses of your neighbour’s head after all.

Probably because your own originality has long emigrated to limbo and refused to find its way back.

07.

Dang! It dawned upon me swiftly that in reality that the green grass tones are still hideous, and the results of ignoring that in favour of black and white will barely make the cut as anything very awe-inspiring.

So I guess in future, having gained this insight, I would have to happily make do with a highly feathered standard blue border effect, using psd, framing every picture hereafter.

P/s: Oh by the way, if you haven’t noticed, I’ve given the picture a watermark – how’s that FTW! So uber original I can’t help but heart it ❤ The other day, I also read (thanks g!) a wonderful article by Keri Smith which you can find HERE.

Watching Case 39 recently had me google for the amazing child actress, whom I found out to be Jodelle Ferland who also starred in Silent Hill the horror film that had created a lasting impression when I saw it about four years back, and both were filmed around the same time. She’s 15 now, no longer a “child”, but I think Jodelle has really unique features that you might find a wee bit asian, if you squint (my mind keeps morphing this drawing into Inoue Mao lol). At the age of 11 she pulled off such a difficult and easily stereotyped role in Case 39, which was truly impressive. I can’t even comprehend what I was thinking at that age, let alone make putting myself in another’s shoe seem so effortless.

It’s been a while! Two sketches born while taking a break in the office; obviously #2 took more time, because awww she’s so so so cute <3 (but I drew a terrible hand, what happened!) Oh, and my hair’s wavy like hers now.

Work has been good so far (y)

( ほら、ばれちゃったよ! )

A couple of selected sketches out of the whole lot that I did while cracking up at the video. Sketched in black ink on paper, coloured in Photoshop – I had to force myself to stay away from the Smooth Round brushes :< Colour scheme was referenced from arnistotle @ DA. Comments are greatly appreciated! <3

Clearly I’ve never known of the hassle that comes attached with the beautiful picture depicted by “WINTER” until I started shopping for appropriate clothes, and then deciding what exactly to wear is altogether a different issue. Due to my non-existent fashion sense, I painstakingly mixed and matched them, noting down so I would be at least a mile away from becoming a walking fashion disaster on the streets of ZOMG Japan.

First of the many firsts of this year (oh, did I mention we are ALL freaking celebrating our twenty firsts?): a holiday trip with the family to Nagoya and Osaka during winter from Jan 15-22. Is this too awesome or what??

I know it’s been long overdue – one year, spell y.e.a.r – the concert report for the finale of AAA 08 in Shanghai, but heck! Without finishing it, I’ll owe myself another one *with a kazillion and satozillion moments worth spazzing about*, that is Arashi’s 5×10 Anniversary concert in Nagoya Dome~~~~~~!!! Finale show :D This is so thrilling – the mental image of meeting them upfront again in Jappoland – that I might just pass out from an Arashi overdose at the concert XD

So far things are looking good; I’ve recovered from my bout of illnesses and more than ready to embrace the chilly winds (and snow? pretty please??); my packing is almost done and I’m only missing several items like a new wallet and a light coloured scarf; I got new brown coloured contacts today when I went to have my eyes checked, etc. Yet the itinerary is still undone. Omg.

Hello!Japan in about 24 hours :)

Started on a whim two days back when I had too much time on hand and my wacom tablet plugged into my laptop. I guess it would do good to dump them all here in the same entry. Working on the many drawings simultaneously, part of this spree attempts the never attempted as a form of practice; illustrating what’s not right (technically speaking), but what feels right. Aim is to be unreferenced / be flexible using as little ref as possible. Also kind of inspired by this Arashi fan who did awesome nude figure drawings, that I decided to give it (male figures, body proportions, muscles etc) a try, because I do suck at it very much.

Well, be warned. I will not be responsible for the loss of blood through nosebleed, and/or whatever consequences you suffered after browsing my art – and nope I don’t mean the quality, but rather the content. (no, really, I might get stoned for posting those. lol) Most of them spontaneously sketched while some ideas were discussed/planted in my head beforehand. Basically, this continues until I run out of steam. (pray pray it won’t be today..) I foresee it to be until.. Christmas? Or when there are more pieces than can be counted with one hand.

14 Dec. Confused? Mulling? Looks like he forgot something. If you think his top looks familiar, it’s what he wore on the shukudai narikiri talk episode.

02 Naked

14, 16 Dec. Not totally, but. That’s the title of Matsumoto Jun’s solo. Yes, I finally got down to drawing some nice pants on him, plus a new perspective I never tried drawing before. He certainly does not own such a well-toned body.. (like Sakurai’s, hmmm) Nonetheless, somebody everyone would be really happy, ’cause I know you all wouldn’t mind XD Unreferenced, hence the purrfect bodey (remember? hehe).

Take off, take off　夜を超えて (and overcome the night)
もっと自由に　君に会いたい (I want to come face to face with you more freely)
Naked, naked　何も言わず　抱き合うだけ… (We only embrace wordlessly)
それだけでいい　君と (With you, this is good enough)

03 Kissing faces キッスの顔

16, 17 Dec. <3 Ohno + Ninomiya = 大宮 Ohmiya, of course. Trying out different perspectives (for Nino), human interaction and a slightly new style. Now that I look at it, they seem to have taken on the forms of carved stone figures; dream-like, in a world of monochrome. For such a pretty picture I can only describe it quoting lyrics from an old Arashi song I've been very addicted to.

君の横顔を見てる (I’m looking at your side profile)
夏の日射しに似たシルエット (Your silhouette is just like the rays of summer)
これまでの僕の心には (Up till this moment in my heart)
一度もなかった感覚なんだ (Is a feeling I’ve never once felt)

迷わず抱きしめてKissからはじめようよ (Without feeling lost we embrace, and let’s begin with a kiss)
水しぶきのように　キラめいて (It’s glistening, like splashes of water)
21世紀はKissからはじめようよ (The 21st century begins with a kiss)
胸こがれて君と　つないだ手 (Yearning in my heart for you, our hands are linked)
まるで夢のよう (It seems quite like a dream)

Rating: R (for obvious reasons), don’t view if you’re not comfortable with the idea.

( Under the cut! )

04 Death of the DS

18, 22, 23 Dec. Ninomiya mourning his broken DS (that’s equivalent to 1/4 of his life.. the second quarter = magic tricks, third quarter = ..Oh-chan), based on Silverfa’s ingenious prompt “broken DS” and statement “that’s the only time he can be sad”. A very detailed piece considering my usually lazy approach to art, but extremely fun to draw. This entire picture stemmed from a mental image of angsty Nino in boxers (hence, the focus); a little bit of weird humour and cuteness amidst the sadness. His pose took the longest to correct, while the remaining details filled themselves in naturally.

There’s suppose to be some kind of back story to this? *fiction, of course* :3 Someone said Ohno did this to his DS in revenge because Nino broke Ohno’s favourite fishing rod. Now that’s an idea, isn’t it ….XD Super Mario characters and elements (c) Nintendo.

05 Itterasshai いってらっしゃい

18, 24, 29 Dec. A pity this piece did not make it on time for Aiba’s birthday, though #miracleboy did make it to the trending topics on Twitter *happy*. Featuring Masamune and his little girl Koharu from the drama My Girl. I referenced, tried and.. oh my, I must admit, that I don’t know how to draw Aiba.. *gomen* D: Anyway, alongside the cute squeaky-voiced Koharu, Aiba does make a wonderful daddy <3 Glad the producers noticed that lol.

06 The Dreamfisher

29 Dec. I’m really sorry that this is so ugly. It didn’t even turn out, it was from the beginning; about 15 minutes ago. Sorry for the nonsense hahahaha XD

( Do you fish when you dream? )

07 Right Back To You

23, 28 Dec, 3-6 Jan. Sakumoto AU; the end product of Silverfa’s and my constant discussion about how utterly HOT Sho would be if he was a vampire (DoM, but the concept never made its way into this drawing). I owe her, because she drew me this! By far the most difficult piece; I relied heavily on picture references for Sho’s side profile and figure, whereas I gave up on Jun’s weirdly angled face T___T”. A first attempt on this theme; it did turn out as dark as I had intended. So, sue me. *though sceptical about the general responses*

Rating: R (for violence?). Please, I don’t want you to be scarred for life ^^

( Well, if you really insist.. )

08 Ohoku 大奥

24 Dec. A quick sketch and colouring — the first thing I did when I heard about the live action movie adapted from the manga Ohoku Nino’s going to star in, alongside Shibasaki Kou. Movie’s to be released in October 2010. Reverse harem sounds like an interesting concept doesn’t it.. I’m equally curious how he’d actually look in the film. Well there isn’t much about this drawing except that it’s shamelessly referenced from the manga character Mizuno and a picture of Nino from the winter season AU KDDI CM. Haha.

09 Mr Slopey Shoulders ミスターなで肩

1, 8, 11 Jan. OMG, Sho has the hottest slopey shoulders in the world (especially when sulking). NADE KATA. Period. I wonder why Maoh-chan didn’t quite appreciate it XD And recently I started calling him “Sunny Sho” <3 because of Arashi's song exchange "Sukiyanen Osaka~" by K8 during JE countdown. *flails*

10 skmt untitled

14, 15 Dec. One of my first experimental figure drawings of this spree.

Rating: R (the same reason as Ohmiya).

( Stop gawking at the drawing already. Even though you haven’t seen it. )

11 Jan – We have reached the end of the fanart spree lasting for a month from December 2009 to January 2010! Final artwork count: 10 (excluding drafts and sketches). *Big hugs* to Silverfa and Atikah; your aksjdfjkl;stalker comments make me really happy ^^ You guys = FREAKING AWESOME DA YO!~ <333333333333

I feel rather accomplished knowing that this is the most number of non-sch related artwork I've created within a single month, and they're not simply lineart/sketches. Varying themes and styles for practice was definitely worthwhile and had piquedpeaked my interest in drawing Arashi. XD じゃ、またこんど！