KaRyn's smile

A lot had happened since my last post, Thanksgiving, reuniting with my wife after 5 months, stomach virus, new video games, Christmas, playing with Meela, catching up with Netflix, survived Mayan's prediction of end of the world, visiting Oxford enduring sub-freezing temperatures etc. And now, New Year's eve which is pretty cool because it means that we're getting closer to my wife getting her Masters(5 months), moving her and Meela out of Oxford and to Baytown so that we won't be away from each other again, visiting my family in Malaysia, and hopefully by the end of the year, finding a perfect home in Texas for us. Yes I've already had pretty much all the main activities for 2013 planned out in my head, although we do not know what will happen the next hour or so.
Last year(2011) around November I did a couple of sketches of my baby niece KaRyn. I have not met her yet, and she's picking up words pretty fast as I heard her saying them over the phone. It's funny how you can miss a family whom you've not met or seen before, but that's how I feel right now. I miss all my family members, but because I never got the chance to even hold her close, it feels more like I am missing out. Anyway, here's another quick sketch(took me about 2 hours), perhaps this is my way of "getting to know" her, through every stroke of the pencil, and maybe this way she will be less of a stranger to me.

Pencil on Moleskine Sketchbook (5.5x3.5")

Thank you all for your comments and your time to browse my work. I really appreciate it a lot and I wish you all a fantastic year ahead and may all your hopes and dreams become reality :)

Self Portrait

After thinking for a while, I finally decided to do this. It's not easy but I thought it'd be a good exercise.
I looked surprised, because that's the expression I had when my bestfriend decided to do a Google Hangout with me, with his newborn baby girl, and they are 10,000 miles away. It was the first time I felt so connected to his family and home again. I can't wait to go back next year and play with this little girl.He snapped a picture of me and his girl, and it quickly became our little 'thing' :) I may looked surprised, but that warm fuzzy feeling which I felt inside the whole time, can still be felt every time I think about it.

(Pencil+Marker on Moleskine Sketchbook 5.5x3.5")

Here I'd like to congratulate my bestfriend, his wife, and the little baby girl. I am so happy for you guys words can't describe.

Thank you all for visiting and for your comments.

Max

This is the 3rd and final sketch of my 3-part series of Jan's grandchildren. I am still thinking about what to do next, and I could do something with a little more colors, something fun, or the same old portrait thing. I guess it depends on what I feel like doing at that time then.
Enough said, this is Max! Boy oh boy, this 3 year old is a mess. He couldn't sit still, and always looking for an adventure. It was hard for me to snap anything out of him, and the only time I got one, he gave me this crinkled nose smile :) I didn't spend too much time on this one, more or less an hour, then again, it's an easy one to draw too ^^

Pencil on Moleskine Sketchbook (5.5x3.5")

Thanks again for all your comments, and for visiting. It's really cool now that you're able to see the statistics on the traffic and view counts each day, re-routed from which search engine, which browser, and from which part of the world.

Emma

Jan and Kristina have gone back to Sweden, so hopefully I will see them again next year. :)
Continuing on to the 2nd sketch of a 3 part series, this is Emma. She is 6 and she is also a cheerleader and extremely sweet. I must admit that I had spent a bit more time on this one working on her hair, but later just to realize that the proportion is a little off. Since it's just a sketch on my sketchbook, I don't feel like making the correction.

(Pencil on Moleskine Sketchbook 3.5x5.5")

Thanks you everyone for your comments and for your time visiting the site. It really helps to motivate to sketch more of these type of portrait. After the series perhaps I will try to do something 'fun' instead, just to shift gear a little bit. =)

Brooke

I had a great Friday with my friend Jan from Sweden. We knew each other since 2005 at work(back in Malaysia), and he found a job for me later which brought me to Germany. We have not seen each other since he left Germany in 2008, and then I left Germany in 2009 and came here. And now we've just met again, in Houston. He is what I would call, a friend of 3 continents, and I think that's pretty awesome.
He invited me to go meet at his son's house who now resides here with a family and we spent a great Friday catching up and just relaxing. In the process, I met his beautiful family, his grandchildren.
So here's a quick sketch of one of the children on my long neglected Moleskine sketchbook. Brooke is 9 and she's a cheerleader and very athletic and smart. I will try to continue the series and draw the rest of the kids :)

(Pencil on Moleskine Sketchbook 3.5 x 5.5")

And here's me had a great dinner at Olive Garden with Jan and Kristina. Hope we get to do this at least once every year.

Thank you all again for your comments and for your time. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this blog alive again.

Sanjay and Revathi

So 3 months later, I am back again :) Actually I've been around but I just didn't have anything to post really. Work has been hectic of course, especially when things are not quite routine yet, but hopefully it will get there soon.
I mentioned that the last post was a little preview to this one, and it was more of a practice to this one. Revathi has been a great family friend, and a wonderful host. We went to the same college back in Malaysia, and she's the best friend of one of my really good friends. I am sure glad to have her to guide me around Houston to places to eat where I should go when I do crave for a taste of Malaysia. So I would like to thank her for just that, and I did promise that I would draw her 'something'.

Final : Strathmore Bristol Vellum (9"x12")

 Initial sketch

 Working on the left.

Working on the right, and some details.

I gave it to her and Sanjay today, and I think they like it. It's probably not worth a lot, but at least it's something you can't get at Wal-Mart right? :)

It's my mom's 63rd birthday today, I think I am going to call her and chat a little. Again, thank you all for your time and comments, and I hope you enjoy the process, as always, happy drawing!

Sanjay

I am sorry I've not been drawing or posting for such a long time. The move to Houston was a very time AND energy consuming one, plus the new job and getting used to new schedule as well. I couldn't even find the time to look at posts by all the EDMers and I know I am missing A LOT! I apologize for that and hopefully I'd be able to start drawing and posting regularly again very soon.

(Pencil on Moleksine Sketchbook 3.5 x 5.5")

Here's a short one. I thought I needed to do a quick sketch(well it took about 2 hours in the end). Sanjay is my friend Revathi's boy and he's a smart one! I just got to know him a little bit more on Friday and I am so glad we had such fun time playing Monopoly, and Revathi's amazing cooking too. I will be doing a portrait of both of them as a gift to her some time soon, and I will post it up for sure.

Thank you all so much for your comments and concerns. I am sorry if my absence caused any worries, but we're doing fine and I am just taking a break from drawing that's all. :)

Drew & Ashley

After 2 months of not posting on the blog, I really feel sorry about putting it aside in trying to adjust to my schedule, juggle with changes, and attending to my other interests in life. But this time, I fulfilling the promise I've made to a relative.
My wife's cousin Ashley is getting married in June 2nd, to an awesome guy Drew. We're going to be attending to their reception of course, but I promised that I'd give them something they can't buy just anywhwere. This will be sent out to them.

Strathmore Bristol Vellum (9"x12")

I haven't done processes in a while so I thought I could do it this time:-

Draft stage

Working from left to right starting from the silhouette and hair.

Shading the face. And I pretty much did the same thing with Ashley afterwards. It took me about maybe 5 hours or more to complete the whole thing. 

I am sorry again for not posting anything for such a long time. Work's been hectic, and perhaps some bigger changes are coming along the way. I'll try to keep everyone updated. Thank you all for your kind comments and your time. Drew and Ashley, CONGRATULATIONS again(I do sound like a broken record ^_^)

A Tool

Finally my first week of working in normal working hours. I am truly enjoying the weekends like normal now, and I do sleep better at night after getting off the swing shift. Though not everything is perfect, like for example, my PS3(PlayStation 3) broke on me last weekend. I really wanted to draw last week but I was too busy trying to find out what was wrong with it. It wouldn't play the games on the Blu-ray discs, but it would play the Blu-ray movies or DVD movies just fine. I did many formatting to the hard drive full format included(which took 18hours) and it still didn't work. Finally I just took my bestfriend's advice to just clean the Blu-ray laser lens.

I have never taken the PS3 apart, so I thought I needed some tools. This is one of the tools I used(my wife bought me that for Christmas and I love it because it's got magnetic bits, it extends, and designed by the Germans. 

                                                    (Moleskine Sketchbook 5.5x3.5")

So I cleaned the lens with rubbing alcohol, dust off some parts, and cleaned off the excess grease on the moving parts and relubricate them with gun oil, and put it back together. And guess what, it worked! =) I saved $100 of repair bill, and probably saved $250 from getting a new PS3, and I earned lots of confidence from opening the unit, and I can confidently tell people that I could service their PS3 if they want me to, that is priceless ^^

Just so you're wondering how the Blu-ray disc drive inside the PS3 looks like, here it is:-

Thank you all for your comments =)

ChunOn

I know I've been drawing the girls(my nieces), so I thought I should give a little attention to one of the boys now. This is ChunOn, my younger nephew. He's the only one in the family with curly-curly hair, and everyone thought it's cute. He's turning 8 in July(I can't believe that!!) and he plays the piano and violin.

I used to tease him because of his name ChunOn(means Handsome-Safe) Chun-Off, like the On/Off switch. I don't know if he still remembers that, but he's such a good and talented boy and I miss him a lot too. I just hope he doesn't grow up too fast(yes that's a selfish thought of his little uncle living so far away)

This is a sketch of him playing video games. I know he looks worried in picture, but he's not, he's just concentrating really hard while playing the game ^^

(Moleskine Sketchbook 5.5x3.5")

Thank you all for visiting and your comments on my last sketch of KaQin. My sister said she loved it and I am glad she did.

KaQin Turning 4

I had been sketching KaRyn, my baby niece who's turning 1 soon, and I almost forgot that I have not been doing the same for my older niece KaQin.
She's turning 4 in a month time, and I could totally see how much she grew since the last time I drew her 2.5 years ago. This is how she looks now:-

(Moleskine Sketchbook 3.5x5.5")

And these are the sketches of her I did of her 2.5 years ago. Time sure flies and kids grow so fast!

Thank you everyone for your time and comments. I do not have time to reply all comments, but when I do find the time, I'll get back to them.

Chinese Dragon

I've been away for way too long... 2 months to be exact. A lot has happened within this 3 months, but hopefully I could draw regularly again.

Here's a simple sketch of a Chinese Dragon, in conjunction with this year's Chinese New Year celebration, the year of the dragon. I hope you like it, and thank you all again for your time and precious comments.

(Moleskine sketchbook 3.5x5.5")