Miyazaki's Spirited Away

Last September, Hayao Miyazaki finally announced his retirement. *tears* so today I would like to give tribute to his legacy and tell you my favorite movie of his! Okay, if you don't know Hayao Miyazaki is, you're definitely missing a lot! click here to know more about him. Miyazaki is a world- famous Japanese screenwriter, director, animator, and artist! He has been making countless animated movies and all have been loved and praised all over the world.

My ABSOLUTELY favorite movie of his would be Spirited Away and I first watched this in its original Japanese version with English subtitles. I had another opportunity to watch it few years later dubbed in English voice over when Disney bought the rights to produce the movie's English version. I'm a sucker for magical fantasy themed stories and this particular is one of the most beautifully and creatively made fantasy stories of all time. I love how the culture of Japan and the spirits were incorporated into the magical theme too.

Here's a short gist of what the movie is all about..Spirited Away is about a tale of a ten year old girl named Chihiro, who discovers a secret spirit world when she and her parents get lost and venture through a hillside tunnel. When her parents underwent a mysterious transformation into pigs, Chihiro must fend for herself as she saves her parents from the evil sorceress. She ventures out into an adventure working for the sorceress as she encounters strange spirits and creatures while finding her way back home to the human world.

I love how detailed the movie is with its props and background. Miyazaki's ideas went overboard crazy and it was very very original. The characters & the plot were very unpredictable and Miyazaki was able to put a touch of magic in every part of the movie.

Spirited Away is one of the most successful film in Japanese history ever since it was released. Acclaimed by critics all over the world, the movie was considered as one of the best films of the 2000s decade and one of the greatest animated films of all time. I couldn't agree more!! It won numerous awards including the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 75th Academy Awards. Need I say more? The movie is literally for all ages, so please do watch it if you haven't because you're missing out! 

Thank you, Hayao Miyazaki.

Happy List

The Happy List:

1. red velvet cakes

2. drawing and actually liking the output

3. book sales

4. movie marathons till the wee hours of the morning

5. rainy days and afternoon naps

6. old couples holding hands

7. blueberry buns

8. snapchat photos

9. someone listening to your honest thoughts & feelings

10. embarrassing my brother in public

11. fat kitty stickers on facebook chat

Eat Fresh Menu

This is a menu that I've made early last year when I first tried figuring Adobe Illustrator out. I've noticed that graphic illustrations have been receiving much more attention during the past few years. Ads, layouts, magazines have illustrations that are made through the means of technology and I guess, I wanted to try it and keep up! Comparing it to the traditional way of illustrating (which is by the means of using the hands to sketch, paint, color etc. ), they're not that different except of course, the technicality of it. I would love to learn illustrating and I'm actually trying to start another project using the Adobe Illustrator for practice!

Oh, by the way, Eat Fresh Hong Kong Famous Street Food is a real restaurant based in Manila, Philippines! :) hehe, It is actually our very own family business which serves Hong Kong street food meals. You can check out its facebook page here. One day, *fingers crossed* I would be able to illustrate the menu for our restaurant and perhaps, other projects for clients as well. Exciteeeed!!

Have a good day, buddy!! :)

Since I had no classes today and I had no plans either, I went to Vivo City to spend my afternoon there and yes, I went there alone. Another little adventure of cessy. Haha, I'm really used to going places and doing things alone now and honestly, it isn't that bad. I get to have time alone to think and do what I want. Anywayyy, I went for a quick shopping spree since H&M and Cotton On had major sales *yayyy*. Afterwards, I spent the rest of the time inside a cafe doodling. There were a lot of people around and I tried drawing the people around me. I started observing each's face and I've realized that I never really did give much attention to detail. Each person's features are totally unique and it was actually amusing for me to try & capture that and put it on paper. It was fun and I plan to do it again some time again :)

The Currently #3

Listening to the voices of the French couple downstairs, they're our newest flatmates. I hear laughter & giggles.

Reading my twitter feed. Most of them are from my friends back in the Philippines, most of them are talking about how stressful their academics are..and oh, some tweet about how she can eat Krispy Kreme donuts forever.

Feeling meh. quite down.

Wanting a really good back massage. I've been having aweful back aches and I've yet to find out the reason for it. I'm actually going back to the Philippines on an October weekend for my checkup.

Hoping that when my brother comes home, he would bring home some food. I'm starving and I'm too lazy to go down to feed myself.

Needing a new song to listen to. My playlist has been filled with youtube covers...I need a new song to play all day long. Any suggestions? :)

Thinking whether I should've bought that dress in H&M..dang, it just costed 15 SGD.

Planning to accomplish all my tasks for next week within the weekend. Though the list is quite shorter than before, this time's more tedious, really :(

Wearing the usual. Comfy loose top and denim shorts.

Loving binge watching movies. Every week or so, I would download a lot of movies that I haven't watched & I would either watch it with my brother or with bacon, my pig stuffed toy. hehe.

#nowwatching The Croods

ola mi amigo! The latest movie I've watched is DreamWorks Animation Studios' The Croods. The film was released early this year, but I never really found it interesting at first. I thought this would be another typical 3D animated movie about cavemen with funny lines in the script every now and then. Last weekend, my brother finally convinced me to watch the movie with him and boy, I was wrong!! I love love love the movie and a couple of tears were shed here and there too. Not only did I find the story quite unique, I certainly love the animation ESPECIALLY the visual development! Yes, the characters & the plot was certainly adorable and very witty, but what stood out to me was  places the characters had been. It certainly reminded me James Cameron's Avatar.

Here's a really short gist of the movie and don't worry, I won't spoil anything for you if you haven't watched it yet! :) After their cave was destroyed, the Croods family was forced to treck through unfamiliar world with the help of an inventive boy named Guy to save themselves and to go off to "Tomorrow". Of course the movie is much much more interesting than that, so be sure to watch it too okay? Check out the trailer here :)

Going back, The Croods' visual development was absolutely stunning. It was set during the pre-historic age of our Earth and DreamWorks was able to execute the world we never knew in a beautiful creative way. Here are some visual development designs released y some artists for DreamWorks.
Credits to conceptartworld.com for its featured artists articles!  All rights reserved to DreamWorks Animation Studios.

Jason Scheier : click here for his portfolio

Arthur Fong : click here for his portfolio

Leighton Hickman : click here for his portfolio

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

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The Kiss

In Bed (1893)

I came across Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's paintings in an illustration blog during one of my past times. Below one of its paintings, there was a small paragraph of how one blogger was imagining the feeling of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec when he was painting these artworks because of the "trials" he had gone through his. That instantly made me curious. Hence, I started researching about Toulouse-Lautrec and his life.

 I've chosen quite a few of my favorites among the artist's paintings and they're all posted above. I love how the intimacy and connection of the couples are so strong. On the contrary, the artist's life was a far cry from these intimate happy ever afters. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was born in 1864 in southern France. He was the last in line of an aristocratic family. As a child, he was weak and often sick. At the age of twelve, he broke his left leg and at fourteen, his right leg. (how unfortunate, really :( ). His bones did not heal properly and his legs ceased to grow. When his younger brother passed away, his parents separated. Deprived of the life without physical incapability, he lived completely for his art. He would dwell in Montmarte section of Paris and dance halls, night clubs, prostitutes - all were memorialized on his canvas. He would often stay in crowded nightclubs and make a quick sketch of what he sees. He was an alcoholic and it would later be the reason for his death.

My point is..for him to live a life with a scarcity of attention and genuine love, he was able to paint such pure paintings. What was he feeling then, to paint something that he, himself, had and will not ever experience?