Sketches, Animals and Christmas Card

Hi, Friends, thank you for a long waiting! This week, I upload recent work, sketches and a Christmas card. I'll show you my Christmas card every Monday.(My new computer is on the way. Until that, could you please keep patience!)

Our lives are surrounded by other lives. Watching animals is heart warming and very interesting. In the first sketch, a little girl and a pigeon were at a fountain. Pigeons are good garbage collectors in a town, but their droppings are an agenda for a council. "Live and let live" is not easy.


The second work is for a pelican, an important character for the text. I often closed my eyes and imagined how it flew with dignity...

Regarding pets, I'm a dog lover. The dog was taking a nap at a cake shop. I could not resist sketching her. Customers and pedestrians looked at me. But once, I get on work, nothing can stop me.

Too strong sunshine? Friends, please remember, we, Australians are getting into summer!Among mammals, Little Sadami loved deers and would go to a park to watch them. Unfortunately, I have an experience; a deer kicked me--oh, dear! I've been painting this fawn since primary school. How many times did I paint it?

Yet, I still learn something new, when I draw the fawn.

I believe that animals and incests do have souls.Life is beautiful... I'm always filled with awe and joy.

Oh, yes, talking of a deer, Santa Clause has reindeers. Well, our Santa Clause and his reindeers might be suffering in air pollution. An immediate action is critical.

But above all, peace on the earth...

Otherwise, we, humans need to learn "live and let live" even from animals.

Sketches, Animals and Christmas Card

Colourful Indian Festival Parramasala 2010

Hi, Friends, I sketched Parramasala 2010, the annual Australian Festival of South Asian Arts. Despite the rainy days, a good crowd poured on streets.

 Probably the most fun was to enjoy dancing and traditional music on a stage from flamenco to Indian music. We, audience really enjoyed sophisticated  movements and interesting music.

I could not take a place at the front raw and watched the dancing from the back. You get why my quickies show dancers' backs many.

I looked at dancers, not much at papers and tried to move a hand. Impressions are the most important for me, not meticulous.

People around me often looked at my quick sketches from a great curiosity.

Honest, sketching dancing is not easy, even though a very much fun. I've never tried any flamenco dancer or dancers in general for these months. Forget a reluctance! I just did it. Don't be a wimp!

Friends, all what we need is a "guts and challenging spirit."
Beautiful movements tell stories, often romances.

Lovely! I wish I could move my two legs quickly. Well, practice, Sadami!









The stage was set in a pagoda. We watched and listened to Indian traditional music. I had no idea of languages. But Indian background people could respond to players even though the musicians picked up very old songs--made nearly 20 years ago. It amazed me that these Immigrated Indian people still loved the songs and remembered them well. Wow, it touched me so much.




Instruments are, too, very old. Can you guess? One violin-like instrument is "800" years old!! Oh, how many musicians passed it to others?

Silently the violin has looked at people's joy, sorrow, agony etc through music. Haaa....(<--sigh) my life is a star dust. Another fun was challenging Indian food. Yum!! Yum!! A bit spicy--very sensational and hot for me. Smells are so fascinating and impressive. I've become a big fan for Indian dishes. I'll try more from a next time.



Market was held everyday at Town Hall. There, the big symbol, which looked like a soldier, was so popular. Anyone wanted to take photos of it.
You can get how big it was from the sketch.

Music, dancing, market, plays at a theater, a cricket game and a finale was fire works. Honest impression is...nothing different between us, human beings. Behind these cultural differences, I found same emotions.
My findings made me smile at anyone in the festival.
Friends, happy painting and thank for reading!

Colourful Indian Festival Parramasala 2010

Children Picture Book Illustration Process

Finally, this computer needs be "hospitalized" at a computer shop. Yet I have an urgent need... sigh...hopefully, I can leave it at the shop this week. (* If my respond is slow, please keep patience.)

OK, this week topic is a picture book illustration. In order to illustrate a text, interpretation skills of a manuscript is vital. Visualizing an author and an illustrator's images or bridging between imagination and reality is not an easy task.

A basic process is below.
1) given text, image creation
2) character & situation settings
3) story board and dummy book--called, "Rough" in Black and White.
4) colouring -- this stage is called, "Colour."

A picture book illustrator gives a manuscript life. To achieve it, an illustrator maximizes all what she has such as memories, emotions, experiences etc, etc. Above all, in my view, an illustrator needs to fall in love with a given story.

Besides, memories, emotions and experiences, I use my linguistics and sociology background fully. Linguistic text analyses organize a well-considered page structure. Sociological research collects data and evidence to create accurate settings that convince readers a theme well. Particularly, text analysis skills make a good information flow throughout a story.

Illustrators illustrate everything--even something invisible such as emotions and illusions. My admiring illustrators and fine artists all have wonderful drawing skills. For me, a drawing skill is alpha and omega, which responds to any media. So, life drawings and daily sketches are my great assets and devices to produce images.

Sometimes, people seek me advice to be an illustrator. Technically, "Drawing skills are fundamental and critical," is my answer. And regarding other areas mentioned above are all up to an individual efforts.

So, I'm a life long learner.
Friends, happy painting and drawing!

Children Picture Book Illustration Process