Friday, December 16, 2016

Speech Bubble Sketchnotes!

Speech Bubble was a month-long exhibition about the local and regional comics scene in the National Library. Featuring the works of local and regional comic artists from decades past till today, it was a celebration of the art form and the place it occupies in our history up till today. Curated by Sonny Liew and Lim Cheng Tju and jointly organized by Potato Productions and the National Library, Speech Bubble brought together generations of cartoonists, some of whom I only just got to know. It was a treat to make the acquaintance of my childhood comic heroes like Colin Goh (Orchard Road, Concrete Jungle), Cheah Sinann (The House of Lim) and Lat, and meet Johnny Lau (Mr. Kiasu) after all these years, and many other friends in the comics community, including a whole new generation of illustrators and comic artists. One of the best parts was when I was showing one of my sketchbooks to some of the artists at the opening when one young man recognized some of my cartoon characters and asked me if they were original works or copied from somewhere. He had seen my very first published comic book - the Fairfield Comic 2 - back in 1995 and recognized the characters from then! He's also a very talented illustrator himself today.

The month-long event also featured a series of talks by illustrators, comic artists, writers, illustrators, and comics historians. I had the honour of giving one talk myself on the different applications of the art of comics and cartoons. At the other talks that I attended, I took notes in my sketchbook. Here are the notes that I took:








 
 


 


 


 


 


 





Saturday, May 28, 2016

Shopfronts of Haji Lane

Haji Lane sits at the edge of Singapore's old Malay quarter of Kampong Glam (as in "gelam tree", not "glamorous"). It is reputedly Singapore's narrowest street, lined with old-style shophouses and five-foot ways. Today it is home to rows of funky, trendy, hipster shops and cafes in an area that is full of Malay/Arab/Musilm shops that sell anything from fabrics to alcohol-less perfumes and delicious Muslim food like biryani, prata, murtabak, and nasi goreng.

The Urban Sketchers paid Haji Lane a visit today for our monthly sketchwalk, and we had a great time sketching. I had to assist with leading the group, and I decided to approach today's session by drawing several shopfronts!

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016
Looking down Haji Lane

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016
Meow?

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016
Haji Lane from the other end

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016
You will notice this shophouse front is different from
those above. Different designs were built at different
periods. All of them have a narrow front, but they go
quite deep in.

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016
I was browsing in this shop when I looked down and saw
this odd-looking tiny skinny dog! It looked like an alien!

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016
The most poignant sight I saw today - tourists and yuppies enjoying the
hipster-store-lined street with an old man collecting cardboard to eke out
a living...

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016
Urban sketcher at work!

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016
Show-and-tell!


And finally, here's my piece:

Copyright © Favian Ee  May 2016

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Bukit Pasoh

Copyright © Favian Ee   Apr 2016
In conjunction with the Singapore Heritage Festival, the Urban Sketchers went for a sketchwalk at Bukit Pasoh, just on the edges of Chinatown. I decided to do a wider sketch and, like usual, got caught up with the details. Force of habit from my days as a VFX artist, I guess. I should've sloped the road downwards more to the right. It looks a bit too level here.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Graphic Recording at NTUC PME Week

I had the privilege to do graphic recording at 2 sessions during the PME week events organized by NTUC. Here are some photos:

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016


Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

PME Conversation "Live" Panel

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016
 
Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016


Photo Copyright © Kailin Huang  Apr 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  Apr 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  Apr 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  Apr 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  Apr 2016

Copyright © Favian Ee  Apr 2016
 
Copyright © Favian Ee  Apr 2016
Thanks, Kailin for your support!!