Transitioning Back To Work
Originally planned to return to the studio on Tue, but found out on Mon that the day was a public holiday. My official return-to-work day was thus postponed to Wed. Felt a bit anxious like a kid going back to school to start a new school year, I didn’t sleep too well and woke up super early on Wed before the sun rose.
Other than the excitement running up to the official day to end my 2-month of WFH days, things in the studio were pretty much the same as I left it. Went back to the studio for 3 days, helped an uncle troubleshoot a Raspberries Pi interfacing issue remotely and also helped a friend figuring out ways to do Chinese calligraphy on recycled plastic. Also slowly getting back to digital fabrication work. Calibrated 2 of the main 3D printers, getting ready to start solving problems with 3D printing once again.
Besides transitioning back to work, I also started a new routine of staying at my parents’ place overnight on weekends. My parents seemed really happy to have me back. Many elders had passed away during this recent pandemic wave, made me especially grateful that my elderly parents are healthy and well. I need to remind myself constantly to be patient and cherish them for as long as God allowed them to stay with us.
M(art)ch Break Wrap-up
The pandemic continues to ease with daily COVID cases dropping from high to mid 4 digits this past week. I wrapped up the last days of the impromptu M(art)ch Break with more Pokémon memo drawings, bible scripture writing, and character design of the Kings of Kowloon (Bay) based on the Old Master Q characters.
Also did a little cleanup at home. Grateful to have this safe and quiet WFH space when the pandemic was the most severe. Will be spending less and less time at home as I transition back to working at the studio this coming week.
Plan to start going back to the studio on alternating days. Feeling slightly anxious like a kid starting a new school year. Have a few projects lined up already, should be good to get back to some digital fabrication work after 2 months of working from home.
WFH… Counting Down M(art)ch Break
Daily COVID cases has continued to decline this week to 4 digits. The government also officially scrapped the citywide testing that was planned for March, it might still happen in April, nothing is certain nowadays with our ever changing and often confusing and unscientific government policies. Regardless, I feel slightly relieved.
The declining COVID cases signals the countdown of my WFH days. Knowing that I won’t be spending as much time doing art after the M(art)ch break, I indulged myself with different art explorations in the past week. I started writing bible scriptures daily on postcard-sized paper in loose clerical script to resemble the graffiti of King of Kowloon. This could become a habit that I’ll continue after resuming work in April. Also attempted drawing Pokémon creatures on memo paper and sticking them on the wall, drew 45 of them so far. The practice seems to help me in drawing cute caricature of real animals. I hope that the cute cartoony animals can someday help draw kids to learn more about endangered animals. Need to figure out how to proceed with this long term educational project later.
Just one week left before ending my M(art)ch break, will cherish the time to do more art and to establish short routines to keep doing art on the side while I transition back to doing studio work in April.
WFH… More Arts
After kickstarting Inktober52 and picking up some Chinese calligraphy on my own the week before, I kept on doing more art at home this past week.
Although I had started Inktober52 with a few cartoons, the grand plot of the series is still unplanned. Did some research online and found inspirations from the Pokémon creatures. Copied one of them and drew another one in cartoon style using a real animal photo reference. Dusted off my old mini watercolor set to add some colors. The quick application of colors made the cartoon look bright and cheerful. This little detour from my previous years of mostly black and white works made me realize how much I missed playing with colors.
Also did some Chinese calligraphy practice again on my own. Wrote the 100 surnames again in seal script, my brush-and-ink skill seemed less rusty than the week before. Experimented a bit with writing bible scriptures using some informal clerical script, the result turned out to be fun and kinda like the style of the late King of Kowloon.
Playing with art in the past couple of weeks seemed to have lightened up my mood a lot while working from home alone. The 5th pandemic wave has been easing from the peak of daily 60k+ cases to recent 14k+ cases. The numbers will likely stay high for at least a few more weeks. I plan to indulge in more art therapy for the rest of March before getting back to digital fabrication work in April.
WFH… Inktober 52
After a month of being a web programmer and completing the redesign of 4 websites, I gave myself a break this past week to indulge in art. I first set aside my laptop to make room on the only desk I had to draw. Never turned on the laptop again the rest of the week.
I kickstarted the week of art indulgence by creating my first cartoon for this year’s Inktober52 event. Thought about skipping the event altogether as I was already more than 2 months behind, but I really could use the weekly prompts to spark my stale creativity. Drew 2 cartoons this week, will continue to play catch up on my own pace in coming weeks. The ongoing cartoons can be found on this inkon.723studio (IG) account.
Also started picking up some Chinese calligraphy practice again. Feeling a bit rusty because my weekly calligraphy class had been cancelled since Feb. Decided to relearn the cartoony seal script on my own. Wrote out the 100 surnames but turned out less than satisfactory. Brought home some seal script references from my weekly visit to the studio yesterday, will practice harder this coming week!
It feels good to be doing some art again, will likely be doing more of it in coming weeks as the pandemic seems to be peaking and I continue to WFH.
