IN THE MIND OF A COMIC ARTIST: January 2012

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

BEBASKAN AKU... CINTA

Tahukah kau hati kita satu?
Namun aku sudah tidak mahu...
Aku ingin putus...
Tolong lupakan aku.

Tahukah kau rasamu juga rasaku?
Tetapi rasamu menyakitkanku...
Aku mohon dilupuskan...
Tolong lepaskan aku.

Jangan bebani aku lagi
... dengan dugaanmu
... dengan khayalanmu
... dengan perasaanmu
... dengan egomu
Tolong bebaskan aku.

Cinta kita
Bahagianya di khayalan
Deritanya di realiti

Kita berdua...
Sungguh terkecewa
Kita bersama...
Sangat mengecewakan.

Selagi aku di fikiranmu,
aku juga turut memikirkanmu.

Tolong lupakan aku
Tolong lepaskan aku
Tolong bebaskan aku...
dari harapanmu.

Hanya itu cara kita...
Berpisah sesungguhnya.

Monday, January 23, 2012

2012: YEAR OF THE DRAGON

The cheongsam is made from a limited edition stamp by Pos Malaysia
of 'Warisan Tenunan•Legacy of the Loom'

Friday, January 20, 2012

HATI ADA CINTA (BHG. 02): RINDU

Biasanya hari-hari CINTA lalui akan ditemani RINDU

Namun tiba-tiba RINDU itu pergi entah ke mana...

CINTA tertanya beginikah rasanya HATI yang sudah tiada?

Tiada CINTA yang selama ini sangat diingini

CINTA duga akan merintih hiba atas kehilangannya

Namun nyatanya CINTA termenung kebingungan tanpanya

Bagaimana HATI bisa kehilangan CINTA?

Adakah HATI berubah mengikut masa?

Adakah HATI sudah bosan menunggu lama?

Adakah HATI sudah bersedia melepaskan CINTA?

Biar apa pun keinginan HATI,

CINTA akan tetap ADA dituruti...

Mungkin CINTA sudah bersedia,

melepaskan HATI yang sudah tiada,

membuka ruang RINDU pada yang ADA...

Adakah benar CINTA selama ini...

ADA pada RINDU?

Refer to: HATI ADA CINTA (BHG. 01)

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Frankly speaking, drawing a lot of comics for love story can be a boring trip if you are the type of person who is unfashionable. Even though you have a lot of love inside of you, but drawing love story, beside showing the right emotion, you've got to love fashion too. If not, your love story is considered a boring journey. So I got lucky because there was a trip in my life that I was adorned by the fashion world—from street to couture which has given an advantage to my comic drawing. Now, let me share with you guys how I develop fashion & emotion in my love story...

What you wear on your head is how you lift up your confident. Either with our without accessories, bold or with hair, each character cannot simply tolerate the same style. Therefore, it's my job to deliver my character's head-style to define their characteristic.
In love, eyes play the biggest role for main characters. To my point of view, people who are in love always have bright eyes in showing how light up they are with life! So, it is important for me to always draw eyes that spark beautifully for each other.
Smiling, laughing, talking, sighing or hating can be interpret slightly with your mouth. Be very cautious if you want to draw the figure of your character's mouth, make sure it goes right with their emotional thought. Failed to do so might mislead the readers of their true feeling.
Accessories & jeweleries is another part of fashion that may translate how each character define their own uniqueness. As an artist, it's my job to creatively create my own creation of accessories & jeweleries (unless there's famous brand likes to sponsor this comic).
Clothes can be the most headache choice of wardrobe for my characters. I'm not really good with my own wardrobe. Though I have quite a lot of branded clothes in my collection, I usually ended up wearing nothing but t-shirt & jeans (or nothing at home... just kidding!). Seriously, in my experience, I have to push my creativity to an extended limit just to design my character with a perfect clothing... which most of the time ended up considerate than perfect.
You know what, drawing love story plays a lot with character's postures & one part of the body that delivers certain aspect of emotion is the hands—how it touches the other character with so much love, how the fingers string to the air or how it caresses the love one—make sure the readers have the right to feel the same with their hands.
Last but not least is the environment. Sometimes to much things in the background will drown the exact emotion of the characters. Therefore, always be very careful of how you blend your characters performance with the background you're about to draw. Don't go overboard! Sometimes, plain is better...

Personally, your own feeling plays a bigger role on how you draw your character. To me, without the right feeling, I can never perform my drawing exactly the way I want it. So I need to have an experience to get the right feeling. Sometimes, I need to be cruel just because I want to experience the feel... the thing we call SACRIFICE — what I mean is read a lot of love stories, listen to a lot of love songs & watch a lot of love movies. ^_^"

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

A HEARTBREAKING VOW

I thought this feeling will last forever...

But it doesn't.

I thought you'll be my endless summer...

Yet there's winter.

I thought we'll stuck together as the bayou...

Sadly we move on like a flowing river blue.

I can't even remember you in my rhyme

When I need a smile in my charm

There's someone new stuck in my mind.

My feeling's no more like it used to

As my heart in despair to ever loves you

Because yesterday I've met a new true.

This is the end, right?

End of something I wish not

But hope has gone

at a forgettable salon.

Thus I promise

We'll never be blue again...

This I swear

I'll be fine not to amend...

Love you like a friend...

Swear I promise you then.

Friday, January 13, 2012

THIS IS HOW I WISH 2012... TO YOU

MIND OF A COMIC ARTIST

Have you ever thought that a comic artist's mind is much more deeper than anyone of you can ever imagine? This is what makes me complicated & that's why I want you to know me here. What do I have in mind? Something to share before I leave. But thoughts recorded here remain, till terminate... till death do us part.

[MINDA SEORANG ARTIS KOMIK
Pernahkah kau terfikir bahawa minda seorang artis komik begitu mendalam berbanding sesiapa yang kau terbayangkan? Inilah yang membuatkanku rumit & kerana itu aku mahu kau mengenaliku di sini. Apa yang ku fikirkan? Sesuatu untuk dikongsi sebelum aku pergi. Tetapi ingatan-ingatan yang terakam kekal di sini, sehingga padam... hingga maut memisahkan kita.]

SYMBIOTIC OF LOVE

'Being cute doesn't mean you're adorable, being handsome doesn't mean you're tough, being gorgeous doesn't mean you're attractive, being pretty doesn't mean you're sweet! Once again I want to remind you that I'm not taken by anyone physical beauty unless for flirt favor. But if I'm taken by the beauty of your heart, compared to your physical beauty, then I'm glad for the great package of you! Though love doesn't need a package to lure me... '

[SIMBIOTIK CINTA
Tampak genit tidak bermaksud kamu menarik, tampak tampan tidak bermaksud kamu gagah, tampak mengagumkan tidak bermaksud kamu memikat, tampak cantik tidak bermaksud kamu manis! Sekali lagi ku berpesan bahawa aku tidak mudah terpedaya dengan keindahan fizikal sesiapa kecuali atas alasan berpoya-poya. Tetapi jika aku terpikat dengan keindahan hatimu, berbanding keindahan fizikalmu, maka aku bersyukur dengan pakejmu yang hebat! Walaupun cinta tidak perlukan pakej untuk mengumpanku...]

PANDICULATION

There are those who claimed I have the charisma that can attract people to get into the crowd & listen to my words. Yes, I believe I do have such power... alhamdulillah. I can even make people fall in love with me desperately while I'm still walking gracefully towards my dream unassuaged by their sincerity. But this charisma is God's gift, I will not use it by force demand, only by fair request & I agree to fulfill.

[PANDIKULASI
Mereka bilang aku punya karisma yang bisa memikat manusia hadir berkelompok mendengar bicaraku. Ya, aku percaya aku punya kuasa itu... alhamdulillah. Malah aku bisa bikin manusia jatuh cinta padaku sesungguhnya sedang aku terus berjalan penuh gaya ke arah mimpiku, tidak terpujuk oleh ketulusan mereka. Namun karisma ini anugerah-Nya, tidak akan ku rela bila dipaksa, hanya dengan seadil permintaan & aku redha memenuhinya.]

ASPIRATION

You said "Maybe I'm not so lucky in love..." Truth is all those time when you're into someone, it was because of pleasure & admiration. Once you had it, you fell even deeper for the imperfect of perfection & you thought that's true love. Yet such love is breakable, turned you into despair for a pleasure of admiration & blinds your way to see your true love who is waiting in despair yet unbreakable...

[ASPIRASI
Kau berkata "Mungkin aku tidak bertuah dalam cinta..." Sebenarnya ketika kau taksub kepadanya, adalah kerana kesenangan & kekaguman. Bila sudah memiliki, kau merasa yang terdalam dengan ketidaksempurnaan yang sempurna & kau sangka itu cinta sejati. Namun cinta itu amat rapuh, menjadikan kau kecewa pada kesenangan mengagumi & membutakan jalanmu melihat cinta sejati yang sedang menanti dalam kecewa tidak terapuhkan...]

BURLESQUE

"3x I've made love confession & none replied that they love me too, still they stick on me like lovers. But I never stuck on them when being unanswered didn't develop my motivation, though funny how they got miserable for that. More than 3x I heard love confession from others & none I replied, but they stuck on me until they got miserable!"

[BURLA
"3x aku mengaku cinta & tiada seorang pun mengaku yang sama, namun tetap mereka terikat denganku bagaikan kekasih. Namun aku leraikan ikatan itu bila perakuan tanpa sambutan tidak membina motivasiku, walaupun kelakar melihat mereka porak-peranda kerana itu. Lebih daripada 3x aku mendengar perakuan cinta mereka namun tiada satu pun aku sambut, tetapi mereka terus terikat padaku sehingga porak-peranda!"]

INTENTION

"Let me put it this way... you're not God whom I verbally confess my love & I don't expect to get verbal reply, yet my heart still believe I'm loved without doubt cause God don't hate. So if I verbally confess my love to you, don't expect me to believe you love me too if you're not verbally reply me because I couldn't compare you with God!"

[NIAT
"Beginilah... kau bukan Tuhan yang bisaku perakui cintaku secara lisan tanpa mengharap balasan yang sama, namun hatiku masih percaya aku dicintai sesungguhnya kerana Tuhan tidak membenci. Maka jika aku mengaku cinta kepadamu secara lisan, jangan harap aku bisa percaya kau mencintaiku juga tanpa jawapan lisanmu kerana aku tidak tega membandingkanmu dengan Tuhan!"]

SIREN

"I only want to be happy with what I do & if you're not happy with it please help yourself & get out! As far as I know you need help & I need to do my work, so what's it gonna be? Try to ruin my life just because you're not happy with how good my life is not an option to make yourself happy, I promise you'll be worse! Think of spider, ant & bee; I may look easy to be crushed but please doubt the fragility."

[SIREN
Aku hanya ingin bahagia dengan apa yang ku lakukan & jika kau tidak bahagia kerana itu, maka sila bantu dirimu sendiri & keluar! Setahu aku, kau perlukan bantuan & aku perlu laksanakan tugasku, jadi apa kesimpulannya? Cuba menghancurkan hidupku hanya kerana kau tidak bahagia dengan caraku bukan caramu untuk bahagia, percayalah kau pasti merana! Fikirkan lelabah, semut & lebah; aku mungkin kelihatan senang dipijak namun sila ragui kerapuhan itu."]

REGIME

"I recall that a common piece of advice was to restrain oneself from excessive knowledge. Knowledge leads to unhappiness & makes people permanently dissatisfied. I eventually came to realize that the origin of such poisonous belief was some people's desire to have others fall into their power."

"Saya teringat pada satu nasihat yang menahan seseorang daripada ilmu yang berlebihan. Ilmu membawa kepada kesedihan & membuat orang tidak berpuas hati selamanya. Saya akhirnya menyedari bahawa asal-usul kepercayaan beracun itu adalah keinginan sesetengah orang untuk melihat orang lain jatuh ke dalam kuasa mereka."

— Pramoedya Ananta Toer (The Mute's Soliloquy)

IN THE MIND OF A COMIC ARTIST