PaperWindows

Painting Trees

2011-12-04T19:09:00.000+08:00

Water-colouring at home on a rainy sunday afternoon.

Face-painting

2011-12-04T19:03:00.008+08:00

I seriously can't recall the last time i held a paintbrush so I most certainly did not set out to paint a girl's face. But because my attempt to paint randomly drawn leaves didn't work out, i flipped the same piece of watercolour paper over (is that even allowed?), thinking maybe i need to practice brush strokes first. For some reason i drew a girl's lips, one thing led to another and i ended up painting her whole face! I don't know if i'm doing it correctly but it was pretty enjoyable, and the good thing with watercolour is, you can kinda wash over mistakes. Anyway, she's a little vampire-looking and i'm happier with the cropped individual parts of the face, than when the parts form the whole. Still, i'm giving myself a pat on the back for finally getting down to picking up my paintbrushes. Special thanks to Lai Yeow and Ivan, for giving me the watercolour set for my birthday this year!

Chains of love

2011-08-06T22:48:00.002+08:00

These were hanging behind the frosted glass panel in Lai Yeow's bathroom and looked really pretty in silhouette i took out my pens and started sketching!

Saturday Sketches

2011-07-09T15:10:00.000+08:00

One more sketch this morning amidst noise and dust all over the house cos it was my turn to stay home and watch over the toilet renovation works.

Doodles from the pocket notebook

2011-07-09T14:24:00.015+08:00

10 min pen and paper doodles on a stay-home friday night.

Nara pose taken off a print i bought from Spittafield's Market in London last year, just cos it was sitting on my table when my fingers were itching for a doodle.

Fabric stuffed bunnies from a design product shop in Lao Chang Fang in Shanghai last year, also cos they're sitting on my table.

Flowers and leaves against a blue cobalt wall on Ann Siang Hall, sketched off an iPhone image while talking on the home phone. I've this habit to sometimes doodle aimlessly on scrap pieces of paper while on the phone.

Layering the city. View from Ann Siang Hill. Another sketch off my iPhone photo collection.

Book Jacket

2011-04-04T00:19:00.005+08:00

I know it's been a while since my last entry and after my home-made Turkey blog book post last August, i'm happy to inform that since then, i've successfully published my Turkey and Greece travel journals (thanks Blurb.com and thanks Liping for introducing it to me!)

No more painstakingly gluing pages together haha...

So anyway just wanted to share with you the (front + back) cover design for my upcoming publication.

I'm excited! Stay tuned!

Blogbook

2010-08-11T01:50:00.010+08:00

I'm quite pleased with my very own home-made blogbook... it really looks home-made hahaha . I am also quite amazed at my unyielding tenacity to inflict torture on myself. I don't know where i started toying with the idea of "blogbooking"; i think it could be from reading a recent Monocle issue on the Top 25 Most Livable Cities in the World. Nothing new, it's basically turning your blog into a book and there are several online services that do it for you. Just that laying out the pictures using their template was a pain so i decided to lay it all out myself then upload page by page which i figured would be simpler. Except that i was attempting to lay out 90 pages of photos and text using my dad's tiny 20cm by 15cm netbook. Scrolling to zoom in and out to align pictures was a pain in the a** as well as in the shoulders and after just 5 pages, the ache in my right shoulder was so bad i wanted to give up. But being the masochist i was, i perservered. And did something like 20 pages a night, over at least 3 hours in each sitting. Only to be disheartened when i realised the cost of the online blogbook totalled $150. I checked with a couple of printers and they quoted me double the price. So last night, when the rest of Singapore was watching the National Day Parade, i was printing pages and pages of my virgin blogbook, and painstakingly glued the white sides together and stitched it all up into a book of sorts. It's super fragile and the glue doesn't quite hold the pages together but it still resembles a book at the very least. Hardly professional looking but it has my sweat and blood (okay, i dramatise) and i'm super pleased with it.

Sample pages below. Nothing particularly extraordinary about the layout but it's my very first home-made travel journal in print so forgive me if i gush.

Read the rest of my travel journals on ready.jetset.go!
Check out my other design work by returning to paperwindows!

Wedding Invites for Mu & Esme

2010-07-26T22:24:00.008+08:00

Wedding card designs for this lovely October wedding couple i got to know through a friend, who's colleagues with the bride-to-be. I just love the numerical composition formed by their choice of wedding date: zero-two-one-zero-two-zero-one-zero! Well, you'll know which design they chose when you receive your invites! :)

Bundle of Joy

2010-06-22T23:37:00.012+08:00

Dear Big E, I'm glad you like the postcard.
And if i haven't already told you,
i think small e looks super adorable in this picture.

This is a bundle of joy postcard specially created for elaine, one-time architecture student-turned-doctor. I will always remember fondly this image of you in my dorm room at night with hairdresser clips you said was for straightening your unruly curls, and how we'd sometimes chat the night away about life's difficult decisions.

You're a mommy now! i still need to let that sink in haha.
Really happy for you & cheng. All the best! :)

you've got mail!

2010-04-27T00:53:00.006+08:00

And guess what, my little brother has jumped on the wedding bandwagon too!

Postcard-inspired wedding card design.

Flashback

2010-02-23T22:37:00.014+08:00

Found some really old First Year Archi school project photos from waaay back in '96/97. Funny i only have photos of my first year projects. First Year was without a doubt where we had the most fun i guess!

Retractable Bridge

Habitat for a tie-dyer

Mondrian House

Lantern

house

2010-01-11T00:21:00.000+08:00

Been thinking about making more use of the balcony just outside my room, and while i'm at it, how about extending a trellis over the car porch roof and turning it into a timber-deck patio, hmm. Now that i've finally gotten down to doodling some ideas, all that's left is to convince daddy.

before:

after (if after ever happens, that is):

Gift Tags

2010-01-10T17:58:00.004+08:00

Two-minute hand-drawn gift tags for the birthday girls.

twinkle twinkle little star

2009-10-23T22:29:00.006+08:00

Branding design for *gasp* diamonds! Falling from the sky soon. Stay tuned!

monogram

2009-10-02T22:48:00.001+08:00

For my friend, Rain and her husband-to-be...

oh and Happy Birthday too!

Bunnies at Work

2009-08-26T16:44:00.007+08:00

On midweek leave for a day and felt like drawing some rabbits...

Afternoon Tea Party

2009-08-26T16:40:00.000+08:00

I've no idea what inspired this doodle on a weekday afternoon, but it was fun drawing it!

White Filigree Furniture

2009-08-26T16:38:00.001+08:00

Haven't been doodling much lately and realise i kinda miss it! Guess these were inspired from the vintage bird cage Lai Yeow gave me for my birthday!

He loves me, he loves me not.

2009-08-26T16:07:00.000+08:00

Wedding Program

2009-05-31T22:01:00.000+08:00

Draft Order of Service and Thank You cards for my brother's church wedding in Brisbane just two months away! I think he wants to include a photo and another paragraph featuring Special Acknowledgements somewhere in there. At the moment i have no idea how! ;P

Slumber Party

2009-03-29T00:19:00.001+08:00

Newest addition to my PillowTalk Collection!

Doggie Carnival

2009-03-27T21:59:00.000+08:00

Random doodle to de-stress after work one night.

Lovebirds!

2009-03-14T21:57:00.003+08:00

Busy busy busy... i can't believe it's March already... hopefully i'll be less busy in April. Finally got down to designing the wedding invite for my brother's Aug wedding in Brisbane!

The final card in long format.

To The Nines

2009-01-06T21:51:00.000+08:00

Branding design and illustrations for an online shop belonging to 2 lovely fashionistas, who share one philosophy "Life is but a runway." (indeed!), and who're launching their first 'To The Nines' fashion preview on 17 Jan 2009. See you there!

Touch Home Care Publicity

2008-11-29T21:47:00.000+08:00

The calendar's been printed! It's retailing at $10 a copy and all proceeds go to Touch Home Care services. Quick pick up a copy and do your bit for charity this Christmas! :)

Touch Home Care

2008-11-11T21:44:00.000+08:00

Received a surprise email from an ex-Archi classmate enquiring if i'd be interested in some pro-bono design work for a calendar featuring old folks. Cool!

My Best Friend's Wedding

2008-09-12T21:37:00.000+08:00

Work has kept me busy and i haven't quite had the time to do any design work lately but i made this card for my best friend's ROM two weeks ago. Didn't quite know how to photograph it so i'm presenting it in fragments to tell the story :)

On second thought, this is kinda blurry but it's what the card looks like unfolded.

Tuck Koon & Lin Jing

2008-07-20T21:34:00.000+08:00

Designed a wedding card for a friend who's getting married in September. I love the randomness of drawing the white filigree fence details and tiny maroon hearts! Although it was quite a pain drawing them in photoshop heh.

Bread Bar Media

2008-07-01T21:29:00.000+08:00

Breadbar has been featured all over the Singapore press such that capturing most of it requires a 33cm X 320cm layout panel which i did last week. Breadbar will be at Taka's foodfest from 3rd to 13th July together with this media panel.

Bread Bar

2008-05-28T21:26:00.001+08:00

A couple of counter menu designs I worked on recently for Breadbar, bringing you new ways to enjoy traditional you tiao. Love their green tea breadbar with sweet wasabi dip and the almond breadbar with dark chocolate dip! Go try it if you haven't already :) Breadbar is located at Square 2 #B1-119.

Terrascapes

2008-04-20T21:24:00.000+08:00

A little early but thought i'd share some design ideas i had for my latest job, which is a business card design for a landscape consulting firm. Hmm, i still think Sandy Soils would be a really cute name ha ha, except i'm not too sure about sandy soils being the ideal landscaping foundation!

Grinning all the way to Greece

2008-03-25T00:16:00.001+08:00

I was feeling slightly whimsical for a tuesday night and came up with a couple of nonsensical postcard designs in anticipation of my upcoming Greece trip... can't wait!

Baby Birth Certificate

2008-02-02T00:09:00.000+08:00

Victor & Elaine

2007-12-14T23:58:00.001+08:00

Wedding card for Victor & Elaine. Put a heart-shaped cut-out on the cover which reveals the cartoon drawing of the bride & groom on the page inside. Think that just made the card that teeny bit pricier to print - oops!

Pillowtalk Collection

2007-09-16T23:47:00.001+08:00

Designed this set of girly frilly birthday cards on a rainy sunday night while listening to Silje Nergaard's Two Sleepy People. I think i'm going to call it, um, the PillowTalk Collection for now. And oh, its just lingerie, every girl's must-haves, so don't blush :)

City Patrol

2007-08-11T23:41:00.001+08:00

I really really enjoyed drawing this street illustration for City Patrol, especially adding all those frivolous details like the awnings and window trims on the facades of the shophouses. Oh and if you do check out City Patrol, don't you just love their (noble) tagline?

Glamourpuss

2007-07-17T23:13:00.001+08:00

Branding design for Glamourpuss, whose owner is one sassy european glamourpuss herself! I actually illustrated the girl after her! She's gonna bring in some really cool looking girly stuff like travel kits and cosmetics packaged in pretty little tin boxes so look out for those!

FashBash

2007-06-10T22:45:00.001+08:00

These were illustrations i did for FashBash held earlier this year at NAFA's CurioCity, for my super talented fashionista-features editor-freelancer-friend i knew all the way back from school. The stiletto with ribbon illustration was actually made into black acrylic pendants and sold at Fashbash! Of course i got to keep one for free!

Fee-Fi-Fo-Fum

2007-05-24T22:39:00.001+08:00

Fashion doodles are a frequent subject whenever i'm subconsciously doodling but this one's a little special so i thought i'll scan and put it up... i kinda drew it while i was a bench warmer in an impossibly long meeting and i was observing all the hidden subtleties of the verbal sparring that was going on and on and on. See the dagger and the sword at the top of the paper? It all started with that and i guess my subconscious took over!

Rub-a-dub-dub

2007-05-21T22:36:00.000+08:00

This is really quite non-sensical but it's another of those 2-minute type doodles of whatever came to mind... hmm looks like food's on my mind quite a bit huh.

Project Runway Necklace Challenge

2007-03-21T21:45:00.001+08:00

Overcame inertia and finally submitted a handmade necklace which i did like 2 days before the closing date of the Project Runway necklace challenge. My supermarket materials to make the necklace totalled less than $5. Project Runway, by the way, is my favourite reality tv show cos like a friend puts it, 'it reminds me of my archi days'

Wedding Corsages

2007-01-11T21:26:00.001+08:00

"With this corsage, i declare you a bridesmaid!" Corsages i made for the bridesmaids at Sharon's wedding in January 2007. Did i mention i was one of the bridesmaids too?

Miss Twinkles & Miss Sparkles

2007-01-07T22:32:00.000+08:00

This was a birthday card i doodled for one of my favourite girlfriends, inspired by her liking for illustrators like Becky Kelly and this recipe book which was i thought, an excuse for some really pretty illustrations and border designs. I just can't remember the name of that book now but i know its somewhere in her wardrobe next to the giant carebears she hides in her closet.

Corporate Calendar

2006-11-24T22:19:00.000+08:00

Graphic work for a corporate calendar.

Friday Nite Fever

2006-05-26T22:22:00.000+08:00

Publicity email and invite for a Retro-themed Dinner & Dance event. Found this gorgeous background image off the web, added some fonts and made it into an invite! See the tear-out portion, doesn't it remind you of those little blue notebooks you carried around in primary school?

People of Asia

2004-05-24T22:26:00.000+08:00

Designed this set of invites for an ethnic themed Dinner & Dance, with a little stroke of genius from my fellow archi good friend who swept all the awards during graduation. He suggested adding the frosted glass panel which i thought was brilliant cos it emphasized the idea of the girl changing out of her boring office wear into party-time ethnic clothes. Didn't draw the girl from scratch though, a friend sent her to me and i had a really fun time designing her look and dressing her up in Photoshop.

Coupons

2004-04-24T22:14:00.000+08:00

Ring-a-ding-ding, it's time for ice-cream! Coupon designs were pretty fun to do too!

The Little Mustard Seed

2004-03-24T22:29:00.000+08:00

I love the name of this toy company started by one cool chick from church. She eventually opted for a hot fuschia pink background instead for the final printed namecard.