Black Light Online

December 27th 2007 :)

Fandom and Original

Fandom
My fandom list recently includes Avatar: The Last Airbender. I watched it religiously a while back but got cut off when I first moved to Singapore. Things got busy and I had no time to catch up. However the craze is re-heightened as the box sets were made available online. (They don't have it in stores apparently) Now I'm back to being obsessed with the show.

Avatar has one of the most compelling storyline despite being a Nickelodeon program. The characters are so interesting intertwined with quasi-complex chemistry that I made a fanart to commemorate the series. This I call Always Together.



It's only right that I do a Fire Benders follow up! Among fandoms in my list that I'd love to do fanart of in time to come would be Gurren Lagann and Karas.

Original
Right now I'm spending time after work to continue Ultra Jiddo doujinshi for the coming Comic Fiesta in December. I do not know how much time I have to make it to the event. But I'm just gonna keep drawing until closing time. For years the sequel for Black Light has been shelved because of school commitment.

Here is a concept sketch for Aswad's Ultra form in Black Light #2. Hope to see you guys there!

Ga Ga - Do Do Do Do Do

Growing up reading comics, one of the things in japanese sequentials that fascinates me as a kid is the treatment of sound effects in manga. It still does! Even though the katakana characters meant nothing to me it still gave me the impression of... sound.

Up to this day, I still feel that japanese sound effects still work best beyond comparison. The characters themselves, are, well, works of art.

Okay. I'm babbling. I did this after work today - 12:51 - the antagonist of my free time comic, Ultra Jiddo.

I.....'m gonna have to change the title soon.

Smallville

Over the years my fandom towards the Superman mythology has grown tremendously, thanks to serialized television shows such as Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and recently, Smallville.

Back in 2003, Season 1 was so fun to watch I drew Clark Kent and Lex Luthor for my very own Smallville music compilation CD. Forgive the bad art.

The continuation was okay... until 3 and 4 went downhill. I gave up watching for a while until season 6 came, sat for a whoppin' marathon towards finale. Boy oh boy after 4 years of 'some-good-and-some-really-shitty-episodes' the show is starting to become interesting again!

When Kara appeared I got so excited I didn't think of what to draw and how to compose. I just let loose and wing it:


Kara Zor-El, 2007

P.S. Bryan Singer's Superman Returns is in a league of its own - a personal all time favourite.

Inside The Box

Dark Hunger @ Kinokuniya!

Finally the rushed comic project is in stores.
Thanks Ray for the photo!

Gunungan

Working on something.

Digital Sketchbook

Inspired by Andro Wekua and Jeffrey Scott Bernstein, respectively.

It's Ramadhan again. Happy fasting to fellow Muslim.

Le Récent

Finally managed to get this workstation after working in Singapore:


Sony Vaio L series (VGC-LA38G) Board PC :) See it in motion below!


はじめまして。ボード PC!

Perginya Bintang

Comic artist Mike Wieringo passed away today due to a sudden heart attack. He was 44 years old. His pages inspired me to tighten my pencils back in high school. I am still terribly shocked by this news...

You will be greatly missed... Rest in peace, Mike.

Read more at Newsarama.com

Capricorn

Practical and prudent
Ambitious and disciplined
Patient and careful
Humorous and reserved

On the dark side....

Pessimistic and fatalistic
Miserly and grudging

References:
Custom Creature: Taxidermy Arts
Astrology Online

P.S.

Narcissist

P.P.S.
Our painting god in IFS, Darren, has joined the blogging fad too now. I can smell the impending end to our career, friends T_T...

Welcome back, Zid

Colleagues are high on erotica. They made a 5x5 format challenge in which subject is anything sensual. We should be doing this kind of thing weekly from now on. Besides, it's a healthy activity to avoid artist's block, such as what I suffered last month.


Doublez-Vous


Fickle

It was only right that I join the bandwagon and work on a personal painting after so long. So long, breakdown.


Sketch for Fickle

Officemates Kiat and Chester has their own blogs now! Welcome aboard!

Hilang

I tried and tried. I can't draw anymore. It used to be my escape. Now it's making me feel trapped. I've been staring at the same blank canvas for weeks. The drive to draw has simply gone. Composing image has become a phobia. Finishing up a line art starts to test my patience. I've lost my thunder.

Today, I forced myself to brave against it. To start drawing again. And I came up with a shitty piece:



A warrior blindfolded and his sword broken. I feel empty looking at it. I hope this is only a phase. Else I'd rather chop my drawing hand off than to live with this self doubt.

Slept the entire weekend

I've done nothing worth updating. All work! Free time is spent NOT drawing. Even my sketch is left untouched. I have a feeling that it'll stay unfinished.



Anyway, spent last last last Friday nite out at Wala. Good music by Shirlyn, love the energy. Stole photos from Aloy and Clare 'cause I'm lazy and cool like that.



And at this wee hour, Mr.B had just registered a blog. Check it out!

Link:
Mr.B's Art Journal

We have fought before...

... yet here we are, at it again.

My Weekend

Me and Optimus at Suntec City...


Character design for a personal comic...


A counter to the balance...


A Makara design for the knight...


And some sketches...


And more...

That's all folks! (Actually there's more but too lazy to scan the shitty sketches)

Bird shit in the morning

On the pedestrian crossing

... A bird shit on my hand. What a way to start the day!

Worst part was waiting for the red light to turn green! So you can feel the warm crap melt and ooze down to your palm. Yes it was warm.

Spade

Spaceboy /(Sp)Ace of Spade

Well, back in Singapore. (Took a week off and went home for graduation and reunion, all that jazz) Oh yeah... Made new music called Spaceboy. Guitars are dimmed in the background. More electronics this time around.

Looking forward to be productive after a good rest!

Links:
Spaceboy.mp3
My Music Page

Swallow

Anonymous Wearing A Foul Mask

Just got my hands on SPARROW #3 featuring my all time favourite painter, Kent Williams. So, feeling inspired, I lamely ripped off one of his paintings but of course I was just finding an excuse to speedpaint. I miss painting.

Dark(er) Hunger

A work in progress of what would be the cover for Dark Hunger manga. Apparently the client saw the illustration and wanted a painted version of it. So... I'm painting over the previous artwork.

I haven't painted anything in 5 months. This is taking me a while to do..

EDIT: Apparently the client changed their mind. Wanting the anime look to the manga cover they rolled back to their initial decision: Cell shaded illustration. Only they requested the colour palette to match the original red hue done by previous artist.

D

D... A drawing from memory

I finally watched Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. Beautiful movie. I'm currently reading the first volume of the translated novel. Of course, being translated I won't experience the exact flavour intended to be delivered. But I'm sure it will still do justice to the original novel nonetheless.

For those who are not in the know, Vampire Hunter D is a novel series by Hideyuki Kikuchi, illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano, one of my favourite artists.

Link:
Vampire Hunter D on Wiki

Farewell

The Haji Family by Redza Piyadasa (1990)

Redza Piyadasa passed away yesterday, 6:15pm. (GMT +8:00).
Rest in peace...

I was very lucky to be taught by him, even for a short period.
Thank you for your teachings...

"Malaysia has just lost a great artist and champion of the arts, Prof. Redza Piyadasa.

Piyadasa passed away in Kuala Lumpur after a long illness today at the age of 68.

The Kuantan-born Piyadasa was a strong advocate of national unity, liberalism and humanism through visual and performing arts.

He was a founder of the Five Arts Centre, a theatre company dedicated to promoting and nurturing new talents in English theatre." - Chuah

Dark Hunger

Promotional illustration for Dark Hunger

I wanted to paint this piece but given the time allocated to finish this piece, I had to settle with simple colours. More on this later. Thank God it's Friday! I'm off to Orchard!

EDIT: Dark Hunger is a one-shot manga adaptation from "Hot Blooded", a novel by the New York Times bestselling author, Christine Feehan. Initially the project took off with a different artist. However, 2 months later she lost contacts and eventually dropped the ball.

I was assigned to take over and finish 200 pages in 4 months. The deathly deadline to catch up with the lost times had me working non stop, pushing to the limits beyond insanity. To top it off, I had to match the previous style (which the clients love so much). It's one hell of a rush job!

But hey, perseverance! I survived the ordeal. At last, this week I managed to clear the whole thing. It's not something I'm proud of in terms of aesthetics. But I take pride in being able to bite the bullet and taking the responsibility to finish a long overdue project.

Dark Hunger will be released on October 2nd, 2007

FYI, cover artwork and the first few pages were done by the original artist. I have no hands in those.

Links:
Christine Feehan's home page
Dark Hunger on Amazon.com


Sketch and bloody Inks

Spider-Man and Paul Insect

JUXTAPOZ Art & Culture Magazine (Issue #76: May '07)

I came across this cool magazine at Bugis Junction the other day after catching the premiere of Spider-Man 3. Cover artwork by Paul Insect. I need to start reading again. Also bought The Comics Journal which was a total waste of money for me. What the hell.

http://www.juxtapoz.com/ Juxtapoz Online
http://www.tcj.com/ The Comics Journal Website

MyFirstCONTEST

Sony Malaysia held this MyFirstVAIO contest whereby you design your own skin for the new Sony Vaio, and the winner will get a Vaio C series, with the winning design la.

Now I'm not really a contest person. I hate competitions. I never enter them. My friends know that. But goddamn I'm desperate for a new laptop! I can shower, do my laundry and boil water while waiting a message window to pop up load with the one I'm currently using. It's so obsolete that I am breaking my Hobbit tradition and join a friggin' competition for the first time.

But therein lies another problem - I am so caught up with work I barely have time to whip out new designs for this shit! So I figured what the heck. I scoured my folders for old drawings, paintings and just whacked Photoshop like how Ike beat Tina.

So um yeah whatever.


Vaio Artist


Vaio Wayang Kulit


Vaio Pop

Still in topic, Jezmine, my uni junior has been chosen for Project Runaway Malaysia. Congratulations! Way to go, girl. Check out her très cool blog for some fashion sense!

I've got an F and a C, and I've got a K too. The only thing that's missing is a *beep* like U

Detail from Ultra Jiddo: Black Light in YonGumix #1 (Recoloured)

As a teenager I grew up obsessed with depression, often having suicidal thoughts. In high school I was perpetually brooding, feeling melancholy by choice. Marilyn Manson was the soundtrack of my life. I thought it was "cool" listening to the Antichrist Superstar.

However, I became my own antithesis in university. Love. Ah.. bright young things. Graduated, and now working my dream job - I'm a fucking carnival. But after all these years I finally heard the ultimatum: "Je ne vous aime plus".

What seemed "cool" then is now the only state I am able to be in. Only this time it's not a choice. And it is so not cool! Marilyn Manson, welcome back.


Original scan

Carpathians

Unused artwork for Dark Hunger

"Carpathians are immortal blood-drinkers who become evil vampires, without emotion or morals, unless they find their female lifemates. They are all dangerous hunters and warriors with a rigid sense of honor and deep family connections. Becoming a vampire is the worst thing that could possibly happen to them, as it is their utter antithesis. Because of this, they worship and adore their women with an unbreakable bond of trust, devotion, and desire."

Hah! How about that? Hell I'd be a vampire by now.

Working late nights again. What's all this about? I'll update when I'm more sober. Haven't painted for so long...

A Mid Hazy Mad Om

Spaceboy Topman

I woke up today and thought of uniforming my website, myspace music and my friendster account into one standard design. Sort of like a branding (?)

But then reality kicks in - I'm too busy with a long term project I'm assigned to clear by the end of this month. Then, out of the blue I scribbled my full name backwards. It sounded like 'desire the mayhem'. I thought it was cool I quickly registered the name for this blog.

I guess it can be the other side of my official website, mohammadyazid.com (like how Paul Pope has his Pulp Hope blog).

Oh by the way, the title for this post is an anagram of my full name. Thought that'd be interesting to share :P


Sketch for Spaceboy Topman