Exams are over! The big End-Of-Years. Phew. Screwed up about 3 papers (at varying degrees), and a few others I'm not feeling very confident about. Ah man but who cares, it's not like I've been screwing up things all along, shouldn't get so worked up about it sometimes. Studying isn't and will never be my life. -.-

Ok so as compensation for all the times I missed drawing this year cuz studying kicked art out, I am going to stuff myself with drawing until I get sick of it - which I most probably wouldn't. I can get tired after some time but art is just too amazing, haha. :D Anyway, I do have a few CG plans in mind, one of which is the "Bells" project in which I'm gonna paint 4 bells each representing one of the four seasons. Autumn is already completed, so I'm left with...winter, summer and spring. Whow, long way to go.

It just happened that I was painting this bell I bought from Hong Kong airport, it had maple leaf patterns on it and was brown (actually mine was black but I just used it for reference for lighting and shadow), and had a really autumny feel, thought I could work on the concept a bit more. I love representations of the four seasons.

I'm thinking I should make the winter bell kinda translucent, or transparent; the icy feel could bring out the frost quite well. It's gonna be really really hard though, I've never played around much with transparency, and less so during painting. Especially since my reference bell is opaque, I'll have to devise the lighting and shadow plans myself. Either that or go google image an ice orb or something. Hopefully that helps, unless google chucks me trash like they tend to do sometimes.

*Sigh* I just spent my entire free day today drawing practice sketches while rewatching Naruto from the start again. I really love that anime. For some reason, simply watching it, or just hearing it, makes me have that homely feel. It gives me a lot of encouragement; like when I'm down or feeling lonely or just simply wanna run away from everything, knowing that someone could make it (even though he's a fictional character) just somehow comforts me. It feels really nice.

Reminds me, I think I should return to fanart-ing soon. I've been doing too many "free" sketch and CGs lately, well, after some time I kinda wanna draw out others' creations that have already been established.

I have a plan for a CG fanart in mind - of course it's Naruto, and it's about Team 7. The background's gonna be a sunset and basically they're standing on a leafless tree - at different heights of course. I'm just kinda debating on whether I should draw a back view or front view. Personally I think back view brings out the mood more, since I'll be able to draw out the sun (cuz it makes sense that they're facing it) and it has that melancholic feel - but then again, I suck at human anatomy from the back, and front view would allow you to see their expressions and...well, my current photoshopping skills will make back view look really bland, since I have yet to learn to incorporate many tones or details into the picture appropriately.

Haiz I think I'll push that idea to the back for future work. It won't really look nice if my photoshop skills stay as they are right now.

Dang, now that I brought it up myself, I really do need an improvement somewhere in art soon. I love those, um, what I call "skill spurts" whereby you just suddenly reach a stage after drawing and practising and you just get to a level higher naturally, like the one I experienced during this year's June hols. I dunno, I think it's cuz of lack of practice during exam week, my skills are a bit unstable lately. I mean they don't de-prove that much, but sometimes I'd think I improved and only discover the next day that I was back to normal.

Bleah. Shouldn't get too impatient. ><

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I'm not saying that I totally rule out hard work as one of the factors - I have been working for art and my efforts do bear fruit when the right times come. I've worked for math and I've seen the effects - even though I do screw up now and then since it wasn't my natural forte altogether. But yes, in art, a person with 0% talent drawing really well with just 100% hard work is very rare, if there is any. Art is a feeling thing, you need it in your blood to do it well.

They say the difference between artists and people who are not artistically inclined is that, for example, when drawing a few chickens, the artist would make them seem like a family, whereas others would be drawing purely a few chickens.

Just like in my art lesson, when we were doing a charcoal piece of five bears in a basket, the art teacher reminded us that we need to constantly observe the relationship between the bears and the basket and not make the bears seem like a solitary group altogether. That is, drawing the folds and shadings appropriately according to where the bears come into contact with the basket. Basically everything is interlinked in art, in more ways than one.

Alright, now I'm getting tired. Bleh. Dance exam tomorrow at 12.15, I bet I've already forgotten all the Jive moves. Then there's OBS health screening until 5 something. Sometimes I really wish I could just heck care and blow it all off. Lots of extra stuff around, it's becoming a bother.

Oh yea, next Friday is my birthday, and my grandparents are coincidentally flying over from China right on my birthday! Whoohoo, I would like a green tea cake, or chocolate mint. Mom said I could save some for Az and Cher even if they come in the afternoon, though I am kinda wondering about the funny candle-blowing traditions if 2 slices of cake are gone. It is a bit weird if you think about it.

Anyway, signing off now, cya!