Ironically she’d end up becoming one of the most famous witches ever, and even be on a Chocolate Frog card.

Anyway, I picked this screenshot from the Philosopher’s Stone because it’s the first time Hermione finds acceptance and ultimately two incredibly strong friendships (Harry and Ron have just saved her from the troll in a Hogwarts lavatory, and she’s just saved their arses by lying to the teachers). And that beats having popularity any day.

Plus, Emma Watson is sooo cute. She was a perfect Hermione. ♥

Please full view for details:

What I love apart from the tea parties, the dandiness and the campy absurdity of it all, is Alexia’s awesome parasol/s. I haven’t read the novels in a long time, though am currently starting Blameless, so I couldn’t remember what it looked like—or on that note, what her dresses were like—so I simply fashioned my own.

This took quite a long time (I didn’t keep track) but boy I had fun in Photoshop.  I took a much more Impressionistic approach than previous artwork. I went rather ker-razy with it all, which kind of fits, I suppose.

I modelled Alexia after Édouard Manet’s Woman with a Parasol (1881) and attempted—keyword attempted—to implement the very characteristic Italian face.

Can’t tell you how delighted I was to see SUSPENSE as the key topic. That got my noir love going all sorts of places. Hee!

I referenced an awesome Detective Stories cover from my copy of True Crime: Detective Stories (1924–1969). Tried to be more Impressionistic here, but also just wanted to emphasise that vivid red frame. View in full scale to see the details!

Yeah, powerful stuff.

And because I am such a masochist for Victorian misery, I very much enjoyed drawing up the anguished Jane here.

Tried a different technique in Photoshop here – was trying to loosen up my brushwork. What do you think? Please view in full size!

I bought the blu-ray of the movie recently. I need to get round to watching it, no interruptions (hard to manage). I also need to review Dario Marianelli’s score. So much to do!

In honour of my zodiac, I worked on an illustration for several hours in my down time last week, which eventually turned into a wallpaper. Today, I edited it from its original finish on deviantART to include freehand Chinese calligraphy, instead of the dodgy digital, and frankly lazy, rendition I tried. How can you possibly emulate the delicate stroke movement on the computer? I was daft to even try.

I’m trying to improve my illustration skills and work more frequently on CorelDraw 12, because it’s such a powerful tool, with an abundance of brush choices.

The wallpaper’s at HD quality (2260 x 1600 px, which can be scaled down if need be). Free for personal use only!

Have a great new lunar year! 恭喜发财，万事如意，身体健康，平平安安！

Some detail images:

I’ve also included some of my process work:

Funnily enough I experimented on several sheets before picking the first two characters I started with. You can never quite recapture that energy from the first try; I think my other creative counterparts can agree. I’m no pro at Western calligraphy let alone Chinese, but I like how the latter can afford me some freedom with gestural strokes.

I am perpetually in a DC Comics frame of mind it seems. When I first saw the prompt word, this just somehow meandered into my mind. I can never get enough of Bruce in a half-dressed state in the comics or indeed any medium, and this is how I see him preparing to slip into his Batman persona—as some kind of fiendish and terrifying demon.

It’s been a while since I drew the male figure (makes me want to take up life drawing class again, heh), so I had to refer to those nifty diagrams of the human form in my drawing manuals. I also have little idea on how to draw scar tissue… Heh. Think I was more interested in using different brushes than making accurate textures.

I spent about 2.5 hours working on this, which I consider very slow. And this despite working very roughly. Originally I had a sketch of Batman holding up traffic lights, one red light and one green light (go figure, Kryptonite!) which would then “ground” Superman. But in the end, I wasn’t too motivated to finish the idea, so I did something simpler with Supergirl instead! :)

First time I’ve ever drawn Kara. I had to model myself to get the reference—I rather like the Wonder Woman-inspired pose.  Also, I pretend the New 52 costume doesn’t exist. Do you like my lame Photoshopped light rays?

Again this was done entirely on Corel Painter 12, but with some colour adjustment in Photoshop. I’m practicing with the oil brushes; I really want to do more blending and glazing techniques. You can see I’ve just begun to experiment there.

You may also have noticed I’ve tweaked a few things with the current layout.

After lunch in Nanjing we immediately headed towards Suzhou, and arrived roughly before 4:30pm. For some reason the time then is still clear to me now. Of course, it being winter, it was already quite dark by then, practically night.

We first stopped by an “old Suzhou” village, that’s been completely redone by the looks of it since my last visit seven years ago. There were lovely night lights and just a more pleasant atmosphere. Little townships like this one were small and cramped, but so lively. It’s nice to see that historic buildings like these humble houses are still being maintained and more importantly lived in and used.

Our tour guide only let us stay for about half an hour which was just crap, really; I mean, what the hell can you see in half an hour? Why couldn’t we have wandered off doing our own thing and having dinner in a little shop instead of some fancy shmancy dine-in restaurant? I’m still piqued by the whole “organised” syndicate of tourist guides, shops and restaurants all cashing in on our ignorance.

We took a river cruise, and a lady played for us singing in the traditional Suzhou style, plucking away at her pipa. I think I preferred it when last visited. Dad and I were swaying precariously along the river with a local woman towing the canoe along and singing to us in her dialect. She was a lot more sincere and didn’t look bored and listless.

Can you say yuuuuuuuuum? Shanzha fruits dipped in caramelised sugar and sprinkled with sesame seeds or sultanas or nuts. But I prefer them plain. They’re found anywhere in China:

The next day we went to The Lingering Garden (留园 liuyuan), considered one of the four great gardens of China. I’ve no idea what qualifies a great garden—history, legacy, number of flowers? Who knows, needless to say China can make up any self-proclaimed title as it pleases. That said, I really liked the pebble mosaics.

Suzhou was rather disappointing, all things considered.

Wuxi’s great highlight was the Lingshan Grand Buddha which I’d actually been to 13 years ago. It’s 88 metres tall (lucky 8). We walked up to the top to touch the Buddha’s feet. Ideally you should touch the hand but you have to make do. I didn’t really want to think about how many millions of people had touched the surface where mine had been, but it was a humbling thought.

There’s this awe-inspiring fountain segment wherein a Buddha blossoms out of a lotus flower. It’s epic stuff to witness.

Here’s a video someone put on YouTube:

There were other scenic spots within the park including this incredible building with fantastic architecture.

And of course lots of stuff for rich tourists to buy… Incidentally 2012 Lunar year is Year of the Dragon (my zodiac!), the dragon being the most auspicious of creatures out of the twelve Chinese zodiacs.

The following day we spent yonks in a pearl tourist shopping centre. It really pissed me off, so I was mostly waiting outside, while everyone else got conned into buying quite possibly fake pearl products. I’d much rather have spent more time with the Grand Buddha.

The hotel lobby where I stayed in Wuxi was jaw-dropping. It was just so … SHINY.

So that pretty much sums up my tour of Jiangsu province and Hangzhou. While it was disappointing in some parts, it’ll always be memorable.

More photos from Suzhou and Wuxi on my Flickr!

Next up—I’m back in Shanghai!

So that’s 52 illustrations in one year. Surely that’s not difficult (!).

As for my interpretation of this week’s topic “highlight”: I’ve recently been on a noir bent (then again, when am I not?) – reading Darwyn Cooke’s and Ed Brubaker’s comic book stories and watching film noir. I always find the play with light contrasts fascinating.

I’m still trying to get the hang of Corel Painter 12 (maybe it’s my shitty Wacom tablet), but it’s simply practice, practice, practice isn’t  it?

Media: Corel Painter 12 and Photoshop CS5.1 for colour edits
Painting is inspired by a still from Laura (1944) starring Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney, which is a film you should watch because it is beautiful and has great suspense. ♥