One morning, I was at the usual car park of the coffee shop where I get my breakfast every day. I had just parked my car and a very unusual sight caught my eye- it was a little black cat with three white socks! It was staring straight at me and was totally unafraid of strangers- it probably belonged to someone or was used to the human-dominated world. It looked at me with cute pleading eyes as if asking for food, but seeing that I had none, it decided to walk away nonchalantly without giving a hoot, like what a cat would usually do. I was so fascinated with this unusual little kitty that I made up my mind it would be the main protagonist in one of my books!

That was almost a year ago-how time flies! I vaguely remember telling my wife and children the storyline of this ‘new’ book I was working on, that it was full of twists and turns and unlike any other books I have written, and it was very meaningful too! One year later, as I was working on the colouring of this book, my wife asked if this was a new book I was working on. I said no, this was the same ‘new book’ I was working on a year ago… So that’s how long this book was taking me to complete, due to all the detours to do up my website, and the other commitments I had to fulfil for my day job. How I wish that I could just work full time on my books and nothing else, day after day!

Anyway, back to the book… To begin, I feel that this book is so far my personal best, both in terms of the art as well as the story-telling. This is because unlike most of my previous books where sometimes I had to insert ‘fillers’ (non-essential frames) just to make the story flow, there is almost none in ‘Theodore and The Cat with the Missing Sock’. Every frame is there for a reason and has a role to play in the development of the plot. However, though I’d wish to claim that every frame is done to perfection, there’s unfortunately no such thing as ‘perfection’ (like the theme of this book). And even if there is, I am certainly far from it- which is a good thing as it means that I still have a lot to offer and to achieve, and also a lot more stories to tell. (My younger son and I had agreed on a lifetime target of 100 books- so I’m still 88 books short!)

With each book that I create, I always try to make it better than the previous one, either in terms of the story-telling or the art, or preferably both. This is the spirit of innovation isn’t it? We must always push ourselves to scale new heights and break new grounds in whatever pursuit we are in. After all, what is the point of staying the same and doing the same thing over and over again your entire life?

So what is the innovation or improvement for this book? Well, technically, I would say that in the making of this book, I have become more conversant with ‘layer blending’, as the saying goes: “practice makes perfect”. I always like to tell my younger son, who is very interested in Procreate, that my favourite tool in this software is the ‘clipping mask’. This is because the clipping mask allows me to play with the layering of different effects which will turn up surprises that you’d never expect! When I start colouring a frame, I almost always have no idea how to do it at all- my mind is usually a blank. So what I do is to just start somewhere, anywhere- a tiny piece here or a tiny area there which maybe I have a little clue how to start with. Then I’d slowly play around with the layering of different effects and work outwards until I complete the entire frame. The inspiration just comes as you go along. Sometimes I may also put the frame aside and move on to other frames, before coming back to look at it another day, in a new light. Most of the time, the final result is far from what I can possibly imagine at the start. But I’m totally fine with this, as the art-making process is such-it usually takes you on a journey of discovery that produces outcomes or even detours you will never expect! This is Art isn’t it? In fact, this is Life! For Life is a combination of what you visualize, and what actually happens along the way.

Story wise, this book has more twists and turns than any of my previous books. Have you watched the 2006 film ‘Apocalypto’ directed by Mel Gibson? In my opinion, it was one of the best movies ever made! Too bad Mel Gibson did not go on to make lots more films… I remember him giving a TV interview about this ‘new’ film of his at the time of the release. He said he had always wanted to a make a film where there was an extended chase, and for this film a chase that was done entirely on foot. Indeed, in this film, Jaguar Paw, the main character, was chased by his captors for more than a day and a night. I wonder where they got all the stamina to continue running non-stop for so long without rest and food! Anyway, I was deeply impressed by this film- in terms of the story, the fabulous acting by Rudy Youngblood (Jaguar Paw) and the villains who wanted his life, the authenticity of the language spoken (ancient Mayan), the elaborate costumes and sets- everything in fact! I particularly love the part where Jaguar Paw’s dad Clint Sky advised him that “fear is a sickness” and never to let fear consume him and stop him from living life. Even at the moment of his death (when his throat was about to be slit), he told his son never to be afraid! The intensity of the colours used throughout the film also left a very deep impression, especially when the hostages were hauled into the Mayan City where they encountered along the way brilliant colours of all sorts that blinded their eyes: the red-orange mud, striking multi-coloured costumes of the ordinary people and the royalty, etc. Maybe this film was so deep seated in my subconscious that I had ‘replicated’ the plot somehow in my own ‘Theodore’ book (though it certainly does not come close in terms of goriness and violence!). As I conceptualized the book, I had in mind a rough idea of a ‘to-and-fro’ chase story, where two opposing groups (Annabelle, Theodore and the Little Black Cat in one camp, and the White Labrador the solo player in the opponent camp) kept up a very tight chase after an item of interest for both parties, with the item changing hands alternately throughout the chase. Of course, I did not have the specifics in mind, just a very vague idea. The frames just slowly came together bit by bit when I started to work on the storyboard.

This book is dedicated to the relatively unknown German Artist Max Klinger, whose work I first came across during my university days at The Slade School of Fine Art. Those were the non-Internet days and the works (and information about them) we managed to get our hands on came only in bits and pieces. The work by Klinger that inspired this book (beside the real-life three-socked cat that I met at the car park) was his series of etchings based on a fantasy about a ‘glove’. It was a series of 10 prints that had no clear or coherent narrative, being Surrealistic in nature (though most people would classify Klinger as a Symbolist rather than a Surrealist), and seeming to tell a story and yet not really telling one. There were two frames that greatly impressed me- the first being the one with a pelican bursting out from a window in the middle of the night, carrying the mysterious glove in its beak, looking both like a sting ray and a creepy, grotesque bat at the same time. A pair of hands broke through the window trying to catch it, shattering the glass in the process, but it was too late! This piece was entitled ‘Abduction’ and it was a very stunning piece for a printmaking student like me, even today! No prizes for guessing which frame in my book was inspired by this masterpiece! And I’d also would like to stress that Pixar Studio wasn’t the first to come up with the idea of a havoc wreaking pelican-my idea was inspired by Klinger’s work rather than ‘Finding Memo’, for laughing out loud!

That said, my initial idea was simply just a ‘big bird’ that had broken in to steal the cookie tin, more a black raven (like Manet’s illustrations for Edgar Ellen Poe’s famed poem of the same name) than a pelican. However, after some research and experimentation, it did seemed to me that the most bizarre and eye-catching bird that could be used in my drawing was still a pelican. It looked so eccentric, neither like a bird nor a deep-sea animal that it has a certain hypnotic effect on the viewer, making the entire scene seem more like a dream.

The second piece that impressed and inspired me was another frame from this series entitled ‘Rescue’, where a man was seen in the middle of a stormy sea trying to retrieve the elusive glove using what looked like a long stick. For the uninitiated, what was technically astounding for both prints (the whole series in fact), was that they were created using nothing but lines! (Subsequent practitioners like Goya became very well-versed in the use of Aquatint which superseded the need for artists to draw close parallel lines to create the effect of tone.) The only other artists known to me to be able to create such convincing and compelling atmospheric effects were Rembrandt and Picasso, both masters of the art of etching and engraving and of lighting and atmospheric effects. Again no prizes for guessing which frame in my book was inspired by this stormy scene.

So you must be wondering, it’s just two frames. Why am I dedicating the entire book of over 35 drawings to this artist based on just two frames? Well, believe it or not. The cat that I met at the car park, and these two prints by Klinger, had provided the basis and impetus for the entire book! Of course there was the chase scene as well- which actually dominated the entire story, but it was more of a subconscious tribute to Mel Gibson’s film. The two Klinger scenes and the three-socked cat were the ‘conscious’ impetus for the book- the chase idea came later to link everything together. It was like having all these big pieces in my mind, like the ingredients for a cook, not knowing what the final dish would look like. Somehow, as time went by, the rest of the frames- the ‘in-between’ of the story- just came in slowly, one by one, until everything fell in place into a complete story! So who says you have to start a story from the beginning? Sometimes, it is more fun and exciting to start the story from the middle or even from the end!

Besides Max Klinger, the other artist whose work had a profound impact on me, not just for this book but also in general, was the 20^th Century German artist Max Beckmann. Generally classified as an Expressionist back in Germany, and whose work was condemned as ‘Degenerate Art’ by the Nazis, Beckmann’s work had tremendous influence on 20^th Century American artists, although he only spent the last few years of his life in the USA. When I first came across Beckmann’s works (I can’t remember if it was introduced to me by a friend, my Art History lecturer, or through a chance encounter at an exhibition), I was taken aback by how ugly his paintings were! In fact, I found his painting skills to be of a very elementary standard, to the extent of crude, like those of an infant playing with paint. The stories depicted in his works were also shocking, gory and melodramatic, with scenes of murder, prostitutes and other depressing stuff. However, the power of Max Beckmann grows on you. Once you’ve seen a painting by him, it gets stuck in your mind-whether you like it or not. While I also love the works of other German Expressionist artists like Otto Dix (his etchings of WWII were simply the most stunning in this genre- perhaps even surpassing Goya’s ‘Disasters of War’), George Grosz, and Kathe Kollwitz, what I like most about Beckmann was his unique approach towards composition. In his later years, many of his works were organised into triptychs- probably making a reference to religious altar pieces, but what struck me was the way he ‘cramped’ all his figures together in very tight enclosed spaces. Within this small suffocating space, lots of drama would unfold. And even within the tiny spaces, there could be ‘sub-spaces’ where more activities would be taking place- like a ‘painting’ within a ‘painting’, or a ‘beehive’ inside a ‘beehive’. All the figures also seemed as though they were being shoved forcefully (against their will) onto a ‘stage’ where they were given specific roles to play, most of them being very unethical, evil or violent (e.g. murder, torture, intrigue, conspiracy etc). They felt like characters from a Shakespearean play acting out all the tragedies of human life. Such is the power of Max Beckmann.

I wanted to incorporate the way Beckmann uses composition by adopting the cramped, enclosed spaces used in his paintings. Within this congested space, I would also try to include as much activity and details as possible. You can see my attempt in many of the scenes in this ‘Theodore’ book, such as the scene when the pelican broke into Annabelle’s bedroom. The other influence by Beckmann that could be seen in this frame was how everything in his paintings seemed to defy gravity. In fact, you may find it hard to find a Beckmann painting where things are where and how they should be. His world was were usually slanted, toppling to one side or even tumbling upside down. This was probably the main factor behind the amazing sense of drama in his work, which I also liked to replicate in mine. While I have been experimenting with unusual and dramatic perspectives in my work, in the days to come, I would also like to incorporate even more drama, imbalance and oblique movements in my composition, for I find this more interesting and captivating. For example, in the scene where Annabelle ran away from the Labrador around the corner of the street, I had deliberately created a figure which appeared unstable, off-balance and off-focussed, going against the traditional rules of composition which stressed on symmetry, harmony and equilibrium. A comparison could perhaps be drawn to Baroque sculptor Bellini’s work ‘Apollo and Daphne’ where movement and transience was preferred over stability and permanence.

The other favourite artist of mine, and who is probably that of millions of people around the world, was none other than Vincent Van Gogh, though in this book, I have not demonstrated much of his influence other than the scene featuring the little blind girl’s bedroom (see ‘Van Gogh’s Bedroom’).

While the familiar Van Gogh favourites are his ‘Starry Night’, ‘Sunflowers’, and his numerous self-portraits, what I admire most in Van Gogh’s oeuvre were his sketches and drawings. So far I have not been able to mimic the tremendous variety and vibrancy in his drawings-it is amazing how he could make the strokes, dots and dabs ‘jump’ out of the paper as if they were all alive and dancing in front of you. But I wish, in the long run, to be able to infuse as much variety and vibrancy in my pencil strokes, despite not executing them with a real pencil. Well, it may take me a lifetime to achieve the level of this Dutch master!

In this book, I have also made some advancement with regard to the colour scheme – and that was to deliberately incorporate ‘monochrome’ as a colour in itself. Throughout the book, you may notice that the colour scheme consisted of vibrant, brilliant colours juxtaposed alongside ‘Black and White’. I’ve always had an enormous love for comics art, and in their colour scheme, black is embraced and not shunned. When I look back at all my previous books, I was surprised to find that that I had never incorporated any element of B&W! In fact, every frame was in full glorious colour, and the closest I ever came was to include some shades of grey here and there. The irony is that, without B&W, you can never bring out the full brilliance of colours. But when you juxtapose the two contrasting elements- they bring out the best in each other! A very good example would be the frame where Annabelle and friends followed the Labrador underneath the steel overhead bridge. The B&W bridge cuts across the composition and, together with the monochrome road below, divides the picture into sharply segmented parts, enhancing and bringing out the various coloured components.

A last word on this same drawing before I end off this post: while artists and their works have a tremendous influence on my work, I too derive a lot of my inspiration from real life events or sceneries. This picture of Annabelle and friends walking underneath the flyover was inspired by an actual steel bridge I passed by regularly during my university days back in London. It was a very imposing bridge in Camden Town where I stayed, and it was hard not to notice its presence as you passed under it every day. It was gloomy looking but, juxtaposed against the vibrant background that was Camden Town, it just seemed to develop a character of its own. This kind of imagery just stays forever in your subconscious.

Unfortunately, I was unable to capture a picture of the three-socked cat I met in the car park as that would make this blog more convincing and complete. But had I tried, the cat would probably had jumped at me and scratched my face. What a pity! Hopefully I will bump into it again someday and when I do, I will let you know. : )