Belated b'day gift for Pip!

It's way way belated - like TWO years! I know, it's crazy... Apologies to my niece, Fifah a.k.a. Pip! Anyway, it's done now - well, partially... this is just a sketch, the next phase is to ink and colour it. I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to do that, which is why I decided to post the sketch first. I hope Pip likes it, not sure if she's seen it yet. I'm happy with the outcome, since it's been a while since I last drew anything - rusty, rusty, this took me almost two hours! O.o

Vampire Knight Sketch: Senri Shiki x Rima Toya

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."
dr.rin.77 | artist.mangaka

Colours brighten up my life...

... or is it just because I'm finally doing more artwork, hehe! Anyway, coloured my last lineart this week so finally posting it up on my blog. Hope you like it!

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."
dr.rin.80 | artist.mangaka

I'm baaaackkkkk....

Firstly, Happy Halloween 2010! It's been a while, a lot's happened since the last time I posted on my blog, not all good but it's ok, we should just move on and learn from experience! Haha, ever the optimist! XD But damn, it's great to be back, not just blogging... drawing, yoga-ing, etc. I feel more motivated these days, thank goodness. I feel I'm now getting back on track, hehe!

So to start off, here's my first artwork since the beginning of the year, really out of practice but no problem, practice makes perfect, after all! This is a Halloween fanart of one of my all-time favourite manga/anime, Skip Beat!, with one of my all-time favourite pairing (KyoukoxRen), no less, hehe. You can read read the summary on my DA, too lazy to retype it, hehe. Hope you all like it! xxx

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."
dr.rin.80 | artist.mangaka

Aesthetic Tribute: December 2007

Just posted the second fanart I mentioned in my previous Aesthetic Tribute post (which can be viewed here) - I know, it's about time! Hehe! Anyway, this fanart is of one of Hikaru from Magic Knight Rayearth! You can view it here. Enjoy! xxx

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."
dr.rin | artist.mangaka

Aesthetic Tribute: September/October 2008

Yayyy, I did some artwork, finally! XD This is the first of the two finished works I did. I didn't have time to properly "CG clean" it, will have to redo it at a later stage! The other one is scanned but is harder to clean! :( Anyway, you can view the first fanart here. It is of the main characters from one of my favourite manga series, Penguin Revolution! Hope you all like it! XD

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."
dr.rin | artist.mangaka

Aesthetic Tribute: May/June 2008

I finally got my May/June 2008 fanart posted! I actually finished it on time for the deadline but I had to install a new scanner, which delayed my posting of it! Gomen ne! Anyway, it's been a while since I posted new art. This one is of Saya and Haji from the anime/manga "Blood+". You can view the fanart here. Enjoy! :D

"Beginning is easy, continuing is hard."

Aesthetic Tribute: November 2007

Haha, yeah, this is a late submission! I had a lot on my plate during the last few months so never got the chance to finish the drawing till recently. Anyway, it's a fanart of Hayami Masumi from the manga "Glass Mask". I've uploaded two versions: inked and coloured. Yeah, I'm going to start colouring my drawings. Though I still prefer just pencil sketches, I know I need to improve my colouring skills. On a side note, I have now achieved one of my new year resolutions, haha!

Aesthetic Tribute: January/February 2008

First of all, let me wish everyone (though it's rather belated) Happy Valentine's Day! I didn't do anything much on February 14, but I've never been into Valentine's Day! Wishing people HVD is the most I'd do, hehe! Anyway, I also did a new fanart drawing that day for Aesthetic Tribute, you can view it at this link. All the info can also be found there! Hope you all like it! XD

My new art website!

Hi all, just dropping a quick line to let you know that I've opened an art gallery for all my drawings and other artistic creations. You can visit it at:

http://www.ari-rin.com

Hope you'll take the time to visit the gallery. Comments are very welcome! Thanks! Right, now I've to go and rest, been at the computer almost non-stop setting up the site and uploading all the artwork! Later! x

Illustration: Anime610

While in Brunei a few weeks back, Rozi introduced me to her niece, Fifah (a.k.a. Anime610), a talented girl who's very into manga. I admire her determination in drawing manga, especially at such a young age. I'm 30 now, and have yet to start one, I've just been doing illustrations! Anyway, Fif, keep up the great work! And I don't mean to be cliched, but "practice makes perfect"! ;D

Anyway, I was teaching Fifah how to use Photoshop for cleaning and colouring her illustrations. She asked me to CG colour her October 2008 drawing. Now, I've only done two CG coloured drawings and that was 5-6 years ago! So I was a little worried about my first attempt after so long. But you know what, Fifah loved it, and that really boosted my confidence. I know I've a long way to go, but it's a good start. :D

Aesthetic Tribute: October 2007

Hey! Sorry for not blogging much till now, was in Dublin and Zurich the past two weeks (will blog about Zurich later!)! Anyway, here's my latest Aesthetic Tribute fanart, please enjoy and maybe comment! ;D Danke! Oh yeah, Happy Halloween! Sorry, it's a bit late, hehe!

Fanart title: "Release!"

Fanart characters: Light Yagami (Kira) (Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba) and Ichijo Mashiro (After School Nightmare by Mizushiro Setona)

Theme: "Can't imagine all the pain I feel..."

Media used: drawn with pencil; cleaned by CG

Comments: Some facts of these two characters to help understand the concept - Mashiro has a secret; from waist-up, he is male, while the lower part of her body is female - this is causing Mashiro a lot of emotional pain and doubts. Kira arrives to bring Mashiro "salvation" as he is owner of the "Death Note", a book able to bring death to the person whose name is written in it. Will Ichijo "fight" the inner turmoil or will s/he give into the pain and sought "Release!"?

Aesthetic Tribute: September 2007

Just finished my September fanart piece for the MG Forum. Enjoy! :D

Fanart title: "Please handle with care"

Fanart character: Narazaki Yuzuru (Penguin Revolution by Tsukuba Sakura)

Theme: "Blooming Heart"

Media used: drawn w/ pencil; cleaned by CG

Comments: Haha, it's a "Blooming Heart", just like in Facebook! ;) This one was planted by Narazaki-kun, and the way the flower is covering the part where his real heart is provides a metaphoric meaning - it's saying that his heart must be handled with great care. ;D Since there's no such plant in real life, I'm pleased it actually went well with the drawing. One thing I'm a tad disappointed with is the fact that my drawing style didn't come out as much this time, especially the face (it's more like Tsukuba-sensei's style!).

Aesthetic Tribute: July & August 2007

So despite what happened, I managed to find a few hours here and there to do some manga fanart for a monthly online exhibition (called Aesthetic Tribute) held by the forum I'm involved with. Each month, some manga characters are chosen and two choices of themes are given. I've posted previously my June 2007 fanart so here are those for July and August respectively. Hope you like them! :D

Fanart title: "Ren no sakura no emi"
Fanart character: Tsuruga Ren (Skip Beat! by Nakamura Yoshiki)
Theme: "Sakura Smile"
Media used: drawn with pencil; cleaned by CG
Comments: The title of the drawing means "Ren's sakura smile" in Japanese... I think, haha! Anyway, I had this image of him teasingly hiding his rare smile with something sakura-related. I didn't think I could pull off drawing a branch of sakura blossoms, but somehow, I managed to! Really happy with the outcome. Isn't Ren so bishie? [sigh]









Fanart characters: Sawada Shin (Gokusen by Morimoto Kozueko) and Mogami Kyouko (Skip Beat! by Nakamura Yoshiki)
Theme: "Unrequited Love"
Fanart title: "Gomen nasai"
Media used: drawn with pencil; cleaned by CG
Comments: The fanart title stands for "I'm sorry" in Japanese (written in hiragana in the middle) and I think it basically says it all, haha. In this scene, Shin is the one suffering unrequited love (Poor Shin!). Kyouko, being cynical about love, rejects him, but feels somewhat unhappy about having to hurt him. The ring on the chain? I guess it's like exchanging school rings between a couple. Anyway, my favourite part to draw was actually Shin's hair (so cool!)!

Leaving my 20s... (+ Aesthetic Tribute: June 2007)

My god, that sounds so final! Well, today I just turned 30 years old, but to be honest, I don't feel any different. I thought I might have felt depressed or something, but no, I didn't feel anything of significance. It just felt like any other day, thank god! However, I have decided to use this day as a starting point to work more seriously at achieving the rest of my 2007 resolutions. It's rather a long list and I'm only 30% there and half the year is already gone!!!

Oh yeah, one other thing, I just finished my first drawing after a long hiatus (approx. two years!). It's for a forum-based monthly fanart exhibition. Unfortunately, I didn't have much time to spend on this drawing since the deadline was June 30, and what with the viva and Liza's visit, I only had hours to get it finished. I have to admit, I'm really rusty!!!So gommen ("sorry" in Japanese) if the drawing destroys your eyes, haha!Every month, three manga characters (and two themes) are given to use as subjects for our fanart. I chose Rukia and Ichigo (you'd probably remember them from the anime I was telling you about before!) as my subjects and the theme I chose was "Manga Garden" in honour of the forum. The basic idea is that the two people got summer work at Manga Garden, picking manga flowers which have blossomed. Of course, Rukia is from an aristocratic family and so has a different idea of "work", haha. She's not really like that in the anime, even though she is an aristocrat. Anyway, the title of this art piece is "Summer Work At Manga Garden" - original, huh? Haha!

Well, hope you all like it. I have to go now! Tomorrow I start my German classes again! Tschus!