Why not multi-linewidth pen?

31st day of 2016.

To the brilliant minds that created the multicolor pens (the pen that has different colors, interchangeable with click on the top of the pen),

I still remember the first time I saw the smartly merged pen with different colors. Albeit the pen is a bit 'plump' but it is rather convenient to bring around in just one piece instead of 4 different pens.

After this many years, I looked at one of the piles of pens, which are all black but with different line weight, I wondered why is there no invention about merging different line weight together in one pen?

Talking about different line weight, it tends to be technical pen or gel pens. Is it because only ball point pen is easier to merge together? No line width for ball point pen? Technicalities of the technical pen making it impossible to merge it all in one?

Greatly appreciate if anyone can clear my doubts.
Sincerely.   

3 in 1 pen

30th day of 2016.

This is totally random, but today my dad gifted me a 3 in 1 pen. A rather fat sleek ball point pen with the scrubby tip for i-machine's screen. Then he revealed the 3rd function which I am always obsessed about. A flash drive.

I always love gadgets. This even merge into my favourite stationery category. Nice.
I am sure that this idea may have been 'invented' dozen years ago, still first time possessing such gadget made me happy.

Trixiel Flower 01

29th day of 2016.

Sneaked some simple simple sketches for my stories' items and creation. The basic house sign of the character's home town and trying to create a flower. :/ 

I am trying to mix in babybreath and cotton flower. I seemed to failed there. I have yet to find a matching leaf shape too. 

Gynealogy Record

28th day of 2016.

Tonight went to a family dinner where my relatives wanted to create an association for people from the same roots. The topic itself did sparked my interest and immediately feel that it could be use in my worldbuilding.

Unfortunately, they were speaking in a dialect which I am not well verse in. Regardless, I did looked at the sample Genealogy Book of Record for my father side ancestry. Even from ancient time, Chinese culture, especially the more established ones always kept a physical book of records of all family members. Noting down the date of birth, marriage and death, names both name and words. Imagine that book had been updating for thousand of years, that would be quite a collection!

The book I browse through immediately made my head spun faintly. History is never my strong subject, and all the family trees of so many generations certainly did not help. Moreover, it was right after a long busy day in office.

Components in Genealogy Book
1. History
2. Motto
3. Names
4. Dates
5. Off springs
6. ...
 

Confidential Artherapy and some musings

27th day of 2016.

Worst than yesterday, I bring work back home to do. x.x However, at least, it is a more artsy work. I bravely experiment my art materials on the cheap copier paper. Though no awesome art produced, but I did played around with my Sakura watercolor more, now I seemed to be getting the hang of mixing BLACK.

Lastly, I did spare quite a few moment planning my next Artherapies, putting them in order.
1. Sample sheet for all MuseScore Instrument.
2. Floating Island
3. Blog design

Chinese New Year is coming and I will be taking a whole week off, plus 5 work days + 4 weekends, a whopping 9 days. Though I am not excited at all towards the days after Chinese New Year. It would be a living hell of deadlines.  

Reading 怪人二十面相 - 003

26th day of 2016.

Busy busy day at work. I read some old novel The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown in the office even though I really should read up the Japanese one. lol. Though I had read The Lost Symbol before, it was years ago and I don't seemed to remember the story much. It scares me that my memory is deteriorating. :/

Anyway, to meet the quota for today, I picked up the Japanese book and read it for the remaining of the night.

List of Learnt Words
ボルネオ　－　ー　－　Borneo
わびる　－　詫びる　－　道歉
そうかい　－　壮快　－　自信满满、兴致勃勃、雄心郝志
おこす　－　起こす　－　1. 立、扶 2. 唤醒 3. 引起 4. 翻 5. 发动 6. 重来
おこす　－　興す　－　1. 振兴 2. 旺盛 3. 兴办
がんとして　－　頑として　－　顽强、坚决
とうとう　－　到頭　－　终于、到底
むだん　－　無断　－　擅自、自作主张
たより　－　便り　－　音信、消息
サンダカン　－　ー　－　Sandakan
よこす　－　寄越す　－　寄来、送来
いちにんまえ　－　一人前　－　1.单人份 2. 成年人 3.
いとなむ　－　営む　－　经营
きどる　－　気取る　－　装腔作势、装模作样
はやり／はやる　－　流行／流行る　－　1. 流行、时髦 2.蔓延 3.兴旺
ぶんめん　－　文面　－　文字 

Reading 怪人二十面相 - 002

25th day of 2016.

Today had been a lazy day. I actually had been binge watching CSI Cyber Season 1 since midnight, slept too late or early depending on your perception and woke up close to lunch time. Feeling quite tired from all the shopping done the day before, was not motivated at all. For a quick Artherapy, I decided to continued on the reading.

List of Learnt Words
とある　－　ー　－　某
やしき　-　屋敷　－　1. 建筑 2. 住宅、房地
しほう　－　四方　－　四面、周围
べい　－　塀　－　围墙、栅栏
め　－　目　－　1. 眼睛 2. 眼神 3. 视线 4. 看法、见解 5. 经验、阅历 6. 木纹 7. 孔
いかめしい　－　厳めしい　－　1. 严肃 2. 森严　
そてつ　－　蘇鉄　－　苏铁（植物名）
しげる　－　茂る　－　繁茂、茂盛
むこう　－　向こう　－　1. 前方、对面 2. 对方 3.那儿 4. 今后
かぎのて　－　鉤の手　－　直角
ならべる　－　並べる　－　1. 排列、阵列 2. 列举 3. 比较
たつ　－　立つ　－　1. 站 2. 升 3. 生、起 4. 当、成为 5. 扎、刺 6. 明确 7. 激动、生气 8. 有用 9. 离开 10. 出发
おりまざる　－　織り交ざる　－　交织
おそう　－　襲う　－　1. 袭击 2. 突来 3. 继承
かかる　－　罹る　－　1.患病 2.遭受

Reading 怪人二十面相 - 001

24th day of 2016.

I spent the whole day shopping around again. Nothing to do with hobby, but more to my personal lifestyle. So, I do not have the time to work on art. Instead, I spent the short hours to read up the Japanese story book I bought weeks ago.

The book was labelled reading level for upper primary school level. I was rather confident the time I purchased it. After reading the introductory, I knew that I was wrong and glad that I would learn a lot from reading it.

List of learnt words
はしかき　-　端書き　－　导言、引言
あだな　-　あだ名　－　绰号、昵称、外号
ナがめ　－　眺め　－　眺望
こじき　－　乞食　－　乞丐
さえ　－　ー　－　1. 除了 2. 只要 3. 甚至
たえず　-　絶えず　－　经常
すがた　－　姿　－　姿态、面貌
めあて　－　目当て　－　1. 目标 2. 企图、目的
けんとう　－　見当　－　1. 方向 2. 估计 3. 大约、左右
せめて　－　ー　－　至少
ふるまい　－　振舞い　－　1. 举止、行动 2. 招待、款待
しかた　－　仕方　－　办法、方法
ことに　－　殊に　－　特别是
ふせぐ　－　防ぐ　－　1. 防守、防御 2. 预防
みょうな　－　妙な　－　1. 奥妙、玄妙 2. 奇怪 3. 巧妙 4. 格外
くせ　－　癖　－　1. 癖好 2. 习惯
ちょうだい　－　頂戴　－　1. 领受 2. 请、给
いずれにしても　－　ー　－　在任何情况下
ふかしぎ　－　不可思議　－　不可思议
ちらす　－　散らす　－　1. 分散 2. 消肿 3. 涣散 4. 分派
いっきうち　－　一騎うち　－　一对一
みもの　－　見物　－　值得一看
まえおき　－　前置　－　前言
うつる　－　写る　－　1. 透 2. 映、照
うつる　－　映る　－　1. 映、照 2. 谐调
うつる　－　移る　－　1. 移、迁 2. 付诸 3. 传染 4. 变迁

Col-Erase test

23th day of 2016.

I have sharpened and done some testing on the Prismacolor Col-Erase.
Here it is, the testing sheet of the Prismacolor Col-Erase. First of all, I wonder how much of a difference there is between the color Light Blue and Non-Photo Blue, hoping that the Light Blue could produce the same non-photo effect.

I play test the layering of the colors on the left column, from burnish to first layer. To me, I think they are quite sufficient for coloring.

On the right, I tested their erasibility. The right stripe is just the first swipe of erasing. In a way, it makes a good lifting. I used a lot of strength and rub the paper at least ten times for the left stripe. I am not quite satisfied to the shades remains. Obviously, the more indented outline is even harder to erase. By using such strength to rub, the paper texture most probably is ruined. However, I believe that it would be erased to a clean white if the layer of color is very light.

In conclusion, the main reason I buy the Col-Erase is that I want a real erasable color pencil. Col-Erase had performed much better than most colour pencil in that perspective. But, I am still not satisfied.

Note : I am aware about Prismacolor quality issues, reading it from the internet. This package I bought have off centre color core.

Sakura Gelly Roll Pens Test

22nd day of 2016.

After tempering around the Gelly Roll pens I bought last 2 weeks, I compiled a test sheet for the 3 pens.

First off, the Gelly Roll Classic 08 white pen. I believe is the first line of the gel pens, quite basic and quite effective. As written on the black paper above, it is more suitable for lengthy writing. Compare to the following two other types, this Classic White is actually easier to use.

Unpitched Percussion Family

21st day of 2016.

Finally! The last part of the musical instrument.
The drum kit has quite a few components, another instrument turns out to be more complex than I thought it is.
  

Pitched Percussion Family

20th day of 2016.

Pitched Percussion. Now onwards to the musical instrument that bring on more action movements.

The Xylophone, Vibraphone, Marimba and Glockenspiel really got me confused. They looked so alike just like how the guitars confused me. :<

Wood Wind family

19th day of 2016.

Just as I thought Brass was hard, wood wind was not easier. Other than recorder and flute which were relatively simple, the rest were quite complicated. Most of them seemed to be made of metal in this era, kinda beats the family name 'wood' wind.

 

Brass Family

18th day of 2016.

Gosh, brass are tough! I can't imagine how the makers make all those complex metal tubes curving through here and there. O__O

That was my first attempt on using Sakura Gelly Roll Classic White pen. I seemed to notice that it doesn't flow well when the surface was still wet. The left hand golden part is whiter as they are dryer. The right side silver bronze was a bit wet when I apply the white pen.

Need to test more to see and understand the white pen's properties and characteristics.   

Another shopping...

17th day of 2016.

It just happen that, I am riding on my relatives car and went to do another round of shopping. Main purpose is to scout the sales and prices of clothing for Chinese New Year. Of course, I have to pick up a few stationeries that I didn't stumbled on yesterday.

I bought some sketchbooks and a cheap battery operated sharpener. To sharpened that Col Erase colour pencil I obtained yesterday. 1 Monologue A5 soft sketch book and 1 Monologue A6 blank note book. I had a really bad experience with their A6 whatever-book before, the PU leather was so soft and tender, it literally leaves all my nail marks. It is not long that it started peel off revealing the furry inside... bleh. XP Yet I am quite brave to take another chance with them as the cover this time didn't feel the same. Besides, the ones I bought was few years ago, so hopefully their quality improve.

Mini Art Hoard

16th day of 2016.

I had make my first trip of Art Friend in this year 2016. I wanted to buy a lot of things, unfortunately, the item was either not in stock or I prefer to window shop more. However, I am glad to see my branch of Art Friend finally carries Prismacolor Col-Erase colour pencils! I instantly grabbed it. They sell the set of 12 and 24, open stock only carries Red, Green and Blue. Pity, non-photo blue color is not in both sets.

For my collection of art materials records, I opted to buy a cheap panoramic sketch pad. It is only 110gsm, more suitable for dry media. Still pondering on whether to custom bind the art materials swatches or do it in a pre-bound sketch pad. Besides, I have always wanted to try this panoramic proportion.

It was frustrating to find out that the cashier did not check out my Copic and mini canvas. Now I have to go back there another time to buy it again. Oh well, since the Col-Erase brilliantly come without sharpened, I guess I maybe should try out the cheap battery operated sharpener.

peculiar Free Reed Family

15th day of 2016.

I would have to say, I don't really get how MuseScore divide the instruments into categories. They put Harmonica and Accordion together under a family call Free Reed. That is one mystery I would have to research more.

Keyboard Family

14th day of 2016.

A bit ambitious and lost sense of scale while trying to put in the same level of detail for such a huge instrument. Completely forgot about the piano size, counting only 3 should fit in one page. It actually needs a spread 2 pages. x.x So now, it look cramp...

Hopefully the later words and info would fit in within the remaining gaps... x.x

Plucked String Family

13th day of 2016.

So, while I was being naughty, sneaking sketch and research the plucked string musical instrument, colleagues saw what I was doing and chipped in their two cents. Plenty helpful. 

Pretty interesting to learn about the all different type of guitar. Since I cannot imagine how different they are with words description, I am leaving the properties for the tonality blank.

String Instrument

12th day of 2016.

Continuing on to my musical instrument studies. This time, I did the String family simple analysis. I had jotted down a few categories such as materials, type of instrument, how to play, pitch, octave range, resonance and clarity.

My first colored sketch. Next, I would be doing plucked string? or drum set?

Random Header Collection

11th day of 2016.

I was doing a little bit of research about Blog codes here and there during the weekends. It was tedious! *collapse* After several attempts, I cannot get the animated favicon to work. I managed to find the random image code and play a bit around the simple blog design.

Here are my current collection of Headers.

The next item to design is the background. hmm...

Kinokuniya shopping

10th day of 2016.

Chinese New Year is coming. This time I am determined to start shopping earlier, most unlike what happened last Christmas. Missing out all the deals. Had been feeling quite generous, after working for a full year, spending on a pair of shoes that is by far the most expensive I have spent on.

i•Dea Blog Design

9th day of 2016.

After icon, now trying to decorate the blog time. Not really sure what style to go with, so I just plop a boring generic image header first. At least the digital vs traditional clash is something I have in mind.

Still pondering on what texture for the background... cork? paper? parchment? or towards the more digital ones?

In the event if I end up with a plain background, certain drastic design measures need to be considered. Random image. I am very attracted to that idea of changing the header image every page loads, the handwritten 'Days' could be different, adding some interest to it.

i•Dea Favicon

8th day of 2016.

A full week had passed since starting the blog. Still a long way to go.
7 days, which also means I left the blog undecorated for that long, that is unforgivable. First, I need to get rid of the annoying orange B favicon.

Nothing fancy, just basic boxes. It is just 16 x 16 pixels, wasteful to get fancy anyway. However, I do hope the animation works. XD

Royal Regalia

7th day of 2016.

It was a pretty uneventful day. Spent some time looking up on more juicy royal stories and shiny crown jewels.

Pretty standard. As like my title style, the accessories and regalia would be categorized according to their age? gender? rank? function?

These are the western style... I am considering to research the Chinese ones. However, Chinese ones seems to varies from a huuuge variety of designs. >.< Exotic style.

SkySnap - No.01

6th day of 2016.

Spending around 6 hours total traveling to and fro is tedious and tiring. Thankfully, I am not the one that is driving. Yet, I have pretty picky habits in getting sleep in a moving car. Either way, I still don't enjoy long travel. :/

I tried to be productive and use that time in the car to be creative for my 366 project, but was having a difficult time sketching nicely in a moving car... also having poor decision making on which creativity to do, music one? poem? art debt?... Until! I am aware it is already 7pm! O__O Definitely not enough time for me to prepare a clear sketch and post it up. I was just finished dinner at a rest stop, looking at the clock then staring at the sky...

I had always been fascinated with the clouds. To be honest, I had been thinking to capture clouds photos and call it a day, as I indeed had planned on doing this SkySnap collection. On the way to my destination earlier in the day, the clouds just don't connect with me. I am glad I finally got it on my way back.

MuseScore

 
5th day of 2016.

I was expecting a smoother day today at work. Unfortunately, I was assigned to go to a meeting outstation tomorrow, it really mess up my plan and mood. Later the day, I was suddenly assigned another task to finish, preferably by tomorrow. -__-;;

I vent it a bit, gather my thoughts on what I planned to Artherapy about. I stumbled upon a freeware Musescore 2 years ago, it is a music scoring programme. The best part is, it has quite a comprehensive collection of musical instruments, more geared to western orchestra type and provide playback of the music notes.

I had played with it and attempted one simple ten seconds tune, and come to a conclusion that I better understand more about the musical family for my next attempt. Therefore, I am studying up the various instrument available in Musescore, categorizing it according to material? clef? octave? pitch? Really not sure, it is still an ongoing process.

Links
MuseScore

For my Royalties

4th day of 2016.

It is a work day. First day of work in year 2016. As expected, I had 'holiday hangover' on the first half of day. Had been struggling pitifully between sleepiness and staying awake, UNTIL!
I am motivated to do research for my royalties in my stories.

In my fantasy stories, there tends to always be royalties involved. I had research royalties ranking in the past. However, I figured to solidify the rankings and honorifics, basically a template that jotted down all the variables from which I can tweak as needed for my different country. Basic enough to cater for all different type of monarchy, society and dynasty, and yet with ample variables to build up their own uniqueness based on the same criteria without being meddled.

During the research, I had branch off a bit, looking up on crowns and tiaras. For template purposes, I think I am going to research the royalties regalia next! (not necessary tomorrow...)

On a side note, I really should think about how to label things. :/

Planner Monthly

3rd day of 2016.

Today is Sunday, which mean tomorrow is the start of the working Monday. Time to get a monthly planner for my work schedule.

No frills or pretty designs, just straightforward black lines and grey shaded area for weekends. It takes longer time to coordinate the dates on all pages, I am so glad I would only need to do that once a year.

Since I work with mostly A series paper sizes, I figure to add in a guide in my planner as well.

The starting of work day, means my Artherapy would be just some quick sketches or WIP, as my job really do suck my soul.

Planner Inserts

2nd day of 2016.

It is a Saturday, I just finalized my A5 size 6 rings Planner insert template. I am a very picky person, and love to customize things for my own requirements. Identifying my own needs, I have prepared 3 different page format.

FORMAT
 
 1. Blank
What more to say? As an artist, blank is the best. It is a clean slate that would allow all crazy sketches materialize.


2. 10mm Dot
When you need some loose guidelines, you would be appreciated when subtle Dots are there to guide your technical shaky straight lines.


3. 5mm Dot
It is a whole different level if you are a perfectionist. Everything must be pinpoint accurately on the page, you can count on this even friendlier Dots.

Don't just stop there! Push your boundaries to customize it!