Personalised Cards

I seldom use greeting cards from the shop if I want to mail to my friends. Even for birthdays, I will send hand draw cards with my cartoons blessing. I always feel that one must apply what he has learn, and always find opportunity to brush up one's drawing skill. It does not matter to me whether my friends like it or they (cards) may end up into the bin, what more important is I have found a reason to keep on drawing and believing.

My Cartoon Postcards

Have you noticed that the above styles look very different from the previous post? My friend told me once that they thought I bought it from some commercial book stores. If you take a closer look at the grey background, you could see some dots or textures in different shades of grey. These effects were not hand drawn, but rather "paste on"! The sticker is known as IC.Screen Tone, the same type that use for Japanese Manga. Next time if you ever read a Manga, take a closer look at the background and you will get a clearer picture.

Cartoon to Fine Art

These two charcoal drawings were done on a big piece of paper during the year 2001. They were supposed to be my studio works for my higher diploma program at Nafa. Initially I did the sketches with pen on paper before I work on the actual drawing. Compare it with the two sketches below (previous post) and see what are the differences.

Cartoon Sketches 2001#1

Cartoon Sketches 2001#2

Cartoon Sketches 2001#3

We are only young once. I strongly agree, and the year 2001 was the height of my imagination. I just completed my national service, and yearning to "convert myself into civilian", so I enrolled for a higher diploma course in fine arts at Nafa. I led an almost stress-free lifestyle, doing what I like, enjoying a carefree life. This was the golden period of my youth! Remember, this was the best time to be yourself without the worry or responsibility of a grown up man. By the way, I was 25 years old then.

Self Published Chinese Comics 2005

I did self published my comics in June 2005, not in the form of a book, but in an accordion style format. Just think of a long piece of paper (postcard size) with 8 folds, with comics on both side of the page. I call it Accordion Comics.
There is a jacket for it so that you can post it. There will be 2 set in a jacket, one is the art series (which contain sketches), the other is the comics. This is not a gimmick. It is suppose to be a mailing type of comics. But thinking back, who will want to pay for a piece of paper?

Published Chinese Comics in Newspaper

I have submitted comic strips to a newspaper publication during the year 2002 and it did get published for several series. They are not big publisher unlike the main stream press so usually you only get credited rather than being paid for your work. For exposure wise (in the past) I really do not mind. I only sent in good quality laser print rather than the original art work. We should know that never to send in originals because most people will not take good care of your art pieces.

I feel that submitting comics strip to newspaper in Singapore can be very limiting. If you do not know any people inside, you seldom get a chance. It is not an "open trade" where they want people to submit cartoons or comic strips.They have their in-house cartoonist to do the job if they want to fill up some spaces in newspaper. Magazine may fair slightly better, but some magazines may even have a "no cartoon policy". Check out with the magazine editor first before you want head for the mail box.

My First Comic Strips Attempt in 1997 #3

My First Comic Strips Attempt in 1997 #2

My First Comic Strips Attempt in 1997 #1

This was 13 years ago. After I created a series of cartoon characters when I were still pursuing a diploma in fine arts at Nafa during my second year (1995 - 1997), I wanted to do a comic strip and test out some ideas and techniques. I inked the comics with a dip pen and Indian ink, something which a professional cartoonist will use. I also use half tone, which is a "mechanical toned sheet sticker" which can be cut and paste. That was my first time! It was never published.

What Is Gag Strip and Story Strip

A gag or story strip is also known as comic strip. I describe comic strip as story telling using visual and text in panels. What separates a gag from a story strip is that a gag has a punchline at the last panel of the strips whereas a story continues with more panels and may end with a conclusion that may not necessary be humorous. A gag strip usually has 3 to 4 panels (or may have more) in a newspaper, depending on the space allocate for comics. Eventually, when you compound all the comic strips together, it becomes a comic book.

What is Cartoon?

Many people have different understanding on the term "cartoon", but most agree that it got something to do with the cartoons on television, newspaper or stuffs that children like, example, Hello Kitty.

Lets put things in the correct perspective and you will get a clearer idea. The term "cartoon" has over the years become a general term for the cartoon show we watch on television. In fact, a cartoon is more closely related to the newspaper and they are usually humorous and entertaining. Cartoon can also be known as a style use in drawing. For example, the cartoonist draw a cartoon of you with a few simple strokes.

The cartoon in newspaper is known as editorial cartoons, and these cartoon usually has one panel or we call it single panel cartoon. The contents of these cartoon can be political or remarks on social issues.