Art Whiz Kids

Hero Assemble

2011-10-16T03:58:00.000-07:00

This is a freelance gig i edited for Kingsmen for their 'movie' themed event=)

Blood Reunion- book cover digital illustration

2011-08-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

I was commissioned again by MPH Publishing to paint this sequel to The Bomoh's Apprentice.^^

In my opinion, I prefer this version. The painting was finished in my mind but the editor wanted to include (at the last possible minute) the pontianak character.

The end result is somewhat cluttered.. *see the next pic* .......

see what i mean?

The finished cover!

*I deliberately pushed up the brightness because printers always get the final printed book darker than i intended.*

Zombie Terrors Review 2

2011-01-14T01:17:00.000-08:00

Would u believe it? my short story 'The Jiang Shi' just became a controversial point of discussion~a critic said that i 'may' have been trying to make a political point about the relationship between the United States and China~ ;)

Check out the link HERE
http://www.zombiezonenews.com/archives/zombie-terrors-a-graphic-novel/

Here is what the reviewer say :-

A few of my favorite stories from “Zombie Terrors” are “Feast”, “Hate”, “The Jiang Shi” and “Prey”.

“The Jiang Shi” made me think that the author may have been trying to make a political point about the relationship between the United States and China. But I don’t know that for sure. Let’s just say that an american ventures to China to satiate his curiosity. We all know what happened to the cat, right?

Zombie Terrors Review

2011-01-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

A review by Wildside Cinema on Zombie Terrors. The critic on the comic short story I did:"The stories I found exceptionally cool were...and John Ho’s “The Jiang Shi,” a curious journalist seeks out the very thing that may damn him. From a cult cinema geek’s perspective, it was cooler than a barrel of monkeys and midgets to see a comic feature Jiang Shi and...C’mon, hopping ghosts and undead templars? Win…win."=)

Here is the link :- WILDSIDECIMEMA

http://wildsidecinema.com/2011/01/zombie-terrors-an-anthology-of-the-undead-volume-1-asylum-press-zombie-comic/

The Rooster Painting

2010-12-17T00:02:00.000-08:00

Special MTV Video Premiere ~*song by Lam Fung

2010-10-26T20:04:00.000-07:00

My first attempt at film directing!=)
This Music Video was created as a teaching aid to inspire Interactive Multimedia students to shoot and edit an original MTV Music Video based on a song of their own choice! The location of this MTV was mainly shot at PJ8 building and PJCAD… can you spot anything familiar?

Zombie Terrors - Color Version

2010-10-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

The finished artwork~ pencilled and inked by me & brilliantly colored by Santosh Kumar Rath!

Zombie Terrors - My 1st international comic break!

2010-07-18T01:13:00.001-07:00

A 2-years in the making project. The Jiang Shi, a 8pg short story I wrote and illustrated is featured in the Zombie Terrors Anthology scheduled for release Halloween 2010!

Sketches @ Smokehouse, Frasers Hill.

2010-07-06T11:59:00.000-07:00

Just some sketches I did during my recent getaway to Frasers Hill. The first is drawn from a book of castles in Scotland. The latter was a life drawing of a room that reminded me of an english greenhouse. Just for fun, I added the portrait of Whistler with Hat and some other additions to transform the room into my dream studio!

Aspiring Young Illustrators!

2010-07-06T10:38:00.000-07:00

My 14weeks as a part-time lecturer for the Illustration and Narrative Studies module in Taylors University College has produced some promising talents! It was a fun time of learning where students were introduced to a variety of media like acrylic and gesso, montage with found objects and digital painting with photoshop among others.

One of the assignments I gave the students was Self-Portrait for a self promotional website, as showcased above. I was very pleased with the results! From top to bottom: Kar Xin, Wen Teng, Didi, Sok Pen and Andy Tan.

With continuous dedication and hard work, I have no doubt these students will have a bright future!

'The Bomoh's Apprentice' digital painting

2010-07-01T19:11:00.001-07:00

MPH commisioned me to paint this cover for an upcoming novel by Geoffrey S. Walker~ i got to read his script firsthand..it was fun to bring the character of Katak Hitam to life!
Took me more than a week to paint this using photoshop.

BFM live Radio Interview

2010-05-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

John Ho speaks about winning the 'Best Writer' and 'best New Comic' awards, the differences between a graphic novel and comic book and his work process.

Check out the link here @
http://www.bfm.my/john-ho-anugerah-pekomik-comic-author.html

Anugerah Pekomik 2010

2010-03-28T19:53:00.000-07:00

Anugerah Pekomik 2010 @ PWTC (28Mac2010)

The Nomination: The Artwork

Komik Baru Terbaik (Best New Comic).

Tajuk /keluaran	Pekomik/kartunis
Takaza	Sutrahaslee
User	Zint
Bila Scorpio bertemu Leo	Ageha
Scary ever after	John Ho
Alqamar	Pak cu

Penulis Terbaik (Best Writer):

Tajuk /keluaran	Pekomik/kartunis
Takaza	Sitrahaslee
TwinX	Pac
Shootz	Reja
Scary ever after	John Ho
Animal Clinic	Puyuh

PeKOMIK (Pelukis Komik)Terbaik (Best Comic Artist) ): warna atau hitam putih:

Tajuk /keluaran	Pekomik/kartunis
Twin-x	Pac
Scary ever after	John Ho
Senyuman si Durjana	Ho Seng Hoi
Silent Revolution	Puppeteer
Apa yang ko cari	Niezam
Pesanan Terakhir	Baba Chuah

Komik Terbaik (Best Comic).

Tajuk /keluaran	Pekomik/kartunis
Snap	Xanseveira
TwinX #2	Pac
Scary ever after	John Ho
Kijiya	Zint
Maid Maiden	Kaoru

12. Penulis Terbaik (Best Writer):
Pemenang: Scary Ever After oleh John Ho

14. Komik Baru Terbaik (Best New Comic).
Pemenang: Scary Ever After oleh John Ho

Here are all the Winners!!! Congratulations!

My editors from MPH~ from left : May Lee, me, Janet Tay and Eric Forbes.

P/S : Source from Anugerahpekomik.blogspot.com

FX Showreel.

2010-03-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

Eon CNY Commercial.

Jackie Chan Commercial.

Jean Yip Commercial.

Elton John & Ricky Martin MTV Promo.

FX Montage.

Water Color Painting of a Garden Wedding...

2010-03-02T01:43:00.000-08:00

A cartoon farewell gift for shirley's colleagues

2010-02-24T18:47:00.000-08:00

Drawn with a Wacom in Photoshop.

POPULAR's National Drawing Competition Finals 16 NOV 09

2009-12-08T22:27:00.000-08:00

I got an invitation to be one of the judges for POPULAR's National Drawing Competition. We had to select Grand Prize, 2nd Prize, 3rd Prize winners out of 39 winning entries from 13 states! We debated. we argued. it was fun=D

'Sao Feng' Digital Painting.

2009-11-01T10:34:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt at digital painting using a wacom tablet with Photoshop and Painter. Took me a little over a week to complete this, working only at nights=D

For a larger view, visit:
http://johnhoys.deviantart.com/gallery/

MPH 1Utama Booksigning & Live Drawing-Halloween Day=)

2009-11-01T09:17:00.000-08:00

Popular Ikano Booksigning 24th Oct=)

2009-11-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Coincidence or Rip-off. What do you think?

2009-10-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

The IPCC Digital Interactive Comic Competition 2009 announced it's grant winners on 30th July. These comics are 'works in progress' and one of the entries titled 'The Returning' featured a scene with four characters venturing into the unknown. Just take a closer look at it and compare it to this page from the short story 'Fright House' from my graphic novel Scary Ever After...

See the similiarities?

Note the vertical composition...the characters are positioned in the exact same poses, from the man holding the flashlight in front to the character in the back tugging at the arm of the second character from the back...it's an exact copy!

Haha. So this is what it feels like to be ripped-off. =p

Magazine Article Gig - Interviewing the legendary Mark Waid!=)

2009-09-18T09:51:00.000-07:00

The Quill Magazine (24 Oct-1 Nov 2009)-Singapore Writers Festival. This gig was loads of fun...not only did i get to interview DC and Marvel Comics Writer; Mark Waid, but i also get to be on the Contributors page with these incredibly talented writers!

Painting of Ezekiel's Vision.

2009-09-12T04:56:00.000-07:00

Ezekiel 1

¹Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

²In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity,

³The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.

⁴And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.

⁵Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.

⁶And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.

⁷And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf's foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.

⁸And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.

⁹Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.

¹⁰As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

¹¹Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.

¹²And they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they went; and they turned not when they went.

¹³As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, and like the appearance of lamps: it went up and down among the living creatures; and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning.

¹⁴And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning.

¹⁵Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.

¹⁶The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

¹⁷When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went.

¹⁸As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

¹⁹And when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them: and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.

²⁰Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

²¹When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

²²And the likeness of the firmament upon the heads of the living creature was as the colour of the terrible crystal, stretched forth over their heads above.

²³And under the firmament were their wings straight, the one toward the other: every one had two, which covered on this side, and every one had two, which covered on that side, their bodies.

²⁴And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the noise of an host: when they stood, they let down their wings.

²⁵And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.

²⁶And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.

²⁷And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.

²⁸As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.

Galaxie 17-31 August - Interview Article with Gordon Kho! =_=

2009-09-12T04:45:00.000-07:00

Magazine Interviews.:)

2009-07-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

As interviews go, no one was more relentless and meticulous in detail than SH Lim. He likes to come prepared, being the perfectionist journalist that he is. He was also gracious in sharing his thoughts about narrative to a newcomer like myself.

One for the album!

Interview & review by SH Lim for Time Out KL Magazine *August 2009*. Incidentally, this article turned out to be my favourite so far!

Another interview article by Quill magazine *July 2009*.

Tribute to Michael Jackson.

2009-07-25T03:52:00.000-07:00

Wonder of wonders, I've never painted MJ before so when there was a request I jumped at the chance. Not many people may remember this MJ look from his Thriller days. This is the definitive MJ in my mind. In terms of satisfaction, I was really doing this for myself so it's sad that I'm going to have to say goodbye to it in a few days. But it was a blast creating it!

Newspaper Reviews! >_<

2009-07-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

Finally, here's the review from the Business Times, Singapore by Christopher Lim (10th July 2009). He gave my book a rating of B-. Haha... Here's what it says:

"Malaysian John Ho has just published his first graphic novel, and Scary Ever After is a one-man affair, written and illustrated by Ho and no one else.

As you might gather from the title, this is a collection of seven horror stories, so, like Liquid City, it isn’t the kind of thing to use to cure your kid’s insomnia. Some of the stories, such as Fairyland, are full of macabre beauty, while others, like chalk ring, are a cross between H P Lovecraft and your average Asian horror movie.

Ho’s art style is black and white, and he likes to compose his scenes by getting friends to re-enact his storyboards and then take photographs of them. Then he puts the photos in front of him and lets his imagination take off. The style is reminiscent of artist and graphic novelist Dave McKean, who also draws in black and white, and this resemblance is reinforced by one of the two available covers for Scary Ever After, which shows a mixed-media tableau comprising a cat standing on a skull – something that could easily have been mistaken for a McKean creation.

The quality of Ho’s words isn’t as consistent as his artwork, and sometimes is a tad awkward, but it’s nothing that a stern copy editor couldn’t fix.

Scary Ever After originally started life on a website, which was taken down after Ho got a publishing deal, but it’s an interesting approach and gives fans some insight into a work in progress. Ho hopes to publish more graphic novels in the near future, and while he isn’t sure if he will start a website for the next project, hopefully he will decide to let the public into his mind."

Here's another one. This is a local review from The Star by Kaleon Rahan (17th July 2009) :)

Who will be the ZEN Star Chef?

2009-07-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

My lunch at ZEN by Secret Recipe @ Sunway Pyramid turned out to be quite interesting. Apparently 2 of the 6 finalists of the ZEN Star Chef Competition were there to serve us. As soon as we were seated, an (albeit over) enthusiastic Alson Khor quickly made his pitch, introducing his creations to us.

Keeping it cool was Trevor Pang, who waited graciously for his competitor to finish before introducing his dishes to us.

I opted to try his main dish, the Roasted Moroccan Chicken with Harissa & Sambal, Curried Couscous and Mix Green Salads. Believe me, it was pretty good! I'm a meat person so this was an interesting blend of something substantial and aromatic.

For dessert I had the Black Sesame Oreo Cheesecake. It was tasty! Trevor struck me as the kind of chef who's not afraid to have fun with his creations. He definitely has my vote as the ZEN Star Chef! :)

MPH Mid Valley Booksigning 11th July

2009-07-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

MPH did allow me to keep that promotional display...>_<

Generally just trying to keep the introduction brief so that we can get to the fun part...lol

I did a Batman live drawing this time around...

A quick sketch for a friend :)

Borders Booksigning & Live Drawing 4th July@ The Curve.

2009-07-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

The moment i've been dreading...taking up the mike!

Drawing a Superman zombie...just one of the random things you do when faced with a crowd and a blank sheet of paper!

Classic signing pose...trying not to ruin the sketch and hoping to spell the person's name correctly!

I just love the kids who crowd around you. They're so unselfconscious...

Me with the lead actress from 'The Chalk Ring'! >_<
By the time i reached the 15th book i was sketching zombies all the way.

Book Reviews & Interviews!

2009-06-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

Special thanks to Rizal Solomon for his kind words in the June 27th NST book review! >_<

Me with Christopher Lim, the Editor from the Business Times Singapore.

Being interviewed by Christopher Lim. 'Live' interviews are awkward ... just when you are getting warmed up, it's already over!

I'm very excited to see how the article turns out! (fingers crossed) :)

Scary Ever After now available in MPH bookstores!

2009-06-06T09:43:00.000-07:00

It's a wonderful feeling having your first book published. Kudos to the team at MPH for making Scary Ever After the classiest graphic novel (ever)!

A special invitation to all horror comics enthusiasts - I'll be making a book promotion appearance at Borders (4th July) and MPH Mid Valley(11th July) 3-4pm! Bring your friends for an autograph and sketch! Visit www.scaryeverafter.com

The red cover's my personal favourite. For some reason, i kind of like the japanesy and marvel comics feel of it..:)

The blue cover was a digital illustration i did using bits of random objects,acrylic and photoshop...which do you like best - the red or blue? >_<

My First Graphic Novel – A Journal of the Publishing Process!

2009-06-06T05:53:00.000-07:00

I've gotten quite a few requests from friends. Everyone wants to know how it was done. During the 9 months of the publishing process I had pretty much kept a personal journal. In many ways it helped me keep things in perspective and kept me sane! So for those of you who are curious, here’s how it was like…

Sept 23, 2008 - After sending proposals to a few publications, I finally received an email from MPH Publishing. They had visited my free comics website and was very keen on publishing my work! I was ecstatic!

Sept 26, 2008 - We had our first meeting. I brought a rough mock-up of my comic to show them what I had in mind and I made my pitch. Meetings are strange things. You can tell a lot about a person by talking to them. The 2 editors seemed like enthusiastic and very sensible people although they hated the cover I had illustrated. They also felt my mock-up was too small. We both agreed that the graphic novel should be bigger. We also talked about releasing the book in January 2009!

Cover #1 which the editors hated.

Sept 27, 2008 - We were talking contract! A softcopy of the memorandom was sent to me. I have a love hate relationship with contracts. Mainly because it takes too much time to figure out the technical jargon. But it is absolutely necessary that we got this right.

Oct 8, 2008 - Our second meeting. At this point, it was more about working out the details of the contract. A lot of emailing back and forth. I also had to resize all my previous artwork to the agreed specifications as well as come up with 2 new stories for a total of 7 stories. There was still a lot of work to be done! A January release suddenly seemed impractical.

Nov, Dec 2008 & Jan 2009 – I was drawing ‘fast and furiously’ at this point. I would teach art in the day and only start working on my comics at 8.30pm everyday, finishing in the wee hours of the morning.

It was quite a tricky experience trying to get your book published. I don’t mean all the late nights. That’s the fun part actually. Mostly it was because the publishing world and I worked, I discovered, in completely opposite paces. Coming from the advertising line, I am used to rushing deadlines (we could shoot, edit and finish a TV commercial in 5days! * fingers snapping *).

The publishing world however, moves at a gentle pace. This was frustrating because weeks would just go by where nothing happened. “When can the book be released?” I’d ask. Nobody ever seemed quite sure. But still I was hopeful…

Feb 5, 2009 - The fateful day arrived and I finally signed the contract! I also delivered the final manuscript to the editors. We talked about finding a prominent writer to do an endorsement for the book. I also had to create acknowledgement, contents and ‘about the author’ pages. “I’m sure we can anticipate an April/May release,” somebody said. By this point I was rather skeptic.

Feb 24, 2009 - We still had no illustration for the cover! I knew I had to get it perfect. I remember the general comment on the rejected cover was that the illustration style was too painterly /realistic. “Perhaps the cover should reflect what is inside the book?” it was said.

I worked for 5days and came up with Cover #2. That night I emailed the cover to the editors with fingers crossed.

Cover #2.

Feb 25, 2009 – I received an email. Would you believe it, the cover was rejected, yet again. The general consensus was that it looked a bit too "cartoon-ish". They felt my illustration style should be more “serious”. Whatever happened to “reflecting what was inside the book?” I decided to argue my case.

I had an email discussion with the main editor I was working with. She was, above all an incredibly understanding and diplomatic editor. I presented my case. She, hers. I realized book editors are amazingly efficient politicians, able to convince you of anything, even to convince you that it was your idea in the first place. I found myself saying, “Wow, how did she do that?”

So, over the weekend I got bits of newspaper, masking tape and acrylic paint, knocked it together, scanned the whole thing and edited it in Photoshop.

Cover #3 was completed on a Sunday night! I emailed it to the editors and waited.

Cover #3.

March 2, 2009 – I received an email. “The cover looks great.” I sighed in relief.

March 3, 2009 – Lo and behold! I received an email from the editors saying they weren’t sure if they were going with Cover #2 or Cover #3? Apparently they had a meeting about the covers and everybody gave their two cents. The in-house Creative Director opted for Cover #2 but the editors preferred Cover #3. “Why not print BOTH covers?” I suggested.

March 19, 2009 – To my surprise, the idea of going with both covers was very likely to happen!

March 27, 2009 – It was suggested that it would be nice to have some pages in color. But were we going to color certain big scenes only? That would be odd. Perhaps only the opening and closing stories? Nope. Finally, we decided to keep the pages black and white. However, we would close the book with some bonus full color ‘behind the scenes’ sketches and illustrations!

April 1, 2009 – I received the edit revisions and worked on them through the night. My editor told me a reviewer from NST (Rizal Solomon) has agreed to do an advance review! They’re also trying to see if there's someone (Kaleon Rahan perhaps) from The Star who's willing to do the same.

April 2, 2009 – My editor wrote a fantastic description for the back cover! She took the basis of something I had written earlier and made it her own. Actually, it’s the one bit on the book that's entirely hers. I think she quite enjoyed that.

The actual size mock-up.

April 11, 2009 – The first actual sized mock-up was dispatched to me today. I looked at the crudely bound book with yellow sticky notes jutting out from the sides and started to see the book take shape. It was also a good way to get a feel of how the pages interacted. “Now this looks like a graphic novel,” I thought.

April 21, 2009 - Murphy’s law : "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." My computer experienced a bad sector problem today and crashed on me. Everything may be lost. Why didn’t I back it up, you ask? Who can say why I experienced a lapse in practical sensibility at the worst possible moment? My editor also tells me the printers just found out the paper we chose would result in wastage. So I had to either reduce the size of our book or wait for a new batch of paper to come in. Definitely a low point!

April 29, 2009 - It’s funny how much better things can seem after a week. I was able to recover most of my files and just in time, too! The endorsements came in today. A special thanks to Kaleon Rahan of The Star and Rizal Solomon of The New Straits Times for writing such fantastic blurbs for the book!

May 15, 2009 - After a lot of waiting, the new paper stocks were finally coming in. Just when I thought we could start printing, another issue pops up! I didn't even see this one coming...

At the eleventh hour, a last minute decision was made to bring the cost of the book down! I waited, nervously as ideas were thrown around. Our hands were tied until this issue was resolved.

May 18, 2009 – Fortunately, my editor was able to defend many aspects of the book, including the size. The only sacrifice was the 'behind the scenes' section, which was now going to be in black and white. A sensible decision, I thought. Things could have been worse.

May 19, 2009 - More or less to my surprise and relief, we started printing! Looks like it was going to be a June release after all!

June 1, 2009 – Two weeks had passed with nary a word from the printers. Apparently, no news is good news when it comes to printing. I waited as patiently I could, hearing the drumbeat all the while…

June 2, 2009 – It’s finally OUT! I almost can’t believe I’m holding my first graphic novel in my hands. My life long dream has finally come true! (sure, there’s the small issue of the missing blurbs on the covers but hey! I love those printers anyway!)

It’s been a challenging 9 months but also the most rewarding! >_<

Dinner @ Fullhouse, Niu Ze Xui.

2009-06-01T01:46:00.000-07:00

"Ahn-YONG haSEHyo," greeted the staff. It means "hello" in korean. The cafe was a very interesting mix of korean drama influence and typical english cottage design ... I think it evoked every girl's dream of being a princess. I'm sure Shirley would agree! :)

Shirley playing 'princess'...>_<
The metallic blue mini cooper was a real eye-catcher!

Some of the decor and outlets at Niu Ze Xui.

Hanging out @ Garden, 1Utama.

2009-06-01T01:31:00.000-07:00

Lifestyle boutiques and cafes are all the range these days. 'Garden' seems to top em' all in terms of sheer elegance (in my opinion,anyway). I personally prefer this to Fullhouse, which interestingly enough, happens to be under the same management. No comment about the food, though. ;P

Shirley with the trademark white piano...

Me enjoying a 'jug' of iced lemon tea :)

Deep Thoughts.

2009-04-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

It's 1.30am. A warm night and an odd hour to be finding myself pondering about the meaning of life and death. Reflecting on the string of less than pleasant news in the past few months, I find myself wondering...

My mum's health (which has me worried. i pray the detoxification method works), then my little god-sister has suddenly contracted a blood sickness at the young age of 21 (she is waiting for a suitable B+ bone marrow donor) and today my mother-in-law has me and my wife concerned. I'm surprised how bad it can all seem at first.

But it's simple really.

"The good news is that life is just an illusion. A playground of sorts for spiritual adventurers to learn of their divinity. Where absolutely anything can happen, thoughts become things, and dreams do come true" - Mike Dooley from his book, Notes from the Universe.

What a way with words. I find myself drawing inspiration from his writings. Here's my favorite : "For every fork in the road, there are often two paths from which to choose ... the one you 'should' take and the one you want to take. Take the second. Always take the second."

I guess in spite of what we see around us ... we must never stop believing. And in doing so, be better, stronger and wiser for it.

Saying goodbye!

2009-04-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

It’s a wonderful feeling to know your work is finally getting published. My first graphic novel is about to hit the bookstores and as I write this, I’m thinking of how the beginning of one dream means the end of another.

Today I have to say goodbye to my free online comics website : Scary Ever After. It’s the 11^th of April today and it would have been 18 months since the website was launched. I guess I’ve been putting off this day, whether it had skipped my mind or silent procrastination, I can’t tell. But no goodbye is ever final. In a way, Scary Ever After is about to take on a new life!

An unexpected Sunday.

2009-04-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 11.30am feeling like sunshine. I love Sundays. Even though my Sunday afternoons are mostly spent teaching, but still…Sundays are cool.

Today was different. I had to cancel class so I could visit my godson in Pantai Hospital, Melaka. Poor thing had contracted dengue. Me and Shirley grabbed a Subway sandwich at Centrepoint and I thought since we’re here, I’ll just drop by the Mind Shop and grab my monthly fix of Thor and X-files. It’s been 3 months since I’ve bought a comic book *fingers itching*.

An hour and a half later I found myself sitting in the children’s ward watching a movie on Astro with my godson. His forehand was swollen from the glucose drip and I frequently had to open the toilet door for him and the glucose drip thingy. They were inseparable. I brought him some grapes (which was practical) and a Spider-Man comic book (which was not so practical). *I remember being 6 or 7 when I was admitted to the hospital for a week. The one thing I looked forward to was my dad bringing me lots of comics!*

Being a Chinese educated boy, I don’t think my godson is into Spider-Man comics. Judging by his reaction, I think he’d much rather watch TV. Actually, he does rather watch TV. Oh well…

For dinner we had rice balls and chicken at Jonker Street. It’s my third time here. Frankly, I think the famous Melaka rice balls are way overrated. Strolling along Jonker Street in the drizzling rain after that was loads of fun. The cool night air coupled with the ambience of red lanterns reminded me of the night markets in Taiwan.

Along the way we discovered a mysterious passageway and a curious Toy Museum. “RM 5 per head!” said the museum keeper. We stepped in and for a short while it felt like we were spirited away into a maze of toys, masks and life size figures.

My First Attempt for Body Painting

2009-03-15T01:02:00.000-07:00

A snapshot before leaving for the wedding dinner.:)

While waiting for the makeup artist, i did this body art for shirley..

Okay..time to paint on the bride!
#1 - use eye liner to draw the design.

#2 - start painting the colors with body paint..

Kat - be careful ar..
John - shh..don move ler

Wish I had more time to experiment..body paint works differently from the usual poster color..mixing was difficult and i had no time for mistakes..;p
I had about 30 mins before the bride had to meet the guests... swt swt..

Adding the finishing touches..
#3 - Dab in the glitter and foundation powder and we're done!

Shirley & Katherine ^_^

More Sketches from Tampin & Melaka

2008-12-18T23:40:00.000-08:00

Artist on the street...

Tada! This is the Finished Sketch.

It took me 20 mins to complete this..the same time it took an enthused kid to get completely bored..lol

Kids are the trickiest to draw because they're almost never still.
These are Shirley's little cousin brother & sister.

The creepy roots @ Tampin.

Xmas @ Smokehouse, Fraser

2008-12-11T07:47:00.000-08:00

A-typical..the first thing i do is take out my sketchbook while my wife enjoys her tea and scones..lol

sketching is always a hurry-up-and-wait give me 10 more mins kinda thing.

here's the finished thingie...;)

lets do something to that tree...

look what santa got me! a sketchbook..*not funny*

i booked the whole cottage just for ourselves..hahaha..i wish...
*here's the trick,reserve a room on a wednesday..chances are there's not many ppl if any*

bring on da turkey please...:)

dinner is served...yummy :p

looks like something out of 'a christmas carol'.

1am. i managed to persuade the manager to allow us to hang out in the living area till the wee hours of the night...

...just remember to use the back kitchen door when we're done and turn off da lights..haha

9am.you'd think this was taken in an english country..but no, it's right here in frasers...:)

i loooove scrambled eggs!

by dickens..it's the charles dickens room!

it's ebenezer scrooge...

shirley at the jeriau waterfall...the bad rain must've caused this wreckage, blocking our path...*we climbed across anyway*

got my feet wet this time...

Another Family Caricature - Football theme

2008-12-07T01:48:00.000-08:00

Family Caricature

2008-09-03T04:59:00.000-07:00

The Finish Product ^_^

Art Whiz's style Caricature - The Star Trek Couple

2008-07-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

Paintings @ home

2008-05-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

Two of my paintings are currently residing in a beautiful house located in Damansara Lagenda. :)
I normally loathe departing with my paintings (seeing how I feel I’ve put a part of me into it!). But in this case, I’m very pleased that my fatty Mona Lisa has found a good home!

It was also touching to see the baby daughter of my client reaching out affectionately for the Mickey Mouse painting I did for her baby room. Lol..

Nightlings

2008-05-13T05:59:00.000-07:00

I’ve always wanted to do a digital comic with special effects, but it took Ixtive Media Sdn Bhd to light the fire and get the whole project started. Here’s how it happened…

Jonathan, the big kahuna of Ixtive Media saw the stuff I did for Scary Ever After and asked me if I would draw a 9page monthly comic for their online magazine. I said “yes” enthusiastically! I would write and illustrate the comic and Jonathan’s design team would animate my drawings via Flash. Combined with a cool background music entitled “Tricks” sung by Liang, the finished product is awesome! It is also the first digital comic of it’s kind in Malaysia!

Go to http://www.gixworld.com/ and download the premiere issue of ‘Nightlings’ for free!

The Launch of ScaryEverAfter on Halloween!

2007-10-31T05:55:00.000-07:00

In late February 2007, my brother had an idea.

“Why not publish your comics online?” said James and proceeded to elaborate on his grand scheme. We talked about the types of comics we wanted to do. He suggested we do manga. “What about scary stories?” I said. I’ve always wanted to tell dark stories and draw them like the classic horror comics I grew up with, like ’Unexpected’, ’House of Secrets’ and ‘Tales from the Crypt”.

We agreed. I would write/draw the comics and design the website; James would handle the online publishing and IT side of things.

A deadline was set for the middle of the year that we would launch the site. I went away and started drawing. Somewhere along the way we were both caught up in our daytime busy schedules that we lost sight of our focus. It had seemed that the launch day would never come.

Fast forward to Halloween’s Eve. Who would have thought? We finished it in time for a Halloween Launch. And as I stare out my window into the cool October night I can’t help but think if we were being ‘guided’.

To all true comic fans out there tonight…have a happy trick or treat!

http://www.scaryeverafter.com/

Weekend at Tampin!

2007-10-17T00:39:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite spot to hang out whenever I’m at Tampin!
hehe…there’s something very tranquil & magical about this place!

Alone with my sketchbook atop the wooden balcony…I can sketch away for hours! ;)

The finished drawing!

While drawing, I noticed something swimming in the river…I quickly grabbed my camera & took this pic!

It’s not a crocodile…just a very huge lizard… cool!!!

Me doing a quick sketch of Jacob...

Cool or not? ^_^

How to Draw a crocodile cartoon!

2007-10-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

Let John Ho show you how to draw a cartoon crocodile in less than 4 mins!

"Look, mum... no erasers!"

Mural Painting day Pic

2007-09-09T10:36:00.001-07:00

4. Mural Painting Day!

2007-09-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

It’s the 8th of September. I’ve invited all ArtWhiz students to a fun-filled afternoon of mural painting (paint and permission given to go crazy and just be creative!) ^_ ^

Just me drawing some cartoons half an hour before my students arrive.

Shirley helping me with some last minute touch-ups…

The drawing is completed. This is what it looks like before my students paint it.

This is the Superhero Mural for the boys.

(1.30pm) The students arrive. Let’s paint!

Oh… what a group of serious artists!

An artist in the making…

Mural painting is fun!

A major art production in progress…

Let’s be comic book artists!

Check out our mural… it’s almost finished!

I can do this… I can do this… ^_^

Let teacher John color the tree. It’s much too tall for us!

Look at the mess we made… ^_^

We love our beautiful mural!
(Click on pic for larger view)

ArtWhiz would like to thank all of you for making our Mural Painting Day a big success!
It has certainly been a joyful time of creativity and learning!
(Click on pic for larger view)

3. The Fatty Mona Lisa - Fernando Botero

2007-09-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

This was a fun assignment to do and I’ll explain why.
Firstly, it’s a painting of a famous piece by Fernando Botero which my client saw in a magazine. Secondly, it’s a fatty version of the Mona Lisa!

I started by painting the whole canvas black and leave it overnight to dry.

Subsequently, I drew the outline of the figure using white acrylic paint and a fine brush (I don’t really worry about making mistakes because I can easily wash out the color with water, provided I do it quickly because acrylic is a fast drying medium).

After that I layer in the different skin tones and...

… give the face detailing.

The easiest part is painting the background and the dress.

And then it’s done!

This is the finished painting, ready to be delivered to the client.

Although it’s fairly realistic, my approach was to be more stylized and caricature.

When the client saw the painting, she was very happy and satisfied with it. Cheers ^_^

My Apprentice – HappyCloud!

I’m constantly amazed by my student’s vision and creativity!

One such student is Gan Le Yin.

After seeing my painting of the Fatty Mona Lisa, she was determined to paint one for herself.

She completed it in 2 lessons and as you can see – it’s fairly good!
Her Fatty Mona Lisa is for sale at RM100 – for anyone interested! :p

2. The making of an ArtWhiz Masterpiece

2007-09-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered how a Fine Art Masterpiece was produced?
Come into my studio for an inside view of my painting secrets…

I was approached to do a 4.5 x 3 feet acrylic painting on canvas.
The client requested a painting of a bold lion surrounded by 4 wolves to activate good feng shui…

I did a rough sketch which the client approved and quickly proceeded to pencil in the general outline of the image on canvas.

Once the penciled image is to my liking, I start painting the lion first. Some painters paint broadly first, putting in background colors before going into anything specific or fine tuning.

I work intuitively and don’t really think too much about what I’m doing.

Usually, I’ll start with the dominant features that stand out and attract the viewer's attention first (in this case – the lion).

Once the lion is completed, I start painting the wolves. A fine brush is needed for painting the fur and detail.

I use Daler-Rowney System 3 acrylic exclusively now for all my fine art because I like the vibrant color it achieves.

Now for the finishing touches…time to paint the landscape!

Usually, I’ll let the piece sit for a day or so and then come back to review it just to ensure I haven’t overlooked any details.

As a final step, I apply a gloss varnish to protect the finished art and give it a nice shine.
And with that, the painting’s complete! ^_^

1. Welcome to my humble Home! ^_^

2007-09-08T07:28:00.000-07:00

Does this look like a kindergarten to you or more like a very big storybook page?
Actually, it’s my living room. I’ve always told my wife Shirley that I wanted to paint on the walls but I never really got down to making it happen till now!

Transforming my home into a ‘magical wonderland’ took less than 1 month and it was completed before Chinese New Year this year.
(Click on the pic for a bigger view)

For those of you wondering what an artist’s home looks like – there you go!
(Click on the pic for a bigger view)

This is the Big Magical Tree. Whenever I am having my dinner, it feels like I am having a picnic under a big tree.

This is my personal favorite. I call it the secret garden…actually it’s just the entrance to my studio. I do all my design work and painting in there.
Can you spot the rabbit?

“And in the middle of the forest stood the witch’s gingerbread house…” just kidding.

This piece is Shirley’s favorite. It reminds us of our trip to Eastern Europe.

Won’t it be cool if I could just take a walk through the woods to visit that mansion?