Digital Painting

Digital painting is my favorite technique of all time. All I need is my Wacom tablet (with the incredible platform of Photoshop, Corel Painter, and a "little" imagination, of course)... and the fun begins

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“My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” - Henry Ford.

The five pieces you see here belong to my first digital project "The friends who have taught me who I am". I find myself very fortunate to have many good friends in my life. Most of them I no longer count as friends but prefer as family, like brothers and sisters. I wish I could choose more than just five, but with 2 jobs and full-time schooling I couldn't ( hope this makes you feel better if you don't see yourself here :D ) The five friends that I chose are the ones who have made the deepest impact in my life. Some I've only known for the past few years, some I've known for all my life, some live only five minutes away, some live as far as the other sides of the globe. Yet all of them are closer to me than ever. I'm naming these works with their name Dkny, Ruby, Vani, Vi and midget. Are they their
real names? :) You decide.

Vani

As you can tell, Vani is "the" Shopping Fairy, someone who still shops for 5 hours straight the day before she gives birth to her little son. My most memorable memory about her is that she had a Spacy Scooter and a fantastic knack for driving around town (really fast) with only one hand while illegally carrying a big red umbrella in the other one.

Dkny

Dkny and I have been best friends for over 15 years. She is the most conservative girl I've ever known, not just with her clothing style but also in her relationships. I wanted to have fun with Dkny's painting, so I changed her image a little, like how I would like her to appear. Hence the hot pink hair.

Ruby

Ruby is someone that when you ask, "Let’s do something stupid together," she'd say "OK" in a heartbeat without asking any questions. Ruby has been my friend since 6th grade, and she's my tallest and goofiest friend. We live thousands of miles apart in two different worlds, but it doesn't mean that I can't be there for her as she has always been there for me. My head rests on her shoulder as she's leaning on me, just happy knowing that we have each other all the way through.

Vi

Vi's family owns a couple of hotels in Saigon, and before moving to the U.S, she lived in one of the rooms as a guest. Every time I came to her "house", I always saw her behind the reception desk talking to the guests or running the hotel with her employees. At the time she was only 15, but she was as professional as you can be. She always reminds me of a little madam behind the desk with her abacus, busily counting money and taking care of business. Our group of friends even nicknamed her Vi-Hotel and, yes :) “madam."

midget

midget is the nick name I gave to him since he's very tall for an Asian guy and because I feel like a midget around him. midget is a hardcore gambler, more than anyone I've ever known. Has it something to do with him being Asian? Hmmm... He bets on basically everything, the Super Bowl, bowling ...and he plays all type of card games: black jack, poker, Chinese card games...etc.

Nicole Kidman - This painting of Nicole Kidman is my first portrait digital painting, completed in 2001. It was made without a tablet, only with mouse and keyboard

Coke Can - my first digital painting that was created from scratch.