Looking Back ...

How many of us can remember how exactly we spent 2006? Every single day of it?

I can only recall the "bigger events" - the completion of "Stripe on 69th", making it to NATPE Festival, it being selected for Australian International Film Festival, some birthdays of family and close friends, some work which involved some known personalities and an old friend who recently passed away.

But to dismiss 2006 as unexciting would make me the biggest ingrate of all! Because I did experience some wonderful moments and get to meet some really good people. And they have all added a lot of value to my life and make me very rich.

Thank you 2006 and all the wonderful people who have come with it!

A Good Way to Read

My buddy Melly and I have made a pact to try and read some of each other's favorite books. So she's going start "Crime and Punishment", a book I've been telling her about for a long time, while I've already begun "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Bronte. Melly has read that book years ago and still calls it her all time favorite.

I have only made it to chapter five. Yet, I have a good feeling I will finish it. I like the style of writing and it's been a while I read a book with such refine English - "This is certainly, a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society.", "... looking, meantime, in my face so sourly that I charitably conjectured he must have need of divine aid to digest his dinner..."

Momentum of Doing Things

Old skills never really go away even if you hadn't used it for a while. They always come back naturally. Be it riding a bicycle or drawing ... I hope ...

My Most Prolific Sketching Moments

There was a period (about the same time "Stripe" was conceived) when I had a big habit of sketching. I would use pencils and papers profusely to reproduce the photographs of faces I saw in books and magazines.

It's harder to find time and patience to draw so passionately these days. And I do miss feeling intense and focused.

These sketches I'm sharing here are all at least 5 year old. I have quite a bit stashed in some corner.

Sketch of a bald man from Street magazine

sketch of a photograph of a model in a magazine

sketch of a photograph of a fashionable man in Street magazine

sketch of a photograph of a model

My Favorite Position of a Figure

I love drawing figures in this position - sitting and slouching.

Chairs on a Date

A random drawing with inspirations plucked out of nowhere. Should I give it a story?

So Floral

Floral prints are hardly my style... but okay to expriment with.

Indulgence

Seems like I'm sidetracking a little from the main theme of this blog again...well, I need to indulge myself a bit now and then.

I'm a "Junkie"

People amassed wealth, I collect a lot of junks. Not that I don't like wealth, yes I DO! But these junk keep hindering me from getting richer. I could have walked away every time they crossed my path. But I didn't. My resistance was low.

One of My Favorites

This is one of my most favorite of the Playmobil Special Series - the Postman. It's a newer one which has designs on the outfit. Previously the figurines were all in plain solid colors.

There is something magical about this German toy, Playmobil (pronounced "play-mo-beel" says on the box). It seems like they needn't have to try very hard to deliver this unique quality in their designs.

Designs and products like these, which carry a lot of pride and integrity, make me want to work in the companies that make them. I think it should be very fun going to work there everyday.

The Walks of Life

Things happen in the walks we take.

On hindsight, I think some of the influences for the making of "Stripe on 69th" are feelings and memories from experiences of walking in the streets, parks, quiet alleys, suburbs and flea-markets.

When you go to a different place, walking allows you to experience the everyday life more than if you were sitting in a tour bus or riding in a cab. You don't miss the details. The sight, the smell and the touch - don't they totally get you right there?

Yes, different strokes for different folks. I get totally blissed out by these simple things.

Not Bitchy, Just Very Observant

Sometimes when you just want to read to relax, you want something entertaining that talks to you.

I'm not a big fan of Andy Warhol's art but I enjoy the way he thinks and says what he thinks. I have read this book many times over and I admit to subscribing to some of his personal takes on the little things in life.

This book was written in 1975 but most of its context is still largely relevant.

Here are a few of my favorite paragraphs :

On Beauty - When I did my self-portrait, I left all the pimples out because you always should. Pimples are a temporary condition and they don't have anything to do with what you really look like. Always omit the blemishes - they're not part of the good picture you want.

On Time - I really do live for the future, because when I'm eating a box of candy, I can't wait to taste the last piece. I don't even taste any of the other pieces, I just want to finish and throw the box away and not have to have it on my mind any more.

On Love - People's fantasies are what give them problems. If you didn't have fantasies you wouldn't have problems because you'd just take whatever was there. But then you wouldn't have romance, because romance is finding your fantasy in people who don't have it. A friend of mine always says "Women love me for the man I'm not."

On Drags - Among other things, drag queens are living testimony to the way women used to want to be, the way some people still want them to be, and the way some women still actually want to be. Drags are ambulatory archives of idea moviestar womanhood.

The Everyday People

I remember watching a clay animation, when I was a kid, of a little town filled with friendly people going about their everyday life. It was quite mundane without much action. The biggest conflict in the story would only be about a mother thinking her baby had measles when they were in fact specks of paint. A painter was painting a wall when the mother had pushed the pram past him.

But the characters were very adorable. A lot like this butcher doll I bought from the Great Western Antique Market in Bath. And also because the story was set in the everyday life - the area in which I'm most interested.

To me, the everyday life is the most profound, intricate and conflicting place to be.

Mumbo Jumbo

Do you think our minds would look like this if we were to put them on paper - a mumbo-jumbo of all sorts of things ?

The Nonsense in My Life

This is why I find pleasure in collecting nonsense - I like to see things out of their original context. Things, especially the small ones, that are usually lost in a sea of other things - when you pick them out and give them space, you give them individuality and dignity.

Somehow I feel collecting needs fate and chemistry. There must be a reason why you fall in love with some things and decide to include them in your life. Why they are junks to others but keepers to you. Or maybe there is something connecting you with the previous owners?

I found this little (I don't know what to call it) thing in Bermondsey Market in London. It now sits on a shelf together with all the other strange little things I've collected over the years.

Take a Bath

The first time I heard of Bath I was curious why it had a name like that. I was ignorant. I found out later it was a former Roman city in UK, which owes its origin and ultimately its name to the springs. It was also home to Jane Austen.

The people in Bath are a lot nicer and warmer than those in London. They even bother to cross the road to check if you needed help, when you look silly lost holding a map. The B&Bs are usually run by friendly old nannas who wrap their little tea pots with crocheted warmers and greet you with "Good morning DEAR!" with a chirpy manner that reminds you of storybooks you read. And they feed you really well - English breakfast is one of the best things in life.

I visited Bath twice but it was such a long time ago. I'd love to go there again and see what the Great Western Antique Market (see below) is like now.

*To get to Bath you go to London's Paddington Station (famous for its Paddington Bear story) to take a 2-hour ride train.

Quintessentially Quaint

I enjoy little things and places with a quiet character. They're unassuming and pique your curiosity without even trying.

These small little things and places inspire you in a subtle way. They don't necessarily immediately translate into something you do; they just sit in corners of your deepest thoughts and quietly nurture them.

Which eventually affect the things you do and the way you do them.

This is a picture of the Great Western Antique Centre in Bath, UK.

A Place Full of Character

If you like quaint and character places too ...

The last time I heard, this authentic toy museum was near to closing down due to leasing issues. But I guess it's still around for now.

It's a very unique toy museum, though not exactly the kind modern day kids would flock to. It has a strange atmosphere about it. The vintage dolls hidden deep in one of the rooms looked like they could come alive when no one's watching.

You could read about it at www.pollockstoymuseum.com. Better to see the real thing when you happen to be in London.

The Little Things Make You Happy

Little shop like this reminds me of the ones I saw in the old children's books. Very kind, simple and wholesome - no worries about not doing enough business to sustain, no inflation, no competition, no looters, no nasty customers...

I remember I used to like drawing little shops like this, decorating them with shelves and groceries, and imagining the ringing of cash register.

You might like this book too

This is one of my favorite funny books I guess some of you might like too. I find people who are able to laugh at themselves very interesting. Susan Jane Gilman is one such writers. Let me share with you an excerpt from Chapter One -

WHEN I WAS LITTLE, I was so girlie and ambitious, I was practically a drag queen. I wanted to be everything all at once: a prima ballerina, an actress, a model, a famous artist, a nurse, an Ice Capades dancer, and Batgirl. I spent inordinate amounts of time waltzing around our living room with a doily on my head, imagining in great detail my promenade down the runway as the new Miss America, during which time I would also happen to receive a Nobel Prize for coloring.

The one thing I did not want to be was a hippie.

"For Chrissake, you're not a hippie," said my mother, fanning incense around our living room with the sleeves of her dashiki. "You're four years old. You run around in a tutu. You eat TV dinners and complain when the food doesn't look exactly like it does on the packages. Hippies don't do that," she said. "Hippies don't make a big production out of eating their Tater Tots."

"Come to think of it, hippies don't torture their little brother by trying to sell him the silverware, either," she added. "If I were you, I'd worry less about being a hippie and more about being an extortionist."

But even by age four, I was aware of my family's intrinsic grooviness, and it worried me no end. Like most little kids - or anyone, for that matter - I suffered from contradictory desires. While I wanted to be the biggest, brightest star in the universe, I also wanted to be exactly like everybody else.

The blurb says : Based on the belief that there's more to women's lives than just getting a date, Gilman's stories tell of struggling to get a life and a clue - and engaging in some spectacularly demented behavior along the way...

69th Characters - Sleepwalking Baby Bob And Grandma Greenie

Two year-old Baby Bob sleep-walks. He is also short-sighted and very dreamy. Everyday he goes around the house bumping his head on the walls, table legs and his grandma's walking stick.

Grandma Greenie is seriously forgetful and lost in her own world. She thinks her grandson, Baby Bob, is the little kitten she used to have when she was three. So she feeds him with a pet dish.

Apartment 2A on 69th, where Grandma Greenie and Baby Bob live, is a "wander-wonder-land".

Little People

My nephew, Elliot, is only 4, but somehow reminds me of a grown person. Interestingly, Elliot also tells his mommy he can't wait to grow up. I suspect it's got to do with his favorite sports like basketball and bowling - they're all too BIG for him, which makes him really frustrated.

Just a short while ago, he'd announced he wanted to build houses at 16. But by last week, he'd already changed his mind- he wanted to be a gas-station attendant instead. Kids have no reservations about their dreams.

Have you ever been to a kid's birthday party? On Elliot's 4th, I was so amused when I saw the array of friends at his party - there were 3 Angola kids, 1 Swede, 1 Thai, 2 Koreans and a couple of Americans - like a mini United Nation. The house was topsy-turvy, with the different representatives of the UN screaming and fighting for the same toys. Not as if there weren't enough toys to share. Everyone, for some strange reasons, ended up wanting the same thing.

If you want the kids to behave, you bring out the birthday cake and start the birthday song. Civility is conditioned, which we must know by now. The cake and song in a birthday party definitely command a lot more respect; adults are merely waiters and cleaners.

69th Character - Weather Bimbo Lisa

"Weather-Bimbo Lisa", as she's fondly known among us, was created at the last minute, when we decided we needed someone to announce, over the news, that it's going to be "a perfect weather for parachuting, hand-gliding or driving around in a convertible." Basically she acts as a cue for Stripe to know the weather and decide if it's good to test her flying skills. Alison wrote and voiced the lines which added a lot of colors to Lisa's character. You can see here, without further introduction, that Lisa adores fashion. In a big and strange way.

Have We Forgotten How to Tell What Is Real ...

... and What's Just a Dream?

Can you remember some of your interesting dreams? Don't you find them so real sometimes? Which makes me wonder if there is a another version of us living in a different dimension.

When we go to sleep or daydream, we enter that dimension - of the bizarre and unexplained. We find ourselves doing things we don't normally do, or rather, things we cannot do. I remember flying once. Another time, I was among people who have passed on, my old neighbors, ex-colleague and my dad, asking them "How's life over there?".

Most people say those are just day thoughts that are carried into our sleep. I choose to think there is a place for unfinished business and seeing your possibilities.

69th Character - Big Hair Ziggy

As promised, here's more of Ziggy for you. She's quite cute, isn't she? She's one of my most favorite characters too.

But don't let her cool exterior deceive you- it hides a timid and disoriented personality. She finds it very hard to make-up her mind. Perhaps her big hair is weighing too much on her head.

Though she dreams of burning up the catwalk and actually cuts it, she is trapped in her fear of being judged. She also has this big imagination of everything going wrong all the time, wherever she goes.

Characters, drawings and stories copyrighted. 2006 All Rights Reserved.

69th Characters - Not Your Kind of Pet

Pf, here's Macbeth with his pretend-aristocrat master, George.

FYI, Macbeth is equally snooty, which is why his back is against us. He's that kind of dog that huffs and turns his nose the other way when you try and pat him. These two are a perfect match; like master, like dog.

You can't tell its breed because Macbeth is such a pretentious little thing that he constantly hides his true identity.

Have I disappointed you? I know you love animals but maybe not this one?

2006. All drawings, characters and stories are copyrighted.

69th - Thank You My Heroes

My heartfelt thanks to these wonderful people who have helped to make it possible:

Kwang Wei and LS - my ever supportive siblings who not only stand by me but also contributed their creative talents.

David Kwok - producer and good friend who happens to be the source of other great talents; who puts together the team of animators and keeps everything in check.

Alison Lester - the great improv actor-comedian-writer and good friend who speaks so many different languages, including "mine".

Dominic, Pauline, Chwee Hock, Maureen, Winnie - you guys are the super-sweet and ultra- skilled animators who will have a great future.

Terence and Shu Yan - for without you, my characters would be a cast of silent-movie actors.

And all the others who believe and support:
Melly, Kelly, Alan, Dolly, Paige, Iza, Linda, Geogette, Kitty, Hamzah, Erica, Joan, Bea Fung, Jit, Oli, Terry, Pei Fen, ViVi, Aaron and Caroline.

Last but not least, Media Development Authority Singapore - for giving us a job and a chance to make this a reality.

69th - The Block

Here's a peek at the apartment 69th. There's Mrs Soo, Stripe's nosey neighbor looking over the street for a scoop, or rather, something worth gossiping. She gets totally blissed out chewing the fat all the time. Downstairs, by the entrance of the building, is where you find Mr Alsagoff's Laundromat. And he has a grand-daughter, Ziggy, who's quite a cupcake who dreams of "burning up" the catwalk.

69th - Master Jack-of-all-trade

This is Stripe trying to do so many things, though not necessarily good at any. A "Master" Jack-of-all-trade in the making.

People Who Love Kids Are Really Nice People

A new friend I met recently has this dream of opening a "house" for toys where she can invite kids over and have fun every Children's Day. Which I think is really cool, cos I'm such a big fan of toys myself. Another good friend wants to set up an art school for kids. Then I told her I want to join her in messing up the kids' brains...haha, I mean I want to hang out with them when they paint. Phew!

I think all these people who love children and want to do things for them are really sweet. And I bet the kids will love them back a million times.

The Cheer Leaders of Your Dreams

Life is sweet when you meet people who share and understand your dreams. Of course there are also some who don't but still support you anyhow. I call that REALLY sweet.

I never grew up having specific dreams. For some reasons, my aspirations seemed vague. It's always something this or something that, never "A" doctor, "A" scientist or "An" artist. I wanted to do a lot of things, but never exactly wanted to BE them. I guess there is this big part of me that fears the responsiblity of matching the high standards of what I say I want to be. So I tell people, this is what I do, like "I'm in fashion","I do designs","I'm working on an animation project".

And I've come to a conclusion that most of the things I have done or moved on to do, are in fact different expressions of the same thing - my love for art, people and everyday life.

Why you do what you do?

A friend asked what made me do this (animation). Actually, i don't quite remember... one thing just led to another. Just like how I ended up in the fashion industry. Like a "natural progression". Stripe was initially just some loose drawings of a quirky character who tried very hard at everything. A Jack-of-all-trades. She believes every dream is possible. And it also helps that her personality is such that she doesn't get her nose out of joint so easily about anything people say. Stripe was created some 5 years ago, when I was spending a lot of time at my old shop, with my buddy, Melly. We shared a lot of our crazy ideas and antics so maybe all those talks and play had inspired the drawings and personality of Stripe and given the character a life of her own.

The Beginning of It All - Dreams to Remember

I'm dedicating this blog to my dreams and things and people that inspire me in so many ways.

Also, this will be the place I find myself talking about a very precious project I'm working on - Stripe on 69th, a 2D animation story about a place where big-hearted and quirky characters nurse their private hopes, where some dreams are kept secret and others are made real with unexpected heroes.

A 7 minute pilot in DVD has been made, with its stint in LA based NATPE Nextgenfestival and a soon-to-be screening in the Austrailian International Film Festival in October.

The bigger hope is - Stripe on 69th can some day be extended and expanded. Fingers crossed.

2006 all copy rights reserved for story and illustrations