La Imagineer

Awkward Encounter

2011-06-23T23:54:00.005+08:00

Drove home from work as usual today. As I was tired and couldn't be bothered to get my lazy ass out of the car for a proper meal, I stopped by a McDonalds Drive-thru and ordered a cheeseburger. Then I went home. Parked my car neatly as i could and turned off the engine.

Just as i got out from my utterly noisy sportscar a man walked by and gazed upon me with a smile. Not wanting to be disrespectful, I smiled back. Then he just stood there with a thermal cup in his right hand and a swimming goggles in the other hand, looking at me. he was tall, thin, white-haired. I'm guessing he is probably in his late 60's. Then he asked me the strangest question, "are you in the commandos?". "No" I answered. Confused, "why?" I asked. he pointed his finger to my trousers. I happen to be wearing a camo cargo pants today. I looked at him and i started laughing. "I just like the design, that's all." I said.

He then asked me " What do you do for a living?". "I'm an artist." I replied. "What kind of artist?" he asked while walking towards me. "I draw...and stuff." I answered briefly. He was somewhat suprised at my answer. At that brief moment, I really thought i was doing something illegal.

"I have always wanted to be an artist, to be able to draw and paint." he told me. He reached out his right hand and introduced himself as Mohammed. Surprised, I shook his hand and introduced myself too as "Dzulfeqar". Then we both eased.

He is Cdr. Mohd Bahar. He is a pensioner. Retired from the Royal Malaysian Navy. Just came out of the swimming pool after a hot day of golf. Currently running his own business supplying the armed forces with state-of-the-art systems and technologies, setting NATO as their sole benchmark. My father was in the Navy too, giving his service as a Weapons Engineering Officer (WEO). So things got off quite exciting per se.

What captured my attention was not his background in the military since 1960 or his 13 year old (and still counting) business which started since 1998. But it was because of his knowledge and appreciation towards art and the art history of the world. He even understands the process of an artist to produce a painting.

I was all ears.

He went on and on about all the places, galleries, museums and chapels he visited around the world. UK, Rome, Italy, France, you name it. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to visit all these beautiful historic places too when I was younger, so I could relate.

We talked about Michaelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Vincent Van Gogh.He hated Pablo Picasso. He never could understand Picasso's work. Then, the name, Adolf Hitler came up. I never knew that Hitler was an avid art collector. the topic changed and he started raving on about the histories of war and how it came to be. How Hitler lost his art collections in Berlin when the Red Army attacked in 1945.

I was truly amazed by his decent choices of words. We were talking in English. He told me how business in weapons and systems for the local armed forces are blooming with opportunities for our local talents and companies. He was exceptionally patriotic. The man loves his country with all his heart. I could see it in his eyes and his mild gestures. He said "We have talents all around us waiting to be discovered, to be appreciated.".

'APPRECIATED'

A word I seldom hear in the local art scene. Well, today, I heard it from an ex-navy. Who would have guessed? An ex-navy running a multi-million Ringgit company who loves art. I would love to hear it again sooner or later. Art is hard. Be it paintings, design, music, or acting.

Personally, I think the artists in Malaysia works too hard for something so little in return. An appreciation would be nice once in a while. We'll work harder to produce better products the next time around.

Apologies if i'm rambling, I'm just happy. :)

Huge Art Dump

2011-04-15T00:57:00.001+08:00

Here are some stuff I did recently:

Takluk Jagat #1

PTS Publications

Pencils by Zul Fadhli Kamarrudin

Adobe Photoshop / Intuos3

Takluk Jagat #2

PTS Publications

Pencils by Zul Fadhli Kamarrudin

Adobe Photoshop / Intuos3

Takluk Jagat #3

PTS Publications

Initial Concept by Zul Fadhli Kamarrudin

Adobe Photoshop / Intuos3

Imam-iman Yang Benar

PTS Publications

Adobe Photoshop / Intuos3

Aku, Kau & Sekolah

PTS Publications

Pencils by Zul Fadhli Kamarrudin

Adobe Photoshop / Intuos3

Shamsiah Fakeh

PTS Publications

Adobe Photoshop / Intuos3

The pieces below were based upon commissions :

Caricature #1

Adobe Photoshop / Intuos 3

Caricature #2

Adobe Photoshop / Intuos 3

Caricature #3

Adobe Photoshop / Intuos 3

Caricature #4

Adobe Photoshop / Intuos 3

More Color Study

2010-12-19T18:32:00.000+08:00

Tibetan Girl Sketch / ArtRage / Intuos3

Tibetan Girl / ArtRage / Intuos3

Color Study Quickie

2010-12-13T01:21:00.000+08:00

Color Study / Adobe Photoshop CS4 / Intuos 3

Art Rage Doodle

2010-12-07T23:06:00.000+08:00

Mass Update!

2010-08-26T15:00:00.001+08:00

Let's start off with some quite recent illustrations I did for PTS Publications. Some of these are already published. Oh, and artists are not allowed to sign on their own artwork or it'll just get removed in the final output. Bummer.

TwinX #3

Landasan Maut

Umar

Things have not been going smoothly for the past few weeks. To be honest, it hadn't been going well at all.

Let me break it down:

1. Right Hand Of Doomed

I accidentally slammed a door shut on my right hand. My fingers were bleeding, bruised and swelled up. It kept me off the drawing board and wacom for about a week. It was frustrating for me and a massive disappointment for my clients and employer. It still hurts till today.

2. Hard Disk Malfunction

My hard disk broke down. Lost some important files exactly at the brink of deadlines. I almost gave up drawing since this is the third hard disk I bought. The last two failed me completely. Fortunately, the third hard disk was able to pull out most of the data (after 4 days of continuous attempt). I managed to copy most of the files. That was a relief. Although some files were corrupted, I'm just happy it didn't all dissappear like last time. But I did lose all of the movies I've downloaded when one of the partition just stopped working. So I had no choice but to format the damn partition. With my current financial situation, I was heavy-hearted to withdraw cash to buy myself a new hard disk. But I did, plus I upgraded my CPU's RAM from a 2GB to a 4GB. I also bought myself a new set of wireless keyboard and mouse since the previous one was acting up.

3. Car Accident

Front bumper fell off. All the brackets were torn off.

Got hit by this idiot

Traded paint

Nude front end

An idiot lady driver hit my car early in the morning. The roads were jammed as usual, she thought it would be clever to drive pass the long queue and swerve in at the end of the junction (like most stupid KL drivers do), I was at the end of that junction and she persisted of cutting in front of me. It pissed me off for the rest of the day.Thank god it's the fasting month or I'd whoop her ass.

Oh, well, I'm hoping to get a new set of URAS bodykit and new paint to get me smiling again. :)

Happy fasting to all muslims.

Commissions

2010-05-09T00:58:00.000+08:00

Cover art commissioned by PTS Publications.

Donald Trump / Adobe Photoshop CS4 / Intuos3

Rashidun Caliphate / Initial concept sketch by Nor Azri Nor Azmi

Rashidun Caliphate / Final Artwork / Adobe Photoshop CS4 / Intuos3

Hometown Vacation

2010-04-18T23:01:00.001+08:00

After my car was robbed, I didn't manage to find a replacement window on the same day since I'm using a Nissan 180sx which is pretty rare here in Malaysia. And finding parts for the legendary car can be quite a chore sometimes. Parking the car in the city without a window is way too risky. So, I decided to go back to my hometown in Seri Manjung, Perak (which is about 4 hours drive) until my friends at Drift House manage to find me a window. My folks' house is a gated bungalow and I'm sure my car would be safe and I'll have peace of mind. Luckily, Drift House called me up a few days later with good news. They've found me a window!

In the meantime, I met up with some Manjung drifters and decided to join them for a drift event in Kampar, Perak. We gathered at a workshop in Lekir before we head off to the drift tournament. It was a VERY hot day. I couldn't stop sweating!

The convoy to Kampar was great! We had about 24 drift cars (I think) which made it a pretty amazing sight. Our team (Manjung Drift Team) manage to get 3rd place in the overall drift / autokhana time attack. I didn't take part though! I was just there to support and help them change their tires. LOL Since I didn't bring along my drift rims, all I could do was watch and yell.

Manjung Drifters gathering at Lekir

My friend's Toyota GL drift machine

Spectators waiting to be entertained

One of the competitors warming up

Oh, this is my cat, Biby, which was not harmed in any way during

the drifting tournament. She's just sleeping in a weird position!

Vegeta Redesign

2010-04-14T13:43:00.000+08:00

Vegeta / Adobe Photoshop CS4 / Intuos3

This is my entry for Pergh.com's Character Redesign Battle : Vegeta of Dragon Ball fame

I have always been a fan of Dragon Ball (except for the terrible movie adaptation) so I guess joining the battle would be a blast. I wanted to portray Vegeta as close to real life as I can without the anti-gravity coiffure, making him into a stone-cold Super Saiyan space invader.

BUT,

just for laughs, I posted a spoof version for the forum entitled "McVegeta"
And here's why:

Original Majin symbol tattoo

Spoof!

Good Day vs. Bad Day

2010-04-12T21:59:00.000+08:00

Broken glass

After my job interview at Batu Caves, which, by the way, went pretty well :), I decided to stop by Petronas Karak to fill up my tank and also to grab a bite at the Burger King nextdoor since I was hungry and didn't have anything to eat for breakfast and lunch.

So, after I filled up my tank, I parked my car right in front of Burger King. While I was eating happily, some idiots broke into my car! They smashed my window and stole my bag and my Apex'i EL2 boost meter. Inside my bag was my faulty Sony digital camera, my old sketchbook, my NEW sketchbook, and also my stationery bag full of expensive drawing tools which I really treasure.

Ironically, I never had a chance to draw anything in my new sketchbook. I'm just glad that my car is safe and nobody got hurt except for my broken heart & window. Now I need to replace the window ASAP before the whole car gets stolen. *sighs*

New Sketchbook

2010-04-12T13:05:00.000+08:00

Went out yesterday to KLCC for some shopping. We stopped by Kinokuniya Bookstore and my girlfriend bought me this:

A new sketchbook!

She even wrote me an introduction

Just for the sake of memories. How sweet of her

Thank you so very much, dear. I love it!

Sketches

2010-04-11T23:04:00.000+08:00

Study / Pen on paper / 15 x 21cm

Study / Pen & watercolor markers on paper / 15 x 21cm

Study / Pen on paper / 15 x 21cm

Mystic Rural WIP Screenshot

2010-04-11T06:11:00.000+08:00

Mystic Rural / Adobe Photoshop CS4 / Intuos 3

Suddenly I decided to try and paint this particular piece.

Painted over my original sketch.

Recommence

2010-04-10T14:21:00.001+08:00

I now have a 'myname.blogspot.com' which I would consider a BIG change even for me. Ever since I stopped blogging at my LiveJournal account, I found life, staggering as it is, needed to be shared and told. But sadly, I never managed to put it on record. I don't keep a diary or carry a camera around me often to capture such moments.

Let's just hope that I can keep this up.

Here's to start off this blog:

Mystic Rural / Pencil on paper / 15 X 21 cm