Jia Min Lim

Sock Rat

2011-10-28T08:36:00.001-07:00

I didnt think I'd ever get asked to make a sock rat but I was wrong! Here's how he turned out...

Louise's Portraits

2011-10-14T06:41:00.001-07:00

Here are photos of a recent order I received...one of my loyal customers wanted a set of portraits to give to her partner from his kids for Father's Day!

Milkshakes anyone?

2011-10-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

Does anyone fancy a milkshake? I'm afraid these aren't edible - they're made from felt! :)

Memory Bunny - Phoebe

2011-10-14T06:25:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, a good friend of mine, Kate, asked me to make a memory bunny for her out of her daughter's baby clothes. I LOVED this project - it's definitely a lot more personal and it's always a nice thing to be able to make something that a person can cherish. Given that it was my first attempt at making one (along with it being about twice to three times the size of other things I make) I dont think it turned out too bad! ;) Tell me what you think!

Sophie & The Elephants - Part 2

2011-10-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture I drew about a month ago now, again it's another present for Sophie :) Originally it was only going to be Sophie and the elephant but then I thought it looked a little too plain, so along came the other animals! Can you imagine if a load of animals came together for a photo like this in real life?! If only!

Sophie & The Elephants - Part 1

2011-10-14T06:18:00.000-07:00

My friend Sophie LOVES elephants! I think I posted a similar topic last year around her birthday but time flies and now I'm posting again! This year I thought it would be nice to make her a sock elephant...she said she would like one after seeing the ones I made on my Sock Bunnies & Other Softies Facebook page, but I thought I would make her a special one that no one else has got...here she is:

A Penguin For Erika

2011-05-17T13:06:00.001-07:00

My good friend Erika has another birthday coming up and I'd said that I will put together a package for her filled with Irish knick knacks - which I actually do every year depending on whether new Ireland stuff comes out in the shops here in Hertfordshire! Anyway, I thought since she likes penguins, I could make her one out of felt - at first I thought I wanted to make one out of socks but when you stuff black socks with white polyester stuffing, you can see right through the socks so it hardly looks black anymore! Hence why I finally settled on felt.
Then, I remembered that Erika likes baseball (or is it softball - sorry Erika lol!) - either way, she's sporty so figured a cap would be a nice touch!

So, this is Erika's Irish Penguin...who either plays baseball/softball...or just who just likes wearing a cap :) Whichever you prefer!

P.S. No, I couldnt resist uploading these photos so it wont be a surprise anymore! Will have to think of something else! ;)

No Excuses

2011-05-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Oops - it's been another few months since the last time I posted! It's never intentional NOT to post my work here but I have been busy with work (toy making mostly) and those photos tend to go up on my Facebook or DeviantArt page first. Anyway, thought I'd post some photos of some of my more recent sock animals in case any of you havent seen them on Facebook already! Here is a sock kangaroo that I made earlier this week:

Dragonfly

2011-02-10T09:39:00.000-08:00

The New Year has brought about new ideas for my sock animals...my friend Jean from America asked me to make a dragonfly for her niece and I couldnt say no! :D

It was meant to be a Christmas present but I got caught up with other orders so mailed this out last week - and it arrived a few days ago so at least little Ayla will have her dragonfly very soon!

New Portraits

2011-02-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

I keep intending to post updates on what I've been doing but work has been getting in the way - plus, my mum has learnt how to use the laptop so whenever I RARELY get some spare time these days, she's on it.

Anyway, here are some of my newer portraits...hope you like them!

1) Grandpa, A4, 2011.
When I went to Malaysia last October, my Grandpa asked me to do a portrait of him - I actually finished this one before Christmas but only just had it posted this morning...bad I know! Still, I'm happy with how this turned out considering I worked from a passport photo! ;)

2) The Searle Kids, A4, 2011.
Sarah (a friend from uni) asked me to do this portrait of her brother's kids just after Christmas, I think! I finished it a few weeks ago, again pretty proud of how it turned out :) I think I've still got a while to go where working with dark curly hair is concerned but hopefully I'll get there!

Let me know what you think!xx

Dolce Gateau Anyone?

2010-12-24T06:21:00.000-08:00

I had a bit of spare time to tidy up my desktop this afternoon - not exactly the most exciting Christmas Eve but my family obviously save most of the celebrating for tomorrow so today's a good day to do things that I havent had time to do the last few weeks! I've found a few pics of things I havent posted about here yet...

ANYWAY, my cousin, Cza Claridad, from the Philippines (Manila to be specific), opened up her own bakery business a few months ago and asked her boyfriend and me to work on a logo for her. Karl got a few pictures from the internet and Clip Art, put them together and I did a bit of clearing up for the final logo. Here are a couple of pictures!

Manang Cza is able to hand deliver (if near) or post through mail any orders that she receives so if you fancy taking a look at some of her cakes, check out her Facebook page HERE.

Sock Rudolph :D:D

2010-12-19T11:42:00.000-08:00

This is a Christmas Eve present for Kate's daughter, Phoebe. :)

A New Style Of Sock Giraffe

2010-12-19T11:40:00.000-08:00

Sock Guinea Pig & Chinchilla

2010-12-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

For Lorraine Prince :) xx

Sock Dinos

2010-12-19T11:30:00.001-08:00

I dont think anyone would really get scared if one of these dinos crossed their paths...

Felt Cakes

2010-12-19T09:39:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year I started a toy making business in addition to my graphite portrait business and I got an order for a cake set made from felt...my customer, who is now a good friend - Kate, asked me for 1 muffin, 1 ice cream cone and 1 slice of cake...I think I went a bit overboard with the sprinkles but oh well! Hope you like them! xx

My Little Ninja From Erika!!!

2010-12-19T09:21:00.000-08:00

My friend, Erika, from Canada makes little ninjas from felt and she made me this blue one!!! If you know me personally, then you’ll know that my favourite colour is none other than BLUE! So, naturally, I LOVE him! If you want to check out her WordPress, the link is Erikanerd.wordpress.com . Erika is selling her work so if you’d like her to make you something, just ask and I’m sure she’ll make something great for you!xx

Wolf - 2010

2010-12-19T09:03:00.000-08:00

In September, this year, I went to Malaysia with my Dad to visit his side of the family – AMAZING! Aside from the obvious mosquito bites, I loved it! Having not seen my relatives for 10years it was definitely nice to catch up, explore as many places as possible and take photos together.Some days, the weather was wayyyy too hot to venture outside so I stayed in a did some drawings…this wolf was copied from a National Geographic magazine that my Uncle subscribes to. It’d been at least 3 or 4 years since I’d drawn an animal so figured I’d give it another go…
Also, usually I draw with a “normal” pencil but this one was done with a mechanical pencil that my cousin let me borrow. Let me know what you think hehe! xx

Sock Giraffes

2010-11-17T11:36:00.001-08:00

Sock Giraffes

Sock Cat & Dog

2010-11-17T11:33:00.000-08:00

Sock Cat & Dog

Sock Bee

2010-11-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

Sock Bee

Sock Pig

2010-11-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

Here's a sock pig! :)

Busy Busy Busy With Sock Animals!

2010-11-17T11:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry everyone! Will be posting more regularly from now on hopefully! Got a few creatures to show you!

The last few months I've been creating soft toys made from socks and they've been VERY popular so thought I'd post a few photos here aswell....

JJ xx

Sock Bunnies

2010-08-18T14:10:00.000-07:00

I've been trying my hand at sock bunnies since I havent seen many cute ones online. So far, I've only finished 2; I'm a bit iffy about making too many of one 'thing' just in case people are not interested in buying them...at the moment, both of these bunnies have been put on my Facebook page. We'll see if anyone wants to give them a home before I think about making any more. Let me know what you think :) xx

Art TV

2010-08-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

There's hardly EVER a tv show about art in this day and age - at least any about art that isnt controversial anyway...

I noticed 2 weeks ago that I have the SkyArts1 channel so I went through the list of programmes and came across one called Art Race where 2 American artists race against each other trying to get across the States in opposite directions (so one artist went from NYC to LA and the other went from LA to NYC) surviving only by their artwork. Basically, they had to try and exchange artwork for food/lodging/travel for 40 days (the duration of the race). If you're not into Art then you'd probably think it was boring but I thought it was brilliant - although in the end, in my opinion, the wrong guy won.
The winner, Ben, hardly did any artwork on the trip and the bits that he did do weren't great. One day he had a chance to make/decorate his own surfboard which on any scale is an amazing opportunity but he didnt make the most of it - only did a bit of a doodle in charcoal...
The loser on the other hand was AMAZING! His name : Kenny Harris. He traded EVERY SINGLE THING he got for a bit of artwork so it was a major shock when he lost at the end...I've been looking to see if he has a blog but apparently he doesn't...hopefully one day he'll start one up.
All in all, it was totally inspiring - I'd love to do an Art race although I dont think people in the UK would be as open to it as people in the US are unfortuntely!

Another show I caught last night was a documentary about Reynold Brown - an American artist who worked on hundreds of movie posters...here's one:

I'm gobsmacked by his work - the detail he put in and his use of colour! I was trying to search Google images for pictures of his early work where he did instructional diagrams for planes but couldn't find any...only a few of his movie posters which don't get me wrong are just as fascinating! Apparently he could see something (an object/pose/costume) one day and remember it months later if he was asked to draw it!
The documentary was very old footage but nevertheless grabbed my full attention. It makes me want to draw even just thinking about it!
It's a shame to hear that he never got praised for his work by Art Directors or even fans since he wasn't able to sign his work/get credited - as a result, he isn't as famous now as he should be.
I'm off to look at more of his work/read up on him some more...if you like old movie poster art/comic book art, check him out too :) xx

New Shoesies :)

2010-08-15T10:49:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late in making shoes since it's practically almost time for boots again but I guess these can be made/ordered at any point in the year...

My good friend, Erika, had to throw out her worn-out pair of trainers a few months ago and I offered to make her a pair of car danglers that looked similar (I say "similar" because obviously the size much smaller than a real pair of shoes and also because I don't want to be sued by the actual company for making smaller 'reproductions')....here's what I came up with..they're not turned into car danglers yet but that won't take long :)

Here are a few more I came up with - the yellow pair were just for fun and then I chose to do some in baby blue/baby pink since a few of my friends have had babies recently...consider these my 'babies' for now :P

If you'd like to order a pair, or even turn your favourite shoes/boots into keychains/car danglers, feel free to visit my Facebook page HERE. xx

Newest Portraits

2010-08-15T10:44:00.001-07:00

Here are 2 of my most recent portraits that I've managed to take decent photos of.

This first one is of a friend's baby called Lexi - SOOO CUTE!

And this one is of a friend, Hermione, and her boyfriend, Andy, when they took a trip to India earlier this year! Believe it or not but the elephant was actually easier to draw than any of my portraits! :O I couldnt believe it either haha but it's true!

Hope you like them! :) xx

The Songtimers!!!

2010-08-08T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, sorry for the mega lack of posting recently - it's down to a mix of a bad internet connection and having too many ideas that I've been working on several bits and pieces and in the confusion of everything have failed to take decent photos! Oops!

Anyway, I thought I'd try and make somewhat of a start posting again by blogging about a new show choir called The Songtimers. One of my friends from primary and secondary school, Chris Quinn, is a lead singer and it was a little weird seeing him on TV as The Songtimers performed earlier tonight on the show Dont Stop Believing on Channel 5! They won the viewer vote so have fast-tracked into the finale! Wooo!

They have a pages on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube so if you havent already seen them, check them out! :)

More artwork posts coming soon hopefully! Hope you are all well! xx

Divine Cupcakes by Cheryl

2010-06-28T12:16:00.000-07:00

One of my friends, Cheryl, from secondary school recently contacted me to ask me to do a logo for her new cupcake business. I came up with a few variations using the same style (tailored to her requirements) and here are a few...

Finally, though, she settled on this one:

Yum yum yum! :) xx

Celebrity Portraits - Kat Von D

2010-06-28T12:13:00.001-07:00

I just remembered that I hadnt uploaded this picture after I finished it a few months back - it's of tattooist Kat Von D...even though I doubt I'd ever get a tattoo myself because I hate needles, I think her work is A-MA-ZING! :)

xx

New Shoe Styles...Part 1

2010-06-28T12:08:00.001-07:00

My posting is getting worse, I know! Big apologies! I've been working ridiculous hours for the past few weeks because of various things; more orders, more ideas, and just general housework and such that keeps a person busy! Anyway, I thought I'd post a few things today and hopefully I'll have another post or two by the end of the week because of a few pieces that recipients need to see first...

This post is to show you all a new style of shoe that I'm working on. I say 'working on' because it's not 100% perfect yet but I still think it's cute. Let me know what you think!

More styles are on the way but if you have any that you'd like to see - or perhaps you have some shoes that you'd like to see turned into keyrings/car danglers then comment under this post and let me know! :)

xx

Happy 1st Birthday Ronnie!

2010-06-05T05:01:00.000-07:00

It's my best friend's son's birthday this week but his party is today so I'm posting this before I leave... I've said that I will do his portrait every year :) He's probably the person I've drawn the most (because of portraits for Xmas presents for grandparents/parents and I also did his portrait as a gift for his Christening last year! Hope he can recognise himself hehe!

P.S. Sorry for the lack of posts recently - again it's the issue of waiting for people to get their portraits/gifts before I post pictures so as to not ruin surprises! I do have pics to upload of AMAZING presents that my friend Sophie sent me so watch out for those coming soon! :D xx

Little boots!

2010-05-21T15:00:00.000-07:00

I've been mad busy recently with various projects - one of which being making little boots out of felt/fleece to sell as plain decorations/keychains or car danglers.

Here are a few photos to wet your appetite :)

If you would like to see more and even order a pair, just click HERE. :) xx

Glee :)

2010-05-01T16:31:00.001-07:00

I dont get much time for TV these days but I never miss Glee! :)

If you know me personally then it doesnt come as a shock seeing as I looooove the High School Musical movies!! Anyway, while I was waiting to help my dad with something earlier today, I did a quick drawing of myself and coloured it later...

Honestly, if there is ever an animated series, I'd better get a callback! ;)
xx

Lil presents for Sophie! :)

2010-04-27T16:42:00.000-07:00

Yayyyy!!! I FINALLY got a chance to make a few little things for my friend Soph - it took me a while to settle on final ideas for what to make her but since she loves elephants I thought I'd make her a little elephant...

I didnt use a template nor did I really know what I wanted the finished elephant to look like - I kept adding things (which I tend to do normally) and this is what I came up with!

The second lil present was a mini set of pink leopard print boots that can dangle from car windows. When I saw the material I instantly thought of Sophie and since she likes Ugg boots I figured she'd like these:

The last lil present was a small pillow - the pink felt originally had glitter on it but I think after working with it for a while most of the glitter fell off (sorry Soph lol!) but you can still see specks here and there...the whole 'Rainbow Love' was our quote from uni - thinking back on it now I cant actually remember how we came up with it haha, but it's nice to have something to remind us of what we were like at uni :)

Miss you Sophieeeeee :) xx

Guess the celeb #1! :)

2010-04-24T13:48:00.000-07:00

Heya everyone!

I started a group on Facebook with a friend of mine who also likes doing portraits - we decided to focus on celebrities and in turn I thought of adding a "Guess the celeb" theme for my blog too...

See if you can guess who April's celeb is!

Note: There's only 1 celeb despite the 3 pics ;) xx

Thomas & Sophie :)

2010-04-08T09:29:00.001-07:00

These are my latest drawings for my friend Hannah - she asked me a while time ago to do some cartoons of her kids, Thomas and Sophie but I only managed to sort them out now.

They are great looking kids so I didnt want to make them too cartoony - so they're semi cartoons/semi portraits. Then I thought it would be nice to add things that they like - apparently Thomas has to watch Disney's Cars everyday and Hannah is hoping Sophie will be into butterflies and fairies when she's a bit older so here's what I came up with:

Summer's Coming! Cornetto anyone?

2010-04-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...well, you cant eat him, but here's a cornetto soft toy that I made my friend Sarah. :)

She got him today so I can finally upload a picture for you all to see.

I've got more stuff to upload this week if I get a chance so keep an eye out!

P.S. I hope you all had a lovely Easter!

Family Portrait - Dad's birthday present

2010-03-24T14:03:00.000-07:00

So my dad asked me AGES ago to make him a family portrait (of him, my mum and me) - it didnt happen for a while because I was so busy - but then I thought I'd surprise him for his birthday (11th March)! He was totally surprised when he unwrapped it hehe so I can upload it now so you can see it. The photos used are quite old photos (mine is about 3 or 4 years old) incase you were wondering "You dont have long hair!!!"

...my mum decided to change the frame:

Currently, I'm working on 2 cartoons for a friend of her kids - will upload those once she receives them so keep a look out! I'm also planning to start an artist art swap on Facebook (where artists upload examples of their work and look at each other's work...then if one artist likes another's work, they can exchange pieces). I figured it would be a good way of helping friends advertise artwork and it's also priceless to have an original piece from an artist you admire. I will be including crafty people too - so dont worry if you're not an artist/painter, if you can knit/sew etc etc then you're invited along! Will update you as soon as I've got time to make a group on Facebook!

Until then, hope you're all well! xx

Hey Everyone!

2010-02-13T09:37:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Hoping all of your creative juices are flowing - mine certainly are!

I managed to email Jean all 18 illustrations a few days back and I'm sooo happy to say that she loved them!!!!
It's always that little bit more scary when you're doing work for friends - so I'm glad she's happy with them. I'll keep you updated on what happens with the book - ooo I'M SO EXCITED! :)

Elsewhere, I have a lot more work waiting for me - another book is being planned with my friend Maz, and then I've got a story that I may want to write myself...but we'll see.
I'm also in a craft mood - I havent worked with felt in a few weeks so I think it's definitely time to get back into that - last night I even managed to sketch out a few ideas and made a template for a new range (which will be kept secret for a while!) of felties!!

Sorry I've got no pictures to post with this blog - but hopefully I will be able to put a lot up at some point soon....keep checking back!! :)
xx

Artist Watch: Sophie!!!!!

2010-02-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

Heya everyone! Sorry for the lack of posting - I've been busy on several things including (again) the book illustrations which are finished but are still waiting to be sent on to Jean...so will post more about that soon.

I want to include new posts now and again about artists that I come across that I think you should all check out :)
This week, I'm posting about one of my friends Sophie! We had our university interviews together almost 4 years ago so it's crazy to think that all that time has passed!!! I'm glad we stayed friends though - she's such a talented artist and a great laugh!
Sophie's been busy lately doing all sorts of art; more recently her brilliant felt creations! It's also lovely to have a friend doing something with felt since I've got loads of felt ideas myself! We will dominate the felt world one day! 'Til then, check out her blog; either by typing sophgray.blogspot.com into your browser...or clicking on the banner below!
Woooo go Sophieeeee!!! Love ya loads! :)

More new posts coming soon! :) xx

Room 94 T-Shirt Designs

2010-01-16T12:27:00.000-08:00

I managed to upload these photos on Facebook the other day so the guys have seen them already - so I can upload them here too now.... :)

A Juggling Act

2010-01-12T14:43:00.000-08:00

Where has time gone????? So it's been snowing here for like 2 weeks now and I've practically lost all track of the days - I've been beavering away at the book illustrations and some new tshirt designs for Room 94. I will upload the tshirt designs very soon - after the guys have seen them etc and if they're happy with them, so watch this space! :)

I've been having so man ideas lately for stuff I can make with felt; toys, keyrings etc....it's annoying because if I'm doing alot of drawing, I get ideas for textile designs - and if I'm doing a load of textile work then I get cartoon ideas. At the moment, it's not likely that I'll get into sewing work for a while, at least until I get the book illustrations to Jean - which should be in the next 2weeks or so if all goes well.

Non-art wise, Glee officially started last night and I'm already hooked!!! :) American Idol starts again tomorrow and I CANT WAIT!!!

Must get back to work! Hope you're all well! xx

Art around the world!!!!

2010-01-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone - hope you're all succeeding in your New Year's resolutions so far! :)

It's been crazy busy this side of the computer lately - I'm making good progress on the book illustrations which is definitely a great sign.

I've been using an A4 sized lightbox from Argos that I bought way back when I started uni and it's proved to give me trouble seeing as it's slanted so my hand tends to slip on the odd occasion. Anyway, yesterday my friend's dad came over and I asked him if he could even it out but he suggested he just make me a brand new one!!!! Then this morning, he popped over to give me his old photography lightbox as he doesnt use it anymore! I've got loads of work done today because of his level lightbox!!!! :D So THANKS MR MERINO!!! :)

Elsewhere, a portrait that I did for my dad's workmate, Ausra, of her and her daughter Veja is on it's way to Lituania now - turns out it was a gift for Ausra's mum so hopefully it'll be a nice addition to a wall/house overseas!

Talking about overseas, the onion I made my friend Erika has landed safely in her house in Canada!!!! Admittedly it wasnt my own design - I worked off the onion in the Excel gum advert since that was what she wanted but it was still handmade (minus the plastic eyes!) - here he is...

THANKS ERIKA FOR THE PICTURE!

I want to make more soft toys this year - I've even got a few ideas for keychains and soft toys that you can hang in cars but I will get back to you guys on the progress of all that. :)

Oh one more thing - I am having a bit of trouble logging into my main site so updates will be posted as soon as possible. In the mean time, all activity/updates will be put up on this blog. :) Take care everyone! xx

Belated Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

2010-01-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I'm hoping you all had really nice Christmas and New Year celebrations! I originally intended to do a little Christmas card to post on here but it didnt happen - had wayyy too much work on in the lead up to Christmas and have finished more portraits than I thought I would... Here are some for you to feast your eyes on :) Let me know what you think!

Holly & Harry

Jamie & Brandon

Veja & Ausra

Ella & Juan

Keira

Zinah

Keira

In addition, I am still working on the book illustrations - going pretty slowly unfortunately but they're looking really good (in my opinion of course lol....) I rarely compliment my own work so that says alot :) Hopefully they'll be done soon!
Take care everyone!! xx

New Challenge? Bring it on!

2009-12-06T14:42:00.001-08:00

It's been a bit quiet here the last few days - I've been working on 2 double portraits for a friend which took up all of my time. They're finished now and photos will be uploaded once she has seen them so look out in the next week or so for the update. Now that these 2 portraits are finished, I've got an A3 portrait lined up for one of my dad's workmates; of her and her daughter. It is my first A3 portrait so it's a little scary but fingers crossed it'll turn out ok.

Today I've managed to put in about 7hours worth of work into one of the book illustrations - nowhere near enough though...the illustration isnt anywhere near finished which is testing my patience a little bit because I'm really excited about seeing it finished. It'll get there though!

Elsewhere, non-art related, Joe and Stacey got through to the Final of the XFactor earlier - they have been my favourite from the very beginning so I'm very happy! I've got no artwork pictures to put in this post so I'm uploading one of both my XFactor winners :)

Congrats Kimberley and Reece!

2009-11-26T08:51:00.001-08:00

Just thought I'd post a message to congratulate some lovely friends of mine; Kimberley and Reece - they both got their first choice university offers so found themselves in a balloon filled car today after school :)

All that's left now is to get the points they need (which obviously will happen!!!!) and head on off to uni next September! Let's hope they both come back and visit their old biddy friend JJ often hehe!

Here's a picture that I finished ages ago but only gave it to it's owner a few hours ago ;)

November - December

2009-11-25T06:01:00.001-08:00

So it's been a hectic month and most likely will continue to be as hectic right up until Christmas. I thought I'd post on here before I carry on today's amount of work. Here's my latest portrait...

Excuse the bright scan - my scanner has a life of it's own so images come up brighter than usual.

I got another 2 portrait orders yesterday and I'm going to get started on those tonight - figured it's time for some kind of work schedule to split my time between the various projects I've got going on - so days will be dedicated to the book illustrations and evenings/early hours will be dedicated to portraits. Who needs sleep anyway?? :/

Hope you're all getting in the festive mood - almost December now... the Christmas shopping has been started but I've not done that much...most likely will be ordering most presents off the internet this year. What are you lot going to ask Santa for this year?? Chat soon! xx

Cute Starbucks :)

2009-11-17T10:36:00.001-08:00

A little soft toy that I made my cousin, Manang Czarine, in the Philippines! :)
Couldnt upload a pic until she received him so since she's got it now, you get to see him too!

In other news, sorry for not posting in a while...I am beavering away at the illustrations for Jean's next book so nothing I've drawn so far can be posted (copyright issues)...
I will post a new portrait I did a while back though, when I have more time. For now, it's back to the drawings! :)
Also, I've not started my Christmas shopping yet (Ahhhh!!!) - hope you lot have gotten further than I have! xx

An afternoon of logos!

2009-11-02T12:03:00.000-08:00

I missed a whole day of work yesterday because my dad wanted to go and get an old computer fixed...it took the whole afternoon for it to be looked at so figured I may as well do some random drawings...havent done much art involving fonts recently, and since there was a packet of Chewits in my dad's car, and a empty Ribena carton on the ground outside, it was a perfect time to brush up on some old skills!...Oh and they're all drawn on a napkin so excuse the background of the Boots logo lol!

Cute cute cute!

2009-10-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest portrait :)

Ronnie #2

2009-10-15T08:50:00.001-07:00

Can you imagine trying to draw this little man?! Soo cute! :)

Happy Birthday Mum (For yesterday)

2009-10-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

It was my mum's birthday yesterday but we were so busy that I had no time to post this...
She wanted a set of matching oil pastel flower pictures - well, she's wanted them for a while now...so I figured I'd actually get them done. She was really happy - and both are now hanging in our hallway which is pretty cool seeing as there are no other bits of my artwork in the house. :)

Music lessons anyone?

2009-10-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to know how to play the guitar but right now, I've got next to no time to take opportunity of these music lessons so I'm offering some to you lovely people! They are taught by a great friend of mine, Michael Merino, who I've known for practically forever so trust me when I say he's great! :) If you're interested in learning guitar, bass and/or drums give him a call - he teaches all styles from jazz to rock. All ages and abilities welcome:

Phone: (+44)7754822069

Congratulations Jean!

2009-10-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned to a few of you that I'm doing the illustrations for a friend's book... while I'm still working hard at these illustrations she's had another book released! Take a look:

http://www.amazon.com/No-Room-Inn-Nativity-Reading/dp/0448452170/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254399340&sr=8-3

Jean is a great friend and an awesome writer, and the illustrator she collaborated with, Bryan Langdo, on this book is a brilliant artist! I've checked out his website and it's very inspiring! :)

I've got my fingers crossed that my illustrations will be half as good as his!

Congratulations Jean and Bryan - I'm looking forward to receiving my copy of No Room at the Inn in the mail soon! :)

Busy busy busy!!!

2009-10-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

Apologies for not posting more often!!! I've been working on several pieces lately - most of which include surprise birthday presents so obviously I don't want to spoil any surprises by posting pictures up on my blog before the recipients have got their gifts....but I will once they have so don't worry - you'll be able to see them soon.

Here's a piece that I CAN post though...it's a personalised lever arch file for a friend's dad. Basically, he made me an amazing pencil box and pencil holder out of wood - his woodwork skills are unreal!! I wanted to say "thank you" in my own way... he was showing me photos of all his woodwork pieces but they were all kept in a plastic bag - naturally I was like "Woahh! Hang on a minute, you cant keep photos of your brilliant work in a plastic bag!" So, I came away and thought of what would be a nice thank you gift which he could also use... finally, after searching for an actually non-existant wood lever arch file, I bought a plain one, covered it with woodgrain sticky back plastic and did a little cartoon of him to put on the front...here's how it went :) :

SKETCH (sorry for the bad quality scan!):

OUTLINED:

COLOURED:

FINISHED:

:) Hope you all have a lovely Sunday!

Baby Ella :)

2009-09-11T18:46:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of my most recently completed portrait - so recent in fact, that I actually only finished framing it half an hour ago! This is Ella; Mike and Clare's (close friends of mine) gorgeous baby daughter. I will be paying them a visit in about 12hours so fingers crossed they like it! *Always nervous at this point*

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!xx

Stuffed Onion!

2009-09-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a chance posting a picture of this little guy since he's a gift for my lovely friend from Canada - Erika! She recently asked me to make her a stuffed toy onion like the one featured in the Wrigley's Excel advert - I changed a few little things so as to hopefully not get tangled up in copyright issues by posting a pic online... Hope you like him Erika! :)

Happy 18th Kimberley!

2009-09-10T15:57:00.000-07:00

Wow have I been busy lately!!! But it's definitely a GOOD busy! :)

Kimberley - a great friend of mine (Hi Kimberley!), had her 18th birthday at the end of August and even though she thinks people didnt have to get her a present, I wasnt having any of it!

So, I set aside a load of work I had and made her these pair of soap shoes.

I figured I'd go for the "traditional" pink for girls and the glittery 18!

Thought I'd share them with you so here they are ... :D

Late Addition

2009-07-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hey all, sorry for the delay (again!) in posting.

I went to the Philippines for 2weeks and came back on Monday but this is the first bit of spare time I've had to post something new here.
The same day that I left to go to the Philippines was my friend, Kristine Brady's, baby's Christening. I finished this portrait the same morning!!

Good thing I had the Hairspray DVD to keep me focused at 4am while I added the finishing touches!

Time For Some Oldies...

2009-07-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

I figured since more and more people are wanting to see some artwork, I'd also upload some of my old stuff too since right now I am really mostly working with pencils... Here are a few samples of some other kinds of artwork I can do - well, the ones that I can find on my laptop anyway... I'll try and track down some of my other pieces soon for you lovely people. Enjoy...

CROSS HATCHING:

CARICATURES:

SILHOUETTE CUT OUTS:

SWING CARDS:

FELT DOLLS:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!

2009-07-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!!!

Hope you had a lovely joint birthday/graduation day!

Much love xx

First Real Commission Job!

2009-06-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

My secondary school RE teacher, Miss McCarthy rang me the week before last and asked me to do a picture for Father Alan Neville as a kind of ordination present. She was thinking a caricature of him with cartoon schoolkids but since she wanted it to be A4 sized, I thought it'd be best if they were all cartoons. Luckily enough, Miss McCarthy loved it :) Hope you all like it too...

Outlined drawing:

Coloured:

Framed:

Craig's Lil Guys

2009-06-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd upload a few bits now while I've got a spare minute... this piece was a pencil portrait I did for a friend, Craig Pine, of his sons. Before this, I hadn't done a real portrait for about 2years so it was good to get stuck in again. :)

Nicola's Cakes

2009-06-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I'm terrible at coming on here and posting new updates. I've got a few new pieces that I need to upload but havent had time so this will have to do for now....

A friend of mine, Nicola Hobbs, asked me to do a cartoon picture of her and instead of just settling for a simple standing pose, I thought I'd incorporate her hobby of making cakes. If you are on Facebook and are interested in seeing some of her work, go to the search bar and type in "Nicola's cakes". She's amazing!!!

Two lil scenes...

2009-05-15T16:31:00.000-07:00

For some reason, YouTube wont upload my whole film (probably because the file is MASSIVE!) and I've tried to upload these lil scenes but they're coming out squashed. My internet is running so slow right now so I'll have to try uploading them again after changing some settings but thought instead of the last hour's worth of uploading go to waste that I'd post these as they are. The first video is a scene in the film where Cinderella is cleaning the pig area and the second video is a scene where she is washing a dish. Hope you likey!

4hours for 5seconds!!

2009-05-09T09:30:00.001-07:00

Still got a few bits and bobs to animate before I can finally say I'm finished, but spent 4hours last night - or should I say this morning animating a bit of my film that's about 5seconds!!! On the upside, it doesnt look too shabby! I shall find time after the hand-in deadline to upload it :)

Hope you're all well and enjoying your Saturday!

In other news, I'm miffed that Allyson got eliminated from American Idol last night...and cant wait for Britain's Got Talent later tonight - even if I'll only be able to listen to it instead of watch it!

Sleeves & Labels...

2009-05-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

I keep meaning to upload these pictures but havent had time...but thought I'd better put them up now so you can have a looky-look!

These are the bits and bobs for my final film: front cover, inside cover, back cover, cd pocket image and disc label. Enjoyyyyyyyy!

One Down, Two To Go!

2009-05-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

GREAT NEWS! I found out I passed my Dissertation module yesterday! Woo!

I still have 2 projects to hand in before the end of uni!

But since I am still up at 2am working on my degree film, I thought I would post something here as I havent done for a couple of days now.

Yesterday I was in need of motivation so I stuck my Lilo & Stitch DVD on and had some of the "Extras" playing while I did work. If you have the DVD and havent watched them, make sure you watch "The Look of Lilo & Stitch" as well as "Animating The Hula"....obviously if you have time, watch the other extras too - you could come away knowing how to dance the hula.

I'm a MASSIVE fan of Chris Sanders and hope to meet him one day - if not work with him!!!

Also, I'd like to meet Reuben Aquino - practically the only Filipino animator to feature on a DVD (that I've seen thus far)!! He's doing us proud!

Anyway, check out these pieces of concept art for Lilo & Stitch.

Too cute to eat!

2009-04-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

A new Chinese bakery opened near us so we thought we'd give it a try...these are small sponge cakes with animal icing! They were too cute not to buy but almost too cute to eat! Didnt want them to go to waste so they've been gobbled up but at least I took pics of them first! :)

Easter Eggyness

2009-04-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

I know it's a bit late to post this but wanted to show off my Easter Egg hehe! Mum bought it for me - she also ate the actual egg but I lurvvvvve the HSM mug!!! Woo!! Admittedly though, this is a bad photo lol, sorry!!!

Work Work Work

2009-04-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

If getting home from uni at 8pm last night wasnt tiring enough, I've been out and about today aswell - been to the library and did a load of work, then came home and did my version of Ash's ID pic since she asked for help with it. I couldnt say no...

Online Portfolio

2009-04-03T16:56:00.002-07:00

I've just spent a few hours uploading my artwork to Deviantart so have a look if you fancy. Most of the stuff is old but there are some new things here and there.

http://jiaminlim.deviantart.com/

BUSINESS CARDS

2009-04-03T16:56:00.001-07:00

Oh my days! I cant believe that I'm making my own business cards!!! Here are some designs so far...

THE SUCKER

2009-04-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

A film I did for a Second Year module entitled Sound & Image...not quite animation but it still makes me giggle! :)

MY MOOSE!...IN A HAT!!!

2009-04-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

So a good friend of mine's dad from Canada (Hi Erika and Mr Donovan!) came to the UK for a few weeks as part of his Master's degree and I met him in Trafalga Square. One of the gifts I got was a very groovy stuffed Moose wearing a woolly jumper and hat...on the store's website, it says his name is Bruce the Moose! Here he is:

ID Picture

2009-04-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I finished my ID picture for my class' degree show...let me know what you think :) If you know me then you'll know I more than always wear a hoodie, jeans, trainers and have my shoulder bag with me at university. If you dont know me then...well I guess from that last sentence you know why I drew myself like this!