Custom doodle for Sulia

I was approached by a colleague who wanted a name doodle. I have to admit that she asked me quite some time ago and I took about 5-6 months to finish her doodle. It's not like I did it every day but I did very few doodles and far in between.

Started with a swirly handlettering of the client's name

 My biggest problem in doing custom work is the fear of not being able to please the client and sometimes people would like me to draw things which are not my style (nor do I have the ability to draw well e.g. portraits).

Artist problems: Cramped fingers

WIP

My trusty Artline Drawing System pens

So in the case of this custom doodle for Sulia, it was more of like an artist block as I felt like I was stuck in the same pattern rut. Instagram and Pinterest have been huge sources of inspiration for me and I remember it was through Instagram that I found this artist called billijincarle. Her doodles were something I've never seen before and gave me such inspiration that I doodled non-stop for days to finish up the order.

Finally done. Alhamdulillah.

The doodle is now safely hung in Sulia's office, love how it looks framed!

It's always an amazing feeling to see your artwork on someone's wall. 

New Straits Times NiE Interview

I received a pleasant surprise in May when the New Straits Time NiE unit contacted me for a possible interview. Apparently one of their young journalists proposed my name for their Doodling issue! This was my first proper newspaper interview and yes, I guess you can say I was pretty psyched! I rummaged through my past artwork and pretty much packed almost everything!

Which to bring?

The date of the interview was set to be on 30 May 2014. However, on the morning of 29 May, I was suddenly struck with vertigo and threw up non-stop the whole day through. I had no choice but to cancel the appointment and was really hoping the NST people could rearrange for a new date. Thankfully, they agreed to have me at their office on 6 June. Phew!

I went alone to their office in Bangsar and was so nervous that I forgot to take any photos with the kind staffs. The story is set to appear in the NiE website in September. Can't wait!

White cup contest

Starbucks is currently organising this white cup contest on Instagram (#whitecupcontest) where they encourage people to draw as creatively as possible on their cups. You can get the cups when you order their hot beverages, which rarely happens for me. I love their javachip frap too much. Below is my take on their white cup contest, Air Asia style. Har har.

One Direction custom Moleskine

I'm beginning to love handlettering because there is so much creativity involved that I didn't manage to see before in creating the fonts. Pinterest and Instagram have been major references for me though and there are just so many super talented people in this world.

I received this order from an ex uni mate who was ordering this for herself. It was hard picking which song titles to put as the boys had so many hit songs. I went with the top 20 listed in a website.

Moleskine type: Cahier
Size: Large
Colour: Pink

Uni Paint Marker and Pilot Choose Gel Ink Pen - Review

I have been on this white-ink-pen search far and wide lately only to find it in the bookstore nearest to my house. Prior to finding a fine tip white ink pen, I used Uni white paint marker which, while great to cover up spots on walls (or even cars I was told), produced inconsistent lines as you had to shake and press it up and down to have the ink flow every now and then. It does produce clumsy blotches here and there. UniThe big tip also meant that I can't go into details as usual.  Some artwork that I produced using the marker:

Uni Paint Marker - White. Image taken from www.staples.com

Went to Manila in October and this was how I remember it. Gorgeous art everywhere, skyscrapers and traffic jam! Drawn using Uni Paint Marker - White. 

Trees. Drawn using Uni Paint Marker - White.

Night. Drawn using Uni Paint Marker - White.

Come fly with me. Drawn using Uni Paint Marker - White.

I was never a fan of Pilot drawing pens, preferring Artline drawing system lines as the ink flows better on Moleskine Cahier covers. However, Pilot also has the only white gel ink pen in town so that's what I got. The darndest thing is, up to the moment I was searching for images of the white pen to put in the blog a few mins ago, I kept thinking that it's by Pentel.

Pilot Choose Gel Ink Pen - White, 0.7mm. Image taken from www.jetpens.com 

So I have to admit, I underestimated the Pilot Choose Gel Ink in white. The tip measures 0.7mm. The ink wasn't as white as I expected but it does have a sort of chalk on board kind of effect. The ink flows smoothly and I didn't even have to press hard on paper. It retails at RM3.80 and also available in silver and gold. Which I also got on the same day. :)

Spiky mountains inspired by one of my favourite artists on Instagra,, melkadel. Drawn using Pilot Choose Gel Ink Pen in white, 0.7mm

Drawn using Pilot Choose Gel Ink Pen in white, 0.7mm

Can't wait to draw more things with the pen!

Shane Filan custom Moleskine

An urgent order for this custom Moleskine came through last week for Shane Filan's roadtour in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday. The client wanted all 13 of his songs in his latest album 'You and Me' included on the cover. She managed to pass this journal to Shane's manager! Really hoping that it would reach him safe and sound.

Moleskine type: Cahier
Size: Large
Colour: Pastel yellow

Memorable Raya Aidilfitri

I was very lucky to be commissioned by Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim, the Malaysian Minister of Women, Family and Community Development to doodle for this year's Raya Aidilfitri celebration. I had only started doodling 'seriously' about 2 months prior to that and was not sure if I could pull it off, but I'm glad I took up the challenge! I worked on about half a dozen different designs and the one we finally agreed upon was then tweaked to suit the occasion.

A few proposals for the project. It was challenging but satisfying for me to finally channel my energy and creativity into something else apart from writing or teaching English.

3 out of the 5 redrawn proposals to cater to the client's want. We finally got it on the 5th version, alhamdulillah. How I wished there were undo and redo buttons while doing this!

I was so excited to be invited to her open house with my whole family, thinking I would be able to see my design on a banner. We took photos at the first banner we saw outside the main entrance at BCCK and I had to keep pinching myself as it was so surreal. However guess what, they didn't only put it on that banner, they had the entire design blown up to fill up the 20 feet stage backdrop! And the Raya money packets! And this cookie box gift set! She also had the design everywhere she went for Raya celebration in the Sarawak interiors, my cousin actually spotted the banner with the doodle design on a ferry. LOL.

Received my own set of cards from the lady in the photo herself at her Raya Aidilfitri open house at BCCK in Kuching 

The doodles were also on money envelopes aka sampul duit raya!

Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim's raya cookies gift box

Datuk Rohani and I

A month after that, Wan and Intan, her children, both sent me photos of the doodle design on banners and backdrop at Datuk Rohani's open house at Putrajaya! It was definitely the highlight of 2013 for me and what I learned from it is, if you do something, do it well, persevere and you could be very handsomely rewarded. And take risks!

Stage background at YB Datuk Rohani's open house at Putrajaya yesterday. Photo by Wan.