| Ouch. |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|10:24 am] |
So now I limp around to the bank, to the grocery store, to the post office and to the toilet. Not fun.
I had the interview on Saturday and I thought it was a quick and painless death because I didn't have much in my portfolio to show. When they asked me if I had experience in film, I was sure it spelt death because of course, I had ZERO.
But woohoo! Sunday night I got the call that said yes.
So click on the photo below to see what the hell I have gotten myself into. And while there, donate some money to the film's budget so I can get paid, ok.
Note: I'd rather not have my photo on the film website.
For my portrait, I'd rather have this:
 But I decided against being a troublemaker, hence submitting a photo that shows as little of my face as possible.
Also, I might have to ask the director to remove the part of SLG Publishing in the "about me" write-up. It doesn't seem right to announce that on somewhere other than my own blog because SLG hasn't announced it yet.
Other than that, I'm having fun drawing and inking August Moon. Plus my temporary inability to walk restricts me to the drawing table, so less time wasted on toilet breaks or making tea. So, more pages completed per day.
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| Scaling and polishing |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|08:39 pm] |
Some stuff:
So far working as planned:
I recently completed an illustration job for an aussie author. I'm not allowed to talk about it until the book is out early next year but that's ok cos I'm now talking about how much I wish I think before I talk.
The author asked me to send an invoice to the publisher so I can get paid for the completed job.
Author: Email an invoice to the publisher so they can pay you.
Thung: Huh? An invoice? How do I do that?
Author: ... You've never written an invoice before?
Thung: No.
Author: ... ... ... Okay... I'll email you an example and you can just follow that.
Thung: Okay! Thanks!
As soon as I hung up, I thought that I should have just lied that I am the queen of writing invoices. It was very unprofessional of me to admit I had shit knowledge of getting paid for illustration jobs. Of course the author was very nice about it and he ended up writing my invoice for me! Frick, I am an idiot.
So once again, I am so thankful 99% of the people I have met are nice.
Also, tonight I'll be sleeping with my fingers crossed. Tomorrow I have an interview for something that promises to be fun. |
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| New comic |
[Nov. 4th, 2009|02:37 pm] |
I'll serializing my new comic online. This is NOT the one is being released by SLG next year. That is Captain Long Ears and I have completed that. This one I'm putting online is still a work-in-progress.
Also, I'm just trying this online thing out because I don't think this story is in a format that is suitable for a daily serialization, unlike self-contained one-page comics. But then I'm old-school and like only to read things I can hold in my hand.
Click on the banner below.
Also, sometimes I read other people's comics and then proceed to curl up into a ball and want to do nothing but eat cheese and bananas. Extreme admiration for someone else's genius can turn you into a bumbling fetus. Pok! |
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| Summer's coming |
[Oct. 26th, 2009|09:44 pm] |
A for-fun sketch for Captain Long Ears that I did a long time ago and recently became a rejected cover sketch:
Randomly:
I just read the comic version of Tom Sawyer. I love love the art (by Rad Sechrist, I think) but I'd take the original prose version anytime. The comic version was so condensed I felt cheated.
The first time I watched Love Actually was in a cinema in Singapore. Last week I saw it on tv here and I realized the Singapore version cut out the whole storyline about the pseudo-porn actors.
And apparently, the British backpackers are to blame for the spread of STDs in Australia.
Summer's coming. Nooooooooooo. |
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| White ibis |
[Oct. 10th, 2009|10:40 pm] |
The bird, i later googled, is the white ibis. It is a very common bird in the urban area, just that this is the first time I had one crossing the pedestrian crossing alongside me.
Apparently, moving house is one of the top five traumatizing events. I say yes, because I have spent 2 consecutive weekends not sleeping. Frick! |
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| Dance |
[Oct. 2nd, 2009|06:57 pm] |
I hate essays.
The last time I enjoyed writing essays for school was in primary school when we got to write fiction.
I thought that my idiocy regarding comics formatting was over, but today i discovered: NO. I have not done this much math since junior college.
And the real estate agent is trying to con me. The house I'm renting is being put up for sale but he is telling me to stay put. He dropped by the house while I'm not home because he only told me 20 minutes before he showed up (he had keys to the house). He probably took some photos and surveyed any damage done. And he decided my house is "cludded". Read on to not find out the meaning of cludded.
This was the gist of the exchange between the agent and me after that, done through sms and a very brief phone call:
THUNG: So, do we have to start looking for a new place?
AGENT: Nononononono. The new owners are investors. They will not stay in the house but will continue leasing the place out.
THUNG: But you're asking me to open the place to the public this saturday morning for inspection?
AGENT: Yes. Would you mind cleaning the house a bit?
THUNG: Yes, I mind. So, you're telling me that the new owners will continue leasing the place to us?
AGENT: YES. You don't have to move out.
THUNG: And you're telling me to open my house this Saturday for everyone in the world to come in and decide if they want to buy the place?
AGENT: Yes. Your place's a little cludded, could you clean it up if you don't mind.
THUNG: (what the friggin hell is "CLUDDED"?!?) Yes, I mind. So, you're telling me that the new owners are investors who will continue leasing the place to me AND that you're still looking for buyers?
AGENT: Yes. You don't need to move out.
THUNG: (DO YOU THINK I'M AN IDIOT, YOU IMMORAL PERSON WITH BAD VOCABULARY!?!)... ... I'm not cleaning the house.
He really texted the word "CLUDDED". I have no idea what that means but I am very sure my house is very clean and tidy. Because my mother had just spent 2 weeks here.
He is trying to string me along and earn the rent from me while he looks for buyers and will suddenly kick me outta the house when he finds a buyer. Either he is a friggin' lousy liar or he has some psychic powers that predict that the buyer will be an investor who will continue leasing the place out. I feel incredulous that he cannot be a decent honest human being and tell me to start looking for a place. If he had been honest, I might have considered doing some vacuuming.
Conclusion #1: I do not like this person.
Conclusion #2: There are assholes in this world.
I have always known about conclusion #2 but I have been very lucky that 99% of the people I have gotten to know are decent, nice people, so i forget. Thus, encountering a jerk is like a slap in the face. |
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| Dunce |
[Sep. 30th, 2009|08:57 pm] |
Jennifer is the editor at SLG who is working with me. She's really nice and patient at answering my idiotic questions. Idiotic because the questions (stuff to do with resolution and anti-aliasing) are so basic.
And I feel so sorry for her because:
1. If the other comic creators who work with her are all as idiotic of me, she'd have been dealing with lotsa idiots. And that's just not fun.
2. If I'm the only idiot among all the other comic creators she has worked with, my questions' idiocy will stick out like a sore thumb and the idiocy will seem to be multiplied by 1000X. And that's not fun either.
And because Stephen King says so (in his book On Writing), I no longer have to feel the slightest bit of guilt for reading copious books.
I wish to own my own library. |
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| Armageddon |
[Sep. 23rd, 2009|08:55 pm] |
The red dust last occurred in Sydney 70 years ago. Cool.
It is actually a health hazard. Old people, kids, asthmatics, dogs, cats all have to stay indoors.
Go to here for more of the armageddon-style waking up.
Below I draw myself pledging my allegiance to a character from a comic I've been working on since the beginning of this year (Captain Long Ears has been completed a long time ago-- last year). Sometimes I draw myself conversing with the characters and feel a renewed commitment to see the project through. No. Matter. What.
This might be what many crazy people do.
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| Tug-of-war |
[Sep. 18th, 2009|07:06 pm] |
Lately the days have been a persistent tug-of-war between crippling self-doubt and brazen plowing. I like it better when brazen plowing wins.
I had to block out some stuff here cos I write lotsa shit in my sketchbook, including secrets, secret projects, secret evil thoughts and also, other people's details.
And thank you for everyone who has promised to buy Captain Long Ears when it comes out. I don't know yet how you can get it but i am guessing it involves some kind of ordering online or ordering through your local bookshop. Also probably pre-ordering? I have no idea because now is early days yet.
But I remember the people who promised ok! |
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| Why I failed my Japanese dictation test |
[Sep. 15th, 2009|08:01 pm] |
I failed one small dictation test for my Japanese language elective. Pft.
These are some snippets from inside my Japanese textbook. I doodle everywhere. This could be the reason. Also because I didn't study for it (too absorbed in other stuff).
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| Captain Long Ears |
[Sep. 13th, 2009|10:19 am] |
I think I can share this now: my comic book, Captain Long Ears, has been picked up by SLG Publishing and is tentatively set to be published in the first half of 2010!
Exciting huh! I'll post more updates when they come.
Also thank you to friends who supported me through the process when it was still on unsure, shaky grounds (I try very hard not to count my chickens before they hatch). It was great to share the secret ups and downs of trying to get the story into print. |
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| The sound of trouble |
[Sep. 11th, 2009|09:11 pm] |
I don't know how machines work, but when my scanner makes sputtering and chugging noises I get worried. And also when the Mac starts whirring in synchrony with the spinning ball.
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| Randomness |
[Sep. 10th, 2009|10:46 pm] |
Random things:
1. Before my mum flew back home, she left containers of cut-up papaya in the fridge. Little orange bite-sized pieces of a mother's love.
2. I'm excited about the film version of John Marsden's "Tomorrow" series. It is going to be shot at Hunter Valley, a mere 2 hours' drive.
3. Generally, film adaptations of books are rather disappointing. But for Coraline, the movie is better than the book. Sorry, Neil Gaiman. |
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| Default mode |
[Sep. 9th, 2009|10:51 pm] |
My default mode of working is to put in 12 to 16-hour days for 5-6 days (or as long as I can), crash, spend one weekend day being a zombie and then go at it again. The crash is a normal burnout reaction, which is not very welcome but probably necessary.
I grin when I realize that "work" is drawing.
I think making art requires a lot of ego/ self-deception because you need to have blind faith in yourself and whatever you are doing in order to see it through to the end. |
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| flu |
[Sep. 3rd, 2009|04:26 pm] |
The house has been invaded by my mum and my elder sister (here for a 1 week+ visit). My daily routine went down the crapper: I have missed 2 weeks of school, drawing very little, watching too much tv, eating way too much, sleeping too little etc etc.
I realize that I pretty like my routine, boring lifestyle of writing and drawing. No partying for me. I don't like routine-less days. But 2 weird unscheduled weeks is gladly embraced for company i so rarely get to enjoy.
And I have got the flu.
Also, my niece (who has dual citizenship) likes Vegemite. She really has Aussie blood.
Doodles:
I should start drawing men more. I don't like drawing men because I suck at it and also, men are not as interesting to draw as girls. I like to draw androgynous men, though. What does that say about me??? |
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| de. vas. ta. tion. |
[Aug. 11th, 2009|09:44 pm] |
Earlier this evening, I saw this photograph.
Then I dry-cried.
I can't recognize my niece anymore! She's grown so much that seeing this photo was like being KO-ed by a yeti. It's devastating. DE-VAS-TA-TING.
Devastating that I never get to see her grow up. Devastating that if she walked past me on the street (if in a world where toddlers walk around the city by themselves) I will not recognize her and neither will she recognize me. And while I'm upset about this, my niece will not give a crap about it because I'm just the frigging aunt she never sees. This feels very much like unrequited love.
If only someone would invent a teleport machine. We could be anywhere in the world with a "paf!" and in a second. "Paf!" is the sound when your atoms are zapped off into another location.
Other than that, I've been busy writing. I'm on a short break from drawing because I'm waiting for my usual paper to be shipped all the way from US. I really wish the Aussie art stores would buck up. |
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| Defeated by yogurt |
[Aug. 7th, 2009|10:51 pm] |
In the supermarket, I always get stuck at the yogurt aisle. Too many seemingly delicious yogurt to choose from. That is the problem with not having a clear favourite. I never have this problem with other consumer goods because I have clear favourites. Like milk, always go for the pink Dairy Farmers'. And soy milk, NEVER go for vita-soy. And chocolate, always go for Lindt. And toilet paper, always go for the cheapest one (unless I'm feeling rich, then I'd go for Kleenex).
Yogurt is different. I literally spend like 10-15 min standing there freezing my ass off debating which yogurt will give me the best taste and nutritional experience. One day I might just find the #1-yogurt and the supermarket trip will be shorter and the planets will all align again. |
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| LONERD |
[Aug. 1st, 2009|06:07 pm] |
I'm a loner nerd.
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