I saw Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows last night, and I enjoyed it immensely—it was campy, fun and tense. And of course, a visual stunner. I loved the side characters, Mycroft (Stephen Fry FTW), Irene, and Simza, while Jared Harris was delicious as Moriarty. The unresolved tension between Watson and Holmes seems to have intensified even further. I always have loved them together—the quintessential bromance, if you will, but the chemistry between Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr is electrifyingly sizzling.

That said, I’ve been listening to the soundtrack tonight, which has heavy Romani elements laced into it; then again, so did the first score. I’d already had an idea to draw a dancer, but the nomadic freedom of the Romani people was certainly more alluring in the forefront of my mind, so I just went along with it.

This time I drew out the sketch much more quickly—finished the whole lot in an hour and a half. I like leaving the linework rough but still defined, so there’s still a hint of frenetic energy. I know, I drew it on my moleskine so there’s the unappealing fold in the middle, but I think it’s fine the way it is. The …

From tomorrow the Year of the Dragon begins—it is my year (just think the next Year of the Dragon will be when I turn 36, omg), so I hope that it is a very good one. I forgot how coveted a dragon baby is, how much luck they supposedly bring. After all, a dragon trumps all the other animals, really. Which isn’t exactly fair. At dinner tonight, my dad was like “yeah, right, you bring me luck.” Heh, tough love to the end, as always.

In honour of my zodiac, I worked on an illustration for several hours in my down time last week, which eventually turned into a wallpaper.

I declare this day Batman Candy Wednesday! Well, OK, every day ought to be Batman day…

I am perpetually in a DC Comics frame of mind it seems. When I first saw the prompt word, this just somehow meandered into my mind. I can never get enough of Bruce in a half-dressed state in the comics or indeed any medium, and this is how I see him preparing to slip into his Batman persona—as some kind of fiendish and terrifying demon.

It’s been a while since I drew the male figure (makes me want to take up life drawing class again, heh), so I had to refer to those nifty diagrams of the human form in my drawing manuals. I also have little idea on how to draw scar tissue… Heh. Think I was more interested in using different brushes than making accurate textures.

This week’s Illustration Friday topic is grounded.

I spent about 2.5 hours working on this, which I consider very slow. And this despite working very roughly. Originally I had a sketch of Batman holding up traffic lights, one red light and one green light (go figure, Kryptonite!) which would then “ground” Superman. But in the end, I wasn’t too motivated to finish the idea, so I did something simpler with Supergirl instead! :)

First time I’ve ever drawn Kara. I had to model myself to get the reference—I rather like the Wonder Woman-inspired pose.  Also, I pretend the New 52 costume doesn’t exist. Do you like my lame Photoshopped light rays?

Again this was done entirely on Corel Painter 12, but with some colour adjustment in Photoshop. I’m practicing with the oil brushes; I really want to do more blending and glazing techniques. You can see I’ve just begun to experiment there.

You may also have noticed I’ve tweaked a few things with the current layout.

And so I continue my recap of China 2011 with Part Two in Suzhou and Wuxi!