Month: October 2011

Footie

There’ll be a docu on Singapore artist on CNA this Sat, I did some babbling on it, check it out at your peril :p

“Frames” Channel News Asia 29 October 2011, 830PM Episode 3  “Singapore, small city with big dreams. Four artists of a city with a progressive art scene. Can these artists balance creative freedom with financial freedom in Singapore? “

They shot some footage of us playing soccer at Turf City, watch some excerpts below. Just like on TV, if you can imagine everything fastforwaded, with more skill, agility, ball sense and possibly jerseys :p

Sequential Arts at Mulan Gallery

Thanks to everyone who turned up for the exhibition at Mulan Gallery on Friday and over the weekend! There’s a writeup of opening day at HereBeGeeks:

http://www.herebegeeks.com/comics/sonny-liew-koh-hong-teng-sequential-arts-a-comic-art-exhibition/

Next up is a panel at the Singapore Writer’s Festival on Wed, which might be interesting, despite the dodgy title :p

26 Oct /2011
3:30 pm – 4:30 pm

Loti Gone Case in Wonderland

Featuring: Sonny Liew, Koh Hong Teng, Dave Chua, Troy Chin
Venue: Transaction Pavilion, Campus Green, Singapore Management University (Capacity: 80)
Moderator: Terence Chua

“Whether set in 18th-century England and modern-day void decks in Singapore, Troy Chin, Sonny Liew and Dave Chua have no doubt created riveting narratives for their readers. These writers and illustrators, among Singapore’s best known, engage in a heart-to-heart chat about the ideas behind their works, and how words and illustrations complement each other.”

http://www.singaporewritersfestival.com/index.php?option=com_php&Itemid=69&category=3&id=90

More pics up on facebook 🙂

Pigmonger, process

“Pigmonger” will be on display at Mulan Gallery starting Oct 21-Nov 12. (Its really on Loke Yew Street off Armenian Street, near the Substation)

It’s the fourth (last?) of the Eric Khoo is a Hotel Magnate series, which partly examines public figures’ need for public personas to avoid any appearance of elitism. It deals in particular with Dr. Seet Ai Mee’s infamous handshake with a fishmonger in the 1991 Bukit Gombak elections (and her  interviews 18 years later she claimed that it was, in fact, a pork seller, and that she had washed her hands to avoid offending muslims.)

The other character that appears here is Danshichi Kurobei, a Japanese Kabuki character based on a real person, a fishmonger  who killed somebody in the middle of winter in 1697. Danshichi is an archetype of the Ôsaka otokodate, “heroes of the commoners because they were said to stick up for the little ones and protect the merchants neighborhoods from the injustices of the powerful.”

Early sketches:

Getting references is always a major part of the process for realism-based art, in this case it was a matter of trying to find what you could online, from fish, sumo wresters to old paintings of fish sellers…

But for more accurate representations you really need to get people to pose for you, and I coralled friends and family for the task :p That’s my aunt and mom in the second pic! 🙂

As well photos of  fish sellers (the one here was taken in Macau quite a whiles back)

A colour sketch was then done digitally…

After that I borrowed a projector to get the basic drawing onto the canvas (200x120cm). And left it untouched for about a year… until the show date neared and finally started working on the painting about 2 weeks back. Below are some pics of the work in progres…

K do drop by for the show at Mulan, there are lots of amazing pages by Koh Hong Teng as well, plus pages from Wonderland, Malinky Robot, Sense & Sensibility as well as some old comics (including Frankie & Poo!)

(ps: thanks to Taka from J Flash Studio for helping take a proper pic of the painting!)

Comics and Paintings

Exhibition of Comic pages and paintings from this Friday Oct 21 at Mulan Gallery!

Hong Teng will be launching Gone Case volume 2, and displaying some of his amazing pages from the book.

On my end, pages from Malinky Robot, Sense and Sensibility, My Faith in Frankie and more. Plus a new painting called “Pigmonger”.

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=165823130174330

http://www.todayonline.com/Entertainment/Arts/EDC111017-0000075/Panel-by-panel

Mulan Gallery
36 Armenian Street, #01-07
Singapore, Singapore
Book Signing Date:
22, 23 Oct from 2pm-3.30pm

Exhibition Date:
21 Oct 2011 to 12 Nov 2011

Opening Hours:
Tue- Sat: 11.30am – 6.30pm
Closed on Sun, Mon and Public Holidays

 

Pasted!

Malinky Robot review at Paste Magazine… rating: 8.5!

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2011/10/comic-book-graphic-novel-round-up-101211.html

“ Liew’s panels swim in the empty expanse of his monolithic cityscapes, showcasing intricate detail and geography. His story complements his visuals with whimsical tales that end on ambiguous notes, riffing on the listlessness of youth. This collection’s highlight is a sequence that illustrates a character’s tragic past of child loss and divorce through a replica Sunday Funnies page, filled with spot-on caricatures. “

Komicked

There’s an interview in today’s edition of Malaysia’s The Star newspaper. Get a copy if you’re in Malaysialand, otherwise click on the link below :p

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2011/10/7/lifebookshelf/9624098&sec=lifebookshelf

Progress of a Comic Artist

Worlds of Wonder by Elizabeth Tai

Malaysian-born, Singapore-based graphic novelist Sonny Liew talks about his career in comics.

A SERIES of breaks and youthful enthusiasm. That’s how Eisner-nominated comic artist Sonny Liew said he got his break in the unpredictable and highly competitive world of comics.

“When I was younger, I had this ridiculous self-belief that I would make it somehow. I can’t really explain it. Call it youthful exuberance, perhaps. I felt that I had something to contribute to comics” said Liew via telephone recently.

Malaysia-born Liew, 37, is currently based in Singapore where he has resided since he was in kindergarten. (His parents still live in Seremban.) He has worked for big names in the comic industry, such as DC Vertigo, Marvel, Disney and SLG. And among his published works are Malinky Robot, Wonderland, My Faith In Frankie, and Marvel Comic’s adaptation of Sense & Sensibility (cont…)

Star online articles seem to get taken down after a while, so here’s another link for the future :p

http://www.comicskong.com/2011/10/07/progress-of-a-comic-artist

Sailor Mooned

“Sailor’s Moon” was sold at an auction at New York Sothebys sometime last month, at Departures Asia Now, a Contemporary Asian Art auction organised by the Asia Society (NYC) and American Express Worldwide.

For those interested in more paintingas and exhibitions, there is the upcoming one at Fusionpolis from Oct 8, as well as “Sequential Arts” (with the amazing Koh Hong Teng) at Mulan Gallery starting October 21, which will feature paintings as well as original comics pages. M0re details soon! 🙂