Pink Laughter Designs

"Green Osh"

2009-01-06T21:41:00.000-08:00

Osh is a new character design. I hope to one day expand his world by illustrating the images I have in mind, which includes animated scenes and depictions (I am currently working on my animation skill set). He exists in a very surreal, startling and magical realm but sometimes he likes to step into the reality of others so that he can make new friends in different dimensions.

This illustration was created in Illustrator and taken into Photoshop for highlight and shadow effects.

All of my illustrations will soon be available as prints in various sizes. I've received a lot of requests so far for my work in rich commercial print format.

"Sincere Panda"

2008-12-01T21:54:00.000-08:00

This was created in Illustrator CS3. I decided to create a cute little panda bear holding his beloved stalk of bamboo while he gazes upon the viewer with a curious expression but sweet expression.

This illustration would be very ideal in a recreational room or a quirkily-themed bathroom as decor on the wall.

"Candy Coated Clowns"

2008-10-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

This illustration was created in both Illustrator and Photoshop. I have as very strong fascination with clowns and all other characters related to them which includes mimes, harlequins, jesters and so forth. Many people find this to be unusual since clowns are a source of fear for most, but even if clowns are depicted in a sinister fashion, I am interested in that depiction and characterization of clowns as well.

I didn’t really have a plan when I first began this illustration, although I wanted to experiment with images of mimes which turn into looking more like clowns. Mimes typically have the eye paint designs featured in this piece in some way. They also usually have darkly painted lips.

These clowns are in lavender and pink hues with lots of shine which gives them a candy-coated appearance, hence the name of this image which is Candy Coated Clowns.

Stay tuned for more painted-faced and masked character illustrations, which might include an illustrated character card set.

The Twilight Cafe

2008-06-21T04:07:00.000-07:00

Twilight Cafe is a menu and restaurant concept that was inspired by futuristic themes and motifs of the 50s as well as stylizations from the cartoon The Jetsons. Boomerang shapes, things relating to outer space, colors blue, pink, red and green, the future, exploration and modernism were heavy themes that shaped the design output during the 50s and the early part of the 60s. I decided to first create a menu design using these ideas. I wanted the menu to be playful, intriguing, reflective of the look and feel I was going for and interactive to some degree. The prices and selections of the menu items had to represent the time period and style. Prices were of course going to be much lower. For example, a burger might be 50 cents or a sundae might be a nickel rather than what the prices are today. A restaurant such as this would offer traditional American foods that would fit into the theme.

I discovered during my research that it was common for many restaurants during the 50s to offer juices and fruit selections as appetizers. Today these items are normally sold as side orders or placed within the beverage or dessert menu so it would look rather unusual to see juices offered as starters now. These two pieces are vector illustrations and were created entirely in Illustrator. I also created a tangible copy of the menu. I printed out the layout for the menu, had it assembled, laminated and presented as a real menu that a restaurant would actually use.

"Club Worship Flyer"

2008-06-01T05:07:00.000-07:00

As with all of my other business and advertisement concepts, this one is themed very specifically. If money were no issue, I'd definitely establish a club called Club Worship in a hot spot or location. The flyer presents Worship as a themed night for a fictitious club called Club Panorama but Club Worship would be an offshoot of that club...so it would be an addition to that franchise.

Club Worship would be based on a solar theme. The club's interior would be a mix of oranges, yellows and orange-reds, but mostly the latter two hues. The walls would be glazed to give a candy-like appearance and there would be lots of sun motifs and decorative references about the entire interior space. The club's style would be lush, warm, sophisticated, inviting, and hip with a very intoxicating setting.

The club would showcase bands, spoken word poetry, storytelling nights and eccentric but funny stand-up comics. Bar would be full while featuring an assortment of special house cocktail drinks and there would be a kitchen serving tasty and decadent foods at the honey-colored cushioned tables and chair sets made with blond wood arranged around the various floor sections in different lounge areas (including the sun deck and patio spots).

This flyer is a fictitious advertisement for this club concept created in illustrator and taken into Photoshop for depth. The female character is dazed and possessed by the glowing and dazzling lights around her and especially above her head.

Originally the design for this piece was for a class project in a design advertisement and marketing class that I was taking. The objective was to come up with a word and associate and image with it to not only create a statement but to also highlight another word within the original word. I chose the word worship...focused on HIP in worship and decided that the female character that I'd illustrate around the word selection would be designed right within the word "hip" around her hip area.

The implication was of a woman obsessed with being beautiful, being hip, "in", "popular" and accepted. Her eyes were to be glazed over, completely showing white, and she'd be looking upward in a complete haze totally worshiping the idea of beauty and fame...the limelight (represented by the sun)...all the while holding a sweet lollipop which represents innocence, yearning and craving.

“Pygmy Halloween House”

2008-06-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

This was created in Flash. Last year around mid-summer, I began working in Flash for illustrative pieces. This was a different process because I primarily use Illustrator (in accompaniment with Photoshop) to create most of my pieces.

Flash has its advantages as an illustrative tool because if you are setting up art work or art assets for Flash animations for games, characterization and shorts, the native files are smaller and remain vectorized rather than larger imported bitmap images.

The objective was to create a Halloween themed scene. The first thing I thought about was a nocturnal haunted house illustration but I wanted the house to look spooky in a quirky, off-beat and playful manner. I also thought about making the house look like gnomes or pygmy-sized being lived in it...hence the proportion of the fencing and tree around the house and the size of the house are off-kilter.

“Sukra”

2008-05-31T23:57:00.000-07:00

Sukra is possibly another character in the Pink Laughter Kingdom world concept.

She enjoys eating a lot of bitter and sour treats that make her cry and frown in a very intense expression. The treats are often very sickly sweet smelling which are deceiving to the noses of visitors to her domain. Sukra enjoys singing catchy but dramatic and tragic songs about misfortune, neglect, remorse and the like. Her melodies are sing-song, puckish, dark cabaret and vaudeville in style.

She was created in Illustrator and taken into Photoshop for further enhancement.

"The Land of Xroi"

2008-05-31T23:54:00.000-07:00

Remember to Click on Images to Enlarge

The Land of Xroi is a game concept...as well as a story idea. I am going to develop it further in the future along with all of my other game ideas. The game is kind of difficult to describe because the static view is so abstract. It would incorporate some functions of a pinball, time management and arcade game.

The object of the game would be for the guided rabbit-looking character with a face-eater belly to traverse through landscapes picking up and eating as many egg orbs as possible without getting deterred by random taunting and trickster-like creatures and objects in the game that would try to block him and/or take away the egg orbs before he reaches them. The more egg orbs collected, the higher the score and the more special abilities the character can unlock to help him in his quest.

The music of the game would be as quirky as the graphics and background images. Think Katamari Damacy in some respects.

As a veteran gamer since the inception of Atari 2600 and the mid-life of Intellivision, I am passionate about anything involving game design and gameplay. I'd love to develop one of my game concepts into blueprint prototype stage and perhaps after researching on protecting my work, network with various developers to see if I can spark a deal. That's definitely on my list of to-do's. I am interested in games for the casual games market as well as for consoles and handhelds.

This design will be also refined as I think of more ideas. It was developed in Illustrator and then taken into Photoshop. However I enjoy using feathering in Illustrator for creating the look of painteresque highlights and shadows on objects and scenes. I find that with this feature, you can do work that looks as if it was either created in Photoshop or involved using gradient meshes in Illustrator (without using gradients).

"Panash"

2008-05-31T23:50:00.000-07:00

I have many alter egos that are based off of various sides to my personality and moods that I often fall into. Panash [PA-nosh] is a character that I created several years ago. He has a suicide king complex and he is also one of the characters to my Pink Laughter Kingdom word concept which I will be developing into fantasy-adventure a book series over time.

I created him in several modes. Sometimes he appears in a red rather than blue clown suit with knives as hands and amid a background of fireworks and brilliant light displays. His hair is wild, chaotic and has a life of its own. He often ties up his hair with balls of light orbs in the colors lime-green, purple and sky blue but sometimes he lets all of his hair down and they appear more like abstract snakes or dreadlocks shooting out in various directions in a reactive manner.

I started a company with some friends and former schoolmates about a couple of years ago. The entry, where I talk more about this, can be seen here on my post about the 3rd Eye Cinema website design.

He was created in Illustrator and Photoshop CS2.

"Cake Wonderland"

2008-05-31T23:47:00.000-07:00

I am always full of ideas...especially concepts for products, services and businesses. What I love as much as design is the idea of taking an idea from concept stage all the way to prototype stage. Concepts for me need to come out of theory at some point and I am thrilled when I can do this with any of my ideas.

This illustration was inspired by my fondness for pastries, desserts and especially pastry shops and bakeries. I've dreamed of opening up my own shop in the future when money and time allows for this. I'd sell petits fours, cakes, cupcakes, tarts, creme-based confectioneries and much more.

It would be a place of delight and pleasure. Along with my intrigue for ideation, I enjoy the idea of branding. Branding goes hand in hand with conceptualization. An idea becomes an actual identity; a product or service which enhances one's lifestyle.

Cake Wonderland was one of these ideas. I plan to develop it further someday...to create a full blueprint for the business plan.

I find that having mascots or character icons is very effective for promoting a brand. Character depictions become the emboodiment of a business. I chose the character Airo from my Pink Laughter Kingdom world concept. He is one of the characters in this story world.

He is known as the elusive pastry chef. He head, always topped with a tasty cake on a platter, which acts also as a permanent hat, becomes iconographc for the cake shop, Cake Wonderland.

This piece was created in Illustrator and Photoshop.

"Interworldly Creatures"

2008-05-31T23:42:00.000-07:00

What happens when two creatures seemingly from different worlds meet one another and discover that they are not only very similar in several ways but that they are linked together romantically through fate?

This illustration is a theme related to the real-world dynamics of interracial dating, particularly between black women and white men or within the arena of black and white relations. The subject has been reinterpreted in an imaginative out-of-this-world context.

I think that by bringing it into this fantasy realm, people can step back and take an objective look at the underlying message. I also think the story stands on its own as a playful and innocent love story between two different but similar creatures.

I created this illustration originally in Illustrator 10 and brought it into Photoshop for further enhancement. This piece, like many of my artworks, has gone through a few rounds of revisions. I am happy with the way it has turned out so far. I especially like the glowing and textural effects that I included on both of the creatures' bodies. I am intrigued and highly stimulated by anything that glows, radiates, shines and gives off radiosity. I don't see a lot of digital designs that incorporate the effects of radiosity.

Radiosity is a term often used in or by 3D programs. I like to use it outside of the category of 3D computer graphic jargon.

If a bright blue ball sits on a shiny marble white flooring with a top left light source, not only will that ball cast a shadow and display a reflection on the marble flooring, but the blue coloring of the ball will cast a subtle blue tint onto the marble flooring right underneath it. That would be an effect of radiosity. I love that effect both in nature and in art.

I try to incorporate this into my work whenever I can or when it seems that it would be a very effective element too add.

Ginger's Song

2008-05-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

My favorite thing to do is to tell a story and to illustrate it in some fashion.

The art piece "Ginger's Song" has gone through a lot of revisions. The character even looked different in the beginning. Not drastically so, but Ginger was less refined. I like that her features remain odd and characteristic so that you know that although she resembles a human, she belongs in the fantasy realm.

Ginger's Song is a short story concept that I have yet to write. The story is about a young girl with a talent for playing the piano. While practicing in her room on her scaled-down piano that her mother purchased for her years ago, she thinks of a new tune that she's quite fond of and wishes to try out on the piano. At first, the tune doesn't sound right. Some notes are off and it's incomplete.

When she manages to finish composing the tune, something very fantastical happens. One of the walls in her bedroom starts glowing around the edges and eventually breaks away completely to reveal a hidden world. She sees a valley of lush green rolling hills, marbled white fluffy clouds in the sky with a brilliant and crisp sun amid a pale lavender sky tinged with lemon tints and an inviting quaint little schoolhouse with children playfully running around on the grounds not too far in the distance.

Ginger realizes that this special song that she's created is the key to this enchanting world. Anytime she wants to visit, she knows she can play her song, Ginger's Song.

"Fantasy Checkerboard"

2008-05-27T16:12:00.001-07:00

I really miss working in 3D Studio Max…I haven’t worked in the program for awhile but I am a huge fan of taking 3D work into Photoshop for a fusion effect. I am currently looking into getting a licensed version of Max so that I can begin creating new photoshop/3D fusion projects again. A friend installed Max on my old computer and currently I am not able to get a hold of the installation disk…so that was the beginning of my hiatus from working with 3D.

I created a traditional and plain black and red checkerboard set with a wood base a couple of years ago with Max. I decided to update the look of the board in Photoshop today. I wanted to give it a magical fantasy look so I themed it in purples and pinks with glowing accents for the checkerboard pieces. I definitely like the revision. It makes me want to have a glowing checkerboard set just like it.

The Asymptotic Faery

2008-05-23T00:45:00.001-07:00

The Asymptotic Faery is a character design I plan to develop further. It's based on my writing identity under the same name as well as the writing blog site I started recently:

The Asymptotic Faery Writing Blog

The name, originally just Asymptotic Faery, came about several years ago as one of my alter egos. I have many alter egos that I like to characterize. The Asymptotic Faery's name was originally Inkair. I might still use this name for the T.A.F. character but for now it represents another facet of my personality under my real name.

Additionally, I used this name as one of my online discussion board aliases for a few years and it eventually stuck as a username.

The name depicts a state of mystique, curious intelligence (cerebral connotation) and childlike whimsy. More directly, the name implies my ability to relate to other people through ideas, thoughts and emotions while remaining quite solitary and distant on many levels. Others get close to me but never really get to know or understand me fully...so to speak. This has nothing to do with placing myself on a pedestal of any sort. The meaning should not and is not intended to be interpreted this way. It is more about my acknowledgment as a solitary person...tending towards being social on my own terms out of habit and nature. It also reflects my experience of being able to only relate to a few people in my life very well on a very intimate level.

The design was originally developed in Illustrator, but taken into Photoshop to add in background elements from other related pieces. I wasn't sure about how I wanted to interpret the look of the character. I had some other sketches in mind. I am still in experimentation stage...so the design can change if I wind up not liking it as much within a week or so. The character was a bit different than what I usually design because was very insect-like.

Originally, the legs were not encased in bubble sheaths or material as they are now. They just stood out of bare stick-like limbs. I wasn't too satisfied with that after a week had passed. I wanted the limbs to look more substantial.

I've also always liked the look of easter eggs, colorful beetles (especially scarabs), ladybugs, butterfly wings, reflective glassy objects with a hint of water and mirror elements and alien-like creatures. So this character takes on all of these associations. It's a faery...a unique being but it also has the ability to transform and adapt to various environments with its appendages and body.

The head is the central stagnant look but the character has the ability to change and adapt...body-wise.

I added in the character holding a shiny glass with pink liquid in it circling around several small planets which depicts a snapshot or section of the universe. The slogan for The Asymptotic Faery is, "The Whole Universe Inside a Glass of Water."

The meaning behind this slogan can be seen as my T.A.F. blog site linked further above.

"Confetti Palace"

2008-04-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

I came up with the concept for this fictitious company about a year ago. I was working on a project in an Adobe After Effects course and the objective was to come up with an idea for an advertisement short.

I thought of many ideas but I wanted whatever it was to be fun, different, exciting and playful. I thought about my interests and desires in life. I've always thought that if I ever became very independently wealthy, I would often plan and host themed parties and events for friends and family.

I love the idea of entertaining and creating fun. I liken creating fun to the effect of an explosive display of confetti, fireworks or dazzling bright light shows. These types of effects and actions surprise, entice and engender a very euphoric and celebratory series of feelings. I think many people find anything that breeds these emotions exciting and alluring.

I also thought about the movie The Game with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn. The unusual plot of the movie gave me more ideas.

So I thought to create a make-believe advertisement for a surprise party planning business. I thought for days on what the business name should be as well as the slogan. I finally came up with the name Confetti Palace and the slogan: Celebrate The Unexpected!

I thought both the name and slogan were catchy and emotive.

I created a video for the advertisement in After Effects and after I completed the project, I uploaded it on YouTube. It can be seen here:

The music is by the artist Twink. He's a favorite. The title of the track is called "Not Enough Crayons For Everyone". He's an artist that uses toy piano to compose his music. He's quite the artist in many facets, which includes illustration.

I decided to use the graphics that I illustrated and designed for the video to create an advertisement for the faux business. Recently, I went in finalized the design and layout by illustrating it further. It was created in Illustrator and then taken in Photoshop to finalize the digital painting involved in many of the highlights, shadows, sky drop and surfaces.

In order to see the details of the piece, click on the image to download a larger version of the image in a new window.

"Bunanki: The Bunny Boy"

2008-03-18T06:45:00.001-07:00

Bunanki, The Bunny Boy, is one of my central characters for my Pink Laughter Kingdom world concept.

I had designed his look a few years ago and used him as a mascot for my Pink Laughter Designs website, within an older template that I had created.

I started this illustration in Illustrator CS3 and completed the design in Photoshop CS3 recently. There will be more development of him as I need to draw him in various views and angles in to illustrate his personal environment/space within Pink Laughter Kingdom.

Underneath Bunanki's hat, resting and curled up, is a magical pet bunny named Binky. Bunanki, with the help of Binky, has a special gift in helping others to find their way or showing them the path to sought after locations.

I'd like to write a lot more about Bunanki, but I feel I should keep more details about him private for now.

"Sholi: The Candy Bear"

2008-03-08T22:02:00.000-08:00

I am working on various character personalities and designs for Pink Laughter Kingdom. This illustration was created originally in Flash CS3 and taken into Photoshop CS3.

Sholi [SHOW-lee] is a panda-like bear creature that inhabits the world of Pink Laughter. He lives on a diet of candy wish sticks which possess and contain many magical gumball candies. In the image, he is on his way to his hibernation cave and home where the interior walls are completely embellished and covered with tons of tantalizing candies and sparkling multi-colored jewels and stones of various displays of brilliance.

Sholi has magical powers and invokes these powers through the gumball candies. When he is ready to create magic, Sholi will go into a very odd, kooky but playful ritual dance, where his peculiar-shaped, double-jointed arms and legs will begin to flail about in a hypnotic fashion.

As he is doing this dance, his glass-plated belly, which stores and makes many gumball candies inside, will start to shake and rattle all of the contents. Eventually, this will cause Sholi to give off a very forceful hiccup and from that hiccup; he'll release some of those gumball candies.

The gumballs can then be given to others to eat. The color of a gumball represents the magical property it holds, so the person, who ingests a gumball, will be temporarily endowed with the magical property of the gumball.

The expelled gumballs can also be planted into the ground and they will eventually grow into other candy wish sticks for Sholi to dig up, carry off in his cave and indulge in.

Sholi, the candy bear, is obviously a very very self-reliant and mysterious creature.

"Tangelo Nostalgia"

2008-03-03T19:14:00.000-08:00

Tangelo Nostalgia was originally a casual story concept that came about randomly. Over time I came up with a plot surrounding the title and illustration theme. In the future, it will become a full-fledge book series.

This piece was created in Illustrator 10 on a very large scale. I felt that the title fit the energy of the illustration. Most people who've seen it say they get this hazy, dream-like sentimental feeling from just looking at it and that's exactly the impression that I wanted to create.

The storyline also centers around this impression and involves time travel transformation, through longings, wishes and regrets, among friends who've known one another since childhood.

Isometric Designs

2008-02-28T00:47:00.000-08:00

These are my first illustrations created using an isometric perspective. I found the perspective a bit challenging but it was harder to illustrate in a free form fashion.

In order to make things easier for myself, I winded up creating a custom grid on the walls and flooring of the isometric room. I was able to get the measurements of the room through a project manager that I had worked with as these illustrations were designs for a virtual world website for a large plush toy company. The themed rooms were to be featured on their website for their virtual world animal characters.

Once I got the measurements and created the custom grid, I began creating the sketching out ideas for the interior designs of the rooms based on the themes I was assigned. I worked on over 7 different theme room designs and created custom furniture in different angles and views (SE, SW, NE, NW). The rest of the themed rooms were given to others on my team as we all had to reach the client's deadline by completing a total of 20 themed rooms.

I enjoyed the learning process of working with illustrations in not only an isometric perspective but in different angles within an isometric perspective. So, for example, if I created an Easter themed bed, then I had to create that bed in a front, back, left and right view so that animators could program the views into the room's virtual world function on the website...and more importantly, so that the animal characters could interact with the furniture by having the user be able to rotate the views of the furniture pieces.

The themed rooms featured here are the Zoo, Art and Music Theme rooms respectively.

"3rd Eye Cinema"

2008-02-28T00:09:00.000-08:00

3rd Eye Cinema is the name of a company that I started with friends and fellow classmates in my Visual Communications program. A lot of us had the same classes throughout the program and as a result, many of the connections developed into friendships.

One of the most enjoyable classes that I had was my Final Cut Pro class. As with my 3D Studio Max course, I didn't know what to expect. I hadn't taken a video editing class before or done anything extensively with motion graphics. I was very intrigued however and as with all of my classes, I dove in head first.

We were given quite a few assignments and the theme of our final project was to be developed by the class as a group effort. The initial idea was to do a karate skit but I felt that we should perhaps do a horror film. I have to admit I wanted my idea to come through because I am a fan of horror genre films. I argued that this would be different and exciting and we could choose to add in other genres to a horror theme...for example, horror comedy, horror drama and so forth. It could have gone any way.

Everyone eventually agreed to my idea and we each brainstormed and worked on creating a plot. We decided to base the horror film on our campus...making it a whodunit horror film that took place in a school environment.

We worked through creating a storyboard after developing our plot, and we even got school administrators, other students in different programs, and various teachers involved in a lot of the acting roles. The next step was to shoot our scenes and take turns getting involved in different film crew roles so that we learned about all of the processes involved in making a short film.

I found that everyone became closer and I really enjoyed the energy and chemistry we had together as a group. It was so amazing that I started to think that we could do this as a business if we wanted to...if we all invested in the idea, put our heads and talents together and went for it. As the film was near the end of its production, I brought up the idea to my friend and classmate Emily. She immediately liked the suggestion and later we discussed it with everyone else in class.

This brought on, initially, the idea of starting a film/video club on campus. We talked to a few administrators and signed up for petitioning the inclusion of this club. Our idea was accepted and we started to have regular meeting and advertise the club around campus for others to join. We got great response and at some point, I brought up the business end of the film making idea again, but I wanted to include people who were in our small circle because that was where the trust and chemistry was.

Everyone in that circle came on board and we went ahead and established 3rd Eye Cinema. I was responsible, as president, for getting the business affairs together and establishing the meetings. We got the FBN statements filed, we began writing our business plan as a group and I mentioned I would start working on the website.

Some people agreed that one of my character designs was going to be the mascot design of the company. I had created a character called Panash [puh-NOSH] and I established the website design around him as well as our business colors which were blue, lime green and deep purple.

The page template was created in Photoshop CS, taken into ImageReady CS for slicing and rollovers, as well as optimization and then it was taken into Dreamweaver CS for further customization, set up and HTML adjustment. We were able to get a domain deal through one of our favorite instructors as well as web hosting. So once all of that was set up, I used CuteFTP to load the HTML and image files onto the server.

What happened to the company that we started? Well it was all about timing and ongoing collaboration. It was a tough year and we were all nearing the time of graduation so classes and projects were piling up intensely as well as personality obligations. Meetings were harder to schedule and hold consistently so over time, the buzzing energy around the business fizzled out and became scattered.

However, I still think it's a great idea and I still own the rights to the name and identity as well as the domain, so I'd like to do something soon with the business idea in the near future. It certainly shouldn't be completely abandoned.

"Pink Laughter Kingdom"

2008-02-23T21:26:00.001-08:00

Pink Laughter Kingdom is a world concept that I came up with about 5 or so years ago. I created a personal philosophy called Pink Laughter and decided to flesh it out into something design-oriented. It's essentially a fantasy world centered on a strong philosophy. Here is the philosophy:

Pink Laughter is: a visceral expression and entity of joy, creativity, fantasy, imagination, "surreality", childlike curiosity, wonder, elation, zanism and innovation. This is a state of being, a state of mind and an emotion. The magic and state of pink laughter can be invoked at any time. It satisfies deeply the inner spirit while reflecting it outward, filling up an otherwise emotional bottomless pit and creating an erupting volcano of hyper magic, iridescent moods and wild, arcane, joyful, cacophonous, perpetual echoes of laughter.

Whatever you gravitated towards or found fascinating as a child has to be tapped into again. It goes back to the core, the central plan and mother epiphany. The state of Pink Laughter makes this possible through invocation. It soothes the savage beast within and brings out the Alice (from Alice in Wonderland) in all of us.

The Pink Laughter philosophy permeates into the way I live life, create art and think. It's a magical realm that welcomes all.

I'd love to expand this world concept through a series of stories and character developments. I was initially attracted to developing the Pink Laughter Kingdom world concept not only because self-philosophy but also due to my fascination with languages and micronations...

I remember spending lots of time, when younger, trying to development my own language. I came up with the idea right before high school and I took action of coming up with a language once I had taken my first French class. I realized that creating a language was going to be quite a large feat and that it would take much of my time.

I always carried around this small but thick notebook. In it, I'd write lots of poetry, create drawings and jot down various phrases, words, ideas and fantasy make-believe names. I decided to use this notebook for developing the mechanics of my language. I named the language Jeoydo, which stands for I We Us. I based it off the English language and some Latin language grammar rules (for example, manner of conjugating verbs). I spent about 3 years taking the language into various stages of development, but shortly after I attended college, I found myself less involved in a lot of my creative pursuits and passions. This was truly when I lost focus in a deep and authentic sense...

However, this early involvement left a legacy of ideas, which as I mentioned before, was picked up on years later.

What came out of these ideas were some design pieces: The Road to Pink Laughter Kingdom (which displays the PLK Flag), Pink Laughter Kingdom Currency, Pink Laughter Kingdom Map and various character illustrations.

These illustrations were mainly created in Illustrator 10/CS2 and some were taken into Photoshop for digital painting enhancement.

I'd like to revamp some of these illustration ideas as well as expand other ones that have yet to be created or completed. And of course, I have plans to create a series of stories based on this world.

"Abstractis"

2008-02-23T16:35:00.001-08:00

This piece was a mixture of modeling done in 3D Studio Max 6 and digital manipulation in Photoshop CS.

I first created an abstract land environment in 3D Studio max. This image is the original image with the blue sky background and the deep blue-green water flooring. After looking at it a bit more, I felt that more could be done with it, so I decided to render the image again and take it into Photoshop for further dressing.

I used various layer options, masking and digital painting as well as detailed text creation and treatment...and I came out with the magenta themed image. I felt the title Abstractis was appropriate and fitting.

"Moogle Room" and others

2008-02-23T16:13:00.000-08:00

Moogle Room was one of my first big assignments with 3D Studio Max. The objective was to create a themed room. I've always liked the Moogle characters from the Final Fantasy series, so I felt inspired to create an elegant but sophisticated and playful room for individuals of Moogle size. I created a room and rendered it in various angles without lighting and then as a final touch, added lighting for the finished image.

When I first took a class in 3D Studio Max (version 6 was current at the time), I really didn't know what to expect. I had never taken a 3D Design class and I'd never done any modeling...however, I had been fascinated by animation and 3D artwork for the longest time.

I remember seeing 3D Studio Max's GUI back in 2002. A boyfriend, at the time, had the program and I would use his computer during visits. The program looked very complicated and intimidating. There were so many features and I couldn't make sense of them.

So when I took the 3D Studio Max course, I came in with this impression as well as a lack of experience actually using the program. I didn't know how I was going to do.

What happened is that I became obsessed with 3D Studio Max and found that I enjoyed it thoroughly. I wanted to know all that there was to know about it and I was especially fixated on lighting, materials and modeling. There were many nights I stayed up on my computer at home learning as much as I could about 3ds Max, doing online tutorials and experimenting with various designs.

I found that I learned very quickly and thus took to the program easily. This inspired me to contemplate on whether I wanted to explore animation professionally or stay with graphic design. I eventually decided to finish pursuing my degree in graphic design. I liked how versatile I could be in the learning process of this direction. As a result, I didn't invest myself in the program much further because I was so busy with other projects.

Learning 3D Studio Max opened my mind up to better ways of implementing chiaroscuro (use of light and shadow) in my 2D digital work. I found that using the program was a good way to train the eye in developing a better understanding of 3D perspective and effects. I'd like to get back to using it more often because when I visit sites such as 3DTotal, 3D Kingdom, CG Society and the like, I feel an urge to play around more in the program and see where I can take my skills...because I know there's potential there for more creative expression.

"Beach Scene"

2008-02-22T20:37:00.000-08:00

I created this illustration in Illustrator CS3 and really didn't have any idea of what I was going to create in terms of a vacation scene. As I looked at various images online to brainstorm some ideas, I immediately knew I wanted something playful and child-like.

I thought of a vacation that never ends where you have an entire island to yourself...clean beige sand granules intermixed with eroded minuscule rock crystals, fragrant salty sea water stretching out into the far away milk-chocolate colored mountains in the horizon, arched palm trees that flirt right above your head which provide nurturing shade and curious but fun-inspiring sailboats and beach umbrellas sprinkled about respectively on both water and land.

I am reminded of the times I've visited several artist colonies and towns along the central coast of California. One of my favorite places in that area to go is Cambria near San Simeon. There are great stretches of beach which are literally covered and littered with tons of semi-precious rocks and stones including moonstones. Many stones are jasper, agate and so forth. Collecting these wonderfully little stones for hour after hour is what I consider one of life's simple but highly rewarding pleasures.

I'll have to make a trip back out there someday and this time, I'd like to experiment with some of the rocks I'll collect for jewelry and mosaic tile designs.

"The Kingdom of Passoli"

2008-02-22T05:11:00.000-08:00

This illustration was very basic in the beginning. The creatures coming out of the tunnel were made from basic shapes but I found their simple structures to be profound, stimulating looking and rather playful...so I decided to flesh them out further and create a general story concept and design around them. The creatures are called Passolites and they are beings who comprise The Kingdom of Passoli. I thought about putting them into my Pink Laughter Kingdom concept as a warring and mischief-making nation at odds with the inhabitants and towns of Pink Laughter Kingdom, but I might make The Kingdom of Passoli story one of its own.

The design went through various stages and was composed of many layers. It was initially created in Illustrator and then taken into Photoshop.

The initial image looked like this:

"Floraline Metropolis"

2008-02-22T03:45:00.000-08:00

This piece was created in Illustrator 10. I wanted to create my own rendition of the color wheel thus I decided to work with a floral theme. This illustration took a long time to create and the piece had many many layers. After the initial design was drawn in Illustrator, I took it over to Photoshop CS to began digital painting and manipulation. The detail (as there is a LOT) of this piece can really be seen and fully appreciated at a larger scale. The original size is 3000 x 3000 pixels.

Several people mentioned that this piece looked like a mandala of some sort and it made them feel a sense of well-being looking at it. I like this interpretation and I'd say there was a dormant objective in this vein of thought when I created the illustration. Nature, reflection, harmony, peace and the power of color and energy (unity) are entities projected amid a stylized metropolitan background.

"The Day Spa"

2008-02-22T03:36:00.000-08:00

This illustration was created in Flash CS3.

I wanted to capture a serene and peaceful day spa which hosts a bit of magic realism. It looks to be ordinary in some sense, but it's somewhat offbeat, baroque (warped) and cartoon-like. The implication is this is a completely different dimension that one can escape to emotionally...and once those emotions are tapped into, the The Day Spa becomes a real place to reside in. It's a place where day never ends and tranquility abounds. You can relax in the small pool, hot tub or spread out on the sparkling but warm reflective floors while gazing out of the windows into horizons and horizons of beautiful sky, rich grass and radiant sun.

"Blaiza"

2008-02-21T22:25:00.000-08:00

An illustration of a playful trinity of trickster and enigmatic clowns created in Illustrator and further developed in Photoshop.

These clowns were inspired by my fascination with the Southern Oracle trials and related characters from The Neverending Story...as well as by my fascination with trinities overall.

"Child's Bedroom"

2008-02-20T15:40:00.000-08:00

Created using Flash and Photoshop...although mostly illustrated in Flash. PS CS3 was used to touch up lighting, shadows and to intensify the colors present overall.

I was inspired to create this illustration because I really love the feeling of magic that decorum in an interior space can invoke...bedrooms especially. This room depicts a child's sanctuary, where one can relax, play, imagine and dream infinitely. However, the child that resides in this room is not necessarily going to be present in body, but in mind and spirit. This is what essentially makes the room a magical and enchanting place.