Welcome to Michelia

[Personal] Dream Journal 03

2009-10-06T18:38:00.002-04:00

[Digital Illustration] Character Sheet

2009-10-05T17:20:00.003-04:00

Adobe Illustrator & Adobe Photoshop, 10.5"x7.5"

Adobe Photoshop, 14"x12"

This yet-to-be-named lady is personification of a cigarette. She'll be friends with anyone who wants to be, although it's a bit hard to find her if you're under 18. Nevertheless, the friendship usually lasts for lifetime, unless you have a strong will since her charisma is hard to resist. It's easy to spot her due to her unique scent and ever-flowing hair, in which people either hate or can't live without it. Now days she's not allowed to be inside of public buildings. Her quotes include: "let's go for a smoke!", "smoking is good for you!", and "why do my friends keep dying?".

[Personal] Dream Journal 02

2009-09-30T18:41:00.003-04:00

Last night's dream was in no way inspirational or useful, but I just thought it might be worth keeping a record of it. There were a lot going on, including a random Korean homeless chic who tried to sneak into my room.

[Personal] Michael Ocasio Vistor Counter

2009-09-27T21:41:00.001-04:00

Adobe Photoshop, 35 px x 67 px

Dedicated to, of course, Mike Ocasio who's just as amazing a friend as he is an artist. He's got a very distinguished skull structure so it was somewhat challenging to depict him with pixels and I don't think it was that successful, but here they are anyhow.

Again, not that anyone would want these but if you do, a comment and credit would be nice :)

[Personal] Dream Journal 01

2009-09-27T16:35:00.000-04:00

Often I have vivid adventure dreams, which are usually much more fun than being awake. I thought I should have short records of the dreams and perhaps use them later for inspiration, or just laugh at how dumb they were.

The short graphically challenged comic I have above comes from a few nights ago; in the dream I got to journey through the underworld in somewhat of "Dante's Inferno" style. Regardless of the happy stick figures, the dream itself was quite gloomy and haunting, and I remember waking up in cold sweat. For my own comfort, I was given a special pair of glasses that made me see the dead people "normally", because apparently without them I'd see them just as how they were when they died or rotting away. Of course I lost the glasses shortly and it drove me insane partly because of the sight of dead people and partly due to just being in the underworld as a live person. It was quite an adventure.

Another dream I had after that night wasn't really worth sketching; it just involved my best friend and I going to Disney World. For some reason though, each ride I went on, each corresponding villain of the film (for ex., evil stepmother queen from Snow White ride, Captain Hook from Peter Pan ride...etc.) would attack me. One of the enemy was a mad scientist from who knows which film, who try to sedate me by shooting endless amount of tranquilizer gun at me. I got shot numerous times, but I just yelled "YOU THINK ALL THOSE HIGH SCHOOL YEARS I SPENT AS A STONER WERE FOR NOTHING?? I BUILT AMAZING TOLERANCE TO DRUGS!!!" and was able to stay awake. Then my Mom and Brother came by, so we all bought candies and... happily went home.

Above is last night's dream which I can only vaguely remember except for that one image. Basically there was a "Drive-It-Yourself" Roller Coaster, and I was on it with some random person driving. It could be fun to illustrate I think.

[Personal] Alex Khalifa Visitor Counter

2009-09-27T02:01:00.000-04:00

Adobe Photoshop, 35 px x 67 px

These are dedicated to my dear friend, Alex Khalifa. He's just as adorable in person as the pixelated version of himself :)

I don't think anyone would want to, but in case you'd like to use it for your own visitor counter, feel free to take them. I'd just like a comment and credit, that's all.

[Illustration II]The Breast

2009-09-25T15:51:00.000-04:00

Acrylic Paint, 7.25"x10"

The Breast

One night a woman's breast came to a man's room and
began to talk about her twin sister.
Her twin sister this and her twin sister that.
Finally the man said, but what about you, dear breast?
And so the breast spent the rest of the night talking about
herself.
It was the same as when she talked about her sister: herself
this and herself that.
Finally the man kissed her nipple and said, I'm sorry, and
fell asleep. . .

Russell Edson

I'm pretty happy with the grade I've got for this piece, but I still plan to revise it a bit.

[Illustration II]Process Work for "The Breast"

2009-09-23T20:24:00.000-04:00

The first Illustration II assignment of the semester was to interpret and illustrate one of poems by Russell Edson. When I came across the piece titled "The Breast", I just knew I had to do it (The poem will be posted with the final illustration).

Since my instructor gave us a long while to work on, I took advantage of it by making a ton of thumbnails - 5~10 per each 5 processes. I'd always been too anxious to jump into the final piece and often skipped some processes even, but I'm glad I changed that habit. I really like having a lot of options to choose from.

During the first stage I decided to add Arabian props because I liked the subtle phallic shapes in the motifs. A fortunate decision, since it somewhat made easier for me with color studies. I wanted to keep the "sketchy" feel of the forth stage so I was torn between oil rub and acrylic paint, and after media study I went for acrylic dry brush technique. The final has more of "mural" feel but I'm satisfied nonetheless.

Anyhow, I'd gotten a bit tired of looking at breasts after doing this project which no one thought was ever possible.

[Digital Illustration] Vector Portrait

2009-09-20T17:28:00.001-04:00

Adobe Illustrator, 8.5"x6"

A tribute to Roh Moo-Hyun (6 August 1946 – 23 May 2009), the 16th President of South Korea. He was truly a "People's President", who was humble before the citizens yet strict to those with power. After his retirement he moved back to his hometown in country and enjoyed a peaceful life as a farmer, until the tragic accident happened. Many media claimed his death to be a suicide; however most Koreans, including myself, are very skeptical. As an honest man, Mr. Roh had always been a target of corrupted Chinilpa parties, and his continuing gain in popularity even after his retirement obviously bothered his enemies.