Pictures taken at Beach Road.

My photographic interest has taken me further.After sending my mother to catch a bus back to Malaysia recently,I looked around the area & drew out my Sony camera to snap a few shots of the lunch time activities before collecting my car from the Golden Mile Tower carpark.

A shot of Golden Mile Complex.According to my memory,the building is still the same as it was 20 years ago.No major upgrading work has been done.


A moving DHL van's motion being freezed using a high shutter speed.The depth of field is visible too.


Under the shade of trees,people walking to have their lunch.


Security talk. The guard on the left was looking at me & he might be wondering what purpose of my snapping at them.Luckily they didn't seize my camera thinking that I might be a terrorist planning to blow up the place...(laugh)


The classic Golden Mile Tower's architectural design from the 80s era.


Finally,a bird's eye view of people enjoying their food.I like this shot 'cos there isn't any hard & dark shadow on the floor especially under the tables.

My 1st. & 2nd. Soft-pastel portraits.

This was my very 1st. coloured portrait of Ronald Reagan when I started to explore on soft-pastel medium way back in 1987 as a hobby.Ronald was still alive then if I'm not wrong.It was done on an A2 size paper.Of course I'd been doing pencil & charcoal portraits before that.For your info.,I became a full professional portrait artist only a decade ago.The technique of using this medium is totally different form those 2 types as my fingers are my tools.Using them to blend the colours was another experience.Too much of rubbing would result in my loss of finger prints & my identity would be gone...(laugh).





















This was my 2nd piece. The portrait of Robert Redford was done immediately after that. It was in A3 size.Both art works are framed up & being kept in my home town Ipoh till now. Maybe they will fetch a high price at the auction table in future,who knows...!-)

Family caricature done from photographs

A2 size caricature depicts Incredibles Family.
Medium used: Colour-marker on white paper.
Type: Face with cartoon body & background/theme.
Client's purpose: Personal collection to be hung on wall.

The artwork


The photographs

Group caricature done from photos.

A few days ago, a group of Bruneian youths who had just completed some sort of a dental course in Singapore.They passed by my shop & wanted to do a A3 size caricature of 5 persons to be presented to their lecturer in 3 days time but didn't bring any photo. So I took photos for them without extra charge & suggested express service as my normal schedule at this moment is approximately 2 weeks.After examining their features,I did an exaggerated version.Upon collection,they were amused by the way I caricatured them. Happy with the drawing,they purchased a ready made frame from me before posing for a shot together.

Individual caricature done from photo.

A4 size caricature of a female bike racer.
Medium used: Colour-marker on white paper.
Category: Face with cartoon body & background.
Client's purpose: Birthday gift.

Couple caricature done from photographs.

A4 size caricature of a couple & their hobbies.
Medium used: Gray-marker on white paper.
Category: Face with cartoon body & background.
Type: Black & White Shaded.
Client's purpose: Personal gift.

The artwork.




















The photos submitted.

Pictures taken as a hobby.

I've developed an interest in taking pictures with my semi-pro Sony DSC-H7 camera.My new found hobby.I enjoy snapping anything under the sun by adjusting manually the settings to create different effects & mood.I feel like a pro whenever the pictures come up beautifully.Here are some pictures which I took recently at the places near where I live,Serangoon Central & Hougang area.

The HDB flat opposite my apartment.A midnight shot.I like the mood of this pic.


Ah Kung & Ah Mah heading home at midnight.The colour of this pic looks very classic.Just like one taken during the 60s.


Walking to catch the MRT in the morning.In this pic,I tried to freeze the movement of the subject by adjusting to a high shutter speed.To my surprise,the details such as the texture of the structure around her were captured as well.


Nice environment with a relax mood at Hougang.The bicycles & the railing caught my attention.The clear background makes the pic interesting.


Waiting for someone by the roadside.This is an accidental shot while testing my flash light.It turned out to be quite nice as the subject was very natural.If you are the subject in this pic,please forgive me as I didn't snap it intentionally.:-P


Alighting from a public bus.I zoomed in to freeze the motion of these people but the backgound of the bus was just as sharp.

Individual caricature done from photograph.

A4 size caricature of Fullerton Hotel's CEO.
Medium used: Gray-marker on white paper.
Category: Face with cartoon body & background.
Type: Black & White Shaded.
Client's purpose: Farewell gift.

The background of this caricature reminded me of my previous job as an interior designer.It required me to produce elevation drawings of hotel lobbies similar to this.It's very tiring & tedious drawing those windows & columns repeatedly.Wish I can use Autocad in future but for sure the client will never like it as this is suppose to be a hand-drawn masterpiece.

Live caricature event for bYIS's 10th. anniversary.

Date of event: 25 June 2008 Wed.
Venue: Hilton Hotel Singapore.
Duration: 1 hour (6.30pm to 7.30pm).
Average drawing speed: 2.5 minutes per head.

The venue of this event was held on the 24th storey at the poolside.It was a walking distance from my shop in Far Fast Plaza so I just walk over.The lighting was very poor till I had difficulty in capturing the features of the subjects.I was quite frustrated as my performance was affected.It really strained my eyes but what to do.The arrangement was made by the hotel management.Frankly,I hate to draw in this type of lighting condition.Luckily,nobody had complained about the quality of my work.The event organiser was happy too.

The hotel's main entrance.


The signage that greeted me when I reached the 24th. floor.


The reception.


Preparation.


Getting ready to receive guests.


The arrival of some early birds.


Showtime begins...























The poor lighting condition capture in this video clip.Can you see anything?


The crystal tatoo artist Zinmar who was seated beside me.


Both of us busy working on the guests.


Nice view of the swimming pool over looking CK Tang.


Evening view of the pool after the session.


Picture taken with Zinmar at the hotel lobby after the service.




















Credit to my girlfriend Pricilia for assisting me this evening.


Heading back to my shop to continue with my unfinished work.


Bye bye Hilton.

Individual caricature done from photograph.

A4 size caricature depicts a carpenter.
Medium used: Colour-marker on white paper.
Type: Face with cartoon body.
Client's purpose: Birthday gift for her brother who lives in Europe.

The artwork

The photo submitted.The client requested me to draw the beard more obvious.

Portrait duly received by my overseas client.

This portrait which I did 2 weeks ago was duly received by my client Karen Wright.

Here is a message I received from her via email today:

I would like to thank you very much as the portrait was received perfectly and well in time.
It was a birthday gift and was truly appreciated. I will definitely use you again without hesitation.

Thank you again
Kind regards
Karen

Family portrait done from photographs.

A1 size portrait of the Boey Family.
Medium used: Oil paint on stretched canvas.
Client's purpose: To be hung in their living hall.

The painting.

Photographs submitted.

Mr Boey is my ex-boss & good friend who used to hang the studio taken family portrait in his living room. After his youngest son graduated from a university in the UK,the portrait has become outdated to him.So he approached me in 2007 to paint it in oil just to include the graduation robe for his youngest son so that it looks updated & complete.At the same time his wife Ann took the opputunity the change her clothing to cheong-sam as well.She provided me another photo of herself wearing the cheong-sam with the same pose.I call this a mix & match portrait painting which I've done a lot especially for Malay families when I first started my shop back in 1999.

Fiona Xie in Far East Plaza.

Singapore actress Fiona Xie was spotted in Far East Plaza at the grand openning of Dusty shop on 20th June 2008.She looks sooo pretty not only on screen but also in real life...

Picture taken by my Sony camera.

I have been motivated to take pictures using my 8.1 mega pixels Sony semi-pro camera DSC-H7 as a hobby since the day I posted the Yafriro event recently.As a beginner in photography, I depend heavily on my artistic instinct as an interior designer & portrait artist to produce the composition of my pictures.As shown below,I've learned how to take pictures using my own settings instead of the auto mode.I believe by pratising more,I'm able to capture better pictures in future. If you are an expert,feel free to give me some comments.Here are some still objects which I've taken since last week...

Peebles surface (F2.7-30-iso400)

My mouse (F2.7-30-iso400)

Parking cars (F3.5-60-iso800)

Cast iron column capital (F3.5-25-iso100)