Travel illo

  • mixed media,  pen & ink,  Travel illo,  watercolor

    Orang Ulu Girl

    November 24, 2012 /

    Visiting Sarawak has inspired me to draw this Orang Ulu Girl painting. Details are based from my own photos that I captured there. This painting will be on sale soon in a mini exhibition cum Christmas party at my friend’s place. Will let you know the details soon.

    Pen & Watercolor on Watercolor Paper.

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  • Germany,  Heidelberg,  Travel illo

    Heidelberg houses in watercolor

    October 21, 2012 /

    I was like ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’-ing as I walked around Heidelberg’s Old Town, one of the most beautiful places in Germany. The harmonious ensemble of castle, old town and river nestled in the hills of the Odenwald already inspired poets, artists and painters as well as stimulated scientists. Today, it still fascinates millions of visitors from all over the world.

    The view was spectacular and the buildings were so beautiful that it inspired me to draw! Because I love to draw buildings, I drew one from the photo that I captured from Heidelberg.


    Heidelberg houses | watercolour on watercolour paper.

    I actually went to Heidelberg with a tour bus and to draw on location was not possible due to time restriction. You know, the tour guy will let you explore with a be-back-here-in-30 minutes condition.

    So what I did was, captured as many photos as I want, giving consideration of the angles that I see beautiful for drawing, and later choose the best ones as my drawing references.

    Is drawing houses or buildings difficult? Well, it depends on you. If you have the passion, you can do it. Do you have the passion to draw houses or buildings? Then, read on.

    Here are few tips that I can share with you about drawing buildings from photograph:

    1. Travel to places with interesting buildings. The world has a lot to offer.

    2. Capture as many photos as you want — from urban skylines to historical architectural wonders.

    3. Transfer your photos onto your computer and look for the best one for a start.

    4. Observe the building you want to draw. Zoom in to look at the details. You can crop out the part you don’t want to draw.

    5. Print it out. You can opt to refer directly from your computer but that will restrict you to your work station only. If you print it out, you can draw wherever you like — the sofa, the garden, cafes, while waiting for bus, etc. Remember that you don’t have to finish the drawing in one go.

    6. When you have the photo reference in front of you, start drawing out the building shapes and later the roof. Start from left to right or right to left. Or top to bottom, vice versa. You decide.

    7. After you have the outline of the building, draw the details. Refer back to your photo. Add in as many details as you can.

    8. Try not to use a ruler. Good thing about art is that lines are not meant to be straight. There’s a beauty in jagged lines. Here’s a close-up of my lines from above painting:

     9. Don’t forget to color it. You can opt to trace it again with drawing pen.

    Enticed enough? Go travel and take loads of building photos! Here are the original photo reference for the above painting:


    If you compare this to my painting, you will notice that I left out many details. I just put in necessary details which I see fit. 

     

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  • Frankfurt,  Germany,  Travel illo

    Autumn in Frankfurt

    October 20, 2012 /

    Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. -Albert Camus

    Autumn is the best season of all and probably the best time of the year to travel the world. Photographers love autumn as much as painters do and being an enthusiast in capturing nature at its best as well as paint them, I am truly thankful to have visited Frankfurt. The credit all goes to Malaysia Airlines and the people behind it who are willing to sponsor me the flight ticket to Frankfurt and back. I was flewn to Frankfurt to attend Frankfurt Book Fair and gain knowledge about book and illustrations licensing as well as to build network and promote my artworks across the globe but hey, the idiom ‘kill two birds with one stone’ really applies to my visit here. Achieving two objectives at the same time seems like a good idea; visiting book fair and explore Frankfurt! In autumn!

    And so, in between book fair, I went wandering around the city of Frankfurt with two things on my mind; go find trees (and flowers) and old buildings/houses. Being born in a lush tropical forest in the heart of Pahang, I have always been in love with  nature and as for the old buildings, it must’ve been the architecture; it is every bit as artistic and creative as painting or drawing. I’m drawn to anything artistic.

    The city
    Frankfurt is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and a city that has some of the highest, most avant-garde skyscrapers of Europe next to well maintained old buildings. The down town area, especially Römerberg draws millions of tourists every year. Frankfurt is the place where Germany’s major autobahns and railways intersect. More than 600,000 people commute to the city each day, not counting the 691,000 people who really live here. With a huge airport — the third-largest in Europe — it is the gateway to Germany and for many people also the first point of arrival in Europe as well as a prime hub for interconnections within Europe and for intercontinental flights.


    Frankfurt cityline.


    Autobahn.

    Autumn
    Autumn in Germany starts around Sept. 23 – Dec. 21 as it is in the northern hemisphere. I enjoyed the colours of autumn leaves and the changing fall foliage never fails to delight me. I think I went crazy snapping photos with my two cameras. In total, I have 1494 photos captured!

    Below are some photos that best depicts autumn in Frankfurt (imagine me walking with one camera hung on my neck and the other clung to my right hand).


    By the Main River.


    Orange needles of a pine tree.


    Oak trees.


    Red climbing vine.


    Palmengarten Botanical Garden.


    Rose seeds.


    Maple leaves.

    Autumn was also known as the harvest season as this season provides the ideal conditions for harvesting crops. Here’s a picture of pumpkins and gourds and its by-products.


    Zierkürbisse.

    Old buildings
    Frankfurt’s history can be experienced today through a large number of historical buildings. In addition to the city’s world-famous landmarks such as Römer, Frankfurt Cathedral, Hauptwache Police Station, Goethehaus and many more. I captured a lot of old buildings photos and here are some.


    Römer Town Hall building. This oldest section of the town hall consists of three different structures with stepped gables, originally built between the 15th and 18th century in Gothic style.


    Frankfurt Cathedral is a Gothic church dedicated to Saint Bartholomew.


    The baroque Hauptwache is a former police station turned into a cafe.


    Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was born here in 1749.

    Inspiration
    Such images around Frankfurt inspired me to paint some watercolour paintings for my personal keeps. At first I just wanted them to be in pencil or pen sketches but that will not do justice to autumn and I decided to have them coloured.


    Buildings in Römerberg.


    Autumn leaves.


    Pumpkins and gourds.

    Travel to Frankfurt with MAS
    If you are planning to go somewhere and experience autumn, Frankfurt is one of the best places. You can fly with Malaysia Airlines (MAS) as it offers daily  non-stop flights from Kuala Lumpur to Frankfurt. Saves you the hassle of stopover problems.

    Check out some of MASholidays most exciting travel deals online where you can choose combinations of Flight + Hotel, Flight + Transfer, Flight + Tour or Flight + Car. Tours in Frankfurt by MASHoliday includes Frankfurt Hop-on Hop-off (9 hours) and Wertheim Village Outlet Shopping (5 hours).

     

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