Ok, I confess, I have a twitter account.

@deleloss

Shunji Matsuo at Tembusu College, NUS

While working at Tembusu College, Sara and myself not only get to make a game, we also had a chance to take part in the exciting life of the college. One of the coolest events was the Shunji Matsuo Hairshow. Think about it, which other (non-fashion) university held a hair-show in their life time, let alone their inaugural first year of running?

I was majorly impressed. Camera in hand, I ran about shooting the set up and the show. Here's the video I've put together for the Tembusu youtube channel. Hope everyone had a great time with their flaming hairdos!

On Reading: Form, Fictionality, Friendship

Recently designed and laid out a book for writer Jeremy Fernando called On Reading: Form, Fictionality, Friendship a series of beautiful prose by 12 thinkers. The front cover piece is one of my earlier works called The Box which is a play on the form of the cross, the institutional box, the craft of origami (religious institutions as crafty origamis?) and us, people who seem to love the big white box. The book is published by Atropos, and be bought here at amazon

"The essays assembled in Fernando's collection bear testament to the contemporary status of reading as a perpetual act of creative engagement and continually remind us of the beautiful treachery of bringing provocative ideas into contact with the complexity of imaginary worlds. Shape-shifting fiction, we are repeatedly reminded in these exciting essays, is the true constant in both the process of reading and of writing, and whether that fiction materializes as aesthetic, ethical, or gendered, matters little. The elegant readerly encounters that we discover across the pages of this collection are all potent, provocative acknowledgments of the essential haunted evasiveness of final meanings."  

-- Neil Murphy, Associate Professor of English, Nanyang Technological University; author of Irish Fiction and Postmodern Doubt and editor of Aidan Higgins: The Fragility of Form

A recent interview on Smartspace...

March 2012

http://smartspace.mangomailer.com/memo-02/article-4.html

It must be so tempting for an artist to pick up one’s pencils and doodle on a fresh, blank slate of a wall such as the one next to artist Yanyun Chen’s desk. In this office setting however, she contents herself with posting various pieces of artwork to lend the space her own unique quirk.

Yanyun and fellow artist Sara Chong make up the duo collective Stick and Balloon. Rather, Yanyun is Stick to Sara’s Balloon; the name being a light-hearted jibe on their appearances. The two university mates bonded over fantastical art style and Eastern European influences that are heavily evident in their stop-motion, hand-drawn animation film Moonchild.

Successfully melding their two aesthetics with Sara building the puppets and Yanyun the set, they have been collaborating on the film ever since it took shape as a final year school project. The story features a shy fiddler trying to overcome his timidity and gets attracted to a moon-spirit. The project reached its target U.S. $2,000 only 20 hours after launching on crowdfunding site Kickstarter and raised a total U.S.$6,573.

With backing like that, Yanyun says that they are on the last stretch of production on the eight-minute film and they hope to finish in the next couple of months.

“We’re just polishing up and finalising sounds,” she said. They connected with folk tunes sent by an Irish fiddler friend, but this led down a winding musical road. “We spent a year-and-a-half hunting musicians to get rights to use their music; it was a long process because they were real gypsies and they don’t go online!”

Most recently though, the artists been busy with a Facebook game called JimmyFish, which Yanyun art directed and Sara animated. Working with clients Nexus Singaporeand design lab Shyalala, Stick and Balloon was tasked to conceptualise a game to teach children ways to save the environment. Hence, their unlikely hero Jimmy was born.

Jimmy is stuck in an outlandish fish costume that his mother picked for him. He has three minutes to roam the house and find ways to save electricity, water and other resources, for which he gets eco-dollars to exchange for a different costume. Consequently, the weather conditions also change outside – from a gloomy day of raining fish to a sunny one.

The game garnered a “Jury Selection Work” award for outstanding works at the 15th Japan Media Arts Festival in February.

Stick and Balloon moved to SmartSpace in September 2011 and have since collaborated with fellow members PlayMoolah and participated in Relay Room’s Creative Mixer.

“It’s been very good,” said Yanyun of the atmosphere. “There’s a nice energy going.”

WIP: Petra update

work in progress, Petra, by Sara Chong & me.

The Tembusu Game

Stick and Balloon are currently based in Tembusu College of NUS building a point and click adventure game. We have recently created a blog so you can follow our progress!
Illustrated by Sara Chong

WIP: Petra

Even I'm excited... Almost there, almost there!

Petra & The Monster with no Name

About a week ago, Stick and Balloon were commissioned to do a piece for a very piplatchka cafe/restaurant called Preparrazzi. It’s going to be our biggest piece ever (about 1.5m across ), made up of 4 panels, and each of us will work on 2 panels each. I'm working on the side bits, while Sara Chong is doing the main middle and top feature. 

The whole piece is based on the quote: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." 

The side panels were inspired by a fictional children's storybook called Monster With No Name, from the book Monster by Naoki Urasawa. 

"A long, long time ago
In a land far away, there was a monster without a name
The monster wanted a name so badly.
So the monster left on a journey to find a name.
But the world was so large that he split into two to make his journey.
One went to the west and the other went toward the east.
The monster who went to the east found a village.
At the entrance of the village there was a blacksmith.
Mr. Blacksmith, please give me your name.
You can't give away your name.
If you give me your name, I'll enter you and give you strength.
Really? If you can make me stronger, then I'll give you my name.
The monster entered the blacksmith.
The monster became Otto the Blacksmith.
Otto the Blacksmith became the strongest one in the village.
But one day he said,
"Look at me. Look at me. Look at how large the monster inside of me has become."
Crunch Crunch! Munch Munch! Gobble Gobble! Gulp!
The hungry monster ate Otto from the inside out.
The monster returned to being a nameless monster.
Even when he entered Hans the shoemaker,
Crunch Crunch! Munch Munch! Gobble Gobble! Gulp!
He returned to being a nameless monster.
When he entered Thomas the hunter...
Crunch Crunch! Munch Munch! Gobble Gobble! Gulp!
He once again returned to being a nameless monster.
The monster came to a castle looking for a wonderful name.
In the castle, there was a sick boy.
If you give me your name, I'll give you strength.
If you can cure this illness and make me strong, I'll give you my name.
The monster entered the boy.
The boy became well.
The king was so pleased! The prince is well! The prince is well!
The monster liked the boy's name.
He also liked living in the castle.
So even though he was hungry, he endured.
Every day he stomach growled, but he endured it.
However, he was so hungry, that one day he said,
"Look at me. Look at me. Look at how large the monster inside of me has become."
The boy ate the king and even his servants.
Crunch Crunch! Munch Munch! Gobble Gobble! Gulp!
Since there was no one there anymore, the boy went on a journey.
He kept on walking for days and days.
One day, the boy met the monster who traveled to the west.
" I have a name. It's a wonderful name, too."
The monster who went to the west said, "I don't need a name. I'm happy even without a name."
We just have to accept that we are monsters without a name.
The boy ate the monster who went to the west.
He finally had a name, but all the people who could call him by that name have disappeared.
And Johann was such a wonderful name, too."

Am shamelessly proud to claim: Recently published on Berfois

On wardrobes; or, lions in the veld...

Treemama, Yanyun Chen by Jeremy Fernando She appears to me, as if in a dream. Ordinarily I would have said it was a nightmare. My relationship with nature has never been good; not just not close to for that already presumes a certain proximity. As far as I was concerned, nature is best experienced behind a glass panel; air-conditioning and a glass of wine de rigueur. Why I found myself at the Haina Kalahari Lodge, perched at the northern edge of the Central Kalahari Desert, is still completely beyond me. Granted, there was a lot of wine involved—and a private plane was thrown into the mix—but here I was, surrounded by nature. And absolutely nothing else. Suddenly the risk of getting mugged in Johannesburg seemed only a distant comfort. Read the rest at: http://www.berfrois.com/2012/03/on-wardrodes-jeremy-fernando/

Stick and Balloon's Adventures in Japan

Earlier this year, Stick and Balloon's Sara Chong, Yanyun Chen and our lovely musician Jachin Pousson went on an epic adventure to Tokyo, Japan. We attended the Japan Media Arts Festival 2012 with our entry Jimmyfish under the "Jury Selection".

We've compiled a little video for your pleasure!

A group of us has come together to form the Piplatchka Collective of like-minded artists, craftsmen, musicians, writers, thinkers, seers, and believers of piplatchka-ness. Watch the space for exhibitions, shows, and features on our talented folk. 

Piplatchka Makerings' onward journey to Tembusu College, NUS

With much lovely fortune, we have been adopted by the kind folks at Tembusu College, NUS to show case our works for two weeks- 17th March 2012 to 31st March 2012.

And the show goes on...

Piplatchka Makerings

It was a beautiful event, with lots of friends, drinks and no falling frames during the show. Friends from near and far came, and the alcohol was consumed, and the place was vibrant. I couldn't have asked for more, to be honest. Splendid... thank you everyone for coming! Thank you Pigeon Hole! Thank you dear artists who worked hard to create! And most importantly, thank you Joseph Nair for the hard work putting up the show.

Here are the 3 works of mine that are up for sale.

Salamander

Squid love

sold

Tree Mama

Piplatchka Makerings

Piplatchka Makerings

at The Pigeonhole, Singapore

52 and 53 Duxton Road

from 6-16 March (Closed on Mondays)

A Print and Gallery Show presented by Stick and Balloon.

Featuring: Stick and Balloon's Yanyun Chen and Sara Chong, Joseph Nair, Ivy Li and Marl Brutality Peanuts.

Contact: josephnair@gmail.com, 65 97547512

_

Piplatchka: a Czech term for doing something tedious, and making life difficult for one’s self, and doing things the hard way.

'Piplatchka' was explained to Stick and Balloon by a puppet maker in Prague. Piplatchka Makerings is a gathering of work consciously created the most difficult way, because it is the only way and the best way to make things. By Bit by bit, in little pieces, with heart and soul, and a sprinkle of magic.

All work is on sale in a single, unique edition for this show. Prices range from SGD250 to SGD600.

Japan Media Arts Festival 2012

It was a grand little trip to Japan, with much thanks to Media Development Authorities for helping us get the paperwork and sending us there to attend the ceremony! We also had the opportunity to visit a few companies such as Polygon Pictures and Madhouse to shake hands and make merry. How lovely it was, indeed!

Many thanks for Japan Media Arts Festival, and the jury for 2012 to select our work for the show. And the kind, bizarre, beautiful and crazy Tokyo, as it has always been.

Cheers!

Stick and Balloon Midnight Photoshoot

By our fantastic photographer Marl

Jimmyfish has been awarded at Japan Media Arts Festival!

I'm very proud to announce that Jimmyfish the game has been awarded "Jury Selection Work" for outstanding works at the 15th Japan Media Arts Festival to be held in February 2012. A big cheer to the whole team!

Art: Yanyun Chen

Animation: Sara Chong

Programming: Jason Poh

Music: Jachin Pousson

Project Manager: Sophia Lee

Clients: Shyalala and Nexus Singapore

Stick and Balloon featured in "Brainfruit"

If you happen to wander into Kinokuniya Singapore this month, try to spot the business book of the month "Brainfruit" written by Hugh Mason and Mark Chong. Our escapades on Moonchild and Kickstarter.com is featured on Chapter 28: Crowdfunding!

Beware of the blind driver

We all came from the sea

A belated birthday present for my dictator friend...

Denmark Life drawing in 2009

During this one week recovery period, I finally got my act together to sort out my life drawing files from 2009. They bring back so many good memories of the days in Denmark. Reviewing them again, I find errors here and there, and much urge to correct... pretty much everything. Time to get back to the drawing board and work harder.

Sour experiments

Flocations

Have I mentioned that Flocations is a great app?

Earlier this year, I worked with Flocations to present it's first user interface and layout. It had to be simple and effective, and spacious with a map. Flocations allows a user to find out the cheapest flights from a single location on a certain day. It's my first time putting together a UI for a web utility, and I'm delighted with how things worked out. The team gave me lots of great input, and the user feedback has been the best teacher. There still is much room for improvement, and if you would be so kind, do send us some feedback on your experience using Flocations.

Enjoy!

Jimmyfish Character Designs: Ideas and Rejects 2

Colour!

Jimmyfish Character Designs: Ideas and Rejects

Play the game already!

An old drawing

I recently found this in my stash of drawings. It's probably 6 years old, during the first year of my university days...

Revamping my site

Yanyunchen.com will be going through some major changes over the next few weeks, don't freak out if it looks different every time you refresh my site!

Dr. Sketchy San Francisco

Eck, ink accidents...

JimmyFish is now on Facebook!

JimmyFish the game is now on facebook! Try the game and let us know what you think!
Here's the link: http://apps.facebook.com/jimmyfish/?type=discovery

New Personal Namecards

New hatchings: Delere Press, a first look

Audi + Propellerfish

At the end of last year, Stick and Balloon worked with Propellerfish, illustrating slides for their client Audi. This led on to another project with Audi, I went with Propellerfish founder Alex Marquez and his team to Chang Chun, China as an onsite illustrator and surprisingly, facilitator!

What an experience it was, to attempt to tease thoughtful ideas from Audi's top management in Mandarin!

Here's a selected few illustrations I did for them, the rest will be released on a later date, when things are not so secretive anymore. :)

Stick and Balloon went to FMX

In May 2011, Stick and Balloon (myself and Sara) gravitated towards the same point and exploded into a mass of colour and crazy horses. We took part in the Crazy Horse 48 Hours Animation Jam against 4 other teams from Egypt, UK, Georgia and Poland. All teams had to create a 30 second to 2 minute animation using ITFS mascot Trixi horse.

Stick and Balloon decided on using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After effects, Adobe Premiere and crayons to create our little piece. We were fed messages and love from many people, especially from my special someone who came with delicious presents every day. Even though we didn't win, we're very proud of our work and would love to share it with everyone.

ITFS 2011 48hr Animation Jam from Stick and Balloon on Vimeo.

StockFizz Landing Page

I designed a landing page for a dear friend's new startup called "Stock Fizz- the Intelligent Investor's Assistant", a utility to manage one's stocks. I sketched of two very wealthy persons- Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch, for the website.

One can find his website here at Stockfizz