Chris Chan's Blogger

2 years later!

2011-03-01T16:22:00.003-08:00

Just sketches for now, enjoy!

The end of a decade, the beginning of something new

2009-12-30T20:00:00.003-08:00

Well it's here again, an end of year post right on the grace period! Well this years been good in an interesting way but before I get into my novel long shpeal about how the year, how about some pics! The first pic is Jarrett, Bianca and I when we went to the beach. (We decided to do some goofy pose) Anyway, good time.. I think that will forever remain a good memory for me as apart of 2009 as a whole. Now on to the rest!

OK so with news of new SF characters comes fan art. Oh yeah. Anyway, heres the new character Juri, she's got a mechanical eye (from what I read on the capcom site) and thats why it's glowing. it looks like she's got a pretty sadistic way of fighting so I wanted to make an intimidating pose for her. So this is the first run.

Second is more of a if she just kicked someones ass and then turned around to you and was going to kick your ass. Truth be told I should have put a weird tilt on her head to get the effect, but I think it turned out.. ok

the second run is playing with angles and anyone who knows me knows that I love screwing around with messed up force perspective. So I was playing around with how I wanted a flying knee to look like if it was charging the viewer. As you can see I failed many a time trying to get the angle right, but of all the poses I liked the middle one best. I'll probably try and sit down and push the pose more to get a better sillouette out of it later.

the next one is suppose to be Juri doing a drop kick on Chun li whilest she's doing a high kick. It's suppose to be in the same vein as the Ken vs Ryu one, but the fun element was going to be that I want to throw in BG characters from SF in the background either cheering or booing the event. Sakura cheering on Chun li for revenge, and Ken cheering while his wife stands over head disapproving of the situation. Another thing if you follow my blog you might notice that I like telling a story in a picture but cramming it with... stuff. Eitherway, this and many more will end up as spill over work in to 2010.

Lastly I was working in Photoshop for the car piece.. and as you can see I barely scratched the surface. This is about a day and 1/2 of work and since working on it (mid nov) I haven't gotten a chance to get back at it. and also I suck at photoshop.

Anyway.. that about ties up pictures for my final year post. Now on to the novel! So if your not interested I suggest you stop reading now. But hey comments and critiques are welcome as always.

The end of year post.

2009... what can I say about the year? From my view all I saw was that I was out of a job for most of the year. Not all a bad thing, but not a great thing on the career front. Here's the highlights (I apologized if I missed anything)

- Had 2 family members pass away, one I wasn't that close with and one that I was. Saw my dads side of the family form a rift that will never be rectified... probably within my lifetime..
- Jarrett and Bianca moved back to the east coast (not too sad considering they're doing better out east, but I miss them)
- didn't have a job, probably black listed from a studio
- the most trying year for balancing my budget I've ever had due to unemployment.
- unaccomplished goals (3D and finishing pieces)
- miss opportunities (applies to all aspects of life, love life is one)
- falling out of touch with people (it's just the way it is I guess.. when your a bum that is)
- Embaressing moments involving alcohol
- the risk of remaining in the west and passing opportunities out east. A decision that came down to the wire and kept me up late at night lost in thoughts and anxiety.

on the flip side..

- a year which I feel I've improved as an artist
- setup a book with friends and put out 2 within our first year!
- the books been really successful in my mind in terms of exposure and how much we've been able to keep on top of things.
- my boy Dan Carter
- Jarrett going back to school
- trip to Tofino
- meeting new people
- my old roommate Shayne and Tarna doing well for themselves.
- new roommate
- one of the best relaxed summers I've had in a long time.
- throwing nice parties (mostly loud and obnoxious)
- losing 20+ pounds of weight from being outdoors and having an excercise routine
- the opportunity of a new year

thats a basic summary, I'll probably update as I go. But eitherway a year of ups and down.

Like a track and field runner ready to take off. Who knows what problems will he come across. Will he have a bad start? Trip on his footing? be completely defeated? Or walk away the victor? This sort of thing can be applied to any way of life or living, but I like using a runner.

I remember at the beginning of the year I was at my grandma's place in Toronto. My mom was reading an Chinese Zodiac book for the years predictions. And depending who you are, and how vague as this may sound... my mom told me, " 2009 will be a year of drastic changes." And at first I wasn't really thinking about it much, I knew I'd rise to the challange just like every previous year. But this year was different. If you sat back and took a moment to reflect on what a year it was.. it's amazing how different the dynamic of this year was. A lot of things on a global scale like the recession.

I just remember the first part of the year for me was like everything was crashing down, no job, no roommate, full rent cost on my back, EI stretched to it's limit. Middle year, book in full swing, summer, working out, partying every now and again, but still an excellent summer. fall, embaressing moments, friends moving away, collecting myself to find a job again, pressure of holding out. Then the now.. can't wait for 2010 to start.

It's been a spectacular year of ups and down... but for all this years mess ups and victories.. I think this year I'll remember not as the year that the recession happened, it'll be a year I remember how I felt alive in life.. and while I can sit back and think of how fast this year was ripped from the calender.. I can only think of the things which bring a smile to my face about the year.. And now it remains how anxious I am about what there is to come in the new year.

And like a runner I'll keep running forward. Everytime I feel I've lost my way this year, I always ask myself if I've done what I set out to do. and while I didn't meet the goals I was looking for in certain aspects, I think my destination has come more into focus.

2010, the end of the first decade of the 21st century of the 3rd millenium. To me, another year to look forward too. Brimming with opportunity.

For my end of year shout outs, To my family, my mom, my sister and everyone part of my extended list of family. To my friends, All my east coast boys, the one brother in the florida keys, To all my friends out west who have help me make Vancouver a second home. To people I have met this year, and aquaintances.

You all have helped shape who I am, and help me grow, and for that I am truly thankful.

- Chan

note: this probably came off really corny, I should have composed it better instead of drinking before making a rush end of year post... Anywho...

2010, bring it on.

The post for October thats happening.. NOW! Huge Update!

2009-11-23T04:31:00.004-08:00

OK well as I said in my previous post, I'd be making up for missing october and what could be better then a more then neccessary documented look at stuff I did for Sketchrospective's second book in our "VS" series, Robots Cowboys and Dinosaurs!

I've been working on other things as well in the meantime but I'll save that for December seeing as how it's a week away and It'll give me sometime to build up more stuff for my December post. Also the fact that December will be CRAZY busy most likely since I'll be starting work on the 30th. Anyway, enough talk because.. I'll be talking more as the post goes!

Piece 1

OK so to kick it off, we had our first 2 meetings in August and early September and we had yet to decide our themes. but eventually after a democratic vote and hilarious suggestion from Lawrence which won over the people we arrived at our theme Robots Cowboys & Dinosaurs. I tried getting an early jump on the work and started roughing out stuff. Keeping with the idea I had in my last book submissions, I wanted something epic and something fun. So I started working with the epic idea first and this is what I wanted, well sort of... a robot train attacking a town with cowboys riding dinosaurs.

I started thumbing more ideas out and as I was going.. for some reason all I could think of was that awful movie Wild Wild West.. and worst was the theme of it was playing through my head. Reguardless I thumbed out some other ideas of angles, like the first one where the cowboys are chasing the train that came to life. Second was a stand off in the town from a worms eye view of it. and the third thumb I was thinking of an old western portrait of a family but to throw it off, a robot butler and the man of the house holding the reigns of a raptor. The 2 on the left are other designs for the robot train where it was more of a snake. I ended up opting those ideas out because I decided to go with a more steam punk-ish look.

after i decided to go steam punk I wanted some head roughs, I wanted it to look intimidating, as you can see I went through a couple of different roughs of an idea for a head. The head is suppose to be part of the actual train engine with the smoke stack on top being an ornament or head crown piece of sorts. Either way things were looking goofy and I ended up messing around with it till I arrived at...

The final head design I went with! I wanted it so that the whole head piece was the engine of the train and it sort of unfolded upon it. I tried making logistics of it's tranformation, but it's like trying to make sense of how G1 transformers "tranformation" make sense. and they don't. (but I still love it) Anyway the main section was to sit behind the head, I guess where the evil mastermind is suppose to control the thing.

First rough of several, this was just one of maybe three I did for the first one. basic idea was that the robot was attacking the town.

rough 2 I changed the head tilting and re-drew it again since I wanted to get comfortable with it.

After talking with Ragnar and my roommate Mike batting around ideas. Mike came up with a cool thumb while we were talking and the angle looked awesome, so I set about reworking a thumbnail and this is what I arrived at. Slight dutch tilt, floor shot with a crazy up angle. So a group of people charging a giant train, I ended up calling him Monstrotrain at last minute and I suck and naming stuff. the thing in the fore ground was suppose to be a piece of paper. The piece of paper was suppose to have on it "World Fair Expo: Most advanced locomotive coming to the new world!" to try and give a story to why the train exists. needless to say I scrapped the idea, too much work.

So after lots and lots of drawing and clean up here was the final with crop lines. I referenced a lot of stuff from it to make the train look very authentic in terms of piping and gears etc. and steam punky.. and referenced the dinosaurs for looks and structure. The Robot took 3 days of work, 1 day spent for just the head area. the Dino riders in the foreground took a day, then the guys running around finished another day. The original cropping I had here wasn't right I felt like I was cutting off too much so I scaled it back and cleaned it up and then...

The final line work! I went in and cleaned it up more fixed some things around, thickened the line work more and got this! This piece ended up taking me the longest and basically ate up all my time. The worst part was, I had to head back to Ontario while I was doing this, and I'd miss the deadline while I was away, so I packed up my tablet PC and all the hardware, and dragged it back to Ontario. The final version of it, with colour, is in the book. I since I had spent so much time doing line work, and had little to no time to do a second piece and think about colouring, I ended up handing the colouring to my friend Steph Sim, who THANKFULLY helped me wrap this piece up since I was simply trapped for time. All in all, I was happy with this piece but next time to make it feel like I did everything I'll make sure I can budget my time well enough to do it all myself.

Piece 2

Piece 2 was a rush, I was in Toronto and running out of time while running around with a wedding and my grandma's birthday it was BUSY. but luckily I had a sort of quite night one night, and the idea hit me. Went out, got an extra large double double and sat down to hammer ideas out. The first thumb, top right was the idea I wanted to have where I have them swap out brains. I thought it'd be funny but I decided against it since I wanted something simple and with impact. the second thumb was sort of in the right direction. but I needed to have a way to have less details and rely more on just shapes. The robot on the left started up as line work then I ended up filling it in to get uhh.. a really crude looking robot.

i was still trying to think through my idea so I just ended up toying around with the robot. and while I was goofing around with it, the idea suddenly struck me.

Extreme angle and bright colours, strong sillouettes that I could fill in small details into and then put some overlay in the background to fill space up. So I ended up hacking away at it until about 6am.

What I ended up with was this as my rough. The final copy is again in the book. I ended up going back and adding small details where I could and really cleaning it up, but it uh sort of looks like this, just way more cleaned up.

So yeah that's my update for now. uhh, there is more, but again I'll save it for a big end of year post. I'll probably have more by then for sure. Actually I already have alot but I end up talking way too much in my blogs.

Comments and crit's welcomed as usual, look forward to my next post where I'll have more other drawings and stuff!

gad dammit I missed October...

2009-11-20T05:35:00.004-08:00

Well here's a picture from the internets that pretty much expresses the way I feel about missing a month of updating. I was hoping to have at least a post a month on stuff but.. damn. Ah well.

Updates are that.. October was busy! My cousin got married, my friend Andy got married, two of my friends from animation got married. I was back in Ottawa for most of October. The group I'm helping run, Sketchrospective, released a new book last month as well. And I finally got a damn job! (Not animation, but hey that's cool, it pays the bills!)

November is almost over and the month just seemed to flash by. Heck the whole year, while uneventful in terms of career progress has been a great year for drawing on a whole!

Anyway, I'm not going to go into one of my blog novels now so what I will say is that there is a BIG update coming soon. SO big in fact that it will overshadow the month I so clearly missed... FFFFFUUUUUUUUUU-!!!

The drawing train keeps on chuggin along!

2009-09-16T18:24:00.007-07:00

And so it's time for this months update! Truth be told I could probably make more posts in a month but I find one big update just saves time. So here's whats new!

OK so.. to kick things off, these are some roughs I was working on for the next book we're working on. If your wondering what was happening with this.. well I can't even explain.. all I can say was it was early morning. Dino Riders and Street Sharks!!

Just a quick posing page, not sure why I posted it. I kinda like the girls pose and the guy that's doing the upper cut

So I got a chance to go back and work abit more on Ryu and Ken, I just did the grey shading but I'll probably end up revisiting this one more time for colour.

One thing I got a kick out of while in animation school was doing BG's. I loved getting lost in them and adding things here or there. Maybe that's why I like doing detail oriented work so much. Either way, here's a rough of the BG I'll be doing which is the pathway leading up to a shinto temple.

Another piece I got further along in finishing is the postlogue piece to my pirate ninja zombie characters. I finished up the pirate guy and messed with the ninja woman's face more. I'll start colouring as soon as I can find the time. Probably when I stop giving myself other work I need to finish heh heh!

Yet another piece that I'm close to finishing or well I finished doing clean up on is Travis from No More Heroes. I want this piece to look like stock art so I'll need sometime to get the colours right and find a good filter layer to get that gritty look.

ok so heres a piece that I sat down and did last night and I started off with a car, I really liked the design of this car (It's an Renault Alpine A110) So I sketched off the car, then wanted to ad more stuff to it instead of just the car. One thing I've discovered about how I draw is that I always like to add a story to things when I can. Even something to give it some depth or reason I like doing it.

What started as a relatively simple piece got me going on BG's again. I'll sit down and finish these pieces I swear. But anyway, I was going for a european mountain road that runs along the Spanish coast where theres a small village and a gorgeous view of the sea. I can see the image in my head, but drawing the town will be a pain hahaha!

Finally, as you might have noticed I changed my page around again. And with the new page layout I figured I'd change the top banner for it. So I finished that piece a while ago and thought I'd just leave it and move on. But now that I see it everytime I load up my blog.. the errors stab my eyes.. so! I decided that I'd do some quick work to redo it and probably make it look better and actually accurate. I should be able to finish this one up pretty quickly.

Anyways, thanks to all who come visit! Feel free to comment, suggest, criticize!

It's been a busy month, and heres the update! At least I'm still drawing?

2009-08-19T18:59:00.003-07:00

Well that's what I would be saying if any of these were kinda recent. but in keeping with my rule to post at least once a month, I thought I'd have more to show.. anyways, one piece is something I'm working on just for fun with my characters from the book I worked on. The other 2 are from a Wii game called No More Heroes. So again to no one in particular who comes here... enjoy!

Rough under layer, clean up layer on top, however still working out some proportions, need to fix up the ninja womans head a bit. Still need to finish up the pirate guy.

No More Heroes Character Shinobu, really liked her design, sat down and drew this kinda on the fly. As you can see, still really enjoying the custom brush.

Total rush job on the colour with this.. not too happy with the outcome but hey, at least I'm making more effort to colour stuff!

Last one is the main character from NMH, Travis Touchdown. Really liked the game, thought that Travis needed some artwork so again doing crazy perspective with no reference to perspective (again my teachers would kill me), I'm just trying to get a wacky shot down. I will get around to finishing that, sooner then later hopefully!

Piece of the month (wish I had more to show..)

2009-07-27T01:57:00.003-07:00

OK so it's been a while since I've posted something up, but oh well better late then never. Recently my minds been preoccupied with other things like... job and.. I need money.. and well with the economy in the crapper right now, things couldn't be tougher.

So with that said, I'm kinda making excuses for myself but oh well, hopefully I'll hop back on the drawing train soon.

Also! My friends and I FINALLY got the books for the artbook we've been working on and they are officially now on sale! So if you'd like a book, fire me a message! but in the meantime check out our website for the book at the Tenmenhub blog site!

Small Update.. other artwork in progress

2009-06-17T03:55:00.003-07:00

Hey guys, well small update this time! I mean.. really small.. like.. the picture you see up top is all for this time! Anyway, getting my groove back since I've been busy with life. Next update I'll have more to show, in the meantime, back to the PF! Thanks for stopping by!

Big Ol Update n Stuff!

2009-05-27T03:17:00.006-07:00

Hey everybody! (once again referring to the 4 people that browse my blog site)

So the big news is that I've been working on an art book with some friends and it's been a pretty cool and very educational experience doing it. I sort of assumed the role of being schedule guy and "accountant" for the group on top of working on pieces for it. It's been a long time coming, but I think we're finally close to finishing it! Which is why I'm saying it now since last time it seemed like it was still a ways off.

Anyway first things first. Here are some roughs and concepts I did for the book. I'm not going to post up the finals because... it'll be in the book...

Anyway... TO THE ART WORK!

Cover Concepts

So well based on this first picture it's pretty obvious whats inside the book. When we started we had gone through several different ideas for the cover and several different styles. This was one of my draft contributions. I sorta liked the ninja posing on the pirates shoulder even though he looks like he's taking a crap hahaha!

Version 2 I was trying to make it a little more dynamic. The logos I suggested and actually made to print, but the actual drawings were different from the ones posted above. Also I just realized but if someone was going to pick this kinda book up just for art, I can assume that some people would actually be offended that there is a zombie/person getting decapitated on the front cover. Either way, both roughs and both designs scrapped but it was still fun.

The silhouette ended up being what we would go with in the end. I drafted this (and about 13 other versions and variations) for the front cover but it made it on the back cover so I was pretty happy. The colour pallet ended up changing in the end, but I just worked with what we had drafted originally. The decision to go with silhouettes as oppose to having artwork is that we realized that from all the artist contributing we had a HUGE variety of styles in the book. So this ended up being the most non favoratisim cover style we decided on.

Piece One

This is my draft page for the ideas I was thinking about. At the time when we started I was playing a lot of Fallout 3. So originally I had thought of doing some 1950's style advertising posters. Only thing was that I wanted to make one poster template that I'd do 3 versions of with Pirates, Ninjas, and Zombies. But the more I thought about it, it sounded like a really REALLY time consuming task (tonnes of ad reference for accuracy etc.). I mean... yeah, you could sight laziness as the culprit. At the same time I also had to contribute 2 pages. So on a tight time budget, was it wasn't in the cards. The idea in the bottom left ended up something like what the final would be based on.

Concept 2 was to just make a bunch of short panel comics originally dealing with a Pirate, Ninja and Zombie parents and children. It was sounding like fun, but at the same time I was also behind with my progress on this due to life stuff and procrastination. Also because I started to notice that people were doing full pieces instead of small comics. So this, and a couple other ideas got scrapped but again still fun doing them.

This was my draft for what would be my final piece. This is just the roughed out version so there are 6 or 7 different save versions plus countless layers for clean up, lots of details and colour and some re-composition. I think the final product turned out well. But man o man, I really need to explore colour more. The next book I'll definitely invest more time into colour to really help my pieces pop more. Also work on posing a do more posing drafts.

Piece Two

So yeah this is the kinda stuff I should have been doing more of forrr... mmost of my drawings to this point to make sure my stuff wasn't so stiff. Eitherway, the second piece was a PAIN to get into. After finishing the first one I just didn't really know what to do for the second, so 2 weeks from deadline I started drafting this. Inspiration came from the fact that some people were doing some really nice serious pieces. At this point I'll note that I also started reading "The Walking Dead", which is a pretty awesome comic book and I highly recommend it! I already had one semi light hearted piece with kids. So I ended up wanting to do a piece that really challenged me more and had lots of detail. I really started to realize that one of my strengths lies in details.

So several versions and revisions later I got the base for the 2 main characters down. I was working with forced perspective and this was one of my early drafts for making the female ninja character. She went through about 4 different styles before arriving at the final. I was working up until morning on one of the drafts and I was so tired that I unintentionally made it look like Kasumi from the Dead or Alive game series. Anyway, at this point, I started thinking about what was going to go around them. But then it dawned.. I wanted bodies. And lots of them to sort of fill the space.

So once again, SEVERAL versions later after revisions and finally finalizing the look of the female ninja and the pirate, I set out to do the horde. So, uh yeah this was... a lot of work. Originally since they have blades I wanted to put some hacked up bodies on the ground. Only problem was that as I started drawing the bodies cut in half I wanted to add all the detail for accuracy sake, so I researched dead bodies and dismembered stuff and well.. lets just say it looked gory. Just... crazy gory. Needless to say after running it by a couple of people, I scrapped it post haste, took a long shower and started on this one which ended up being way tamer.

And the other stuff!

OK so after everything was said and done I just wanted to goof around a bit so I played some SF III (yeah that's right... 3, hate all you want but I actually like it better then 4) and then got some ideas. top left was the original pose for it. I think it worked alright as a sillhoette but stiff overall in pose and impact. Bottom left ended up being the exaggerated but definitely way more weight and impact which I thank Ragnar for helping me bat around ideas and do kung fu in my living room at 4am. Bottom right ended up being a crazy angle of the one on the left. I'll clean these ones up because I feel like doing more of these "vs" pieces.

One thing that Ragnar helped setup for me in sketchbook is the custom brushes, and I ended up using custom brush to get the right effect for blood in piece two of the book. But as I sat down and sort of fooled around with it I ended up having alot of fun with it. It has a very guash/chinese calligraphy brush feel to it so I started running with it.

Uhh yeah.. hahaha.. well, it started out with the bamboo then the chinese zodiac animals then I thought well if I'm making it this asian I better trying drawing some old guy with a fuu man chu and to help everything along write "STEREOTYPES" in an asian stereotypical font.
To keep things rolling with stereotypes I started drawing an asian woman that quickly just turned into Chun Li. I kinda liked this one. and I know people say you shouldn't really be happy with your own drawings.. but.. well I still kinda like it so.. yeah!
I thought Chun Li looked ronrey so I put Cammy next to her who happens to also look asian. I didn't mind the shading I put on Chun Li but the pink highlights I'm still not sure I like them. On Cammy at least it sort of defines certain details.

ANYWAY, first! Congrats if you've read up to here! I realize I write alot. Secondly... This blog is now, for the most part, completely caught up with most of my recent drawings!

.... shit I gotta draw more...

I'll try and update in the next 2 weeks as I'll be revamping my 3 year old portfolio.

In the meantime! I updated my portfolio blog with my new demo reel I just finished which you can check out here!

Anyway, thanks for checking my stuff out! Leave comments critiques whatever I'm open to suggestions etc.!

Artwork, Layout Update Again BIG UPDATE!

2009-05-12T17:58:00.006-07:00

OK so heres the update to finish up all the P4 Fan work I've been doing. Finally got around to it because I finally got around to actually FINISHING the freakin game! Anyway, same format as last time, it's a big post of sorts... but! Next time I'll be updating the the project I've been working on with friends and hopefully I'll have a new link to post up to our site where we'll be selling the book n stuff!

Anyway heres the "new stuff" (it's actually been done for a couple of months so I figured I'd stagger my posts so it looks like I'm doing something hahaha!)
So first piece is this character Rise, I played around with how I was going to put her on the page hence the posing roughs. In the game shes more of an information character (provides enemy stats etc. So she doesn't really fight. Hence no weapon.

Final product I decided to go with this pose. I was also thinking about how I was going to comp everything together in the end. This isn't quite done because I kind of need to have her holding on to her glasses. oh and the arrow is suppose to be pointing to her chicken legs I need to thicken up abit.

This was my rough for Yukiko.. ugh looking back at her anatomy there are things I can fix up here and her pose might be abit stiff but I tried pushing it abit. no it's stiff... Anyway I find I end up doing nekkid posing then just add details afterwards.

And heres the clean up, still have some things to fix though. Lines are too thick in certain areas which make it stand out compared to the other ones when comp'd together. And she has a couple of spare hands on the side since I was debating what I was going to do with her hand not holding the fan. Hair also needs to be cleaned up... at some point.

Naoto was easier to come up with a pose because I thought about what pose I'd give her ahead of time and sort of charged at it. I think this one was actually the fastest one I did next to the main character.

Here's the clean up but again it's not done completely. The gun is suppose to have a line coming from the handle (Japanese cops have a string on their gun that attaches to their holsters) and she's missing her glasses as well. I should probably also draw through to the feet but then again they're going to get cut off anyway.

This is the Main Character. For this one I also had the idea in mind before I started so I just dove at it. The rough really isn't too much different from this version. Except again missing glasses.
Kanji (above) was also suppose to be easy because I had a pose in mind I wanted to run with in terms of how it would work with comp. However I ended up trying out another pose which turned out to be the one above. In the end I didn't like how it turned out. The angle and the top torso didn't make much sense and I started cheating hard with the jacket to try and make the pose work but it didn't pan out, so I went back and did it over. But I liked the head so I kept that.

So yeah the last one I liked alot better, the top torso seemed to read better and I didn't cheat with the coat to hide details. Also incase your wondering. His weapon is a folding chair. Thats right.

Last of the single characters is Teddie. I did a couple of funny drafts for him but I ended up liking this one the best. Kinda cute character making a stupid face then suddenly RAZOR SHARP CLAWS. I wasn't a huge fan of his design but he was pretty fun to draw.

And Heres the final comp'd together! I was originally going to wait to put it all together once I was finished colouring them but this was pretty helpful since I needed to know how everyone was going to sit on the final piece. Also to double check my line work and proportions. Things turned out... ok but some character sizing is abit off so I might have to play around with their placement. And putting all these guys together chugged my computer down hard (think hi-res images... 8 layers of them...)

Anyway this side thing was pretty fun to do, I still need to finish it, but it was a good experience in doing clothing folds and trying to get suttle structure down. Albeit stiff structure. But hey always something to work on right?

Anyway next update look forward to news about the side project I've been working on and hopefully a site to plug for the blog as well!

Layout Update and side project intro!

2009-04-15T06:01:00.006-07:00

Ok so here's and update that was suppose to come a while ago but didn't make it because I've been working on a couple of things on the side. Lately things have been kinda busy, kind of exciting, and kinda shitty. but then again when is life ever not really full of that stuff.

Anyway, here is part 1 of the side project I'm working on. I'm making this big piece for this game Persona 4. I liked it alot, and it's become one of my favorite rpgs in recent memory other then Mass Effect. anyway I thought I'd do one character Chie and here she is.

Layer for structure n such. Probably should have posed more. I really need to pose more often.

part 2 with clothes and just to get a general idea of where everything is

and clean up! Oh boy I can't draw hands. and probably some of my anatomy needs some work but I was kinda happy with it and I wanted to keep moving with other pieces.

Number 2 is Yosuke and I started actually posing out this guy. I probably should have done more but I was also thinking of making this into a full piece with all 8 characters. So there were certain poses I wanted everyone to have and hopefully they'd compile together ok.

Posing page

My first pose was this one I went with, and I got a good way into it when I wasn't too happy with it over all anymore when I was close to done. The character himself is pretty energetic and outgoing so I didn't think this pose really showed that enough.

The second pose I ended up liking way more, now I just need to put some weapons in his hands and actually finish doing proper clean up and maybe fix some proportions.. after posting this I'm starting to see things that need fixing...

anyway, thats the short update for now. Maybe I'll try and streamline my updates so I just post the rough clean, clean, then colour. or something... I'll think about it more when the time comes ha ha ha!

Let Your Back Bone Slide

2009-03-10T23:46:00.004-08:00

Actually it's more like I let my blog duties slide really. But none the less here I am with an update with more.. STUFF!! Yeah!

Anywho... On to da drawins

So Continuing from where I left last left off I was working on Kaneda and I can safely say that it's finally done.. sort of, at least in preliminary. I started off by taking my line clean up and well adding shadow. I'm kinda happy with the result. Also that I haven't added shadows or colours to any of my pics in a while. So it was nice to have some depth in my pieces. My friends out here have been pretty supportive in providing critiques and pointers so I'm going to continue working on this piece.

OK so heres Kaneda in colour. I tried going with a washed look at first because I wanted to look like he's reacting to an explosion of some sort. Eitherway, it was fun to get back into colour since I've had a... phobia of colour ruining my stuff. But luckily with today's modern age of digital colouring I can get over that. So while this is just a first step, I feel this is something I'll try and make a standard over time and start finishing pieces up.

OK while this isn't a great piece of work... it's my blog and I do what I want. ha ha ha! Eitherway, I still really like cars. My friends and I were discussing about how car designs these days are all shifting around so I was just drawing while talking. yeah not that great but whatever!

So I had been tuning into this show called Mad Men which is all about the 1950's and the age when the US really came into money during it's post WWII period. So I'd been listening to the soundtrack to that and some music in Bioshock (same period roughly) and decided to do a piece using the edged marker. Kind of fun and an experiment and looks sorta neat.

Well thats about it for this time. I'll try and keep things scheduled like last time and post the big thing I've been working on next time!

Stay tuned!

all 3 of you...

Good year indeed...

2009-02-09T23:09:00.003-08:00

Well second month in and I'm a bit off from where I wanted to be in terms of progress with things but oh well. Life's been going very well so far, but February is kind of off to a rough start. Either way, here's a quick update of things I've been working on.

The last time we hit up the mall for drawing I remembered that I hadn't done backgrounds in a while. (Maybe for a good reason) I started just drawing the malls food court, sans people. I didn't really do any perspective lines so I imagine I'm off all over the place in terms of vanishing point, either way it was nice to try tackling some high detail scenery. uhh minus all the real detail that the mall had.

Back to the old pieces I had been working on, Jarrett suggested that I try revamping my old Kaneda pic that I had done a while back. So heres the original.

I sort of like the other drawings I didn't really make a layer for structure, I thought the pose was ok so I just went ahead and started with a fresh layer over top and started hacking away at it. Like the previous pictures I had to go back and reference for more details on the characters clothing, gun and battery pack for laser gun, which wasn't a belt clip but a shoulder belt slung battery.

And heres the final product with everything I could think of putting in for detail. another piece ready to colour when I have the time, once I finish up my other semi big piece I'm working involving about 8 characters or so. Fun... Either way. Just gotta keep working at it, get back on the train, and hope that my life outside of art will return to normal towards the end of the month. Hopefully...

Oldies but Goodies

2009-01-30T08:23:00.005-08:00

And so we begin once again! Another year passes and for once I didn't make a New Years post. Oh well, It'd probably be kinda emo anyway!

So to start off, I think I have a really good feeling about this year. I don't know how to describe it... but I just feel really good about this year. And I'm determined to learn a lot and build a lot as an artist. So with that begin said, I've started going over old work I've had and I'm bringing it back to life to fix it then colour it. Now, if you don't know me personally, that alone is pretty hard for me to accomplish since I get demotivated part way through so I end up never really finishing... anything.

But this year... NO MORE!

Anyway, I'll stop talking and introduce the first piece I've been working on.

OK so I posted this last year and it was something I had done from a little while back. It's Gwendolyn from Odin Sphere. And as you can see here... disaster.. Proportions are all over the place and I clearly ran out of room on my paper.

Enter the next phase and I brought the picture into sketchbook and started resizing and cutting, moving and reorienting things around. This helped me get alot of issues cleared up and I decided to go with more realistic proportions as oppose to my really shitty ones and the ones used by the original artist and the game sprites.

Lastly, the final line cleaned up version. Now getting here was... kinda rough. First things first, I had to crack out some freaking references for this character. Discovering details I didn't know existed from looking at some of the art references for the character. I had to look at images of the figures and resin kits that existed to find that I was missing a leather skirt under what I thought was a skirt to begin with. Then to find out how much detail is on the wings on the boot section, and then the boots... well if you look at the previous one was in terms of details then you'll see what I had to add. For my first real digital clean up, I was pretty happy. Or do I have a reason to be happy? -_-;

The Second picture I thought I'd do is Aigis from Persona 3. I liked the original of this piece but after going over it I discovered that it had some issues when referencing more official art from the game. Also another annoying thing about this character.. well and the previous one, is just... retarded amounts of detail. anyway, this one is just a reference for resizing and moving stuff around.

Second one is just a semi overlay of the final. I only ended up using one layer on this but I really should have used some more. Oh well. In this one it's basically how I realigned things that should have been a certain way before and also accenting certain details like giving her defined legs as oppose to... stumps...

Final product, one really annoying thing to finish but I'm happy with the results and that it's done. the details that I remember taking the longest where probably the hips, arm and gun segments with ammo caches, shoulders. Anything that suppose to be see through grate kinda things.

Next week I'll post other pieces I've been working on redoing, and some new stuff that I started working on last minute!

It's a great start to the year, and it feels good to draw again after taking a long hiatus from it. Just gonna keep on givin 'er!

So... the years pretty much over eh?

2008-12-11T04:45:00.005-08:00

Well, it's been since freakin APRIL since I updated my blog. Lots of things have happened and it's been a busy summer. And here we are in December. I guess one way of looking at it is that this blog reflected exactly how this year went, fast.

Anyway, heres a quick update on things for the whole under 3 people that visit this site!

OK so here's a piece I did because well I like Earthbound and I've been playing Mother 3 (North America knows it to be Earthbound 2 in the series) anyway, awesome game. I thought it deserved fan art, so there!

So since I'm done work now, me and friends I worked with go to the mall to sketch on occasion. So here are a couple of people!

During the process of drawing at the mall, my mind tends to wander alittle so I end up drawing uhh... video game stuff... which it seems like my mind is stuck in alot these days...

More mall people, I like the guy eating with his back facing me, and the girl on her cell phone. Oh and the guy that has the siren on his head is the mall security that roll around on roller blades.

Ok so lastly mall people and uhh... Chun Li.. she was at burger king..

Anyway, I swear I'm back on the train and I'm hoping I'll be updating, infact I'm going to go back and clean up some old pictures and post the progress as I go so hopefully updates... soon... yes...

payce

New Stuff! (Part 2 of 2)

2008-04-28T02:38:00.003-07:00

Ok so all this stuff in this post is stuff within the past 2 weeks or so, so now we're within the really recent stuff, along with the post I made on friday of last week. Anyway this one I was goofing aroudn with more kung-fuish poses and then MUPPET BATTORU. Did you ever have one of those raggity dolls you whipped around when you were a toddler? What if they had a KUNG FU FIGHT!? Maybe it'd look like this?

I really slowed down on drawing in general so now I'm finding I need to just do more posing to make sure I don't get things too stiff. Oh man, if my design teacher Tom saw this he'd be crying... heck, he probably is still crying "How is Chris working in animation?! He's still got so much too learn!!"
Once again more posting, oh man this girl on the left the torso is too huge and I don't even know what happened to her hips and mid section. The picture on the right I was trying to get the heavier hips going and push the pose from a different angle. Then I thought, what if I made it look like Chun Li from SF Alpha.. and then she was Chun Li from SF Alpha...
Heres more Early works with posing, gotta get my posing down and try and make them stronger. Also posing out some of the character from the show I'm working on. Except for the girl in the magician outfit. She's a shrunken version of Trucy Wright from Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney for Nintendo DS. (Awesome game, totally recommend it for good story and hilarious characters)
Posing posing and more posing. Just trying to get stronger posing again and shake the rust off. My personal favorite is the guy in the top left pulling a one cheek sneak.
OK so these guys here are from an idea I had with my boss Glen about making a character whose a washed up mexican wrestler who works at a 7 eleven. I really tried to do a more Ren and Stimpy style of face design and really push expressions more.
This is a quick panel of a short idea I came up with for my friend Ragnar's characters he came up with. They're all looking a a smashed bread bun instead of what you might think to be is.... doo doo... Either way I thought it was funny

Posing posing and more posing once again, really trying to get back into things. You can probably tell that some of the poses I have are repeated again. Just because I really want to push characters further, and thats what all my teachers used to say so that idea has always stuck with me.

Anyway thats the end of the big update! 4 posts in one night or... one morning.. gah it's 3am.. and I gotta be up at 7:45... well... I'm boned... but for everyone else looking, ENJOY!

leave a comment, suggestions whatever I'd love to hear from whoever comes to this blog! (probably not many... ahh.. my people....)

New Stuff! (Part 1 of 2)

2008-04-28T02:21:00.002-07:00

OK so time for some current stuff! Here some quick posing I was doing for the show I'm workin on now, just goofing around with the characters abit. (The quick sketches on the middle to top right are done by Glen Kennedy, our studios animation director, stand up guy with loads of experience in the field (remember He-man? thats what I mean by experience) and is an awesome guy to work for) Wanna find out more about this show, check out the company website here!

This is a character Aigis from a game called Persona 3. I liked her design alot since she contrasted so much to the rest of the class that was mainly in a school uniform.

Some quick sketches of posing another character from the show I'm working on, and the bottom right is.. uhh Andrew W K's guide to partying hard. My friend Shaun and I got into his music for about a week until we started throwing our backs out from partying too hard... hence 'fig 3.' remember boys and girls, party hard, but party with good posture

Kaneda from Akira, I realized I had never done any artwork from Akira. Maybe because I was too afraid of it being way off model and well.. this is no exception hahaha!

These are 2 more sketches of characters from Persona 3. The one on the top right is Aigis again. And the bottom left is the main character. It was suppose to be a larger picture and his head isn't suppose to just be exploding there was suppose to be something else. But to explain it would take me a while and I dont feel like doing it, so... just google Persona 3 to find out if you want too!

Older Art (Part 2 of 2)

2008-04-28T01:59:00.004-07:00

This girls got a plane on her head. I don't know what inspired it, maybe I thought it'd be cool to do someone with a plane for head gear!

Ok first off.. yeah I know she's a bit mis-proportioned hahaha! She's a character from a game called Odin Sphere on PS2. It sucks when you put a lot of detail into a picture only to realize that your proportions are off

This manga-esqe panel is from something I drew up for my friend John of both his car (the NSX) and my car in a Wangan Midnight style highway race.

This one is from work during Grossology, I think this was from the second time I got a scene to do in the show so I had to tackle doing more lip syncing and posing out my scenes ahead of time. I don't do that much anymore, and looking at this I figure maybe I should start doing it again, it was a lot of fun.

Ninja girl with super forced perspective! I always liked doing forced perspective stuff, but I'm pretty sure it's wrong in alot of places

This guy is a character from a game called 'Cave Story' done by an indie game developer. I played alittle bit of it but I never finished it. It was pretty good though, total 8-bit throw back to good platformers.

When I was at Mercury there was a posting around about making an idea for a short we could do. It kind of got me thinking about a fun show involving teenage kids so I sort of drew this random girl with a mean tilt on to her head. Oh and a quick sketch of katamari sort of looking character. Maybe he has an Arkanoid ship for a head or something.

Anyway thats all for my older stuff. I didn't have a whole lot of time to draw at the old studio.. or maybe that was the excuse I made for myself hahaha!

Older Art (Part 1 of 2)

2008-04-28T01:42:00.006-07:00

a tribute to Calvin and Hobbes featuring 2 character from a show I worked on.

Tried doing some more north american styled work

The old Mercury office got pretty hot in the summer, I had to buy a fan but sometimes it wasn't enough.. hence... and no I'm not looking at porn

This character is a detective from Grossology, I really liked his character design because his gruff look really contrasted the rest of the cast, so I thought I'd stick him in a "Sin City" styled picture
Some of the guys at work got these funkie toys so I tried doing alittle version thingy of them, and I think I was playing Advance Wars at the time so I drew a funny looking tank.

Well as promised from my previous posted I made last week, I said I'd be updating more frequently!

So! Here beings my update of actual artwork to my site once again! This post and the next one are posts from stuff I did in early 2007 to November 2007. and yeah.. theres only 2 posts worth of pictures, hows that for drawing alot... ughh.. Either way, what better way to make up for lost time then to dump pictures all over the site!

So all the stuff in this post and the next post are older stuff. The post previous to this is alot more recent. After these 2 older art posts I'll have about 2 posts of stuff I've done at the new studio I'm working at.

In the meantime enjoy!

Holy Crap!! an UPDATE!??!

2008-04-25T15:20:00.003-07:00

Yup! it's time for a much needed update! Here how about some pictures! They're super shitty!

I've been fooling around with the tablet at work. I haven't really drawn in a while and I have some stuff to scan as well. Bare with me! I'm getting back into my drawing thing!

Well it's been almost a year since my last post. Lots of stuff has happened as per usual. And now for a quick point form update!

- Lost job last november

- new job started in January

- new job is pretty awesome, no more late nights and weekends!

- feeling that my animation has improved 10 fold now that I'm free to explore the range of animation

- got to meet the character designer for Cowboy Bebop, and character designer that did Escaflowne and Chrono Cross, and got to meet the director of Mushishi and Now and Then, Here and There.

- Went on a friggin wicked road trip from Vancouver to LA, then drove from LA to Rosarito, Mexico and then all the way back in a car thats 4 years older then me.

- Did a track day with the car, the feeling of going back to a track after 3 years was amazing... loved it!

- Friend John just added another name to the Chu Family tree!

I know thats not everything, but it's all I can think of off the top of my head!

Anyway, I know I said this before as well, but I plan to post more regularly! Now that I have time, and can have a social life etc.

Anyway, it's good to be back!

So where were we?

2007-08-14T01:59:00.000-07:00

OK so... it's been 4 months since my last post... well. Lots of stuff has happened where do I start? Actually I know how I'll post up stuff that I was suppose to put up ages ago and we'll go from there. So 2 posts back, here is what I was suppose to post and it was my living room with the new TV. So! Here they are!

So as you can see on the left (hopefully the template shows them that way) is the new living room upgraded to now official geek palace status. Huge ass TV and computer provided and funded by my buddy Dan Carter. This meaty thing is now our crazy ass setup. Most of the time we just watch stuff we download and it's damn good at doing that.

Anyway, luxury stuff aside here's as much of an abbreviated version of whats happened over the last couple of months has happened.

- My friend Jarrett moved out here and is now living on my couch, having a good time except when it comes to his job (don't talk to him about it)
- I finished Grossology finally and I am glad it's done
- Working on a new show called Gerald Mc Boing Boing and it is leagues better then Gross because it's on 2'S!!!! and if your an animator you can understand this.
- Things have cleared up at work with my supervisors so that's all good.
- Visited Ottawa for the first time in almost a year which was a relaxing and enjoyable trip home.
- Family issues came up but wont get into.
- My grandmother on my moms side celebrated her 80Th birthday which was fantastic to see the family all together.
- I got a new bike and it's fantastic as well.
- I acquired a car with the collaborative help of Dan once again.
- and my friend Dan has also acquired a Japanese girlfriend!

That basically sums up the time in between.

So to go over things, I'll go over a couple of things here and there:

So my friend Jarrett is out here and it's been great. While things on his job front have been keeping his mind preoccupied, he's enjoying himself and I'm really enjoying his company and catching up on old times. I went to High School with Jarrett and well the story of how we met is interesting. I'll keep it short. I met Jarrett because I liked his girlfriend allot (Risa Hiriyama) so me not liking him because he's the guy in my way, I got to know him for the sake of doing intel on him. (You know the quote, "Know thy enemy" well that's pretty much what I was doing) After I got to know him it turns out he wasn't a bad guy at all and the best part is that he's my artistic friend. What I mean by that is that I have my 2 friends, Justin and Dan. They are programmers and back in the day they used to bounce ideas off each other to improve each others programming skills. I never had that. But when I met Jarrett I found a friend who I can relate to, and we shared very similar views, humor, etc. So now that he's out here I have a chance to talk with him again after 5 years he went away for Sheridan now he's out here getting a job. Crazy how life works out. Anyway, Jarrett is living with me till his girlfriend Bianca comes out here and then their going to find a place to live (looking forward to Bianca coming out!) But either way it's nice to see that he's here and that he's here to stay for a while. And while we occasionally reminisce about old times, I can only think of all the good times ahead now that he and Bianca will be out on the west coast to roll in the good times!

As for work, it's going well. I still find that I have to stay late nights to get stuff done, but since we're working on a new show it'll take sometime before I get totally comfortable but already I feel that things have leveled out and that I'm making good progress. My supervisors aren't giving me any problems. And generally everything is very easy going so I couldn't ask for much more. (Maybe some more money, but then again that's dependent on my work habits heh heh)

Visiting home was a nice experience. the funny thing about it is that after arriving I realized that nothing really much had changed. and while I've only been gone for a year, the time between felt like forever. But when I got back it felt like I hadn't left. But seeing family and friends is what really made this trip. Cleaning up my house was a very gratifying thing to do as well. For those who don't know me, my house is... well it was a pack rat house and still sort of is. But going through things and cleaning it up was good feeling, my mom needed the push and I'm glad that I could help. And while I didn't fix everything that my mom had down on the list, I feel I got a good amount of stuff covered.

It's funny typing these out it doesn't seem like I have much of a purpose for it... or maybe it's just that there doesn't seem to be any points of conflict in my life and I'm not being as reflective as I was in my last posts. I guess maybe life has been going so well for me that I nothing provocative to say. Or maybe I just can't think of anything to say that I can reflect on deeply. So you know what... I think I'll stop this post here, and until I can think of something cool to reflect on I'll share it with everyone. Because so far it just seems like a long and sort of boring look at how life is peachy.

With that I'll finish it up with this. Life is good, too good right now. But as I know from experience, and not to be a pessimist. But something along this road, I will run into a construction zone, the thing I know I have is that I have family and friends who care for me and it'll make all the bumpy roads in the road ahead feel like I'm riding on a pillow. And for my family and friends, I truly am thankful.
-

Spinning wheels while stuck in mud

2007-04-25T04:48:00.000-07:00

OK, I realize I said I'd post up pictures for my last post, I will get around to it, but in the meantime I need to get this off of my chest.

My work, while rewarding in terms of how I feel about my work, doesn't seem to be viewed in the same way by my supervisors.

I work with 2 supervisors (they will remain anonymous) and we had a meeting today about my ability to focus, and while most people know me who visit my blog, focus... is not one of my strong points. But anyway, they talked to me about things that I did (like browse the net or watching a video) and things I don't do (like start a huge DS game of Tetris, and apparently distract EVERYONE at work) which I'm getting blamed for anyway.

I'll own up for stuff I'm doing, and thats fine, I do all that stuff in moderation though. The stuff I DON'T do and get blamed for.. wow that REALLY ticks me off!

Perfect example, today we got retakes to do of an old episode we had finished, I had about 30 scenes, but I only got 2 retakes to do. That of which I thought was pretty good. So I do my retakes, and a couple of guys around the office started a game of Tetris DS. So I decide to hop on for a game. So as we're playing, one of my supervisors comes over and says "OK guys get back to work" So I shut off my system and then began to turn around when I hear him say " What, you think this is a joke?" I think someone must have been laughing, but I had put my system down at this point and turned back to my work. about 30 minutes later, I get dragged into that meeting where he pins the blame on me for laughing and that I was responsible for all of that. and this isn't the first time it's happened where I've been singled out. It feels demeaning, to a point where it's almost discriminatory. And I've had just about as much as I can take.

On top of that, I have my other supervisor who knows me from school and I'm sure they've talked amongst each other (the other supervisors) about what I did in school which only works against me. I'm not the most concentrated guy, but everyone is different and it just seems almost like their weeding me out. The other supervisor also works as a teacher at an education institute here in Vancouver, and I can't help but feel like I've got this student teacher type association/ relation with him. and to top it off, since he knows about how I was in school that only means that he's more watchful to what I do during the work day making it feel even MORE like I'm in school, and no I'm not talking University or College, this is High School all over again.

This is kind of 1/2 way into the ice burg of the situation, but I understand that I can do better and will work hard to be better at my job and focus more so I can do better quality work. But what do you do when you think your doing good quality work, you ask all your co-workers how your work is and they say it looks good. You send your stuff in and of a majority of your scenes, none(or only 2 to be specific) come back for major retake work. Yet... your boss can talk your ear off about how my work sucks...

it makes it seem so futile to try harder, but I have to. Not for them but myself. Tomorrow I'm going to talk with one of them so I can get them out of my hair and off my back for a while, the other I'll just have to become a yes man. I am still new to this industry, and I understand I have a long way to go. But the last thing I want to have happen is become bitter in animation which will kill any motivation to want to pursue this field further. And while it seems like the world wants to conspire against me getting into this industry, I'll show myself, and I'll show them exactly why I've come to try so hard to work in this industry in the first place. But I'll do it my way and give it my all.

And now for something completely different!

2007-04-04T23:23:00.000-07:00

(Note: pictures will be posted later of stuff.. but in the meantime, the post)

Well it's the 4Th of April and the first time in a while that I've posted something at the beginning of the month. Yup... that's a fact ladies and gentlemen reading this!

Spring is here! well sort of it's still cool outside but with less rain, thank god. I've gotten accustom to rain since I moved out here but man we had it raining and overcast for 3 weeks or something it was pretty miserable.

Any who, I always make it a habit of reading my last post before I post something new and looking back at last post... whoa it was heavy, but accurate to how I felt at the time. So as the title says, it's time for something... completely different.. (If you don't know the reference to Monty Pythons, I suggest you educate yourself on British comedy gold)

Anyway, news news news.. well I'm really busy at work, I've gone up from 1200 to 1800 frames this episode, next episode it'll be 2000 and I plan to see how high I can get with the 2 episodes remaining in Grossology (show I'm working on, it's on YTV and Discovery Channel... I think...)

So money and job are going well, since my last post I've gotten to know more people at the office so I feel that I've now settled in nicely and work life is great! I just need to draw more. recently I've been feeling a little self conscious of my artwork, but I'm sure it'll pass and I'll be back to regular Chan in no time.. wait that means procrastinating.. uh.. scratch that...

I also moved to a new station since last time and I've got a good window view of the city outside but more importantly.. the mountains! the mountains look just stunning when the sun rises every time I'm here at work over night... *cries*

This isn't to brag or anything but we just got a new TV at the house for our MOUNTAIN of CONSOLES (ECHO echo echo...) a nice big ol 50" HDTV and it's.. well fantastic. Plus one of my best friends picked up a computer for it so now we've got computer games and animu to watch on it, but since I work so often I don't get to enjoy it nearly as much, but not entirely a bad thing!

you know what... scratch that.. that TV is the sex.. and I'm pretty much bragging about it anyway... new Command and Conquer 3, full graphic settings.. 50" inches of RTS goodness

Also last week, my bike needed major fixing (I had busted a tire tube but it needed reworking, by brakes weren't braking, my gears weren't gearing, and my handle bar was off kilter, it made for a pretty funny site riding that thing. So I took it in and didn't have it for a weekend. so I had to make it on foot. (Oh noes, the horror your thinking) But it was nice, just walking thinking, listening to music on a nice spring day, afternoon, evening. It was refreshing, but on the flip side, man did it take allot longer to get home then if I had my bike. normally 5 minutes tops, but 15 minutes.. especially when you need to go to the can.. is an eternity, so needless to say I was quite happy to get it back.

Also I don't see why people drive in this city. Unless your going somewhere far or off route, the public transit system is amazingly efficient. And besides... driving in this city is crazy, drivers are either slow or way too aggressive.. (damn Chinese... wait...) and the gas prices on the west coast are.. staggering. we might be one of the countries with lower gas prices on a global scale but man, 4 years ago I was fearing it would hit 80 cents... and now... 1.10.. screw driving, the bike is the way to go when your on the west coast. And with summer around the corner, theres no excuse.

So yeah life is back to normal, feeling much better! but I still need a GF... well maybe not need a... well maybe... ....

But other then that things are on the up and up. I'm looking forward to July when I go back to Ottawa to see family and friends, get a good opportunity to soak it all in before I come back and do the daily grind once again. Also looking forward to my friend Jarrett coming out to the west coast for a job. should be good times, plus he gets to sleep with the TV next to him.. that is.. if he'll actually sleep hahaha!

Anyway, life is good, nothing deep this time, thats why the title of this post is "And now for something completely different!"

Long time coming

2007-03-11T02:19:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone out there who is reading this, probably not, I've been spending alot of time on Facebook and it's occupied alot of time I've been spending instead of posting here, so I'm back and I'll try not to neglect my blog spot.

Originally, I didn't post because anything because I was thinking, " How do I follow up my years end/ beginning post? It was pretty epic stuff (at least I thought) but then again... it's my blog I can post whatever I want so here I am with an update on life. Although it's not going to be as uplifting as my new years post, but hey, this is life.

Well, I'm working into my 7th month here at MFW, and work is good and life in general is good. Maybe it's just today I feel I have the winter blues (even though it's not much of a winter here in Van) or I'm just depressed. Why should I be though? I'm in vancouver, I have a job, and my friends are out here. But something is lacking.. and thats the feeling of being completed.

At work, I have friends, but just friends from work. I want to get to know people better, but I feel a distance in the depth of how much I know everyone. Everyone here has gone to school together, so everyone knows each other well. I feel like I'm on the outside looking in. Thats why I try and go out every time the group goes out for dinner run to try and get to know everyone better, but I still can't help but feel distant.

Theres also a bit of office politics that I'm encountering. At least from the group I've moved into. Generally it's not all good, and I know where my place is in the group as the newbie, but this probably has something to do with the feeling left out part. where the rest of my group has been part of this for 8 months I've just come on board. And while I'm not going to get into it.. it's not exactly motivating to say the least...

Heh heh, maybe I'm in a state of depression... because I'm thinking as I'm writing this and it struck me that I might be depressed. I think the factors are a combination of lack of an intimate relationship, home sickness, the rain and low pressure system? Or all of the above.

When I see everyone at work talking with each other as I have my headphones on while plugging away at my work, while Chris my supervisor breathes down my neck... (with good intention) I can't help but feel home sick about my friends from animation and the fun we had. Not to say that it won't happen again, but theres that level of comfort I haven't reached yet with people at work, and it'll come in time I'm sure. But it's something I miss. I guess I was at a level of comfort I can talk to my friends at home about anything. And since I feel distant from people at work, I kinda miss the comfort of my friends from animation. And not just my friends from animation, my friend John and his family. I liked going over there spending time with the kids, talking with John about what new stuff he's going to buy, Misa preparing awesome food. Even being home, and my mom's home cooked meals. Wow... yeah I guess I'm home sick!

In terms of intimate relationship... yeah thats a toughie. I'm positive I'm just not assertive enough, I lack confidence, and my shyness. Just insecure in general. I really have no reason too be this way when I think about it logically. I have a good job, I love what I do, and I get paid pretty decently. However I choke alot or I miss chances. This past valentines day... wow.. I felt like the loneliest guy on the planet... I sort of half ass tried Lavalife but everytime I send a smiley no one replies. heh heh, It's like applying for jobs and not hearing anything back from anywhere, it gets quite disheartening after a while.

I see my friends who have girlfriends and I feel happy for them, yet at the sametime think. "Why can't I find someone that awesome?" I'm not even looking for the sex (at the moment... what... I'm a guy!) I'm looking for someone to talk to someone who I can share moments with and enjoy... haha sounds like I want to settle down hahaha! I don't know, but I do feel lonely in the relationship department... it's been a while since I've had a girl, and a LONG time since I've had a girlfriend..

I tend to also think that, " My work requires me for long hours of being there, so I wouldn't feel good if I couldn't give someone else the time and dedication that I feel they need and deserve" And that kind of thought also prevents me from getting into a relationship. Perhaps it's an excuse, but it's just who I am as a person, but maybe that aspect of me needs to change.

I dont know why it's bothering me so much these days.. Maybe since I'm working it's no longer something to think about, and I've moved on to areas of my life I feel are lacking... and these are what I think is affecting me right now.

maybe my next post will be alittle more positive, but in the meantime for the moment... I guess I'm depressed, but the best part is, these days will pass and so will these feelings. So I'm pretty sure my next post will be a positive one... or not, but hey.. thats life!

Resetting calender with a "new game +" called 2007

2007-01-04T04:19:00.000-08:00

The title is a little video game pun, heh heh, (gad I'm a nerd)

Anyway, here we are, 2007. Do we feel any different from last year? Not really. But will it be as exciting as last year? probably not, but you never know?

Highlights from last year were, my sister getting married, and me moving out to Vancouver. Other highlights were cleaning up the pack rat house, and my mom closing her Chinese healing group she had created and FINALLY enjoying her retirement. I guess this year if you think about it. It's been a very family oriented year, something that hasn't happened in a while, and it's great.

I sit at my computer, thinking about all that has happened in the past year and reflect. (I'm also listening to BT (Brian Transeau) - Satellite, excellent song. If you want to listen to something as you read this, this is the song I'll have been listening to the entire time I wrote this post.)

What a wild year it's been. I mean every year has had something special, this year is just as nutty as the last.

It also had me wondering what will even happen this year. I have goals I'd like to accomplish this year, but really since this is the beginning, who knows what will happen. I sometimes envy the lives of people who can live it on the fly and by the moment, and every so often I try and do the same. But my tendency is to think it through well and plan things out accordingly, and well... it's gotten me this far so I have to be doing something right!

I decided to post that picture I did of *ahem* "myself"and I remember it well last year. At that point, I had failed animation. I knew it was something I wanted to pursuit, but I didn't want to go back again for another round. I had failed twice now, and with the new programs curriculum for the 3 year course (me and my class being the guinea pigs of the new 3 year) I decided that it was time I did it on my own. I had many friends fail out with me that were all going back, but that was it for me. Failing twice? I know when I'm beat.. on this field of play at least, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from reaching my goal.

At that time, I also had to consider looking for a job, I didn't want to bum it up and not make any money.

And well... like has happened before... I found myself at a turning point. A point where I had to choose.

After living out in Vancouver the previous summer, I knew that it would be the only place in Canada I'd consider moving too. So it then came down to a choice. Friends played a crucial role in my decision but also... it's Vancouver, a gorgeous departure from Ottawa's rather bland scenery and social scene.

I have expressed this before in previous posts. I have a love/hate relationship with Ottawa (city of origin) I like it in the retrospect that I regard it as a good city to live in... when you have a family. I have lots of friends there (2 to 1 degree's of separation, I swear) What I don't like about it was it's conservative nature, it's cold winters, abysmal night life (and even more abysmal was the attitude problem a majority of the women have in Ottawa), and it's primary industry... government. So it came time to choose.

That picture was sort of a representation of how I was feeling, and.. kinda what I was dressed like when I was thinking about it. (Winter, bumming it up at home) I tried to illustrate a "thinking" expression or lost in thought type idea. Again, I had reached a turning point.

I had a previous turning point back when I was in University. I was working and doing a university course I didn't like. It was a miserable time. I didn't know where my life was going or how I was going to lasso it down. I was working through a course that I slept through, wasting time and money. Working a job I was unsatisfied with. Until I finally broke free and went to College for animation, where I finally felt amongst the like minded, and ultimately, comfortable.

In fact, I don't really express this to everyone but, I'll share it to whoever reads this because who knows. Either you've been there, you haven't, or you'll call me a pussy or emo. To that I say " Your opinion" because these are my growing pains. My coming of age.

After about a year into animation the second time around, my friend Dave invited me out to the University bar which has pub night every Thursday. I decided to come out since my university card was still good for ID to get in. When I got there, and sort of had a chance to gaze around the crowd and take it all in, I realized I didn't fit in. And not that I didn't fit in, its like I had come back. Back to a time where life was guiding me. I lacked control and direction, I was lost. All these people seemed so confident in whatever major or pursuit they had in university. I never had that feeling ever when I was there. I suddenly thought back for a moment about college and how I had felt like I belonged, and how I was amongst people like me. And I suddenly broke down. I went out to the smoking section to a corner and was overcome with emotions. but not out loud or anything. Thinking about college made me reflect on the time I was at university and how completely lost and ambitionless my life was, and the feelings came in a tidal wave. It was like I had taken a step back in time, and it was to a time where my life was adrift. I was out there for a good 40 minutes until I went inside, told Dave I was leaving and then left. I haven't stepped back in that bar since then.

Perhaps when I look back at things now, maybe those tears were mixed with ones of happiness. Happiness in the fact that I had a place I could go back to and be amongst friends, classmates.. and the feeling of belonging.

To the people reading this right now.. if you have lived your life by the seat of the pants, maybe you can't relate to me. But for those who have been down this path, I share my experience with you. For those who haven't walked this path. If you can, avoid it. but if so, I hope that I would have been some help with this story of my life and my experience.

It's wild really... Reflecting on how things have worked out. Is there anything about the past year I would have changed? Nothing, and not for the world.

If there is one thing I can take from the people who live by the moment, it's that I have no regrets, no qualms. I seek to live today for today, and plan for tomorrow. So I say to you 2007, for whatever may happen in the year to ensue.. bring it on!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
- Family & Friends

When the dust settles

2006-12-30T03:06:00.000-08:00

Well it would appear that I have a running theme going here with posts coming up around the 20-ish days of the month! So to go along with that trend, here's an update on my life as she goes. (You know, for my huge fan base of people reading this hahaha)

So, what has happened since I last posted? Well, to put bluntly? ALOT!

So since my last post I was seeking employment, not just your standard employment. Employment in the field that would be the beginning of the rest of my career in the entertainment industry.

So it was approaching time towards the end of November, I was at the tail end of my cash that I had saved. It was high time I got myself a job, only thing was, I wasn't about to settle. There are jobs out here in the west. Lots of jobs... You can walk around anywhere to any mall, any shop, any section of town, you see help wanted signs everywhere. But none of which I wanted. At this point in my life, I have worked many a job. From cubical jockey to tree planter. The problem with this is, those were all transitional jobs. Jobs that facilitated my life style and the pace of work that I enjoyed at the time.

Transitional jobs for some... can become regular jobs, or jobs that will rob the years away from what you intended to do in life. Sometimes, we'll get comfortable and settle for these transitional jobs, that tend to migrate from the "transition" category to the " lets try and build a retirement off of this" job, but not me.

It's amazing what the power of friends can do, and the people you surround yourself with can give you the power and motivation to do great things. Which is why I'm happy that I've been blessed with good friends, and always welcome good company. If your blessed with the right kind of friends, the ones that encourage you and aspire you to do more and go beyond, while at the same time have ambitious pursuits of their own, it's really motivating. And you'd be amazed and the people you meet and the places you'll go. (I think I'm starting to sound like a Dr.Seuss book)

So, I had worked on those pieces and posted them up here. I also posted them up on my portfolio site. And as I was finishing clean up on one section, I get an MSN from my friend Eric. Eric is a good friend of mine from animation. He had relocated out here for work as well, conveniently for me, in an animation company as well. Mercury Film Works. After he noticed that I updated my blog site, he checked out what I had posted and said that I should come in and that I was ready (Might I add that Eric is also a supervisor at MFW). So I finished up my work ASAP, made it out to a Staples, got a clear case folder, prepped my bag, got my sketch book, put on some nice clothes and out the door I went.

I arrived at the office late due to an address mix-up. But luckly everyone was cool with that. My interview went well... and it's funny that I think about it. For all the work I had put into my resume. To build it up to that point where I had a pretty crazy job list, even though my formal education was... well lets just say thats on hold until further notice.. the only thing that happened with it was. It was sorted into a folder for Human Resources employee reference and personal information. That's it. It was a little bit of, "Wow, I've entered into a work place that doesn't care about my prior job experience, it's all skill of animation." and whole lotta of, " Man that is freakin awesome!"

Needless to say, I've been at MFW for about a month and a week and I love it, it's great. The people are fantastic to work with. The office environment is really nice a refreshing (open concept office place) Everyday I go to work I feel challenged in my tasks and also learn something new everyday. It's great because, I haven't had this feeling of enjoyment from a job in a long time. Another thing thats nice is that it's a tight knit group. We're a pretty small team, and if you scale it against the Ottawa offices (Ottawa - 100 + staff. Vancouver - 30.. maybe), I don't know. It really give you the feeling that you're apart of something special. And too me, all these reasons above are what the defining differences between a job, and a career are all about to me. Something I'm willing to dedicated my life too. Well, not just to animation (thats a big part of it) but to animation and where ever animation will guide me. And I'm thankful that I'm fortunate enough to have that luxury to choose, and I realize that many people don't have that freedom of choice.

Anyway, working pretty much leads up to now, I've been working quite abit these days. Except for maybe Christmas break. Lots of time with the family which is fun and sometimes alittle frustrating at times, but it's family, how can you frustrated with them? I got to spend some quality time with my cousin Phil. Unfortunately, his wife is in the hospital, and has been since Christmas eve... My cousin Phil was very close to my dad, so we get along great, and we've had talks here and there about family which always interest me. It's always nice to learn something new, even if it's not good news about the family. It's engaging.

I hope I didn't gain a belt size or anything, because either way I'll have lots of left overs for a while...

Anyway, I kinda rambled on with this one. But either way, life is good. I hope it stays that way. And for those who I haven't gotten around to saying it too, I wish you a Merry Christmas, or Merry Pagan Holiday! And a Happy New Year to you as well.

I'll probably make a New Years post with declarations of the new year. (Wow, a post in less then 20 days?!) Lets see if this really happens!

And finally the part 2 that actually came! (check the previous)

2006-11-22T07:31:00.000-08:00

OK so I decided to switch it up for this post and it's probably going to become my standard, maybe Im doing something wrong with the formatting but adding pictures doesn't go to the area of text just after what you wrote, it goes to the TOP of the post and then you have to drag it down through the post (or Im just lazy not going through the HTML part of the post) anyway...

OK so with all the characters I came up with. The coloured one (holy crap I COLOURED SOMETHING) is the take on the Dexter's Lab styled design, ultimately the easiest one to colour because of simplicity. It took me some fidgitting around with the colours to find something I was kinda happy with. The other character is named Erik, he's suppose to be the huge hulking mass thats the same age as the other 2 characters just he's xbox HUEG as the half assed size chart is concerned. I had alot of fun doing his facial expressions, and I like his character alot actually even though I put more time into the other two. I guess sometimes simple is better! I had by friend Jarrett go over my stuff and make suggestions to the designs and some issues for clean up. He also liked Erik, and you can check out a cool rendition he did of him on his website. (see links to the side)

Anyway, I'm on the victory lap of my portfolio, while I'm not totally happy with what I'm handing in, however I am confident that I can get an entry level animation position.

I've been worrying and procrastinating because of I guess my self esteem when it comes to my skills and level of ability in art is not as far along as I hoped. But I think through getting a job in the industry and working hard at improving my skills in my off time, it will help me to improve and further expand as an artist. modesty and willingness to learn being my weapons in the fight for a job.

I gotta at this point, even though I haven't got the job yet, say thanks to my friends and family for their continued support of me doing something like this. My family for agreeing to let me do animation (you know, Chinese families) and my friends for pushing me to keep moving and improving. I promise you all, I'll get there one way or another!

So.. about that update... Funny story, yah see...

2006-11-22T06:40:00.000-08:00

Well it's coming kinda late but.. Hey! Better late then never right? ... Hello? This thing on?...

Anyway, I've been going through quite a bit these past couple of weeks. (multiple birthdays, regular bar outings, redoing PF stuff which is VERY TIME CONSUMING) However the biggest hamper the my schedule, I sprained my wrist which I couldn't use it for basically a week and a half. When your not working a week is a LONG TIME. I guess the nice thing is I got my Japanese copy of Phoenix Wright: Justice for All. Which kept me company for all of 3 days of that week... ahh I want the 3rd game to come out.. it's like that feeling after finishing up with a comic book and having to wait till next month to get the next one.. just it's the 8th.. which means you still have like 26 days left till the next issue comes out.. well sort of like that but will probably be a year... arrrghh..

But it might not be a bad thing considering that I actually need to work on my PF, on the flip side, its kinda bad that I picked up FF III and Children of Mana... oh gad the opportunities for procrastination... and the WORST OFFENDER!! Nintendo Wii and Zelda: The Twilight Princess! Man that game is great, and the Wii is a great system.. man I gotta stop playing that and the Wii Sport games!!

But enough of that! I actually have been getting work done! (no seriously here) So Im just going to post up my line clean ups on some characters I've been working on, and one coloured piece that I did for a very flat style, Dexter's Lab look. Anyway, here they are:

The first character is named Jake, I was just thinking of making a bunch of kids in it. All pretty young and I decided to give him a bat (don't ask me why, maybe Dead Rising has made a permanent mark on me) The second character is a girl, I called her Nancy, and I gave her a golf club. I figured I'd give the guy a bat the girls going to need something to slug at someone. So why not a golf club? Now I'd like to post more in this post but moving pictures around with blogger completely screws up format of the post, so Im just going to make another post with the rest of the character designs. This is the one thorn in this rose of a site, it's PICTURE POSTING ARRGHH! Anyway, enjoy these!

Day in the life of Chan Update! Part 1!

2006-10-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

So I've offically been in Vancouver for a month now. How does it feel you might ask? AMAZING!! I really like this city alot! I have my close friends I've know for a long time out here, settling in and getting in with the even my friends friends couldn't be easier.

I do miss Ottawa from time to time, but Im pretty sure that it'd happen the same way as it does for both Dan and Justin who go back every Christmas. It's a city of gradual change, and the people... well dont change, it's an Ottawa thing.

Anyway, it's a picture update this time around, some update photos of the place, still no wall frame pics, I dont have that kinda luxury money. Later will come plants and wall mount pics. but in the meantime, heres some other pics.
ok so organizing format with this thing is quite possibly the most frustrating thing in the world. It's like pulling teeth to try and organize this shit...

Anyway. Some new update pics include:

Another shot of my room on the top right, this pic is the area next to my computer, where my dresser and bed are. My rooms not badly sized at all. Compared to my room in Ottawa it's abit small, but it's a good size so Im happy. The next pic on the right is the living room revised. More room up front for people playing games, couch is moved around and now we have a TV! How about that! I got a pretty good deal on it too, ($180 for a Sony Trinitron 27" /w stand) Next picture down doesn't really need much description. Thats the video game shelf. We got a DC, PS2, Saturn, SNES, Xbox. N64 and a VCR. The game cube is in the stand since we use it the most when we have people over. The last shot is a shot of Shayne's room from the other side, right next to his door he's got his table with his computer and his MOUNTAIN OF VIDEO GAMES AND VIDEO GAME PARAPHERNALIA!!!! (ECHO Echo echo). Anyway thats the most recent update, I dont think much is going to change for now. At least until I score a job.

In other news I recently setup my new site for my portfolio. My friend Jarrett had the right idea so I decided to do the flattering thing and copy his idea. the site is: http://cchanportfolio.blogspot.com/ which Im going to be updating shortly if not today. In the meantime it's going to be a double post day today on Chan's Blog Spot! as I have some new pictures to post as well. With that said, welcome to Part 1 of 2 of Chan's Blog's Update for Today!

Have you ever travelled time? While still counting the seconds as they pass normally?

2006-10-05T05:23:00.000-07:00

Well they did for me! My last post was made on July 5th and only now October 5th (ohh the 5th again.. weird....) Did I last get to update my Blog. Well it's been a absolutely CRAZY 3 months, and it all went by in what seems by the blink of an eye. Drinking up with the boyz, working like mad, packing madness, airport madness, living arrangements madness, aquiring furniture madness, and now life drawing and portfolio madness.

Looking back at things this was a big move for me. leaving my family (My mom), friends, the comfort of a decent job and a vehicle to get around. It was pretty cushy to be honest. Just not something I'd like to do for the rest of my life. Which makes this move that much sweeter.

I've been in Vancouver since the 19th and I feel that I've settled in just fine! Since I've gotten here I've been to life drawing several times and feel that I'm improving. I'm learning Flash now, and generally I feel like Im on top of everything so it's a really nice feeling. I guess the only factor is... I still need a job. But thats not too bad, since I have so much time I can focus on my PF and have nothing around to distract me! besides the internet... (did I mention I have no TV? but the rest of the place is furnished?) Anyway. Since I know alot of people have been asking what my place looks like, here are a series of photos I took of the place. Welcome to Chan Pad!
(From left to right starting from top photos) my computer area/work/procrastination/creationstation center (part of my room). The Kitchen, the living room and dining table and the living room with a book shelf full of Shayne's movies.

Anyway, i'd like to keep talking but it's 7:13am so Im in dire need of sleep, but when I post again (which will be soon this time I promise) I'll be posting up artwork and stuff. So anyway, new life in a new city with new beginnings. For me, Van is where it will all begin!

*note* forgive my horrid layout with the pics.. they kinda didn't format the way I wanted them to go....

When the point hits home it hits HARD!

2006-07-05T16:23:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a couple of days since I've updated so I'll go through whats happened for you real quick:

- Canada Day was crazy, and I got drunk
- Worked on Canada Day in the morning and I got a meaty double time and a half for it. The wallet is pleased.
- had to gas up the cars at crazy gas prices. The wallet is sad.

Yeah it's not a whole lot really, just another day in the somewhat mundane life of chris chan.

So today happens and I go into work and one of the guys on my team is leaving, he's moving to Calgary with his girlfriend and he's going out there to make use of his piece of paper he got from University. It's kinda sad seeing as how the team of guys I work with is pretty close knit, but the moment hit me on another scale. And that was that I am moving. I'm moving in 2 months and it's coming FAST.

It never quite hit me like this before I've been talking about it for a while, almost about a year infact. It just never sunk in that this was happening until it happened for someone else in my group. It's kinda nuts. Im moving away from home, from Kanata, from a place that I have lived for 23 years of my life (my life up to this point) and now.. it seems HUGE. I'm not too worried since I still have 2 months to pack stuff up (realistically a month and a half) and then sort out all loose ends, visit family, enjoy times with friends. I think the biggest factor is that the months have been moving at mach speed and it'll feel like yesterday when I wrote this and the next day I'll be saying bye to my house, my family here in Ottawa (Hell I should be saying east coast!) and getting on a plane to take the next step to the rest of my life. It's almost surreal, and Im pretty sure Im over analyzing it, but it feels like this is it, it's do or die sink or swim time. In fact it felt like my first priority was to put it up here on this blog what I felt at the moment so here it is! live and uncut feelings of anxiety and excitement all rolled into one... HOLY SHIT BALLS!

that is all..

oh yeah, I'll post up some more artwork soon either tomorrow or the day after.

Kick start my heart!

2006-06-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

I actually wish Ouendan would come in and kick my ass to work

Well last night I went out with a bunch of the guys from animation to visit a friend who's in the hospital right now. It looks like he's doing alright, but he got roughed up pretty bad (he fell from a 3 story high balconey).

Anyway good day with the boys and chance to find out what everyone else is doing with their summer. Got a chance to talk to a good friend of mine Alec. Quick blurb behind Alec is kinda funny and sort of what Ottawa is like for me most of the time. 1 to 2 degree's of seperation.. literally.. Anyway, Alec is a friend of a friend who eventually became now my friend since we were both in animation. Alec and I share alot of the same battles and frustrations in life like fighting for motivation and finding out what we really want out of life and it's pretty nuts to find someone else that is in the same position as you.

- We're both older (like 23 - 24) and feeling like we're getting older and nothing is happening in our life.
- Have friends or people we know who are out there doing what they love or doing well in what they're doing, and end up feeling as though we're being left behind.
- lack motivation to start drawing due to work, lifes chores etc. but mainly work that leaves you dead at the end of the day.
- Lethargic at home and end up instead of drawing, surfing around somethingawful, 4chan, or some other black whole of quality time.

So inorder to get him motivated as well I've pushed him towards getting a blogger as well seeing as it's occupying alot of my time now wanting to keep it updated and keeping me motivated to draw. So once he chooses a name and gets everything setup I'll link to his site.

I also had a chat with my friend Dan about life in general. Dan one of my best friends, I've know him for a damn longtime (I think about 12 - 13 years now maybe?) Quick back story, Dan and I have been neighbours (across the street from each other) We share very similar interests but interms of games, he's a programmer and Im an artist. We are currently working on a game. What game? visit Orbis Studios on the side link for more info. Anyway, we had a good talk about just getting out there and applying for a job which is true, but he's also got a list of programming projects that he's worked on in the past thats allowed him to get to his current skill level. To make it comparible, Dan has put in his time and has dedicated himself to work on projects, where as I haven't so the gap in skill is obvious due to experience.

Just gotta keep on Givener!

Getting back on track

2006-06-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

Well it's about time I started drawing again. I mean it is the purpose of why I started this blogger in the first place.

I think it's best I get this out of the way now since I'll be posting alot of work styled this way. I like anime, and I like the style they use for characters. Thats not to say Im a biased fan of the genre or style of art, hardly. I like disney, I like alot of north american animation and find that exaggeration and expression of emotion, plus fluidity of charater movement in north american animation (feature productions anyway) is king to that of what you can find elsewhere. (except of Miyazaki, his stuff is much the same, just very different in ideas and excecution) I mean I grew up with all the regular shows kids of the early 80's had, both the good and the bad. (Inspector Gadget, Ninja Turtles, COPS, heck freakin Care Bears) So it's not like I shun the stuff and swear by anime like it's the bible. It just happens to be my particular preference in character design, thats all.

It's not all hunky dory though, theres alot of times where I feel restricted in my style and that since I've been drawing it for so long it prevents me from trying other styles or taking on a more gritty north american comic book style. I'd like to be able to be well versed in all aspects to be honest so I'll be working hard to try and mix in a variety of work into this. I also need to go back to life drawing badly... I feel the lack of it is making my work rougher, even more so since I haven't been drawing in a while...

Ok so lets start out with these two pics. Both of these were done for anime north this year and while I was sort of happy with them at the time (I finished them the night before the convention) the kinda sad part is that its pretty apparent on where my issues lie. Just for reference, the first pic with "Ray=Out" on the top is from a show called Eureka Seven and the other pic is from a show called Full Metal Alchemist. Both shows I liked and had great animation for long running shows (roughly 50 eps each series)

First pic I should have put the hand in the back WAY back not as close to force perspective abit more. The hand up front on the board is TERRIBLE and really shows that I need to work on my hands... alot... The picture is suppose to be forced perspective and it really had my mind bugged when I was trying to do the board he's on so it's probably wrong all over the place, worst places being the board wheel (circular thing on the front) and the duct on the back which now stick out like a sore thumb. The foot thats on the front of the board you shouldn't be able to see, and now that I look at it again, the shirt should be curved up on more of an angle since hit body is going away from the board and the viewer.

The second pic the character up fronts arm is suppose to be going closer to the camera which makes the outlining thicker, however it just looks like it's HUGE instead of forced perspective instead. The fingers on the hand look like cocktail wieners (again going back to my lack of time doing hand studies) and.. what the hell was I thinking doing the metallic shine, it just looks corny.

I find that when I look back at my old stuff, I can hear my design teacher from animation saying, " You need more thumbnails, more structure, more reference.." And to be honest, he's right, theres still alot I lack, and it shows how amature I am through my work. But it's all stuff that I'm willing to work on and improve. Through friends and honest feed back from.. well anyone whos artistically inclined really would help!

But at the sametime in all this Im trying to rediscover the fun of drawing, and exploring new things... Algonquins animation program teaches you as much as they can from a, "You can get a job out of college" perspective and doesn't leave alot of time for personal style development. It's not neccessarily a bad thing, but it's just draining and for people like me who take time to become motivated into drawing, it sucks the life out of you.

My friend Jarrett Young have talked about this often. Jarrett goes to Sheridan College and is entering his 4th year, he's been a good friend of mine since HS and we talk and meet as often as we can. There are 2 fundemental things that Sheridan and Algonquin do differently. Sheridan allows you to explore and find different styles in your work, they let your creativity run free and animation can take a slightly laid back focus (but still teach you the principals) in comparison to character design and design style in general. Algonquin will give you instructions on animation fundementals and provide you with training for animation from the get go and let you gradually trying things out ONLY when you've grapsed the basics in order to prep you for a job once your done. Both programs are good, and ones not more correct then the other. Where Sheridan wins is through budget, facilities, avalible classes (such as extra life drawing) and reputation which can play a big or small roll whatever way you cut it.

ok I digress, I seem to be stemming topics here.. man who knew I could type this much in a blog.. cripes...

anyway, going back to things... the last one is the most recent.. and well.. heck it's not even done, but again I needed something to get back in the saddle so I whipped this up after watching a show called Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1989) the character on the left is leaning and one arm is longer then the other, the little girl up front is leaning and proportions are wacky, and girl on the right is.. well she has no legs... plus I didn't draw through at all so it's a mystery where her arms and legs are right now. It's not done, but I was done drawing it (dont feel like continuing it) Pretty cruddy way to get back on track. But as bad as it all sounds and how bad I put down my work, it's all constructive criticizim and things Im pointing out myself about my art work. Im not on here starving for attention saying stuff like, " Yeah my art sucks! love meeee " but at the same time I think it's good to know when you can point out and say whats wrong with your own work. It's better then saying, " I dont know whats wrong with it..." because if you say something like that you better
a.) get someone else to look at it
b.) get your eyes checked
c.) go back to school for art because chances are you'll need some instruction to slap you in the face about this.
d.) get a live journal account emo kid, where you and thousands of others can battle to the death for attention.

oh and thanks to the readers who made it this far in my... novel... fuck I gotta start cutting my post size down..

Ever get that feeling of dissatisfaction?

2006-06-28T17:22:00.000-07:00

This I guess will be my first post where I rant, I don't have these all that often, just today maybe because I'm feeling lazy and unmotivated. Anyway, as I stated before that I'm moving out to Vancouver and right now I'm just biding my time working, and saving money. But theres something just unsatisfying about all this. I guess it's just anxiety, Im anxious to go to Van-city, I know what I want to do where I want to go, but as of right now dont have the means too (because I want to save a certain amount) so Im here.. at work sitting at my work station typing this disgruntled message. No matter how many car websites and video game websites I visit I just end up feeling unsatisfied because Im restricted by so much in life. While Im sure I'll get used to it when I move out on my own, right now it's just.. well stifling..Seeing a car you can't afford, getting a haircut that was only alright, waiting for a game to come out thats 2 months down the road.It's stupid since I have no reason to really complain, life couldn't be better really. Im working at a job where I make good money, I have a car to get around everyday, I have money to get things that I want (within reason) by anyone standard this is a good life. and for anyone that comes across my website who doesn't know me that well, I know your thinking, "Man what a whiney bitch!" Yeah, I can agree with you on that.. maybe it's just one of those days...

First time for everything!

2006-06-26T17:53:00.000-07:00

Well it's come to this, I have a web blog.. who thought this day would come... My name is Chris Chan, Im a CBC (Canadian Born Chinese) and I have lived in Canada all my life. Im 23 and have dropped out of the animation program at Algonquin College and am now pursuing a career in animation. Ultimate goal is to get into the field of video games.

The reason I started this blogger is because I need something to keep myself drawing. Drawing has always been fun for me, but these days since Im working to save up to move to Vancouver, all I end up doing is go to work and go home, stew on the internet for abit watch a show and go to bed. It's kinda sad really hahaha!

Anyway, I hope to update this regularly as I'll be posting artwork up what will hopefully become a daily basis post. Feel free to drop me a line or leave me a comment and thank you for visiting my site!