lelandwong's Xanga

Floating Het

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:23:12 GMT

Here's one more.
"Floating Het"
3" x 14" Pen and Ink, Watercolor on Shikishi

Now that the drawing table is up....

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:54:17 GMT

It's great to have the drawing table up again after all these years. I've been doodling on my own as well as doing my assignments. Here's three pieces. They're for sale. Ask me!

"El Hulko!" 9" x 12" watercolor on #93 heavyweight sketch paper

"Squiggo Festival", 9-1/2" x 10-1/2" Watercolor on Shikishi Board.

"Gombie Zirl", 9" x 12" watercolor on #93 heavyweight sketch paper

APILO Staff Portraits

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:08:14 GMT

APILO (Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach) is coming out with their annual report and had me photograph their staff. Initially I thought I was going to bring my studio lights and background to do formal portraits.

But fifteen minutes prior to leaving the house for the shoot, they told me they just wanted natural looking portraits and by groups instead of individuals. Which made this shoot a piece of cake.

I pointed my flash towards the side walls to give the faces some shadow. Now why can't I get more gigs like this.

浪子心聲

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:45:52 GMT

AIEEE! Hotel Black Whirlwind

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:08:44 GMT

Here's another rough for the I-Hotel book. The AIEEEEEE! Hotel novella. I guess it's like a book within a book which is what a novella is called.

This book is gonna be more than six hundred pages. A big thick one!

I have set up the drawing table in the doghouse (aka studio). It's a very small room. I'm glad the table is up. It has been many years since I haven't had a drawing table. I'm spending so much time drawing nowadays. It's nice to be creative at the drawing table again.

Not only drawings for the I-Hotel book but doodling for myself...just for the heck of it.

This is a drawing of Li Kui, aka Black Whirlwind in the classic Water Margin story. He is known to be very strong,and is famous for his pair of axes.

I drew him doing a gung fu performance on Grant Avenue in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Okay...another one down, fourteen more to go. I haven't been paying attention to the deadlines.

All I knew is that this book is scheduled to be out in April 2010.

The drawing table has gotten me sitting in the doghouse all day. I think I should go to the supermarket just for a little exercise and to see the world...at midnight. Sad huh?

I-Hotel Illustrations

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 13:55:26 GMT

I have been working on Karen Tei Yamashita's book, I-Hotel, illustrations. There is going to be a total of eighteen illustrations. I have been doing roughs. I only have three so far. Currently working on an illustration of Li Kui, aka Black Whirlwind of Water Margin.

Here's the first rough for the Eye Hotel chapter.

After looking at it and some thoughts, here's the second draft.

The second draft the Eye chapter. It will still be drawn a little different in the final.

The final illustrations will be rendered more neatly. Because the printing will be in black and white, I feel the brush and ink with wash will work for this set of illustration. I will be using a waterproof drawing ink for the keylines in the final illustrations.

First draft of the "I Spy" chapter.

and here's my second draft. Maybe I should put a police hat on the guy in the back.

The first draft for the "I" chapter. She calls them novellas. The guy in this image is wearing "pimp shades". That's because I remember Darwin wearing a pair of pimp shades at a Red Guard rally at Portsmouth Square about 1969.

The second draft for "I". Shows more expression. I think I will make that star in the background smaller and put it on top with the Black Panther and Mao buttons on top.

At the very moment, I've been struggling with this image of Li Kui, aka Black Whirlwind, Iron Ox in the classic novel, Water Margin. I think I got it...Li Kui is performing his ax form in front of a crowd on Grant Avenue.

This book is going to be over 600 pages...a big thick one.

old buddy, old friend....

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:18:35 GMT

An old friend whom I've know since elementary school come by to visit. I haven't seen him in a few years. He has since retired from the phone company.

Instead of the pension, he took a lump sum. He took that money and downed it into real estate in a fairly nice neighborhood in the city. The house is now vacant and he cannot find anyone who would want to rent an entire house nor find someone willing to buy the house from him. He has monthly mortgage payments to make and is beginning to have trouble making the payments. He thinks he has to declare bankruptcy soon. He cannot find a job. The phone company doesn't want him back. His wife who is a real estate agent has not been getting any business and has health issues that prevents her from going to work .

He asked me if I could lend him some money.

one more last draft...I hope

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:19:49 GMT

10/9/09 man...this illustration is taking so much time for a lousy $200. The publisher did not like the light coming from the bottom, so I toned it down a bit. They didn't like the back cover as well...so I had to re-do that too. I really hope this is the last one. The penny just dropped. Any further revisions, I am gonna charge.

Update; 10/25/09 Still hassling with the specs needed by the publishers and printers. Something about embedding the font in the PDF. I'm stumped!

>> Good Afternoon,
>> Please see the below notice about the cover :
>> Cover art contains RGB images, please convert all colors to CMYK. This was actually the problem with the perfect bound cover, 9780970777607, which was put on wait specs for low resolution. Low resolution was not the problem with this cover nor the other one. The problem is when it was converted in Acrobat from RGB to CMYK it brought out small amounts of color in the white around the type. To fix this for both covers, you should visit: http://lightningsource.com/digital_cover_creation.aspx#standardBooks and make sure you follow step 5.

Never Mess with a Lo-Poh Na

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:02:20 GMT

She should've known better than to mess with a lo-poh nah.

This look like it happened on the 30 Stockton bus. It's the main bus that connects Chinatown and North Beach to Downtown in San Francisco. Often it is very crowded. I was told that the driver of this bus did not report the incident and was suspended from his job for it.

Final Draft

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:05:11 GMT

*whew* here's the last draft. Adding the gradiant on each side gives more of a direction as to where the light is coming from. I still have to do the graphics for press ready.