learning – Ree.bek's Illustrations

Singing in Japanese is Fun! Learn Japanese by Singing

Posted on April 25, 2019 by RebekahJ in Japanese, Journal

Singing in Japanese is fun and effective. I like to sing than speaking.

The anxiety and stress almost disappear when I sing. I love to sing anime opening songs. my favorite is One Piece and Junjo Romantica. They are both my favorite anime to watch.

Children learn the language effectively by singing. Singing helps memory, re-enforce new vocabulary and pronunciation. It a great way of exercise the mouth muscle too. You gain speed in talking just by singing a lot.

There are so many benefits in singing, as well as health and well-being a benefit too.

I suffer from anxiety daily. Something the anxiety can creep up on me and causes me to feel uncomfortable. Going out can be a stressful situation for me. I use to take a remedy to ease stress and anxiety. But since I began to sing in Japanese I feel so relaxed and anxiety free.
Now sing more in Japanese daily. I sing while I am walking. When I do feel nervous or anxious I just sing any anime song.

Another great benefit fact, Japanese people love to sing. if you sing in Japanese they would want to be your friend! Karaoke is one of Japanese passion, everyone sing karaoke either they are young or old.
Singing in Japanese it very easy. it’s perhaps Japanese sounds are simpler than English sounds. English words sound has complicated sounds and phonics.
I write the lyrics down on paper. I practice and practice until I master a few lyrics.

overall, singing is the best method for learning a new language.
Tips for singing in Japanese:

Break down the song into small parts on paper.
Listen to the song first before you practice.
Take your time singing
Don’t worry about making a mistake, carry on singing if you are stumbling.
Sing while standing up, to fill more oxygen into the lungs.
Find lyric that’s in Romaji or Hiragana.
Most anime opening has the lyrics display for you to sing along.
learn most children song too as they are easier to sing along.

Time management Tips for Artists

Posted on January 24, 2019January 23, 2019 by RebekahJ in drawing, Journal

Spend 15-30 minutes on your artwork then take a 10-20 minutes break. During break time, move around, have a hot drink, do something completely different from art. Then resume your work. Have a time or stopwatch near to monitor how long you been working. I use my iPhone to time myself when I am drawing or writing. It helps me not to overwork and reminds me to takes breaks. You will be surprised 30 minutes on working gives you enough time.

Plan your week: create a weekly planner chart. I typically do artwork and writing three times a week. This keeps me organised and manage my day. Sometimes I change my schedule. Keep it flexible.

Try to do creative work in the morning. The brain is more active and fresh. Better natural light coming in to see the colour hues clearly. If you have not much natural light coming in, a Daylight lamp will provide extra light.

Make creative work your top priority before doing other task.

If you can not work at the morning, maybe 1-2 hours before bedtime. Some artist found doing creative activities before bedtime, it can be very therapeutic. Schedule in the day that you have enough time to focus on your creative work.

Don’t not put the TV/Computer on (unless you are working digitally). There no need to put the computer on if you are just drawing or painting. The computer/ laptop can be very distraction.

Mute notifications on you phones or small devices . You want to be able to forces on your artwork without distraction. my notifications are switched off. I like have no concerns or distraction.

Listen to music that motivates you creativity. it can be any music. relaxing, Ambience, nature or Lo Fi Music good music for Focus.

Only do one task at a time, try not to multitask. it not good for productivity. For example draft on day then outline the next day, then the next colouring. Keep it small and manageable. Avoid trying to complete the artwork in one day. It good to leave the work and come back to it a couple days. it good to get a fresh perspective from resuming it after a couple of days, to see what you noticed and what could be adjusted.

Do 5 minutes sketch doodle to warm up first. At first the brain may be reluctant to work on anything. Do scribble, draw small thumbnails, make marks. This will ease you in to drawing. Make the sketches very rough and bad.

All images scoured from http://www.canva.com

How Do You Handle Criticism?

Posted on January 22, 2019January 20, 2019 by RebekahJ in drawing

Handling criticism is an balancing act. Art in general a subjective topic.

Criticism is can be hard! When I was younger I cried a lot if a teacher critis my artwork. I thought that they favour more other people’s than mine and I would complain a lot.

In art education and in the commercial work, you would have to deal criticism and may clash with ideas.

There are different kinds of critique. Someone who mainly look for technical flaws and someone who mainly judge the style of work.

Art teacher should suppose to develop a students artistic expression, develop your visual language and understand who you are.

Teachers have to complete a education criteria marking a students artwork.

I had to learn smart in distinguish what good and bad critique. Eventually, I learn to take criticism with a pinch of salt.

During my university studies in Illustrations. I would get different perspectives from different tutor or peers.

I had a mentor in university named Bex, Bex helped me with writing and organising my course work. She was really good to me. Bex gave me a fair critique without discouraging me with my art style. She talks to me very positively and pointed out unique elements within my work. Bex was a huge help me when I was beginning to feel negative about my artwork

Don’t take there criticism to heart. It does not mean your work is totally bad or your suck at drawing/painting. Go with your instincts on what will work visually. Never try to match what the mass what!

If someone was judging your artwork too harshly, find someone else.

Criticism is good for your creative process. It is important to get different opinions, to see what work and don’t works. To make improvements and have someone see things you did not noticed before. But ultimately you decided to make changes.

I don’t normally get criticism for my work, Nor I would I care now. If somebody random critics my artwork, it would not bother me.

I enjoying creating comics and illustrations without any anyone interfering. But I am open for feedback.

My Japanese Studies so Far

Posted on December 11, 2018December 10, 2018 by RebekahJ in Japanese, Journal

Untitled design (2).jpg

My Japanese studies might be on hold after the Christmas festive season. Instead I have been focusing on doing my manga comic on Clip studio.

I downloaded a flash card apps to help me memorise the Japanese phrases and sentences.

I’m using Chegg Flash cards IOS app on my ITouch. you can create a category and create new flashcards decks.

Photo 10-12-2018, 15 54 13 — Chegg Flashcard App

Chegg Flashcard App

Photo 10-12-2018, 15 54 23 — Chegg FlashCard App

Photo 10-12-2018, 15 54 16 — Chegg Flashcard App

It’s really good for practice 2 minutes of Japanese.

There is other good free flashcards apps to use for studying.

Tinycard App is very good for memorising Japanese vocabulary.

Another way i could practice daily is to communicate with native Japanese people on HelloTalk App. But I’m not confident in speaking openly to people online yet (i’m very shy).

I used to write my diary entry on italki.com but I can only write very basic sentences.

I realised I was not speaking as much Japanese daily as i would like to. So the flash is good to read Japanese out loud and get use to training my vocal muscle.

I was getting tired of spending long hours of studying, I just do not have time to foucs, it takes too much mental the energy. I remember hearing that smaller tasks is more efficient than bigger tasks.

i need to develop confidence in speaking daily and developing a habit of speaking in Japanese. It is the same issue I have with dyslexic and speech difficulties on English.

However if I practice daily by reading out the flash daily for 3 minutes, it may become a habit. Most thing is about developing a habit.

For example i have develop a habit with drawing for years. Now is like going for a walk. I want the same habit for Japanese, like going of a walk.

Inktober Drawings 2018

Posted on November 5, 2018November 4, 2018 by RebekahJ in drawing, Journal, Sketchbook

Inktober 2018.jpg

Last month i took part in the Inktober challenge, to use ink martials in drawings everyday in October.

This was a good opportunity to get in the routine and habit of drawings daily. I liked using inks, I mainly do use them for most of my work. I used traditional tools such as calligraphy ink, Chinese brushes and pen nibs. As well as modern tools fine liners and brush pens.

The source for inspiration came from Sktchy app @reebek.

1-and-2-Inktober-drawing-2018- 3-and-4-Inktober-drawing-2018- 5-and-6-Inktober-drawing-2018- 7-and-8-Inktober-drawing-2018- 9-and-10-Inktober-drawing-2018- 11-Inktober-drawing-2018- 12-and-13-Inktober-drawing-2018-

My drawings gradually improved each day, I seem to improved the shading and technical skills.

I draw subjects that are out of my comfort zone and pushed myself to draw challenging, technical details such as hands, face and facial expressions.

I do a quick warm up sketch first on a separate paper. Analysing the portrait before I start drawings on my sketchpad.

I allow the drawing to dictate what it needed.

I post drawings everyday on my Instagram @ree.bek, twitter @reebeksart and Sktchy app.

14-and-15-Inktober-drawing-2018- 16-and-17-Inktober-drawing-2018- 18-and-19-Inktober-drawing-2018- 20-and-21-Inktober-drawing-2018- 24-and-25-Inktober-drawing-2018- 26-and-27-Inktober-drawing-2018- 28-and-29-Inktober-drawing-2018- 30-and-31-Inktober-drawing-2018-

What next

I will going to continue drawings daily on my sketchpad and upload them on social media.

The Way of Manga like A Pro through World Greatest First Love and Nichijou.

Posted on October 1, 2018October 1, 2018 by RebekahJ in drawing, Journal

I always watching world Greatest first love anime on CrunchyRoll. The anime is an insight on how manga publishers work. Ritsu and Tanako are both manga Shojou editors. Thier jobs is to work closely with the manga artist.

There is a sub story on world Greatest first love, manga Shojou Artist Chiaki Yoshino and Yoshinyuki Hatori the manga editor.

Chiaki and his team work in a studio. They working endlessly to meet the deadline.

It seem that working on a manga series is a lot of work and stressful! Luckily for me I am a one man band and don’t have to meet deadline.

I see the story board or rough draft in the anime where the character discus the rough draft. The drawings are drawn very simple, thumbnail rough, include the dialogue. The manga artist makes many pages of rough drafts drawings then show them to thier editor.

I noticed watching World Greatest first love, the manga artist divide the paper and draw two pages roughs in one page. This give them an idea how the manga read into the next page.

This gave me an idea to do the same with my drafts. I am using a layout paper to do my manga rough.

My manga will read from left to right western style.

I write my story first. Adding details to the scene and the character dialogue. I write my stories like a fiction because I want to get the essence of the characters. It is a good way to develop your characters. I aim to write between 500 – 1,500 words.

After I am happy with the roughs, I will start working the real manga on my computer on Clip Studio EX. I have a Wacom Display Tablet so it more easily draw with ease.

I am still working on my manga and uploading them on my Deviantart page. I am trying to find a good method in creating my manga. So far it coming much more nicely together.

‘Chained to you’ manga comic drawn on Clip Studio

Tip: Stick to manga that you like or inspired by. Take note on how the manga is directed, how the tone convey the mood and the panels works on the page.

Nichijou gave me encouragement when I feeling like my manga is not good enough. I just remember how Mio chan felt with her manga. She inspires me to follow your dreams in becoming a manga artist.

Episode 20 on Nichijou is when Mio’s friend help her complete her manga, but did not go well. It is a good episode to watching because you will see that every artist has those days when nothing is coming out right.

My Japanese Studies so Far

Posted on September 27, 2018September 26, 2018 by RebekahJ in Japanese, Journal

I was slowing down on watching Japanese lesson YouTube because I was busy doing my manga projects.

I was struggling to get motivated into studying again.

I reviewed my Japanese notes on my iPad. I thought it be a good idea to practice handwriting in Japanese. So I re written the notes on my small exercise book. This actually helped me, I remember the vocabulary and phrases. My handwriting is getting better in Japanese. I hope to write more often in Japanese by hand than computer.

Vertical writing

I also trying to learn to write vertical. Japanese has two ways to write, horizontal and vertical.

Vertical writing is often used in novels, newspaper, letters, restaurants. They say it easier to read Japanese vertically.

I want to be able to read vertically so I can read novels and comics.

Watching Anime on CrunchyRoll

AND THEY HAVE NICHIJOU Available on CrunchyRoll!

I am so happy they have Ninchijou. I can regularly watch it online. It one my favourite anime. It funny and quirky. Mio Chan is really me when I was at school drawing my BL stories.

I learn a lot of new vocabulary from watching anime. I think learning from anime is good to learn from. It is more engaging. if your an anime lover then you are having double the fun!

I still watching Junjo Romantica and World Greatest first love on CrunchyRoll, EVERY-SINGLE DAY!