Shasha's Art Blog

22/07/2022

15/02/2022

Today I drew my friend and her favourite boy from The Prince of Tennis, he is Akutagawa Jirou from Hyotei Academy.

She’s one of the friends I met online back in 2008 thanks to our mutual love for this anime, and I thank god a thousand times that our friendship is still live after all these years of growing up and moving on, and the technologies that had kept us close though we’ve never seen each other face to face.

May we all keep in touch with those dearest friends from our childhood and teenage-hood. Who has appeared in your mind? Maybe this is the week to pick up a phone and catch up with an old friend 😊

12/02/2022

Part 2 of the 14-year celebration of my love for The Prince of Tennis and my fav Rikkai baby Akaya Kirihara ❤️

In the summer of 2008, the 14-year old me met the 14-year old him - on the TV.

Fast forward to 2022, he’s 15 years old and leading the team, and a week ago I’ve just celebrated my 27th birthday with a new adventure ahead.

It’s amazing to see how many things have changed, yet how little. I’m incredibly fortunate to have Akaya as the guardian angel. Who has been yours?

08/02/2022

Happy Birthday to myself! Though 4 days too late 😛

For the first time I drew myself into a painting, here, I’m in my 14-year old middle school uniform, proudly walking along with my anime crush at the time (and still is!), Akaya Kirihara, from The Prince of Tennis.

I remember pushing myself to finish the 800m running test by tricking myself to believe that I’ll eventually ‘meet’ Akaya in real life one day, and that will be the reward to give my best to the test.

I remember forcing myself to get my feet together when I was lost at the intersection of life, between continuing studying in my home country or living abroad, by reminding myself that Akaya was brave enough to leave behind his old identity that he worked hard for years to get to, in order to grow into a better version of himself.

I believe we all have that childhood role model that we once looked up to, and whether that is a real person or an idealised character created by some brilliant minds, that figure would somehow seeded our believes that will manifest only more and more as we grow.

14 years and still loving you, my dearest Akaya ❤️

Thanks Damaris Lazar for helping me select the ideal background for this piece 😊

17/01/2022

Sharing the drawing process of the Stranger Things piece! Let me know if you would like step-by-step explainers too :)

16/01/2022

A fan art of one of my favourite shows !
Really loved the 80s vibe, it’s a great mix of adventure, teen, nostalgia, family and a little supernatural horror.
Process post to come soon 😊

02/11/2021

This week I studied from one of my favourite artists, 'By Her Side', by Daniel Gerhartz .

Art Blog 003: Colour Study 02

Goal:
• Study the relevance between colours - warm and cool

Steps:
• Step 1: Sketch out the form
I started out by using straight lines to define the forms of the horse and the girl, and briefly on the background and trees.

• Step 2: Blocking in main local colours
Then I put down big chunks of inherent colours of the objects - horse is brown, girl's clothing are dark green, her face is pink, the sky and snow are blue. I've also indicated the darkest area in the image - the ropes and other horse gears - this lays down a value reference when adding more colours later on.

• Step 3: Adding observed colours
I then used smaller brush size to add smaller chunks of colours I observed. This is the most fun part! It feels like splashing a bucket of rainbow onto the canvas. It is also where I learn the most from the master - why he chose this colour in this area instead of another.

(Bonus tips) I was often surprised how a stroke can look green (cool) when it is surrounded by brown/orange (warm), even when the colour palette shows it isn't green! This, my friend, was my exact goal of this study, i.e. to learn how to achieve the desired effect through subtle colour adjustments.

• Step 4: Adding more details
I focused back to the observation part, and paint towards finishing the piece. At this stage, I zoomed in on the canvas a lot and learned to be patient on fine-tuning the details, e.g. the girl's face, buttons on her cloak etc.

• Step 5: Adjust and add background
The final stage of this study is to zoom out again to adjust the image as a whole, e.g. sharpening or softening certain edges to emphasise the focal point, tweaking large values and colours to harmonise the image. Lastly, I've added the background trees, then call it an end of the study.

26/10/2021

This week I studied value from a plaster cast of Michelangelo's David statue, the eyes and nose part.

Art Blog 002: Value Study 01

Goal:
• Study the transition between surfaces - 1. Highlight 2. Light area 3. Halftone 4. Core shadow 5. Form shadow 6.Reflected shadow 7. Cast Shadow.

Steps:
• Step 1: Sketching out the outline of the form
I started out by defining the edges of the form, by using straight and brief lines.

• Step 2: Blocking in the dark and grey
Then I observe the reference and block in the dark and grey tones. In this case, they are the background, the cast shadow and form shadow of the statue. A cast shadow example are areas just below the brow and eyelid, and the form shadows are the greys found next to the nose and the other side of the cheek.

• Step 3: Define highlight
Using smaller brushes, I then defined the brightest bright - the highlight of the image, which are the outlines of the upper and lower eyelids.

• Step 4: Define halftone and light area
Having the highlight as a datum, it's easier for me to control the brightness for the light grey areas - the halftone and light area. Examples are the forehead and the nose.

• Step 5: Emphasise the core shadow
One of the most important steps in value studies - to emphasise the core shadows! These are the lines between surface transitions. They are the key to make the form look 3-dimensional. After refining them, I'm happy to call it an end of study.

19/10/2021

I'll start sharing my studies progress from today. I deeply believe in the importance of laying down the art foundations, and through this ongoing self-taught journey I hope to reach and support my fellow artists who also want to improve their fundamental skills in art, which are form, value, colour, texture, composition, and many more.

This week I practiced colour in still objects.

Art Blog 001: Colour Study 01

Goal:
• Study the relations between colours depending on their hue, value, and saturation.

Steps:
• Step 1: Sketching out the basic forms
I started out by defining the edges of the shape of these objects, the key is to use bold straight strokes and do it fast.

• Step 2: Blocking in values and local colours
The goal at this step is to establish the darkest dark and brightest bright. In this example, ones of the darkest is at the occlusion shadows, e.g. underneath the duck's wings.

• Step 3: Adding in all the colours
This step is to add all the colours I see in this image - the red, the cyan, the turquoise, the magenta. Using broad strokes, thinking about values at the same time, and put in as many colours as I can!

• Step 4: Refining colour blocks into desired shapes
Back to shapes again. At this step, I'm varying my brush size to clean up the edges so that the shapes will re-emerge. I'm using the colours already on canvas, thinking more about the value than the hue of the colours.

• Step 5: Adjusting the depth
This step might look similar to the last one, but the difference is in the clothes and the duck's wings - I desaturated the clothes a little so it's further pushed back, creating a depth of field in contrast to the foreground objects; I also unified the hues of the wing so it looks like they are grown together. I've also added a bit more details to the duck's head and beak, then, I call it an end to the study.