GRADUATION 2012

Finally I did it! I graduated on the 22nd of May, 2012. I actually already drew my self portrait as a gift for myself on this special occasion and I put it on the side of this blog. But I have not posted the bigger version of it so you can see it better. After the little trip, my vacation with my family, my parents came all the way from Vietnam to visit me (Yoohoo!), I totally forgot about the portrait until now. Hopefully you like it!

Behold! The beauty of a new University Graduate from the Art, specifically Animation, Department!

Tada!

 

Tina N. Graduation 2012

Black Rose Concept Updated

So remember my dear sweet sweet character that I have developed like forever? Alright, so I was never happy with it. Never ever! And I just keep updating the character's image. I'm even thinking of subtracting and adding to the character's characteristics to make her more interesting and mysterious in a way~~~ I wonder when I will come up with the very final design. I really hope it will happen soon since I do need to start the comic.

Here are the sketches:

The 1st one, I drew it a few weeks ago. The idea already sparked on me at that time so I immediately sketched it out. The 2nd and the 3rd one, I just drew them today, more like an update to the 1st one. I temporarily name this character Faceless Prince, who is actually also Black Rose. I'm even wondering about the character's gender lol. Geez~ Ah well, as soon as this comic starts, you'll see~

:)

Cosmo Girl

I drew this like forever ago. Well, okay, not quite, just a few months ago, but still I can't believe I totally forgot to put this up on my blog! Since this is one of my most favorite drawings that I have done lately! And the girl here is just so hot that I can't believe that I forgot about her. Ah well, at least I finally remember and have her introduced to you, my friends~ Hopefully, you enjoy cosmopolitan? If not, any other cocktail would be just fine. I am not picky. Cheers~! ;)

 

And the process/sketch:

 

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY 2012!!!

At first I planned to make a short animation for Father's Day just all by myself. But then so many things happened so I did not have enough time to do it, so I finally came up with this little drawing specially dedicated to my Dad, my one true hero, the idol of my life.

I love you, Dad.

My Dad is aging... though I can still feel a lot of Youth energy coming from him. His spirit has never aged one bit, and that makes me happy :).
I have grown up. But in my Dad's eyes, I am still his baby little girl. I guess, in my family, there is no such thing as getting old~

Here is the concept for my Father's Day animation idea:

Daily No. 1 - Grandma goes to the Ball

I decided to start my daily sketches/drawings yesterday, so please welcome my first daily sketch: Grandma Nguyen~!!! (Oh yes, she is Vietnamese, a chubby old Vietnamese lady.)

Grandma Nguyen

Last day interning at Titmouse...

I don't know if I should be happy or sad today. Happy, it's because this means I have completed my internship successfully, had a wonderful time there, met and made a lot of friends, learned a lot from everyone, and gained more experience. This is a newer me, a better me, a more mature and experienced me. This is another important turning point in my life, also another reason for my success in the future. Sad, it's because it is the last day, I don't know when I will be back. Although we think and would like to know that we will see each other again, but the problem is... when? I had such a great time there, it's become one of the best memories in my life. Well, perhaps it is just a temporary goodbye, let's be positive and know that we will see again! I will do my best! Always~!

Thank you Titmouse Inc. :)

Life Drawings hidden from the deep

"Hidden from the deep", why? It is simply because I have left it in my big portfolio bag which was placed there in the corner behind the bed for many centuries. Okay, not centuries but about 2 years straight, I completely forgot about these due to my constant focus on animation just right after I transferred. I had fun speed-sketching~ it was a great experience and it was one big step higher on my skill development.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY 2012!!!

Today is Sunday May 13th, 2012. It's Mother's Day! :)

My friends and I have created an Animation group called KOLOR KLASH and we have worked on this music video for the song "Mamá te quiero mucho" written and composed by Sara Quintanar, also especially made for this wonderful occasion - Mother's Day!

The basic concept for the video is simplicity and cuteness. There might be some flaws in it but we have worked very hard and finally completed it in less than 3 months among other loads of work from school, internship, and jobs etc. This was an incredibly fun experience that we all will never forget. It is a start for us with our career and the group's future.My main job was designing the Mom concepts so you can see that all of the mothers/grandmothers in this video were completely designed by me. I designed them based on the original Kid designs by my friend Raquel Martinez, the producer/director of this short. I also did the animation of the bedtime scene and rocking chair with baby scene, cleaned up and rigged all of the characters in Flash to be ready for animation (except the first scene with the shoes and the butterfly). All backgrounds were designed by Raquel Martinez. Storyboards and concepts were also by her, supervised by Sara Quintanar, and other members also gave our little suggestions. Jessica Bauer did a wonderful job animating the first and the second scene with the butterfly, the feet walking in, the little girl giving her mother the flower, and the cute sweet hug. Each of us actually helped each other with the animation. Stephanie Pecina is so talented with the special effects, without her, this video would never be completed. And last but not least, the creator behind this video, the talented kids' musician - Sara Quintanar, wrote such beautiful, cute, simple but extremely sweet lyrics with helps from the little children from her music class, going perfectly with the happy, cheerful tune. The video has lyrics shown on it (edited by Stephanie Pecina) so you, your kids, and the whole family can sing along! :)

We dedicate this video to all Mothers out there and hope that you will enjoy this as much as we did working on it.

So here you go! Have fun and feel the love! :)

For Vemeo link: http://vimeo.com/41700783

For more information about the musician Sara Quintanar and Kolor Klash please visit these links:

http://www.musicwithsara.com 

http://kolorklash.blogspot.com 

KOLOR KLASH team consisting of 4 lovely and talented ladies (please click on names to go straight to their websites/blogs): 

Jessica Bauer

Raquel Martinez

Stephanie Pecina

Tina Nguyen (me :D)

Memoirs of the highschool time in Vietnam

As you see I originally came from Vietnam. I spent half of my highschool year in Vietnam, then half of it in the US. I did not completely enjoy highschool in Vietnam but surely I did like some elements of it. Two of them would be "cá viên chiên" and the traditional Vietnamese "áo dài" (although it is incredibly hot in Vietnam and this dress could kill me in that weather). So I suddenly doodled out this little sketch with a not-so-typical Vietnamese highschool girl (usually people, especially Western people, like to think of highschool Vietnamese girls with a nice long black hair in a white dress) when I was at Titmouse at a very late hour of the day. The idea just came and my hand just doodled it out so although it is very sketchy, I had a lot of fun and am very happy with it. Perhaps, this is one of the most beautiful wonders in Vietnam - young school girls in pretty and pure white dresses going to school, which you can find in nowhere else in this world. In this sketch, however, instead of appearing as a sweet innocent school girl in a white dress, I gave her the "true" side of Vietnamese highschool girls, the one that I and many of my friends used to be - playful, cheerful, love snacks and vendors food, and carefree. Enjoy!

 

The cartoon version of me

So I was trying to come up with a character concept of myself. Obviously it should not look exactly like me but rather its look somewhat demonstrates my personality. So can you guess what kind of person I am through this drawing? I really hope it is not something too bad :P

The orange bag in the drawing is actually my current favorite bag which I have carried around a lot this year. You might have already noticed that I have posted a sketch/outline of this drawing a while ago. Just want to remind you guys:

 

As you can see I did some changes - the girl's feet~   Do they look better smaller or bigger?