I want to share some of my first drawings and paintings, as well as some random arts that I’ve made in the last 4 years since I’ve been drawing and making graphics.

Warning: Many many (horrible) pictures ahead…

I first started drawing around late 2006 when I took art in 9th grade. I’ve actually been interested in art before cause of deviantart, but I never really tried–if I did, it wasn’t realism. I started off with like 3-4 drawings of Anime/games such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Ball Z. It’s because I liked the cover and character art. I didn’t really draw that much, maybe once every 2 months, but my improvements were drastic even though I didn’t practice. A good break always help me.

These are some of the more decent drawings I that liked enough to scan.

Cloud <3 Final Fantasy VII was a nice game.

Yuna and the guy from //hack sign. My brother spilled water on Yuna’s face ><

Now time for some realism. My first 2 attempt at it looked cartoonish. Obviously I only spent 1 or so hours on these.

Both are BoA ^^

Probably my best first attempt at realism, cause it really looks like the person I was drawing.

This is towards the end of 2006, in like November. Things are starting to look up.
Sucks I never got to finish the first one.

First finished portrait, though I don’t like it.

I really like this one, and I worked on this right after the drawing above with color pencil. (End of 2006)

First good portrait of BoA. This was probably in January of 2007.

Now lets compare all of this to my most popular drawing of Song Hye Kyo in May of 2008.

Yeah, big difference. I think it’s all due to the fact that I spend a lot more time on these (patience is a virtue), and I discovered tissues for shading and blending, oh and kneaded eraser.

A lot of people tell me they can’t draw, but if you have the patience and is willing, I’m sure you can draw too. I can draw what I see, but I lack creativity.

5 Minute Preview

Information
Title: Smudge Banner Tutorial
Length: 37:11
Note: If anything, I’d pay attention to the beginning + end and skim through the middle. It’s all about experimenting and finding the right effects.

Download: Video Tutorial (Mirror) (33mb) | Photoshop File (PSD) | Smudging Brushes (two of which were made in the video)

Music: Music is included. Mute if you like since there’s no commentary. I messed up around 11-15, so there’s no music there.

Songs Used
Big Bang – Oh, Ah, Oh
Namie Amuro – Wild
Judy Chou – 寂寞包廂
Bae Seul Ki – Come To Me
Epik High – One (Feat. Jisun)
Big Bang – Lie (Remix)
Clazziquai Project – Come To Me (Mellotron Remix)
SHINee – 누난 너무 예뻐 (Replay Boom Track)

Terms:
1. Please do not redistribute.
2. The .psd file is for learning purposes only. Do not modify it, or take parts of it for another graphic and claim as your own.
2. Credit me if you use the brushes. Link back to either vtension@LJ or http://vtension.com.
3. If you try, please show your results. I’d love to see what you make.[/left]

My other banners using the same techniques:

Part 1 | Part 2

Please view in HD on Fullscreen.

Here is the banner made from the video.

Please right click >> Save Link or Target

Terms of Use | Download

Reference: Kelley
Time to Finish: 25 hours over a spread of 9 days
Material: A3 Bristol Board, Kneaded eraser, HB Mechanical pencil, 6B and F graphite pencil.
Date Started: July 7, 2010
Date Finished: July 18, 2010

Reference

Work in Progresses

Final

I haven’t made many this year. I would say that I’ve made maybe only 4, which is sad, really sad. I blame first year of college. Oh well, I plan to make more. Mostly of SNSD/Girls’ Generation (a top girl group in Korea). I’ve been obsessed with them recently, especially Tiffany and Taeyeon.

Warning: TaeNy’s cuteness below.

And finally, preview of the tags.

Credits to Soshified for the images.

Those things include drawing a portrait, finishing a large canvas piece that I started like four months ago, as well as making some resources. I have my doubts on whether or not I’ll finish though, because on the 8th, I have to start doing some research and writing reviews for my research lab.

Anyway, here is a preview of the themes I worked on.

This is the stock that I started to use for the large canvas earlier this year. Look forward to the piece.

Oh, and how can I forget–I got my Macbook Pro 15.4″ laptop Saturday. I’ve been using it so far with ease and I love it. I was originally worried about switching over, but I’m glad I did. Mac is pretty easy to use if you’re not too use to Windows. And now with a Macbook, I kind of have a desire to design and such to test it.

But before I do that, I painted something for my room, which is technically mine only for the summer.

If you know me, you would know that I have no creativity whatsoever and that I can only draw and paint what I see. So without further ado, here is a horrible re-paint of Florian Olga Wisinger’s painting. I used acrylic, which I hate and is horrible with, but the canvas was also bad. So I knew this painting was doomed from the start.

So yes, as you can see, I’m not good with acrylic at all. I prefer water color. This was the last acrylic I did. It was for my sister.

I currently really love the combination of the Revitalizing Serum and Replenishing Cream (night cream) and I believe the Rejuvinator (day cream) would be perfect. Most of the products are currently out of stock though. I will review these two items later; in the mean time, here’s a breif review of the Acne Serum

IQQU Acne Serum $25
A concentrated treatment that is designed to treat acne and redness.
Non-Comedogenic. No Fragrance. Paraben Free

Key Ingredients
Retinol- a purified form of Vitamin A, which purportedly has rejuvenating and restoring effect of tired, sun damaged skin by stimulating production of collagen in the skin.
Aloe Vera- is a herb that comprises of organic acids, enzymes, antibiotic agents, amino acids and minerals that is known to promote healing.
Tea Tree Oil – is an essential oil that is a potent healer that heals the daily damages on the skin.
Vitamin E- Is an antioxidant that helps protect skin cells from damaging free radicals.

The Technical Stuff
The serum is 1.01 oz for $33 (Not $25 at IQQU). It’s quite exspensive, and I feel that the bottle is too small.
This whole bottle would only last you 3 months tops if you used it sparingly, but if you’re like me, and you use it everyday, it would be gone within a month. The color is orange–I’m assuming due to the Retinol in it–and the texture is pretty light. The pump takes a few pumps before it actually works, and when you think you’re out of the serum, there’s actually more. So I would use a Q-tip to use the left over serum. It’s $33, so I would use every bit of it.

How do you apply it?
I cleanse my face with a cleanser, and apply a small pump over areas that I have a pimple or acne. Then after letting it absorb for a minute, I apply moisturizer.

Does it actually work?
When I first used IQQU’s Acne Serum in November, I was disappointed because after a month, it did not clear my breakout.I don’t have severed acne, but I break out ocassionally due to makeup, oily hair, etc. The only difference it made was that it stopped my already-inflamed pimple on my forehead and prevented it from scarring. But the more I used it, the more it seemed like the serum was breaking me out.So by mid December, I stopped using it.But to be fair, at the time, I was wearing old makeup that was probably the reason for my breakout. In addition, my skin was probably not use to the Retinol. With that said, I started using the acne serum again three days ago, and to my surprise, it noticeably faded 3 of my (recent) acne scars. It has not caused any breakout, and it’s actually aiding in some of my acne. I think the fact that I’m also using IQQU’s Revitalizing Serum also helps–so I am quite happy with it.

Would you repurchase?
Yes, I would, seeing as how the price decreased from $33 to $25, BUT, I would only use it on areas that I have acne or when I have small breakouts. It’s too expensive in my opinion to use all over my face for just “prevention”. I would leave that job to cleansing and moisturizing.

Do you recommend it
Not necessarily, because I think there are other products out there that are less expensive that gives similar result but over a longer period of time. Aside from IQQU’s acne serum, I use Aveeno Clear Complexion cleanser and daily moisturizer, which gives good result for me as well, and it’s half the price of the acne serum.