Esther Chen's blog

Paintings and doodles that happened when thesis didn’t

esther | May 19, 2014

I did a motley of near-art things (doodling, painting with oil, drawing on Photoshop…) during the final semester to stay sane, some of which are fan art because those are easy to think up. I hven’t found a painting “style” yet; it’s hard to marry realistic with goofy, but I like both too much to let go of either. Photographs because scanner is broken.

Unfinished copy of an Edward Hopper piece – I don’t remember the title, but it’s one of the later ones, after Nighthawks.

Attempt at painting the Glow Cloud. All hail.

I follow Twitch Plays Pokémon. And I draw.

There was an all-caps notice posted on the wall demanding people to stop stealing from the thesis room, including chairs. (People took chairs anyway.) I’ve given it a visual.

Somebody standing on the street with back turned

Officer Man and his sidekick, Dog (not their actual names)

Black and white sketch for a friend’s birthday

A mermaid!

Plus:

The card promos I gave out (tried to) during the thesis show. People didn’t really want to take them since they’re one-of-a-kind.

Over Christmas

esther | February 7, 2014

(Click for large image)

New image! It is Krampus! Apparently, Krampus is more popular than I thought – there was even a gallery in which one of my instructors participated. Of course he had the most awesome one.

Anyway, it’s mostly in oil. I couldn’t give him the bundle of birch branches because his hands are already full. There might also have been some artistic license with the chain accessories – I hesitate to call it “bling”. Also, I wish I could’ve gotten Krampus’ face to register surprise, rather than fear or something else, whilst keeping the goat pupils. Expressions are hard!

Process images. I pointed my camera at them, so they’re awfully reflective.

Outlines.

The boy’s face is going to change for the worse.

Let me try the rest of the house interior now.

Brown walls… or green, brown, and white striped walls… I will definitely not be hired as a wallpaper designer.

Happy holidays

esther | January 4, 2014

I wanted to give a friend a Welcome to Night Vale poster, specifically the one designed by Rob Wilson. However, it was too late to order before Christmas, so I painted the iconic image which I very much hope is not infringement. This will definitely not be on the main site, but I wanted to show that I did something over this break.

The quality of the photo leaves something to be desired, but the purple really is that patchy and that off. So much for color mixing. One can see that I taped off a lot of the long straight edges, even the roof of the water (or “water”, since this is Night Vale) tower, but the letters are all freehanded. The black and white portions are oil, and the purples are acrylic. There’s no reason for one medium or another this time, just what’s available.

Skulls

esther | December 17, 2013

I thought, ‘Why do I suck at getting the likeness of people when I’m surrounded by them? What if I paint a skull without reference?’ Everyone has a skull, so I thought that if I cannot do one, then it may partially explain my problem.

I gave myself 20 minutes to paint on a little 4×5” sheet, and this is the result:

This isn’t human. At least it appears to be a hominid skull.

It reflects how I draw. Everything I can’t draw appears chubbier than they are. Even a skull. (One can infer how much exercise I get by inspecting this and my sketchbook.) I winged it once I was down at the mandible and the negative space. Needs more jaw. The brain case is too small. And the nose hole appears pushed in.

Below is what I came up with when I had the same amount of time to do a skull while looking at a photo.

There’s still something unsettling about it.

Canker Sore Diet

esther | December 8, 2013

The Canker Sore Diet is a brand new diet plan that I just created today but I’ve been on since Tuesday. This plan is all about weight loss through negative reinforcement and lasts approximately 4-6 days. I have lost 1.6 kilos so far, so IT WORKS! There is no need to change your exercise habits at all, so you can keep going through your busy day without taking time to go jogging or visit the gym.

First of all, you have to have a canker sore on your inner cheek. A canker sore is not the same as a cold sore. One of the differences is that you can get the former by biting on your cheek, quite hard and probably by accident. The sore will make its existence known in a day or two.

Then, just follow these easy instructions:

– Avoid putting anything taller than a popcorn flake into your mouth. Even that may be too large. The reasoning behind this is that you don’t want to open your mouth too wide. Your cheek will let you know if you do by bringing you pain.

– Do not ingest anything you cannot chew. Chewing is like opening your mouth, except your lips don’t part (if you’re polite). You don’t want to open your mouth too wide. Popcorn is all right if you do not mind swallowing the jagged kernel bit whole.

– Drink any fluid you like. You can also “drink” mushy foodstuffs like oatmeal. A blender is useful here. In addition, “blended” food tends you make you feel full longer. Awesome!

That’s it. After your sore heals, you’ll find yourself a little bit lighter, and probably hungry for a steak.

If at any time you cheat by using benzocaine or any other painkiller, you are a wuss and may as well not even go on this diet. Then again, I’m not on it on my own accord, either. I just haven’t found time to go to the store, and I tell you, a black tea bag (pictured) doesn’t help, although it’s passable gauze that tastes of strong tea. And yes, the blender instruction is the only legitimate weight-loss tip in this post.

I wish you luck should you choose to partake in the Canker Sore Diet.

Welcome to my studio

esther | December 4, 2013

Just kidding, I don’t have a studio.

However, I do take up about 15 square feet in one of the rooms at this school, which will soon be a thing of the past. By “take up”, I mean that I scout around a little bit for a space I’m sure other people/classes won’t need, then I set up a workspace.

There are what I call illustration rooms and painting rooms. The painting rooms are much larger, but the downside of both types of rooms is that as the sun sets, the light shines through the enormous windows with too-short screens, and I get grouchy because I can’t paint during that time. Also, acoustics. A couple of weeks ago one evening while I was working on a painting, there was some sort of architectural lecture happening in the nave. The lecturer(s) talked about how wonderfully this building was designed. Meanwhile, I could hear every word they said, despite being quite far away, because the rooms have no ceilings.

Anyway, the studios are imperfect, but they are nice. Much better than poisoning myself with oil painting fumes in an apartment.

Above is a picture of my supplies at a table in a painting room. There’s my palette, laptop, canvases, and awesome toolbox of painting stuff. Getting a toolbox from Home Depot was the best investment ever. Not really, but that’s what I mean. I can even sit atop it if it gets crowded on the bus.

And here’s another photo of a different workspace, before I’ve begun to work.

I’ve used this particular corner before. That’s why the white wall has a frame of paint marks and a bunch of shoe marks. I tape things to the wall. Also, I eat snacks while I paint. I’m shortening my lifespan every time.

Airplanes.

esther | November 22, 2013

I went to the San Francisco International Airport to get some reference photos for a project. I still have to get pictures from other places since I couldn’t actually walk to the gates. (There’s no way I’m buying plane tickets. Even in the name of art.)

I wound up getting more pictures of planes than the terminals, most of which are taking off or landing.

I spent the last hour in the people movers and their stations, looking for the best place to watch the planes come and go. That’s one of the people movers on the right. And the city scenery is quite nice.

I like the roar of planes and their rumbling along the ground, from afar. It must come with growing up in a house near a highway and interchange.

If this project turns out well, I might post a piece to my site.

This blog has a painting now

esther | November 15, 2013

The assignment here was to listen to an opera and make a poster, sans text. I chose a classic comedy, “The Barber of Seville” (or “Il barbiere di Siviglia“, since it’s in Italian).

At first, when my idea was to have the main characters together, I had trouble bringing in Figaro, the titular barber. Doing a scene with characters which conveyed the story didn’t seem that fun anyway, so I went for a more iconic look, which here involves a bright yellow background. The story can be boiled down to disguises and a helpful barber, so the painting contains just a moustache comb and a pair of scissors.