Straighten out the watercolor painting

When all pages are ready, then I find most of them are slightly wavy. 

And you know the wavey papers are not good to be scanned, 

they tend to make uneven shade in the scanning result. 

An easy treatment for wavy watercolor art, 

that won't harm the art on the paper is simply with taking 

a slightly damp sponge and wet the BACK of the paper just so it is moist.

Once the paper is damp, put it between blotter paper and weights 

and flatten it that way. I am using a heavy frying pan, here..:D

Trust me, it works and doesn't have any effect on the art on the front.

Dummy Book

I made this dummy book several months ago, as a manuscript to be sent to a Publisher in Singapore. 

I printed and glued every page with love... and kissed it good bye, since I knew I couldn't see this one again.. :p

When the accident happened

A big drop of masking fluid sloped on my almost ready painted illo. Yup! Where else the panic attacks if not came straight in to me! But right after my conscious is back, I realize that it's not worthed to panicked, that slob was not a biggie. Just peel it off gently after it was perfectly dried on all it's surface. In the process a little hint of water color came off as it stuck on the layer of dry masking fluid, but since 90% of the color still remain on the paper, so again it's not a biggie.

Come to think of it, actually it was kind of a fun interesting accident! ha!

And the day ended up gloriously like the scene of a cowboy galloping on his horse heading to the golden sun set...  THE END ;)

Ngabuburit!

Ngabuburit = Waiting for break fasting time.

Back to my childhood time... when the western movie series "Bonanza" and "The Little House on The Prairie" were shown on TV. They inspire kids from places where you can still find banana trees around to play cowboys vs indians, along with horses and rifles made of banana leaves. It was one of many awesome games to play during the Ramadhan festive season!
You can make your own horse and rifle by following the instructions on the picture I made.... Enjoy! ;)

Working with the Image palette

page 11-12

Exploring Bubble's under water world.

Bubble lives in a beautiful crystal clear pond, in an imaginary world. My first attempt coloring the last pages 19-20 failed (I am not kinda person working in order from first page to the last page in finishing stage :). It was frustrating trying to find the right image of the page, then ending up with me made the over do coloring, to the dull colors... 


So I tucked the dull 19-20 pages on the magnet board, leave it hanging for a while. And then for the first time in my illustrating work, I made the image palette, for Children Book. And you know what, it's wicked! :D
The image palette becomes a guide for me to grip the feeling of the page, and also as the color's guidance... it's simple and easy.


Well, actually working with the image board is not a new thing for me back then. I used to do the same method in my design jobs. And now I am happy to use the same method in illustrating children book!:)

The Image pictures for page 11-12

Image color for pages of Bubble The Beautiful Fish

All Images are from https://www.facebook.com/EarthStory

Have fun with masking fluid aka FRISKET

I love the frisket! it's a magic technique. It's very effective to block out areas of watercolor while you paint, thereby retaining the white of the paper or the previous color that was painted.

The first time i used frisket, it was sooo brush consuming!! I wasted a lot of brushes, as it is tricky to get masking fluid out of a brush. Some artists recommend dipping a brush in washing-up liquid before using the masking fluid, as this makes it easier to wash out of a brush. But I am done with the brush, period.
In my frustrated moment because i had no more brushes that i can use for frisket, a ball of lamp just swiched on in my head! hey, why not!! If I cannot use the damaged bristle of the brush, why don't i use the tip of it's handle! just sharpen it with the pencil sharpener and no apps can be better for frisketing!! YAY!! happy me!:))

Frisket that's got a color is easier to use than one which is white or transparent as you can see where you've applied it. Mine has a grayish color here.

Frisket is easily removed by gently rubbing it off either with your fingers or an eraser, once the painting is dry. And my white flying dandelions are so lite, happy and cheerful... love them!

Masking liquid

A few years ago --my goodness! i guess it was 5-6 years ago!--, i bought a bottle of masking liquid for water color, which i've never had a chance to try it, not until yesterday.
Well, i believe that there will come a day when we have to TRY the thing that we've never tried before:), like the day that i decide to USE my masking liquid, to improve my speed and technique on water color:)

aah... so fun to play with the masking! it's easy and speed up the process and most of all, the traces left behind are Georges

I made those items to apply a bid in a online company. 

I hope it can help me to get hired:)