Jian Long’s Samurai in Watercolour

If you have been checking out our White Frames exhibit, you must have seen- this picture by YJL aka Jian Long.

He shares his process for his latest samurai illustration below

1. Doing a light pencil sketch on the paper first.

2. Next inking it out with a chinese brush, and adding some of the background colours, mixing Chinese ink with watercolour

3.Painting the clothes, some of the armour..

4.Adding even more colour.

5.After finishing it, I realised the initial inked lines were a little faint, so i touched them up a little. Added more blacks to the ground and to the clouds to give the picture more mood,this time mixing prussian blue with chinese ink. Adding more water to Chinese ink gives you lighter values, whereas lesser water would give you a more solid black. However once the ink dries theres a tendency for it look lighter…I touched up some of the darker parts with black watercolor.

seiji’s funny comic commentary on Chinese New Year

“Ba gua,ang pows and relatives you have never seen before”. His signature squiggly style depicts the funny scenes of the new year in watercolour and Ink. (Edited by mindflyer)

Congratulations to OIC team and Invitation to the launch of Guai Wu The Chinese Elf

This is a long due post for Michael and everyone at OIC.

First and foremost, Happy Birthday OIC … CONGRATULATIONS to Michael, FleeCircus, San San, Twisstii, Andrew and those I haven’t met or got the name yet, but who has been working so hard on OIC, promoting illustrators from Singapore. Thank you and give each one of you a big round of applause. You guys rock!

Also congratulations to all of the participants of A6/Future show. Excellent work. So much energy in each piece.

Secondly, just want to let you know that Guai Wu The Chinese Elf, the picture book that I have been working on for the longest time, is finally out!

I have a launch for kids this Sunday (4th October) at Borders Book Parkway at 2pm and would like to invite all of you to come and join me and my writer Adeline Foo. Lee Kowling, another children’s book illustrator-friend will be hosting her event for her picture book Georgette’s Mooncake and The Beaded Slippers, written by the same author, this Saturday (3rd October) at Borders Book Wheelock at 2pm.

Thanks to Michael and FleeCircus again for advising on the colour scans. I have lots to learn from the two masters.

Keep inspiring!

First post on OIC

Hello everyone!
I owe Mike this post for months. Thanks for not kicking me out! I will try to contribute a bit more in the near future.

About myself – well, I am a mother of two little girls who led me into their magical world of whimsical tales and story telling. They inadvertently inspire me to become an illustrator for children’s books. At the moment I am enjoying every minute I can get out of my busy life as a mum to draw and paint.

Here are some of the illustrations for the latest children book that I have done. More work can be seen here. Comments, feedback and collaboration are welcome. I look forward to hearing from you all.