Works in Progress by Robyn Ng

False Memories

2011-11-17T23:21:00.001-05:00

"False Memories" - personal piece for group show: http://bit.ly/FalseMemory

sickies

2011-09-27T22:19:00.002-04:00

piece for PLANSPONSOR Europe August 2011, art directed by SooJin Buzelli

Tuesday Sketches

2011-08-24T14:47:00.005-04:00

from a couple sketch dates w/ Wesley, Dadu, and Victo!

War Stories: the Rapture

2011-08-09T01:39:00.001-04:00

PLANSPONSOR August 2011
AD: SooJin Buzelli

a pleasure to work with every time :)

ps. I'm now on Dribbble - come find me and play!

Boobs for Sale

2011-08-05T18:13:00.020-04:00

They are printed, covered, and bound!
This first run of 50 prints measures at 8.5"x11" unopened - featuring 16 pages of sun, fun, and sagging breasts

I'll be sending a bunch over to the Philadelphia Alternative Comic Con (PACC) to be sold, and will be selling the rest online. I don't have a lot of experience in pricing, but how much would you pay for these lovely ladies? $5? $10? $15? dare I dream $20?? Please respond with comments, tweets, or emails! It would be much appreciated :)

Do Your Boobs Hang Low? - now on sale for $10!

you can get a copy at the upcoming PACC

or in the self-published section at St. Marks Bookshop in NYC

or email me to reserve a copy at mail@robynng.com

thanks for all your tips, suggestions, and kind comments! :)

3 versions of the cover: gold on black, gold on grey, black on gold

cut, folded, and inked all 50 covers while streaming episodes of Stephen Colbert on hulu

hope you enjoy!

Vend Send Mend

2011-06-29T21:32:00.004-04:00

a piece I made for Vend Send Mend

the original painting will be for sale at the one-night event in Baltimore July 1st and/or online at vendsendmend.com

Proceeds and donations go to supporting Doctors Without Borders to help with relief efforts in Japan

show your love and come out to the event, get yourself some awesome original art, and support a great cause! :)

Boobs, Pt.2

2011-06-13T12:20:00.004-04:00

Internet friends, I require advice and opinions!

I've tried selling prints before, but I feel different people have different expectations for how prints should be priced. So I'm thinking of trying a new approach:

You tell me how much you'd be willing to pay for a book/poster and I'll produce them to the best quality possible while keeping within that price range

PS. prints will have gold glitter accents! GLITTERRRRRRRR

Do Your Boobs Hang Low

2011-06-13T02:08:00.011-04:00

Hello and welcome to the completion of my latest project!
This is possibly the resurfacing of an inwardly juvenile childhood, which involved a lot of self-entertainment to make up for an unfortunate case of social ineptitude.

Ah, but the best part! These will be available for purchase as individual poster prints (11"x17") as well as in book form (8.5"x11" folded in half) - I'll post photos of the actual printed products soon, but in the meantime if you're interested in getting prints please email me at mail@robynng.com

Original lyrics:

Do your ears hang low?

Do they wobble to and fro?

Can you tie them in a knot?

Can you tie them in a bow?

Can you throw them over your shoulder

like a continental soldier?

Do your ears hang low?

(I think it was supposed to be about an elephant)

Schoolyard remix:

Do your boobs hang low?

Do they wobble to and fro?

Can you tie them in a knot?

Can you tie them in a bow?

Can you throw them over your shoulder

like a continental soldier?

Do your boobs hang low?

peace.

Greener Grass

2011-06-07T22:27:00.003-04:00

finally, an update: two pieces I did a couple months ago!

PLANADVISER: Is the Grass Greener?

PLANSPONSOR: Report "Calls"

SooJin Buzelli: one swell AD

sketches

2011-05-02T15:37:00.002-04:00

rejected thumbnails: ideas for another day

Meg & Gabe

2011-04-14T21:30:00.003-04:00

This is a wedding invite I did several months back for my good friends Megan and Gabriel, who are going official this summer!

Truly, truly, there is nothing quite like watercolouring type! This was a lot of fun to make...

Congrats, you two!

First Ladies

2011-04-07T15:32:00.005-04:00

In the midst of job hunting, making time for new work keeps the feelings of hopelessness at bay. There's nothing like some hand-inked type to distract a body :)

Anyway, this is a poster I made for the Organs of State's newest production, "The First Ladies Project" The show plays from April 21 - May 1 at New York Theatre Workshop's 4th Street Theatre

Thank You

2011-03-30T01:13:00.003-04:00

I made a thank-you card

With Japan

2011-03-16T12:47:00.000-04:00

Please support With Japan on tumblr by submitting uplifting photos, videos, illustrations, posters, etc.

---

Here is a long-winded account documenting the foundation for www.withjapan.tumblr.com, because I think there's value in keeping record of where our ideas and inspiration come from.

My younger years are marked with a definitive optimism, naive world views, and an idealistic passion to see justice for the defenseless. You can source it from the superhero comic books I snuck in class, blame it on the over-simplified Sunday school lessons about good and evil, or maybe it was my unhealthy absorption in Lord of the Rings at far too young an age. Regardless, I saw the world as a novel unfolding; there were good guys and bad guys, and the good guys were nigh incorruptible. The crises in the world could only be temporary and existed as a build up to the climax in our global narrative -- after which we could expect a miraculous resolve involving newfound harmony washing over all our wars and disputes. I've since learned that it's true what the say about life being unfair sometimes, that justice more often presents itself as an unattainable privilege, and even though you pour your heart and soul into something doesn't mean the results will match what you'd envisioned for yourself. In college, I learned to adapt my song to the cynical anthem of disillusioned students groaning and griping at the tremendous injustices they fell victim to in life. I very quickly became discouraged and apathetic, losing sight of why I wanted to create and draw and paint in the first place. What was the point if it didn't change anything, didn't affect anyone?

Last Friday, the world stood still in shock as a tsunami-laden earthquake devastated Japan. It's Wednesday, almost 6 days after the initial blow, and it seems one problem keeps igniting after another in a nightmare that news anchors report to be as catastrophic as WWII. The grief of Japan reached across the internet, through the news reports, and invaded me through and through. But the grief left me feeling thoroughly useless, sitting safe at my desk making dinner plans and rushing for deadlines and worrying about taxes. There was nothing I could do to help. I'm not a doctor, I'm not a rescue worker, I have no practical skills to lend without getting in the way... besides which I'd read this article on why it might be a good idea to wait before giving to Japan. So then what was I supposed to do?

The day after, I was watching a Ted Talk given by JR, a semi-anonomous French street artist who pastes large-scale photos in public places in countries all over the world. He talked about taking art from the dictatorial, bureaucratic galleries and giving it back to the people and the effects it had on their community. He also talked about how it's impossible to save the world... but that it is possible to change it. 14:00 into the video JR says about his experience in an African village,
"Some who understood the project would explain it to others, and to a man who didn't understand I heard someone say, 'you know you've been here for a few hours trying to understand... during that time you haven't thought about what you're going to eat tomorrow. This is art.'" It got me thinking.

By Sunday, my eyes were glued to every news update and photo feed involving the northern areas of Japan. In one video I stumbled upon, a reporter interviewed a young Japanese woman living north of Tokyo, but far enough south of the disaster site to be safe. She, like many of the other locals who were interviewed, was shaken and afraid... despite this, she mentioned how seeing all the tweets and posts online from all over the world showing concern and support were helping her "keep it together". The thought grew.

Shortly after, another photo cropped up in my incessant perusing:

This photo was taken by Amit Dave and posted on boston.com's The Big Picture, and provided that final push I needed.

This is our role as artists in a hurting world: to change attitudes, to inspire new ideas, and to encourage humanity to hope.

I don't have any resources that can be of practical use to the earthquake victims, and I'm not sure what to expect out of this project or if it'll even catch on.. It's not a particularly brilliant idea, but if it encourages even one person, then it'll have been worthwhile a thousand times over.

---

submit to withjapan.tumblr.com here

see JR's Ted talk here

see Amit Dave's photo here

see other ways to help here

Thanks for reading!

and special thanks to Jeff for coding everything on such short notice :)

Savings Account

2011-03-14T17:23:00.006-04:00

First, let me start on a more serious note with the tragedy happening in Japan:

There are too many people hurting and in need of help, and if you'd like to donate please go to redcross.org

You can also stay informed with live updates from BBC and CNN

---

editorial piece for PLANSPONSOR
AD: SooJin Buzelli

I have to say, I've been very lucky to have had such pleasant clients to ease me through these fledgling months of freelancing life. I know there are a lot of nightmare client stories out there, but none for me so far! People say count your blessings, but I'm afraid if I ever started I wouldn't be able to stop.

In other news, Jeff and I are cooking up a tumblr project to keep a lookout for.

Teacher Robert

2011-03-10T12:22:00.005-05:00

It's been too long since I last made a comic! This is for an anthology collab type thing for MoCCa 2011 that I had the privilege of contributing to.

Like every other Chinese kid, I was made to learn piano at an early age. I had the misfortune of being paired with a terrifyingly large blond Russian man who spoke in a thick accent (I was around 6 at the time, so understanding what the hell any adult was trying to tell me wasn't really a priority) and one of his favourite teaching techniques was to hit my hands every time I played a wrong note. Anyway, this one's for you, Teacher Robert. Thank you for bruising my childhood with your "lessons".

This is a revised version of what actually went to print, since we weren't supposed to use grey.. I've definitely learned that I need to practice value composition and storytelling.

So, excuse the roughness in narrative structure, and I hope you enjoy :)

Any comments, suggestions, etc would be incredibly helpful!
It's been mentioned that pages 6 & 7 are a little confusing..

The Mailman

2011-03-04T17:32:00.001-05:00

for my new mailer!

I hope you dig :)

MTA

2011-02-28T14:06:00.008-05:00

just a thought that came up during my morning commute,

Bells & Whistles

2011-02-08T20:35:00.006-05:00

A piece I did for the recurring "Bells & Whistles" column in PLANSPONSOR; Feb 2011 issue

AD: SooJin Buzelli

Snow Shorts

2011-02-02T09:54:00.005-05:00

a spot for an article in Providence Monthly about this kid who swore himself to wear shorts for an entire year and through winter. his parents must be so terribly proud of his achievement.

AD: Alli Coate

Year of the Rabbit

2011-01-30T02:26:00.010-05:00

Today I was poking fun at Jeff about personality traits of Rabbits, got inspired, and cranked this one out before I lost interest

ink, digital, hand-drawn type

this one goes out to the kids of '87

In other news, I started interning for Rich Tu this past week and love it over at Dagr Nott & Associates! Everyone is super nice and I've learned so much already. Rich has also been pushing me to really get my process down solid so I can work quicker, so I thought trying to get this piece from sketch to finish in a day was a good exercise.

Also, an update on 1200 Posters: I am happy to say that Victo's poster sold out in a matter of 2 weeks after its release Jan.12, and we are so excited to get the 4th one out! Thank you all so much for your support and encouragement, and remember to keep an eye out for the 4th poster coming at you Feb.12, by the ever sweet and talented JooHee Yoon!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Spinning

2011-01-17T10:50:00.004-05:00

a spot illo for Providence Monthly, for an article about spinning classes
AD: Alli Coate

Percival's Big Night

2011-01-14T18:07:00.005-05:00

newest piece: poster for an Organs of State production, "Percival's Big Night"

Charlie

2011-01-07T13:26:00.004-05:00

A portrait spot of M. Charles Bakst for East Side Monthly
Art Director: Alli Coate

A Very Hipster Christmas

2010-12-22T13:22:00.001-05:00

"Happy Holidays is what terrorists say. Merry Christmas, Avery & Jack" - if you don't watch 30 Rock already, watch it.

Anyway, season's greetings from Brooklyn! Presenting this year's cards,

Just out of curiosity, I'm thinking of setting up an online store to sell prints and stuff.. Would you buy these in sets of 12? I'm thinking of pricing 12 at around $25.. Here are some pictures of the prints:

They're 4"x6", printed on 16 pt dull cover cardstock with a matte-finish from GotPrint.com - I highly recommend these guys; they're the most affordable I've found, the cardstock is nice and heavy, the finish is really nice and they do rounded corners! Their colour accuracy with mine was pretty good, although light palettes are hard to mess up, and the reds were matched up pretty close. However, my roommate also printed with them, and her dark blues looked almost black. It might have also had something to do with the paper? (she got 14 pt uncoated cover to save time) Anyway, I'm probably boring you to death with print-talk.

Anyway, if you have any advice, suggestions, or comments about selling prints I'd really appreciate all the help I can get!

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

Pugs

2010-12-21T08:55:00.006-05:00

Spot illo for Providence Monthly
Art Director: Alli Coate

Story of a Chisel Boy

2010-12-10T11:31:00.006-05:00

A poster I did for my friend, Ben's stage production:

Story of a Chisel Boy, directed by Ben Lundberg, opens Dec. 15 and runs every day til Dec. 19 at Teatro Circulo. Get your tickets!

UNANI-MAN

2010-11-23T11:41:00.007-05:00

EVERDAY I'M HUSTLIN'.

Nah, not really.. I'm just trying not to stop making work to stay sane - so here's one of those doodles:

Q, J, & Ace to follow?

Postcards I did for UNANIMA International in preparation for 2010's UN Climate Conference in Mexico. They wanted to bring to light how climate change affects water resources, asking negotiators to consider the importance of water to the people.

oto friday

2010-11-19T09:39:00.005-05:00

Ever more type,

OTO

I started listening to Oto around sophomore year and kind of got hooked. I ended up using one of their songs in an animation, and just thought I'd play around with some type - I really want to try my hand at album art! Maybe one day... but for now, listen listen - they be straight chillen'

1200 POSTERS

Check out Mando Veve's poster up for sale at www.1200posters.com! He did a fantastic job, and it was super fun seeing this go from sketch to finish to print.

type @ cooper

2010-11-09T11:01:00.005-05:00

I.... I.. think I love type.

I was fortunate enough to take part in a type design workshop at Cooper Union over the weekend called The Drawn Letter, taught by Ken Barber. It was my first time ever taking a type class (or any class to do with graphic design really), and it was just too much fun. Anyway, these are just some sketches done in class.

Also, you should check out Aaron Carambula's work - voted #1 by the class! It was really cool meeting all you super-hip graphic designers

twitter

2010-11-03T21:27:00.002-04:00

Ladies and gentlemen, Robyn has officially decided to stop being a baby and is now on twitter. Follow her story as she gets acquainted with Technology of the Future: http://www.twitter.com/robynical

Jam

2010-10-25T23:23:00.006-04:00

panel 001

lest my hands be idle.

this is the start of a jam comic with KJ, Jose, Sophia, Catherine and Victo :)

1200 Posters x Behance

2010-10-15T18:45:00.005-04:00

2 announcements:

In collaboration with Big New Ideas and Greg Kozatek, I'm helping co-direct a project called 1200 Posters! We just launched our teaser site, and you can also follow us on facebook. Our first poster, by Mando Veve, will be released and up for sale this November 12 so keep an eye out!

I'm now on Behance, so feel free to browse and comment on stuff you like, you don't like, or just to say hello! You can also click the big blue "click to appreciate" button at the bottom of each project folder if you really like what you see :)

the smart internet

2010-10-14T13:59:00.005-04:00

Hi chickies,

You'll never guess what.

"What, dear Robyn? That we love you and want to give you lotsa moneys in exchange for your drawing services?"

haha (modest laughter) oh, you flatter me! That would be nice but no, that isn't it.

"Then what, what? The suspense is killing us!"

Oh, alright...

I got my first book cover illustration published!

but seriously, check it out - it's called The Smart Internet: my mom's first book! For sale starting Dec. 18, 2010

kangoos

2010-10-05T11:27:00.006-04:00

If you're craving something spicy and snarky, head on over to Gayvorites to get your fix! This piece, and the article it was made for, will be posted tomorrow - Wednesday, Oct. 6th - so keep an eye out!

Stay warm, stay safe, and stay out of trouble, kids!

more moleskine

2010-09-27T11:42:00.003-04:00

it is like a flood!

moleskine

2010-09-27T00:37:00.005-04:00

from the end of senior year and into the beginning of my first last summer.

UNIQLO

2010-09-19T10:05:00.005-04:00

Hello! I have returned from my misadventure into an online chasm of disconnected emptiness!

It has certainly been an eventful summer, full of firsts to finish off my twenty-first year! I tried my first time backpacking through Europe, first time without any academic obligations, first time living in Brooklyn - amongst other first things...

Anyway, now that I have access to the internet and a scanner again, I will be posting new moleskine pages in no time! But for now, here are a couple pieces I submitted to UNIQLO and Disney's joint tshirt competition. I only found out about it a few days before the deadline, so I'm afraid this was a bit of a rush job. Needless to say, I have been awake for very many hours - I guess this is one of the more useful skills I picked up at RISD??

I'm not too sure about actually winning, or even placing - though who's to stop me from dreaming? - but it was nice to have a deadline to work towards again. Summertime is always slow-going for making new work!

new chapter

2010-06-12T15:41:00.020-04:00

just graduated and am officially certified to make pictures with my shiny new Bachelor of Fine Arts!

in other news:
1. back in Toronto for a little bit, and I'm already starting to draw blanks creatively. I really need to get out of the house.
2. baller commencement speech delivered by Stephanie Rudig
3. you better believe we danced to jai ho at the end of our graduation ceremony! we practiced our butts off but it was a lot of fun :D videography is a little shoddy but eh, what can you do? choreographed by the amazing Sarah Farmer and Heather Freedman
4. Brooklyn turned out to be a no-go, so it's back to square one when I get back to Providence at the end of July - though still looking to live in NY; trying to be out there by August :)
5. backpacking through Europe with a couple friends from high school from June 21-July 13: London, Cracow, Prague, Berlin, Paris, Interlaken, Rome, and back to London - hook me up with tips, suggestions, things I must see!

anyway, here's some old stuff I forgot to post:

final version of Heliotrope poster - type in previous versions looked too much like a book cover

piece from a while ago made on the prompt of "texting while driving"
watercolour, gouache, pencil crayon
instructor: Fred Lynch
I don't know how I feel about posting work up here that I'm not particularly fond of. I guess it forces me to confront it.
That tree has no business being there all painted and dolled up, other than as a compositional anchor. -__-

I need to stop rendering the hell out of everything and just loosen up
MOLESKINE ADVENTURE TIME

revisions

2010-05-23T17:48:00.002-04:00

image for "The Wind" by Robert Louis Stevenson, touched up and type set

second draft with proper text

heliotrope

2010-05-22T18:09:00.007-04:00

first draft of a poster for my friend's degree project: Heliotrope, a film by Doris Yuan
ch-ch-ch-check her out

ink & digital
instructor: Fred Lynch

when in iceland

2010-05-22T16:40:00.004-04:00

editorial piece for an article about Icelandic cuisine. Now, I grew up in a Chinese household so encounters with strange food aren't a big deal -- but these guys eat strange food; I'd quite like to try it one day.
instructor: Fred Lynch

every-day adventures

2010-05-20T02:30:00.013-04:00

this moleskine has become my escape button

pentel pocket brush pen, made in Japan:
most brilliant piece of plastic I ever bought

also edited the type on my king kong cover :)
I submitted it in Communication Arts' Design and Advertising competition under "book covers", so here's keeping my fingers crossed? I really have no idea how to gauge my chances in these things.

in other news: graduating June 5th and moving to Brooklyn!
rooming with Victo, Ben, and Steph :D

error

2010-05-13T06:00:00.005-04:00

Photo mock-up of website intro animation for Two-legged Studios, featuring watercolours by Caitlin Heimerl

1. this has been a frustrating week.
2. everything that can go wrong when animating will go wrong
3. tbd

netsuke

2010-05-06T01:46:00.003-04:00

watercolour, gouache, pencil crayon, digital
instructor: Jon Foster

It's hard making covers for comics that already have a cover so beautifully painted and with such a particular aesthetic.

the wind

2010-04-28T03:49:00.013-04:00

Today I saw Kick-Ass with Dadu, JooHee, and Caitlin.

IT
WAS
AWESOME

[- ] A little gory for my taste, but I tend to be a bit more squeamish than the average person.
[+] The fight scenes were brilliantly choreographed, and the soundtrack was fantastic.
[- ] However, there were a couple scenes where the green screen compositing could have been a little more seamless
[+] Hit Girl was the bomb. It makes me wonder - if I ever have a daughter, would it really be possible to raise her to be that badass? Ah, to live our dreams vicariously through children.

watercolour, gouache, pencil crayon, digital
instructor: Fred Lynch
an illustration for a poem
still not sure about the bg colour, but I've been looking at it for so long I can't tell anymore. I'll come back to it later.

"The Wind"
by Robert Louis Stevenson

I saw you toss the kites on high
And blow the birds about the sky;
And all around I heard you pas,
Like ladies' skirts across the grass--
O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!

I saw the different things you did,
But always you yourself you hid.
I felt you push, I heard you call,
I could not see yourself at all--
O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!

O you that are so strong and cold,
O blower, are you young or old?
re you a beat of field and tree,
Or just a stronger child than me?
O wind, a-blowing all day long,
O wind, that sings so loud a song!

king kong

2010-04-22T04:39:00.012-04:00

HI
This one's fresh squeezed from the last of my brain juices (note time - 4:43am)

another book cover: pencil, watercolour, black pencil/conte thing, digital

Holy Molars I am almost done with college :0

the frustrated cannibal threw up his hands

2010-04-16T18:30:00.008-04:00

taking a book cover class with Jon Foster !
I think this is pretty self explanatory

watercolour, assembled in Photoshop

SF & a new moleskine

2010-04-06T00:07:00.009-04:00

There is a cotton candy machine by the front door of Kenka.

it's kind of spectacular

started as a sketch while seeing the African Art exhibition at the Met with Catherine

chillen over winter break with my grandma & cousins in the Bahamas

spring break in San Francisco:

Jean and Dadu sleeping on the ferry from Sausalito to SF

Dolores Park with Aaron.

Dadu, Jean, and Greg nap under the sun on some very green grass

Caltrain to Mountain View with Dadu, where the other half of Jobyn gave us a tour of Google

Dadu had some expired polaroid film :)

much love to Sarah & her parents for playing host

mailers

2010-03-15T14:09:00.007-04:00

made some mailers. you know. with art and stuff on them.

I also finally finished that painting from forever ago

alliteration!

litte red

2010-03-14T00:34:00.005-05:00

watercolour, gouache, pencil crayon (or coloured pencil, for those Americans unfamiliar with the British system)

Here's a preview of a more proper update that I'll write later: Sports Illustrated show March 18, Portfolio Review March 24, Peep Show March 25, & spring break in San Francisco with Dadu, Jean, and Greg!

haiku

2010-02-18T01:39:00.007-05:00

I took a poetry class back in sophomore year taught by a wise man named Rick Benjamin; it was like water to a dry plant. Anyway, I kept writing over the years - nothing huge, just messing around with words when I found the time. Then a couple days ago I watched Tokyo Godfathers with a friend, and we noticed random haiku inserted in the movie. So then I thought I'd share some of my own as well, if you don't mind. The first's a poem I wrote for class way back, and the haiku aren't recent either, except maybe the last one:

Development of James Bay, c. 1971

Who knew

Electric bills were paid

with rivers silenced by concrete,

with fish pregnant of mercury,

giving birth to the end

of ancient Native voices?

Who knew

'development' meant

A France-sized ecosystem

Far older and wiser than her enemies

Could be flattened faster

Than we could say,

"Dam."

[ haiku ]

When both eyelids droop

And the nighttime cold steals in,

It is time to work.

Candy from babies

Taste the sweetest when stolen

To soothe our own cries.

We'll change history

by writing more poetry,

no more war stories.

amelie

2010-02-03T04:46:00.004-05:00

a painting Dadu and I made for our Collabustration show back in November :)

watercolour, gouache, acrylic on paper

the chaos my studio space has descended into

a painting I made last night from an Amélie film still

oil on canvas

version in progress, though I think I like it better before I took out the yellow..

also did some illustrations for Monthly Design Review

times are crazy, friends. So Crazy.

avatar

2009-12-24T02:00:00.006-05:00

First off, I must say that was a $500 million well spent in developing motion-capture animation technology. Props, Mr. Cameron.

The art direction was pretty much flawless, the colours were lusciously gorgeous, and the mesh between CG-world and live action film was fairly seamless (except for a few shots in the beginning and a couple near the end when they showed people fighting in the robots and their motion was just a touch jerky and not as weighted by gravity -- but that's just me being a prat)

I loved the design of Pandora as a whole; the creatures believably belonged with the "people" race (who, as Wikipedia tells me, are called the Na'vi) and felt like they were supposed to look that way in that world. I even almost got over the subtle hints of "furry" laced in their overall design because they embodied such a graceful balance between clean, elegant lines and an untamed wildness in their look. Their neon-mint-and-aqua-blue world punched with shots of magenta, electric plum, and pure cad yellow was to die for. It also worked really well in contrast to the flat, dusty yellow-grey-green of the invading army. The CG on Jake Sully's legs was especially convincing of his existence in a wheelchair without getting too obvious about it.

The story, however, was a different matter.

In terms of storytelling technique, I will not deny that I was completely absorbed into the moment of what was happening. The choice of shots and camera angles, lighting, colour design, etc. were stellar decisions in terms of revealing and concealing to maintain interest in the plot.

Unfortunately, I have to be completely honest in saying that the story was a little unoriginal. There were scenes in there that looked like something straight out of Pocahontas (specifically a couple scenes in the beginning with the male and female protagonists walking on tree roots and learning about each other's worlds). Take the idea of invasion and clashing of worlds from Pocahontas with The Matrix's fantasy technology, add a dash of Tarzan's theme of nature vs. human greed, throw in an extravagant budget, and voila! you have Avatar.

There were also parts in the script that removed me from the narrative a little, when it got a little corny with the over-the-top one-liners and catchphrases.. though I guess I should have seen that coming from the guy who directed the Terminator (which I have absolutely no qualm with). Not that there's anything wrong with over-the-top one-liners, but they always seemed to pop up in the middle of an otherwise very moving moment.

The characters were also a tad cookie-cutter. I think Cameron could have pushed character complexity a little with such a fantastical story setting. The character hierarchy almost too closely resembled the one in Atlantis.

Overall, the movie was pretty excellent for production and art, and the message is congruent to the current trend of environmental themes. But take away all the glitz and glam of the latest and greatest in CG, and you'll find that the story substance and content has kind of been done.

I give it 7.5/10 just because it was so beautiful to watch.

angsty

2009-12-18T01:40:00.004-05:00

"angsty"
watercolour, gouache, and pencil crayon on paper

last painting of the semester! final assignment for a concepts class called style & substance, taught by fred lynch in which the class, after seeing a semester's worth of your work, chose a word that they'd think would be "impossible" for you to illustrate. you then have to illustrate that word but make it your own. they gave me "angsty"

fish food

2009-12-05T21:44:00.005-05:00

oh me

oh my

finals are here:

i want to die!

maybe i should just be a poet instead.

dr. seuss would have been boss at rapping.

an unfinished painting

watercolour on paper

mid oct 2009

playing around with images for a story i'm working on

watercolour & gouache on paper

late oct 2009

an apple

some still life studies

acrylic on paper

early oct 2009

an orange

ratatat lip sync

2009-11-18T04:33:00.007-05:00

robyn's first lip sync exercise!

november 2009

hope you enjoy

puppet made of modeling clay and painted sculpey replacement mouths and bottle;

high chair sculpted out of foam & painted with acrylic

RATATATATATA-TAT-TAT

15 replacement mouths & phonetic chart to keep track

my set up in the corner of risd's puppet studio in the basement of market house,

where i spent the night

other work to come (paintings!)

i just haven't had a chance to scan them yet

ooh la la

wrapping up

2009-11-05T02:30:00.006-05:00

darrel gets dressed

2009-10-21T18:49:00.005-04:00

darrell gets stuffed and painted with foam and acrylics

... as well as a new sweater, hand sewn; pants & eyewear to come.

sweater close-up

still deciding whether or not to actually give him eyes or just paint them in;

i'll have to see after i make the glasses

making puppets

2009-10-18T04:24:00.005-04:00

making our first puppets in the basement of market house with joohee, amanda, and jose!

the basic armature

made with aluminum wires, brass tubing, propoxy, jb weld epoxy, barge glue, and foam

hands; fully functional with movable fingers

made of wire, wrapped in bandage cloth tape stuff, and dipped in latex

i still need to add a final coat of latex with acrylic colouring

scale of puppet

i think his name will be darrell. or ernest. or markel. he's suppose to be really dorky-looking.

store special: 2 for 1!

2009-10-16T03:59:00.002-04:00

raining cats and dogs, ver.2

watercolour, pencil crayon, & digital

rush rush rush

2009-10-15T19:41:00.006-04:00

just some stuff but i really need to get back to studio and get work done holy molars

animologies illustration: raining cats and dogs (ver.1)

pencil & digital

for some reason, all the work i've been putting up on blogger lately turns out really desaturated online

juggling. i don't know what else to say.

b&w (and yellow) watercolours with black conte pencil

the beginning of an enlightening semester

2009-10-07T17:45:00.012-04:00

i have been very blessed this semester to have the privilege of being taught by such awe-inspiring teachers as Mary Jane Begin, Fred Lynch, and Agnieszka Woznicka. every class with them has brought enlightenment and reassurance and growth.

but, without further ado:

1. new animations!

the rest are posted on my youtube account

2. new art! (finally)

self portrait for Colour Works class taught by Mary Jane Begin - the darling woman who is opening my eyes and bringing revelations of colour into my life

finished piece

b&w finished draft > colour studies > watercolour on arches > scanned and touched up in photoshop

and still to come are more reviews on materials (i started the post but it's taking me a while to get myself sorted out)

stop motion adventures

2009-09-28T17:14:00.004-04:00

i started taking stop motion this semester with Agnieszka Woznicka, and so far it's been a whole lot of fun.. sometimes animating gets tedious but in that same way that makes knitting so popular. anyway, here are my two homework assignments for wednesday. i spent all sunday and today in a basement, and i've learned a couple things:

1. never have long nails when animating with sculpey

2. remember to focus the lens before and not halfway through animating.

homework part 1

homework part 2

zoo

2009-08-07T03:06:00.005-04:00

sketched at the toronto zoo with donald today:

posted in order of completion; you can see by the end of it i was getting tired haha. it was blistering hot and uncomfortably sunny today, and it probably didn't help that we went during peak sunshine hours :9

i used derwent coloursoft in black C650, and i have to say it is an excellent pencil for quick sketches. i'll write a proper review on it later

also, sorry for the crappy image quality.. my sketchbook is too big for my scanner so i had to take photos and it did that weird light thing on me

review of materials (rom) 1: prismacolor & pelikan

2009-07-29T12:25:00.018-04:00

ok, i'm going to start reviewing materials/brands of materials here because every time i find a particular pencil that rides well with me i can never remember the brand or where i got it from. i swear it's like some tragic romance with art supplies and i, and it ever only ends in debt and disaster.

so, let's get to it shall we?

prismacolor verithin pencil crayons - made in u.s.a
[+]
. not greasy, which i like for thumbnailing and sexy! clean! lines! because they don't smudge and can be erased if you don't press down too hard
. wide variety of hues; think parade in a box!
[-]
. hard to lay down solid, opaque colour
. the dry, hard lead shatters quite easily. this is what sharpening prismacolors feels like
. i used these for my artistic anatomy final and they tend to have a sheen even when you work in thin layers instead of pressing down hard, so it scans funny

pelikan opaque watercolours - made in germany
[+]
. as advertised: pretty friggin opaque. the love child of gouache and watercolours, these aren't as elusive as watercolours yet doesn't have the graininess of gouache
. bolder saturation levels than regular watercolours - good for people like me who tend to be afraid of colour and always end up with really washed out watercolour paintings. it forces you to explore without making you uncomfortable
. relatively inexpensive (just under $20 for 24 colours) at the risd store of all places, which is usually overpriced
. compact and travel-friendly
[-]
. not as smooth as regular watercolours; harder to get nice blends because they dry faster
. colour lifts a little too easily. even after i let it dry, if i go back on top with another wash, the pigment comes off a little and taints my brush

--

currently trying:
. derwent coloursoft in black - made in england
. conté a paris pastel pencil in black & white - made in france

stay tuned for!
stores (in toronto/new york/providence), inks, & paper

overdue

2009-07-21T17:21:00.005-04:00

FINALLY! a post! it's been a while, eh?

i've got a ton of sketches and stuff to put up, but i'm still waiting to get my hands on a decent scanner.. in the mean time:

avatar: the last airbender
digital painting in ps

character belongs to brian konietzko & michael dimartino

i love avatar, i love brian, i love michael - but can someone PLEASE tell my why they approved the cast they did for the upcoming live action?? the cast looked completely inappropriate to the depictions of the characters in the animated series. anyway, i won't get too into it or this post might not end.

and yes. i realize that my goals for the summer were to improve my portfolio and get myself ready for "the real world", and instead i find myself making fanart..... i mean.. movie poster sample >__>

don't judge me.

up

2009-05-29T02:34:00.003-04:00

just went to a midnight showing of up and it was the most beautiful storytelling and production work i've seen. i think this is by far my favourite pixar film yet, but probably more to do with personal reasons than anything though it was an incredibly crafted animation. but anyway...

i really really want this movie poster.

last stretch

2009-05-27T18:20:00.002-04:00

artistic anatomy final: physical ideals

coloured pencil on chipboard; 20x30"?
poorly scanned and shoddily pieced back together in photoshop
unfinished

pen & ink

i'm officially done junior year! it's been a crazy year. in every way possible...

mommy, do you love me?

2009-05-08T12:37:00.006-04:00

click on the image to view in full

pencil & digital colour

feat o' feet

2009-04-27T14:43:00.001-04:00

foot study in pencil from model

legs legs HANDS

2009-04-19T16:45:00.003-04:00

finally, an update!

coloured pencil

ballpoint pen

ehhhh i'll post more news later.. i'm trying to organize a portfolio right now.

umbrella gliding

2009-04-04T07:08:00.005-04:00

ballpoint pen, coloured in photoshop

coloured and ready for adding to my portfolio! that's another thing crossed off my weekend to-do list muahaha >:]

i received the suggestion to add graffiti texture and asian text on the signs..do you think it needs it? i tried writing some japanese on a couple signs, but i was finding it hard to make it not overly noticeable and to just blend into the world.. i dunno.. comments, insight, etc?

ahhhh it's 7:21 on a saturday morning what's wrong with meee -_-

wip

2009-03-26T03:49:00.002-04:00

red roof city wip

just something that's been floating around in my head that i wanted to start working on before i lost interest. welcome to my spring break.

movie marathons, work parties, sassy tats, and baking more cakes than anyone's business. it's been good.

also, for clarification: the way i've categorized the links is such that "blood" are my family.. as in sister and cousins, "comrades" means beloved fellow illustrators, and "allies" are awesome people who are not in illustration but are just as awesome (including graphic design, film/animation/video, and a couple industrial design kiddies thrown in the mix).. it doesn't mean i love one more than the other.. (and heroes are... well.. heroes. pretty self-explanitory)

the gondolier

2009-03-13T21:31:00.002-04:00

the gondolier

. pencils, toned in photoshop for comic book storytelling with shanth enjeti
. according to the internet, italian word for bakery: forno, rhymes with porno.
. friggin venetian buildings. with their friggin windows and their wonky perspective. i died that night. died from a newfound and twisted satisfaction in detailed perspective drawings. it's a sign of imminent insanity. soon, i will morph into a smaller, asian version of lenny long. i'll try my best to grow the beard.

life in drawing

2009-03-11T01:02:00.005-04:00

more lifedrawing with new guy (owen) and mary:

skeletal anatomy studies:

brian:

providence place mall:

tooth fairy

2009-02-27T21:33:00.001-05:00

i love shanth enjeti.

lifedrawing

2009-02-20T00:28:00.008-05:00

5 minute poses with mary

5 minute poses with [?]; it was his first time modeling
(surprisingly good at staying still)

study of skeletal structure
(note amazing inaccuracy of shoulder blades)

10 minute poses with mary

10 minute poses with newbie
(wow. i really need to start drawing on an easel instead of having it flat out. the head is kind of slightly way too big hah. balloon head.)

artistic anatomy

taught by fritz drury

[i used up half of the new pad of drawing paper i just bought today :'<
so much for conserving on cash]

coraline colours

2009-02-18T02:47:00.007-05:00

colour experiments in photoshop. i clearly gave up when i got to the arms & shoes.

well, anyway i saw coraline with some risd fav/illustration kiddies and it. was. beautiful.
just the right amount of creepy, magical colours, spectacular stop animation. just.. awesome. they totally changed the story from the original book but in ways that improved it as a movie script. the actual book was scared the hell out of me though. when i read it a little over a year ago, i was living in this old "historic" house with a really creepy basement with lots of creepy little nooks and rooms that had no lights with doors that went nowhere. it wasn't a good situation. but fantastic piece of writing. good for scaring the bajonkers out of ungrateful children.

but anyway. the movie:
you need to see it in 3d

apparently, in providence anyway, coraline goes back to 2d after friday cause she's getting the boot from the jonas brothers. it seems they think tainting the music industry isn't enough and have decided to grace the film world with them pretending to be themselves. in concert. in 3d. because they're not 3d enough already.
maybe we should sew buttons to their eyes. and mouths while we're at it.

pillsbury adventures

2009-02-17T00:46:00.003-05:00

"the doughboy"

ballpoint in sketchbook, colours in ps.
huzzah for yellow tones :>

mmm.. yeah.
for monsters class, assignment about "transformation"

also, a bit of triviality, but i'm trying out a new signature/tag thing. just cause.

parents&sister came down to visit for the weekend. it was awesome. celebrating me getting halfway to 40 and my old man being 50 young. mom got slightly drunk - highly entertaining, we had fresh raspberry creme brulee that was the best creme brulee i've ever had, then watched part of kung fu panda and passed out on ultra comfy beds with a bajillion pillows that absorb your head.

growth(s)

2009-02-04T05:48:00.004-05:00

original version?

met⋅a⋅mor⋅ pho⋅sis
/ˌmɛtəˈmɔrfəsɪs/
1. Biology. a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly. Compare complete metamorphosis.
2. a complete change of form, structure, or substance, as transformation by magic or witchcraft.
3. any complete change in appearance, character, circumstances, etc.

uhh... "metamorphosis" of a city >__> (i'm stretching it a little, aren't i?)
the assignment was to make a piece about metamorphosis. annnd since i have a 25% presentation in another class due the same day and felt like colouring this drawing instead, i just... did it. so there.

ball point pen and textures/colours in photoshop
aaahhhhhhhhhhh there are so many things i'm not happy with about this piece -_-

unfiltered

on acid

not really sure which one's my favourite version yet.
here's a lesson kiddies: you can't go wrong with acid.

--

on a separate note:
GUESS WHO'S GOING TO HER FIRST COMIC CON THIS WEEKEND????????

puahahahaha

FINALLY.

beauty?

2009-01-15T05:14:00.003-05:00

stuff for class.. aghh it's 5:15am. i'll explain later or something

[edit]

commentary on idea of beauty in asia: pertaining to males because most of the time, we tend to associate obsession with beauty as a mostly feminine issue. mm yeah.

NOTE: my friend told me today that the chinese is a bit weird (yes, because i only speak basic canto and am otherwise completely illiterate) the phrase on the left says "ho ying" which means "so stylish" but to the n'th degree (it's thrown around a lot).. and the one on the right is mandarin but online translations tell me it's "si mou", which is kind of slang i guess? i've heard my grandma and cousins use it haha.. mm yeah. chinese was put in as sarcasm and also to add to the graphic quality of ads. completed last night from around 11 til 5am-ish; ballpoint pen in sketchbook and textures/colours added in ps2

food courts and deathbeds

2009-01-15T00:27:00.006-05:00

[i forgot to scan two other pages of sketches, which include mall sketching day 1.. i'll edit this post when i get the chance]

12月 23日 2008年 - mall sketching day 2, part 1: markville mall food court drawing practice with donald

12月 23日 2008年 - mall sketching day 2, part 2: there was a scary horse lady and a rude child with no manners, down at the bottom

12月 26日 2008年 - riding the ttc.. subwaying from finch station to the acc: that man looked so sad the whole ride through, it was heartbreaking

12月 28日 2008年: together at the hospital, two days before he was taken Home.

公公, 再見.. i'll miss you.

watch out

2008-12-27T23:48:00.001-05:00

no, santa. you better watch out.

christmas cards 2008.
http://robyn-intherain.deviantart.com/art/watch-out-106939686

this and that

2008-12-03T18:30:00.004-05:00

ballpoint pen goes scritch and scratch in my not-so-little black book

chester vs. obamaman

2008-11-17T14:31:00.003-05:00

it's a bird! it's a plane! NO, it's -- OBAMAMAN!
corel painter; hmk for digital illustration w/ paul olson.
i think i'm going to colour this properly in photoshop later. painter is way too unpredictable for me. pretty textures and all, but it's like "oooh, look at me i'm pretty [KICK IN THE SHINS]"

sketchbook doodle, quick colours in photoshop

bxd08

2008-11-17T13:32:00.005-05:00

lecture notes from the "better world by design" conference i went to a couple weeks ago:

i was most inspired by cameron sinclair's lecture the first day.. though, by the third day i think it became too much about business and economics for my taste. the environmental movement is a social justice movement, and while i understand that there are large economic repercussions, we cannot hope to solve our problems by trying to create more economy. so we give everyone in africa a cell phone which connects people. then what? so they make more money. then what? it's not that they (or rather, we) are living outside of their economic means. it's that we are living outisde of our ecological means. anyway, i'm in class right now, so i won't go into further detail with this thought. i'm supposed to be making an animated short in corel painter. i'll post it later. :>

shanghai

2008-10-23T23:52:00.002-04:00

sketches from trip to shanghai with sam and auntie julie <3

hong kong subway

2008-10-23T23:47:00.002-04:00

finally got around to editing sketches from over the summer, sketching on the subway in hong kong going to and from work :>

pulled a wheelie

2008-10-23T22:44:00.005-04:00

scanned out of sketchbook and coloured for practice.. :> (about an hour or two in ps2?)

ahh, illustrator, how we have fallen out of touch.. i don't think i've really used the pen tool for anything since freshman foundation 2d class back at parsons. good old dan hill would go through the program and spend about half an hour on each and every tool. "now, class. this is how you select" D: we all loved him, but it was painful. so painful.

skhetch bok

2008-10-20T03:00:00.003-04:00

just wanted to play around with some colour

panel 2

2008-10-13T19:11:00.001-04:00

panel 1

2008-10-13T03:23:00.003-04:00

one more panel to goooo

and guess Waht?
i still need to print and mount these for my 1 o'clock class tomorrow! FUNTIMES:D

panel 3

2008-10-12T22:27:00.003-04:00

bunny hop

2008-10-07T09:48:00.002-04:00

unfinished: panel one of squid-bunny narrative thing
crit went alrighttt, i guess.... i need to work on the readability of the 3 panels cohesively
luckily, i have brilliant friends with brilliant suggestions and fret, i shall not :>

AHHHHHHH

... it rhymes with
HUZZAHHHHHHH

and
MUAHAHAHA

i want to sleeeeep :<

open the floodgates!

2008-09-30T10:52:00.002-04:00

oops!

2008-09-22T05:53:00.004-04:00

new piece! propaganda poster for class. and now to catch a few precious hours of sleep before 10am japanese class -_-"

thank you thank you thank you, nick. you're the best.

robin

2008-09-11T18:53:00.002-04:00

hoorah hoorah, an update! (because i finally have access to a decent scanner!)
just a sketch i did at the end of may.. cause robin's costume changes so many times in the comics.. but anyway, i'd just finished watching ffVII and the rendering/graphics were holy-babies-that-was-frickin-ultra kind of good. hence the awesome shoulder pad.

more sketches to come.. i did a lot of drawing in hong kong during my 20 minute subway rides to and from work.

'til then, chums.

leftovers

2008-05-19T17:59:00.006-04:00

painting final

2008-05-16T04:14:00.004-04:00

portraits series! [in order of completion]

thomas

karl

megan

glenda

corrie

[oils on 1/4" mdf boards coated w/ traditional gesso]