The Garden Of Eye Candy Book/ Annie & Greg

My friends referred me to this book while we were at Basheer Bookstore at Bras Basah Complex cos they said tat it was my kind of style.

Indeed some of the illustrations I had seen before and simply idolize the artists- even bookmarked their websites!

Probably one of the illustrations I saw was Audrey Kawasaki's... at least in that particular surreal doll-like style.

Some doll-like images published in the book:

I have yet to purchase the book. It costs SGD 50+++ *Cries*

Once day I'll own you, oh dear book.

Probably why my friends know it's my style:

Greg, the Marionette boy. One of my book characters.

Screenshot of him in the making.

Love how he seems to stare back at me while I'm 'bringing him to life'.

Its been a long time since I'd worked on a character. It was really enjoyable coloring them, coming up with outfits for them, putting them in a scene for a story, choosing real textile images for their clothes' texture, even got them married in a wedding scene =)

I remembered my inspirations came from all sorts of random sources- surreal images for the toning of the faces, Poupee to get ideas for the girl's clothes, The Sartorialist for Greg's sophisticated men's wear, Tim Burton's corpse bride for the lanky body type, and probably even the vast height difference between me and my bf.

Some say the doll looks like me & and bf. Well artists create works that resemble themselves sometimes...

In the beginning for Annie's face, the girl marionette, I wanted her to have large eyes, rounded face and small lips, bangs for her hair. And a longer face with sharper features for Greg...

It's just like the contrast between me and my bf as well. I don't think i was really working towards a doll version of us and didn't want it to be about us but there seem to have a resemblance...

Annie & Greg.

Idea sketch for the first meeting =)

Love at first sight which follows through their obstacle ridden story.

Sneak peek of one page... when the tab is pulled or pushed, the boy's hand, Greg and the cat's paw will move as well =)

They are now chucked in my cupboard in a bubble wrapped envelope.

Many people wants a copy- and I'm haunted by the memory that i sorta agreed to give my teacher the original copy if I do make another improved version during this holiday- but realized that the first copy is the most precious:

The product of my sweat, blood (poked myself several times with a needle while making the movable mechanisms) and sleepless nights before the presentation so I'm gonna keep it with me =x And give other's the reproduced copy made by hand or published.

This one is too precious to let it go.