People always ask me where do I get my inspirations, so I hope this post will answer some of those questions :) If you haven’t read the intro yet, you can find it here:D
I was supposed to finish and post Ch0 -part 1 last Saturday, but due to the sudden news about going Sakura-con, I had to prepare for that instead ^^; (more info here)
Further readings and sources:
- Jake Davis - [link] [link]
- HBGary scandal - [link] [link]
- Bradley Manning - [link] [link]
- Leaked Collateral Murder video [link]
- Pepper Spray Cop meme [link] [link]
- Berkeley students beaten by police [link]
- Occupy Oakland [link] [link]
- Arab Spring [link] [link]
- Jacob Appelbaum speaks about Tor and censorship [link]
- Chinese internet pop-up cops [link] [link]
- Very Erotic, Vert Violent meme [link]
Finally got the first city test :D
I ran into so many dead ends trying to do this *sob* First I wanted to use CityScape but the company died so there’s only the trial version that couldn’t import the various buildings that I needed. Then I got CityEngine and that would have worked if it didn’t crash all the time. I think I would need 24 gig ram for that program but my computer only has 10.
I ended up using 3DS Max’s Ghost Town plugin but the plugin is buggy and often crashed as well. Eventually, I got an acceptable city but it took up so much ram that 3DS Max refused to work properly (wouldn’t let me instance materials…). After repeated head-desking, I found a way around it and rendered 3 versions. 1 for basic color, one for contour outlines, and another thinner outline because it’s not distance sensitive enough.
After that, I painted over everything in SAI for color adjustment and brush texture, then Photoshop for minor distortion (it takes away the hard edges and jarring straight lines of a 3D image).
This took a lot longer than I expected (about 6 hours but still faster than drawing by hand), but it will be way faster in the future after I figure more stuff out (and get more ram lol)
Tutorials in the future after I get back from AX and SD Comic Con!
Prototype #1 for the Knite Swallow kite has arrived! :D
There still needs to be some color adjustments plus other things but I’m pretty happy with everything so far.It took forever to find a kite manufacturer that would use biodegradable paper instead of plastic. The traditional silk is too expensive and rice paper is too fragile and while the material we chose is environmental, sturdy, and reasonably priced, it’s still a lot more expensive than the plastic most manufacturers use so not a lot of manufacturers use them. I think there’s only 2 places in China that use this material but we finally found them.
We’ll hopefully have this out by fall :)
FFFFF
My broken kite can now rest in peace. ; u ; This looks gorgeous!!! I can’t wait until it’s out! >3<
Another origami hair ornament. This time for myself to hang on the end of my braid :3
The koi is made from a modified version of my winged koi design. There’s no tutorial for it but you can see the general process of how I made the winged koi.
I simply adjusted some proportions to create a regular koi, but due to the small size of the koi (around 2.5 inches) I couldn’t fold the pelvic fins. You can see a larger version of the process here.
As for the lotus, I found the design online, but I can’t seem to find the tutorial link anymore ^^; However, there are many other versions of the lotus that you can find tutorials of.
Won Park designed a dollar koi that looks very similar to mine (but the design is inherently different) and he was kind enough to provide a full and detailed tutorial here.
Good luck! :D
More character designs for my work in progress graphic novel, Fisheye Placebo :D
These two are art majors and roommates~ The girl on the left is Cocao and the one on the right is Jen. They met Vance when he took a figure drawing class to see naked women… XD
“Dad, I miss you”
I want to see you
Hug you
After 3 long years
Call me selfish
But I want more than just your voice
And the glow of a computer screen
It will be my birthday and college graduation in a few days
It should be the happiest time of life
Yet I can’t stop crying
Why?
Because the US denied him a visa for the 8th time
This is not immigration, this is not illegal workers
This is my father
The man who paid for my expensive college education
Denied the 2 weeks he wants to spend with his daughter
For my graduation
For my birthday
What have I been working for?
When I was valedictorian in middle school and high school
When I got straight A’s in America’s number 1 public university
What is their worth when my dad can’t be here to be proud of me?
This land of “opportunities”
This land of broken families
It’s not enough that they denied me
From seeing my mother at age 5
It’s not enough that my parents divorced
Because love dies as the US denies
It’s not enough that after 13 years here
A citizen like me can’t experience the simple joys
Of inviting my dad into my home
Why is he denied?
Because having a wife and son
A high income job
Plus 3 properties in China
Is apparently not enough
To guarantee that he won’t refuse to leave America
As if he has anything to gain in this shitty US economy
“Why not just visit him instead?”
I would if his psychotic wife and son
Didn’t chase me away with a knife
The last 3 times I tried to visit
So I waited 3 years
For the moment when my university
Can send graduation invitations
It’s the only way to see him again
It’s the only thing his paranoid wife would allow
Too bad it’s not something the US would allow
Dear US Visa Consular
All I want is two weeks with my father
To show him my campus, go hiking, and just have dinner together
For all the family moments that some take for granted
I’ve never had any
I begged in my letter to you
To please don’t take this away from me
But you did
You took away all of my hope
I’ve never been more ashamed
To be an American
In this land of the free
I am not free
To be with my family
Not even for two weeks
So all I have left
As the tears roll down my face
Is the cold glow of my laptop
And the words
“I miss you too”
The extra for Ch4 of Knite is out! :D
You can read the flash version here.
All Knite chapters can be found here on my dA.
Finished! :D
In other news, I will be at the Artist Alley for Fanime, AM2 and Anime Expo. I hope to see you there! :D
EPIC RANT TIME
It’s actually funny that this person is telling me to learn more about something before trying to educate others when she/he doesn’t know anything about me.
It’s pretty clear that I spent 2 weeks in China? Um, I was born and raised there for 9 years. I return to visit my relatives in the summer, and I always travel alone, not with my parents (but I do visit my dad) because the family issue presented in Knite isn’t just shit I made up, it’s shit I had to deal with (murderous psycho stepmom? Check).
Japanese school uniform? China is HUGE, I highly doubt there are no schools, especially a high end school like the ones Sen and Kai go to, that has those navy colored uniforms. Sure, a lot of schools these days only have track suites, but it’s not like the other version doesn’t exist. How do I know? I wore that kind of uniform for 2 years while growing up in Chengdu.
I never said the kite designs were traditional so I don’t know where you got that from. This is a modern day story, Sen makes his own kites (as seen in Ch3). It’s his simplified design, not a traditional one. I thought it was extremely obvious that the designs are a mix of the old an new (I mean, even the picture you wrote this rant on is specifically about the divide between globalization and tradition). If I were doing a historical story, then you can bitch about the designs.
I lack understanding in the educational system? Please tell me about how the school you went to is representative of every school in China. If you know anything about China, you’ll know that corruption is worse in some areas than others, and the “free” education in some areas are seen as for those with no future.
As for the nursery rhymes, please elaborate on how they are wrong because if a few words aren’t translated to your exact liking, that’s just you being anal.
And since we’re on the topic, let me tell you a bit more about my inspiration for Knite. Sheltered girl in America? My parents grew up with nothing. My mom got to eat an egg once a year on her birthday. My dad had to eat rats caught by his dog, but the communist government see dogs as luxury items so it was banned to have dogs. His family had to kill his dog and eat it to avoid prosecution.
Because my father grew up with so little, money meant survival and everything to him. He and his older siblings got into the pesticide industry and became rich due to the corruption and bribery shown in Knite. He told me how you can just take a politician out for dinner and slip a red pocket of money under the table and they’ll forget all about the inspection. He has left that industry for many years now and is into stocks instead. He regrets the things his family company has done, and I, like Kai, inevitably benefited from the money they made at the cost of the environment’s expense.That’s where I got the money to move to America at the age of 9. Like Sen, my mom left China when I was 5 because she was fed up with China. Unlike Sen’s mom, she didn’t abandon me, and I was able to join her later on but my father stayed behind. I won’t get into the rest of my family drama but know that the life I’ve lived is far from being sheltered. Even the money my father made from the pesticide company barely afforded a lower class life style in America back in the days (8 RMB was 1 USD), but it was enough.
I was able to live a balanced life, between China and America, poverty and wealth. Everything in Knite has been inspired by things I’ve witness myself, not through news clips. I’ve been advocating environmentalism for almost 8 years but I wasn’t born with the knowledge, it was a slow path of discovery. That’s what I want to show in Knite. Sen starts out as a dreamer with a grand goal, but as he matures, he will slowly learn about all the complexities of the world, and the path to his dreams is not as simple as attaching lights to kites.
Knite is inspired by my life experiences, and I’ll be damned if you expect me have lived the exact same life as you. You’ve seen parts of China that I haven’t, but I have seen parts that you haven’t. Don’t compare the Bible Belt to San Francisco, and don’t compare my life to yours.
And just to insult you some more, I will repeat:
I, Wenqing Yan (颜温情), dedicate Knite to the land of my birth, where many happy and sad memories were had, for all the laughs, all the tears, everything: China.
i can’t believe anyone would say such things. im glad you told he/she off.
personally, i love all of your work, and i think it is all beautiful. keep it up, it inspires me so much. i cant thank you enough! :D
And that’s what being Asian is all about~
(In before people who can’t take a joke and start ranting about racial stereotypes.)
I’ve been meaning to draw this for over two years now ^^; I’ve finally finished editing Knite book 1 for printing so you can expect frequent updates again! :D
If you enjoyed this one, check out my LIKE AN ARTIST COMICI may or may not be guilty of pulling that last one. On more than just telemarketers.
(>_<)b
hahhha i have done some of these before.
We Dream
This is a 10 by 15 inch Knite poster featuring Sen, Min-Min, Kai, Ling, and Fei gazing up at the star filled sky of their dreams. You can purchase the poster here.
Look at these amazing Fisheye Placebo cosplays!!! :D Thank you all so much! <3 I never thought people would cosplay a story that I haven’t even made yet XD
They are just so awesome, I wish I could have been there! You guys better come to Fanime so I can give you free stuff! >:DFrey by Shotalicious
Vance by liarino
Robin by usagi2ranpha
Alex by
I don’t know but it’s from here
At long last, the full and complete 110 page Ch4 is out! :D You can read the whole thing here. And if you’re not familiar with Knite, here’s Ch1.
Preview pages~
An old comic I did about what it takes to be an artist~
I’m sure many of you have seen it on dA already, but I just want to repost like an artist XDMost of the things in this comic are based on real events (though I exaggerated for fun) like putting cheesecake into soup, and making food into ducks (FYI Cheesecake tastes HORRIBLE in soup. Learn from my fail)
