Mononoke Madness

So charmed by the Mononoke series. The anime resembles moving ukiyo-e prints, love it.




Like Civilised Men
An attempt at CLAMP's 'long-limbed-men' style
pencil + copics + digital








The Oleander Man
pencil + copics + digital

Stroll at your own risk

Great, the first post in almost 4 months and it had to be a gripe? Ah, so many pet peeves, so little time.

Reference Articles:
Leave Baby at Home
A stroller or battering ram?

“Parents who push their offspring around in the wheeled carriages say Singaporeans are not very understanding if they accidentally bump them. Worse, they cannot be bothered holding the lifts for the baby brigade to maneuver into them.”
Au contraire, dear indignant progenitors. I do hold the lift doors open for them. Parents who are nice enough to say thanks, smile or nod in acknowledgement deserve that. I’ve seen members of the public helping a mother carry her pram through a crowded MRT cabin, people giving space for strollers on the bus and I let my neighbours, who are young parents, go in front because I think most of us know it’s not easy moving around with your baby on wheels.

But do you know what really gets on my nerves? Aunties who treat their strollers like Daytona cars. You can almost hear their insane glee as they happily ram their equally gleeful offspring over unsuspecting feet towards the nearest 50% off sale.

It’s not just crowded places like Orchard Road. After having my new (white! Oh, the tragedy.) shoes run over 4 times while shopping, my poor ankles went blue black after a deranged woman shoved her tiny fugly pink stroller right at me. I swear that thing was a tank in disguise and the baby was actually a tiny artillerist.

Instead of being apologetic, she lectured me on getting in her way. I politely told her to move slower next time, because Cold Storage is neither an F1 racecourse, nor is her mini Ba Zhang an F1 driver. Childish of me, yes, but it was worth it (and pretty damn satisfying) to watch her sputtering face turn purple.

Before you chide me on being mean about the baby, please understand that any over-tubby tykes under 9 months in tight clothes will be described as a ba zhang. See the uncanny resemblance? I’m not afraid to admit that I was once a rice dumpling too.

We all know it’s impractical to carry a baby while you shop, but please, we could all do without flattened feet and vandalized shoes. I had to paint over the track marks of my last white heels, and trust me, it wasn’t easy.

I should practice on my glares next time and see how many babies I can make cry with a stare. Ooh, sounds like fun!

Goodbye, My Pet

I loathed our first meeting. You’re shivering in that tiny birdcage, claws cutting into the grilled cage floor and smelling of pet shop. A warm bath and some chow later, you snuggled on my palm, rubbed your head against my shirt and blinked sleepily.

I thought you were too skinny. But still the cutest damn thing I’ve ever seen since my ex-squirrel.

When you walked towards me after I called your name, at that moment I felt like a proud parent. And you were such a petulant child, giving puppy eyes and sulking whenever I shampooed you.

It pained me to squeeze pus out of your ear 3 times a day when your had cheek pouch infection. But you, being the brave little warrior, didn’t flinch or bite. Or maybe you knew that I’d be giving you that strawberry flavored medicine afterwards, you little runt.

You’d make purring noises when I rubbed your furry white belly and grabbed my fingers with your sharp little claws. I remembered my sister woke the household with her happy yelps after watching you stretch and yawn for the very first time.

My heart sunk when I found out what that wheezing noises you made for the past week meant. On your last night, I couldn’t sleep and decided to keep you entertained till morning. You still snuggled on my palm, attacked my shirt and chased after treats, despite the loud respiratory noises.

I came back from work in the evening, only to find out from my family that you have passed on in the afternoon, and been buried in the park downstairs. It’s been fun having you around, sweetie. I hope you’re in a better place.

A Little Duvet & Harajuku

And you don't seem the lying kind
A shame that I can read your mind
And all the things that I read there

I am falling
I am fading
I am drowning, help me to breathe
I am hurting
I have lost it all
I am losing, help me to breathe

Duvet by Boa(the UK band, not the little girl from Asia)

What an inspiringly sad song. It is rather nice to indulge in a dose of melancholia every now and then. A little Boa, some Perishers, a bit of Evanescence, then throw in some Caroline, Imogen Heap and Portishead. Voila! A sad little playlist to last the weekend.
























One of my splurges at Kinokuniya, Style Deficit Disorder, showcases some of the best in Japanese street culture. Among my favorites are the Hysteric Glamour label and H.Naoto. Came across Zaldy on style.com and I remain strong in the belief that black is forever. Damn, I can't wait to go to Japan.

Features & Rants

Goldie was featured in May's issue of Catalog Magazine! I know the picture is small, but all the more reason for you to grab a copy for yourself!


Because Chanel never goes out of style. Speaking of which, I need to get myself some Chanel grenade launchers because they look so damn cool. A Burberry rifle wouldn't hurt either.


It's great having RibbonRabbit featured on iWeekly too, if not for the painted heels being placed under the wrong section and miscredited. And overpriced, too.

Painted Heels

Thanks to Michele (again!) for the feature, this time for RR. Though the site wasn't quite ready, since it's still in process of being updated. So many things to consolidate, so little time.


Soiree
Mixed medium, matt varnished.


Stars and Stripes
Mixed medium, gloss varnished.

All the Beautiful Things

If you thought Barbie was the most beautiful girl on earth, wait till you see D.O.D.. These Dollfies are completely customizable,from hair to eye colour right down to hand their hand stitched clothes. Tea-party Barbie? Pffft. I'd get myself a kickass E-An anyday.


Trembled Blossoms is an awesome animation featuring James Jean's illustrations for Prada's latest collection.


"Victorian England.
A haunted writer in an isolated castle is tormented by sleepless nights and visions of a girl named Alice. He finds himself becoming a symptom of his own invention.

“Now all my nightmares know my name.”
He is Lewis Carroll. Terrified of what waits for him each night."

Sounds promising, and I love the first poster. High expectations for Manson's movie, considering there's Tilda Swinton involved, and supermodel Lily Cole in it, too.


Shinigami no Seido, a novel adaptation on the life and duties of the Angel of Death (Shinigami) and his enjoyment of life as a human. Thought I caught a whiff of Meet Joe Black, but let's see how it turns out.

Ponder Once, Ponder Twice, Pondered

This is what you get after a weekend mix of Sartorialist and Doubt.


An amusing and heartwarming entry by one of my favorite artists, Hector Sevilla, the condensed version. He who has essentially summed up all of an artist's hopes, fears and desires,I worship the paper on which he draws on.
For a full read, please read his journal.

“When i was a kid, and i'm talking about 10 years from here back in time, cellphones were for the rich and crap like that, and when Pearl Jam ruled, and real old anime was in this side of the world.

A teacher, yelled at me in front of all the class, saying "What are you doing here?, you don't have a sense of design, you don't have what it takes to be a graphic designer, you should be somewhere else.

Youth, passes so fast, that you repeat this question all day, its like if you have a flu, and everyone its playing in the snow outside, I think this example perfectly describes what I’m talking about. You will feel that you don’t belong to the world in a way.

Your body is a drawing machine, so you need to eat well, sleep well do exercises, don’t drink to much, its a lot of sacrifices, because if something its unbalanced your work will not show a 100% of your true strength, that’s why it's a sacrifice.

Besides, art is a selfish B***H, it doesn’t matter how much you study, work, gather ideas, design, etc. She will never be satisfied, sometimes she will treat you very bad and I mean Very Bad, and some days she will be happy with you.

So art is a bipolar girl. But that’s my personal experience, other people have the luck to find a nice balance, those are hard to get, because you barely go out the house. Art will become your first priority and you will miss a lot of things in life.

The doubts will never fade, each day its a fight to get inspiration, to study to learn, there will be days you cant draw, or all your works ends pretty bad, there will always be good and bad days, just like in the beginning in youth.

So I ask you this, do you feel something weird, when you are feeling a pencil scratching on a paper, that sometimes people tell you what are you smiling at, that you are drawing and you didn’t notice that smile you had on your face.

Be brave and art teachers, behave.”

Rabbits for May

Thanks to Michele for the feature on Spotted! at Culturepush!


Shoes don't last long with me; even the sturdiest pair lasts only about 6 months, max. For those that I wear to work, 3 months tops. Not surprising, considering I pretty much run in them after buses on a daily basis.

I'm referring specifically to ladies' shoes, of course. My Adidas and New Balance sports shoes are currently competing for the Most Dust Gathered Award. I think I'm better off building thigh muscles in stilettos instead.

It's with much disappointment that I realise that the shoes sold here are in such limited colours. Everywhere I go, it's red, black or white. Being able to 'promote' to 4 inch heels lately, I was ready to reward myself by getting a pair of nice yellow heels but alas! I could not find any along the stretch of Orchard Road. The ones at Louis Vuitton is obviously out of the question, unless anyone feels nice enough to buy me a pair for my birthday. Which I doubt.

So while staring at my spanking new white shoes, I decided to doodle some florals on them since well, white is so damn boring. Especially when one owns over 10 pairs of white shoes, it's ten times the boredom. 2 months later, whether by luck or Mysterious Forces of the Universe, I'm currently customizing shoe designs over at Hide & Seek, thanks to shop owner Keith.

Hide & Seek is located at 22B/C Hongkong Street, across from Central Mall.
A few samples of the painted shoes:

Danger Colours

Bright hues are in! Just look at the CK Tang window display. Splashes of psychedelic colours assaulting my senses and tempting my wallet. I can finally strut to work in my engine-red tank top without garnering too many stares.

Details are therapeutic. There's nothing quite as satisfying as a good long session of adding in every detail in every nook and cranny.

Uber late
Easter illustration inspired from the Harajuku scene. Am so wowed by the culture and dressing.

There is this set of cabinets in the middle of the studio(currently acting as a cutting area) which emits smells which reminds me of cuttlefish. Bad cuttlefish, that is. So this warning I made for fun gets pasted on it to prevent other from opening them, this preventing unwanted fumes from coming out.