Sunday, January 8, 2012

Girl & Tiger Cubs

Hey, that's not what I call, "Girl & Tiger Cubs". I still don't know what my commissioned painting will be entitled. I asked my very cool client Mike about it so I'm waiting for his response. Mike loves collecting original works of Audrey Kawasaki, Amy Sol, Fuco Ueda, Joas Ruas, Stella Im Hultberg, Tessar Lo & others. He is an owner of KMGMT and of course, a super sweet cat lover. Past few years ago, Mike came across my art from a friend & he was really awestruck. I'm so happy that Mike purchased some of my original Innocent Girls I & II pieces. He was also interested to commission me, so I added him to my commission list in 2010 year.

Last November 2011, I told Mike that I was excitedly ready to create a commissioned painting, he was quite happy! We shared ideas, opinions & suggestions with each other thru messages. He really wanted something a little darker, lunatic & mysterious like Fuco Ueda's art but he loves the Arrow Girls I've done. He also wanted something beautiful but damaged. He also asked me about his own three cats, " I just want to stress again that the tiger cubs should just resemble the cats & besides I would only want people to see the similarities once I pointed it out, so it should be subtle, if that's ok! thanks! " Aww, I adore his beautiful cats!

During our discussion about the concept, it was a little bit difficult to understand what he explained about "emotion / expression / body language" of a girl & 3 tiger cubs. I was a bit confused about something like a "complexity of emotion", which is important for my art. I made different poses / emotions of a girl & tiger cubs so I wanted to see what he preferred.

After he viewed my sketches and gave me another few good explanations / suggestions. He finally chose my other rough sketch, down in the bottom left, where she is kind of curled over & he likes that one a lot 'coz the arrows are given a lot of space to themselves. So I fully understood it. Honestly, I never get disappointed by his amazing suggestions, which means his creative mind improves my skills. I realize Mike is quite smart, creative & talented, glad I have learned from him. I revised my rough sketch & showed it to him... He already loves it.

Click to view this large picture.

Mike decided to prefer acrylic medium on wood. He said my 16" x20" inches painting is going between an original Audrey Kawasaki & Amy Sol which are both on wood. So I was extremely thrilled & excited to paint the final piece! Here are my progress shots.


When I painted it with acrylic, it reminded me of my former oil technique / semi-realism style. I stopped using oil paints since 2005, however, I'm not comfortable with the strong scent so I switched from oil to acrylic paint.

Whew, done! When I see her, I know how she feels.
Acrylic & Colored Pencil on Wood
16" x 20" inches
Click to view this large image.


Mike explained about this: She is more concerned for the animals well being than for her own... so kind of pitiful but overall protective of the innocent cubs.

I combined my current illustration + former realism styles into one, it looks quite different. I think this result went cool! Yey, my mission accomplished! Thank you very much for everything, Mike! I want to thank my fans for emailing me, much appreciated! When I'm free, I'll definitely reply to you all soon.


I'm deciding to sell this rough sketch on my BigCartel shop tomorrow. ( sold out already )

UPDATED: Oh! I forgot to tell you guys, my new prints "The Celebration of Ryujin" and "My Search for the Ghost Dragon" are now releasing on Gallery Nucleus! Please visit my Nucleus shop!

15 comments:

pupu said...

This is really beautiful Mall. :)
I hope one day you will make a video of you doing big painting and ur little sculpture thing.
*huggles*

Shandy said...

OMG Mall this is so... hurtful beauty! I love her emotion & the idea behind this... a continuous from your arrow girls but more spectacular!

Flora Amalie said...

Perfection!!

TrüSka said...

It is beautiful and so sad : ( I Love it and yet... But it's a Poetical Piece Mall... Congratulations - Only you can combina beauty and Pain in this way... Kisses sweetie : ***

Anonymous said...

mike is lucky! ;_;
this is THE BEST, it gives me chills because of her powerful expression, I can feel her great pain.... she's so beautiful. MARVELOUS! ;_;

Ben Clanton said...

WOW! very powerful

oh, and those dragons are INCREDIBLE!

Cocco said...

As my english is so poor, I prefer to say: :-)

styuka said...

Wow, you are my hero! This is so beautiful. Thanks for being so amazing!

Amanda said...

All I can say is wow!!!

Daiane said...

Mall que trabalho maravilhoso!!! aprecio muito seu trabalho, grande artista!!!

Abraços

Unknown said...

That painting on wood is amazing! I'm used to your muted, dreamy style, so I am refreshed by the vibrant colors.

And you know what? I think you do a better job than Audrey Kawasaki =p

Grafifruska said...

Outch!.. too many of the arrows.. but sooo beautiful!

Anonymous said...

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Kristen said...

Beautiful artwork. The message is clear. I love your work MALL! P.S i think im starting to like tigers!

ssshhhtella said...

been following you discreetly ^_^
creepy? it just means i frequent to ur blog but i never leave any comment. i just love looking at your works that i forgot to leave any "hi's" hehe... but i just wanted to tell you that your works inspire me to go back with my portraiture. i just hope i could find time to start again :)

Kudos to you! and God bless.