New addition to the Chiang family

Jessie jots...

As many of you already know from Facebook picture albums and my countless annoying comments over my youngest sister, Siew's wedding, yup... she is married, happily married and I'm so sad I can't be there at her wedding, toasting and be present for them. Abroad, I now welcome a new brother-in-law who is tall, fair and handsome. And soon in December, a niece whom I will love and spoil without having to worry about the outcomes of my actions. LOL

I just bought a 10 000+ baby names book at Barnes and Nobles, and I think I'm already obsessing about being an aunt. Crazy huh? I guess being so far away has it effects.

Congratulations to Siew and Jin. May you both be blessed with happiness and love. We will celebrate when I come back and hopefully that will be soon.

Better than Disneyland

Jessie jots...

Just got out from a Don Hahn's talk and I was utterly impress! I almost couldn't make it after many hair-pulling moments with my Maya animation homework. Although this doesn't happen often to a perfectionist like me, this time I was thankful I decided to wrap it up and say "Screw it!" when it wasn't completely done and made it to talk, 5 minutes late!

Well I knew what I was heading for - after a brief synopsis but who could have thought it was such a big deal??? I just met the biggest Disney producer of our time! I can't believe what I saw through his presentation. I just went through slides and slides of all classic Disney favorites and hear the fail and error stories of their work behind the scenes. The materials he showed us were materials that did not make it to film; even though some did but there were crude, just like you and mine's sketches on a regular coffee-stained notepad but they made it to the big screen! I was looking at the original sketches from Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, 101 Dalmation to Lady and the Tramp! OMG! His experiences were endless, big names here and there, I was just in awe! Don Hahn was also involved with some of Tim Burton's movie like Nightmare before Christmas... and we were shown some of the behind-the-scenes clip on how they shot the scenes of Sally's hair flying while at the cemetery which took them 16 hours a day to work and enough hours to sleep and eat, just to get back to work and do the same thing, again! Nothing glamorous but was it worth it? Hell ya!

I can't believe it... I was almost in tears just feeling how privileged and honored to have had this opportunity to hear him talk and show us materials the public wouldn't have known. Don Hahn's talk wasn't just eye-opening, he brought us back to basic. I remember when I was about 8 years old, I had drawings of my own that look quite similar to some of the sketches of Little Mermaid. Out of obsession of the cartoon movie, I drew tons and tons of Little Mermaid figures and gave them away to friends. I wish I can do that again but now, I've always known to over-complicate things.

After that talk, I have learn how not to - it will take practise. His slideshows were all about basic drawings and basic subjects such as lines, cool and warm colors, focal points and simple composition. Complicating stuff like animation and music come much later. But just like every other movie they did so far with Disney characters, it started out with artists and animators little 5 minutes thumbnails sketches using basic shapes like circle, rectangles and triangles, yet it never come across my mind that the figures were made out of that! Like the Sleeping Beauty's fairy godmothers, were so clear to form but I didn't see it... they only took 30 second to sketch - the fairy godmothers silhouettes are only made of guess what? Triangles!

His book, Drawn to Life probably has more of the drawings and sketches that were shown in his talk. Unfortunately, I didn't get the book in time to let him sign it in person. Sigh.

I'm so out of words to describe how appreciative I am for this experience. It is like a dream come true to know what really, really went on behind-the-scene's, behind-the-scene - the experience working with songwriters, the story lines, the scripts, actor/actresses, the studies before characters development, the experiments with character's appearances, the budgets and premieres - I never thought I'd have a dip of that, ever. What an amazing experience, I'd remember it for life.

Animal Illustration

Jessie jots...

When our instructor in class wanted us to find a nice silhouette of an animal so that we could do a drawing of our own using Illustrator... my classmates were finding pictures of hyenas, pandas, scorpions and owls... I mean they've got great choices to do great details and more ways to render the animals.

And all I had in mind was, a grumpy Persian cat. My creativity juice is not flowing these days...

Headswap with Photoshop

Jessie jots...

I used to hate my red rounded Rudolph nose, my protruding lips, my oily hair and my light eyebrows... well, not anymore. I have finally accepted and appreciate them as my own features.... thanks to this Headswap project in our photoshop class. I saw some of my classmates headswapping of me and though they did a really good job, the look they created for me totally make me want to grow old with what I have. They swap my lips with another man's, and added beard to my chin... if I really had that, or that Asian boy's thick lips... or that Mexican guy's big pointed hairy nostril nose, I would cry!!

Here's my version of some other people. Click to enlarge it.

The girl would probably be sad to find out she has that look but she didn't know. I'll save her from her nightmare! Well my picture is rather easy to spot but can you tell which is real and which is not?

Oh... on a side note, don't believe everything you see on the internet. A lot of them are retouch and it's impossible Madonna could look that good at 50! Maybe it's Botox... but then again, Photoshop does most of it!

A Human Body

Jessie jots...

This woman has confused me, I'm not even gonna talk about it. The picture you see here is actually a real picture turned into a computer illustration. That was my first project from the class, using vector lines in Illustrator and honestly I thoroughly enjoy it until I had to draw her face. Then it reminds me of 'pengalaman pahit saya' (my sour experience) with this woman... and the reason I had to use her picture is a long story. But you've probably seen another version of illustration I did last year - Glamour. And I have to admit that back then, my design wasn't as well-planned and purposeful compare to the current one which is more well-rendered, as far as for the colors, shapes and keeping it minimal to a degree that one can tell its value - agree? Self-praise, pulak.

ANYWAY, *deep breath* I had a great time working on this project... so I forgave her. Haha

I AM 2 YEARS OLD

Jessie jots...

I just realized that 2 years ago from this date, I started this blog.

Here's to saying, Happy Birthday to Jessie Jots!

Also taking a moment to commemorate the eighth year of 9/11.

Jessie's Confession

Jessie jots...

Here I am, just finish my 4 hours Graphic Design class on a hot day, walking out of class and about to get the car when a random student told me "There's a couple more hot dogs, if you wanna go grab some for lunch..." OH! OK thanks for letting me know. I made a U-turn and look out for the grill.

At 2pm, my stomach is growling and because I have to drive half an hour to get home to reheat leftover pasta for lunch, I took a look at the burning grill and couldn't resist grabbing the bun, which I then place a warm hot dog onto it. On the side, I grabbed a small bag of chips and a can of Coke, breaking the rule of Just Water after meal.

I drove out of campus after that. One thing you have to know about the Laguna area... it is the most forgiving place for half-naked people. You can be in a grocery store, deciding if you need to have pasta sauce for the pantry, and you turn over, you see a bikini-clad beach girls prancing across the supermarket aisle like she's on a ballet show. So it is not unusual and it is easy to spend your day just eye-candying at super fit people.

So I drove out towards the water to get on the Pacific Coast Highway and this tall guy walked on the street and guess what, he has this amazing, set of shiny abs of steel! Man!!! That definition on his lower chest, his golden tan and that glistening effect... damn! I'm not falling in love with him, mind you, I'm honest and loyal, but I love that muscle!

I have to you the truth, I obsess about being really fit. I treat my body like a temple, I take care of it, keep it clean inside out and I have strong admiration to people who has the discipline and determination to be so fit, they don't even have an ounce of fat between their skin. I secretly wanted that ideal, chiseled body... but it's expensive and time consuming to maintain a body like that. So I gawk at these proud half-naked people for my own pleasure, hoping some day, I will earn em' MUSKLE.

I said to myself while driving, look at you men, how it is so easy for you guys to get so ripped, with so little exercise. When women like us work for years to earn that svelte body shape?

All that, while munching chips and drinking my can of Coke.

DUH.... and I ask myself why.

Alphabet Portrait

Jessie jots...

If you think you've seen this portrait somewhere, you're right. The reference I used for this alphabet portrait is a picture profile on Facebook. This is just one of my short assignment from the Illustrator class, using alphabets found in my name: J-E-S-S-I-E-C-H-I-A-N-G

We've Got A Good Thing Going

Jessie jots...

What? September already? And I was just getting use to end my dates with 2009.

I'm listening to musics from Michael Jackson now, and it's giving me goosebumps, especially his older songs like I Wanna Be Where You Are. What a mega-talent he was.

I'd just like to Rock With You guys, that I attended two of my classes (out of six) yesterday at LCAD (Laguna College of Arts and Design). My first class was Fundamentals of Maya and second Fundamental of Figure Drawing. The first class was highly technical that it drained me out a little, also partly because it ran for four hours. Being one of the few girls in class, among those PYT (Pretty Young Thing), I sat in a room filled with at least 20 geeky, fidgety zitty boys, all major in Animation. Am trying not to be intimidated here coz' I know they are talented and they all look like they belong in some Anime fan club community and I'm really an outcast of the group for looking so normal.

Then I drove down to the South Campus, at least a mile from the main campus for Figure Drawing class, which was really fun and it also went on for four hours. I get to see some naked body parts which wasn't my favorite part but I understand it's for academic reason. So I'm trying to avoid looking uncomfortable (again) when he's so comfortable up there, posing away for minutes... however, it's only Human Nature to feel shy, eh?

Finally, my blog is back to where it was intended to be - experimentation with art done by me. After one year, it sure feels rusty. I'm trying to Remember The Time when I was being innovative so that I'll get inspired from every single thing I see, hear and feel. Listening to songs from Michael Jackson of the 80s help a ton. Get me all wound up now and Wanna Be Starting Something with my first assignment of Fall 2009.

Don't Stop Til You Get Enough. Thanks for returning to Jessie Jots.