April 2016 Reviews Roundup

Book Reviews

Only 13 books were featured in March and this month we have 25. I haven't been featuring Japanese artbooks for a while because I'm waiting for new books to be released before I make the order. My favourite Japanese artbook from last month would be Telegenic and the artbook for Yoh Yoshinari. Two other books you should not miss are Tales from the Loop by Simon Stalenhag and Phenomena Art of Asura

For those disappointed by the Batman v Superman artbook which turned out to be more of the making-of book. The actual artbook with more of the concepts are actually in the BvS Tech Manual that I will feature in May.

Alright, here are all the books featured in April:

1. The Little Prince: The Art of the Movie
2. A Lion in Paris by Beatrice Alemagna
3. Tales from the Loop by Simon Stalenhag
4. The Art of Atomhawk: Volume 2
5. Science of Creature Design: Understanding animal anatomy
6. Principles of Creature Design: Creating Imaginary Animals
7. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: The Art of the Film
8. Rainbow Children: The Art of Camilla d'Errico
9. Imaginefx Sketchbooks Vol 3
10. Drawing Perspective: How to See It and How to Apply It
11. The Complete Drawing Course: Your Step by Step Guide to Drawing and Sketching in Pencil, Ink, Charcoal, Pastel, or Colored Pencil
12. Nishigori Atsushi Animation Works Telegenic!
13. Vincent: Art Masters Series
14. Naoki Urasawa Official Guide Book
15. Tekkonkinkreet Artbook
16. The Sketching & Drawing Bible: An Essential Reference for the Practising Artist
17. Bloodborne Official Artworks
18. The Art of The Jungle Book
19. Show Posters: The Art and Practice of Making Gig Posters
20. The Art of Yoh Yoshinari Illustrations
21. The Boy and the Beast Artbook
22. Colored Pencil Cats & Dogs: Art & Instruction from 80 Colored Pencil Artists
23. Record of Agarest War 2: Heroines Visual Book
24. Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie
25. Phenomena Art of Asura

Art Product Reviews

Of the art products I reviewed, I'm quite surprised by the watercolour set from Prima Marketing. It cost USD $20 from Amazon and comes with 12 colours. I thought they would be student grade, maybe they are, but they can mix quite well without losing the intensity, at least for the Tropicals set I have. It's really worth the money. Usually for that price, you get an empty metal box.

In May, I'll review the Rembrandt and White Knights watercolour sets. If I have time, I will also feature the Gamsai Tambi. I have a trip to Bali in the first week of May, so I'm most certainly will be able to use the Rembrandt set enough to create the review.

1. Dell U2717D IPS monitor (2560 by 1440)
2. Best Stylus for Drawing on the iPad
3. Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections: Tropicals
4. Sakura Koi Watercolor Brush Pen Set (12 Colors)
5. Pentel Color Brush Pens
6. Sakura Koi Watercolor Field Sketch Set
7. Surface Pro 4 Alternatives

Youtube videos

There are now over 300 videos on my Youtube channel. My target is to put out at least 20 videos a month. To create a successful channel, you have to put out quality content consistently and frequently, and that's why I'm pushing myself to do that. It's challenging but achievable.

1. Review: Strathmore Writing Pad (Lined, 25% Cotton)
2. Stephen Silver (Youtube Channel Feature)
3. Different drawing tools, different artistic style
4. Review: Escoda Versatil Watercolor Brush
5. How to Mix Skin Tones in Watercolor for Sketches
6. Review: Sketching People: An Urban Sketcher's Manual to Drawing Figures and Faces
7. Artist Review: Surface Pro 4 (i5 dual 2.4Ghz + 8GB RAM)
8. Review: Schut Sketchpad 180gsm
9. Review: Prima Marketing Watercolor Set: Tropicals
10. How to Fade Details to White Paper (Sketching Technique)
11. Book Review: Galicia En Tren by Jorge Arranz
12. Review: Sakura Koi Watercolor Brush Pens (12 color set)
13. Sketching at Ollie Cafe (13 Apr 2016)
14. Mixing Pink Swatches with Watercolor
15. Review: Blockx Watercolor Pans
16. Sketching At HomeTeamNS Bukit Batok
17. Singapore Art Book Fair 2016 at ArtScience Museum
18. Book Review: Cambodia & Angkor: A Travel Sketchbook
19. Artist Review: Uniball Eye Rollerball Pen
20. Coffee Academics Sketch Timelapse (20 Apr 2016)
21. Sketching with Thin and Thick Lines with Pen & Ink (Art Tutorial)
22. Review: Pentel Color Brush Pen
23. Review: Sakurai Koi Watercolor Field Sketch Set
24. Book Review: Lapin au Japon: Tokyo-Osaka-Kyoto-Nara
25. How to Simplify and Sketch Buildings (Art Tutorial)
26. Difference between Drawing from Photo Reference vs Real Life
27. Uboxing XP-Pen Artist 22HD Pen Display Monitor

Social Media stats

Here are the social media stats for April.

Youtube channel: 14,074, up 2,494 from 11,580 subscribers
Facebook: 12,864, up 152 from 12,712
Google+: 766, up 20 from 746
Twitter: 3,380, up 56 from 3,324 followers
Instagram: 1,231, up 214 from 1,017 followers
Tumblr: 272, up 45 from 227
Flickr: 183, up 17 from 166

Youtube continues to grow faster than other platforms. That's probably because I add a lot of content there monthly.

Facebook is still slow. I've been reading several articles and books saying that Facebook campaigns can do well. But the idea of spending money just to market the blog doesn't sound like it's worth it especially since I don't really have any things to sell.

Patreon

My Patreon page is doing well, relatively speaking compared to last month. As long as there are new patrons, that's always great!

I've received comments asking me if there are any one-off donation because not all people may want to use Patreon for whatever reason. For the one-off donation, you can just send me an Amazon gift card to teohyc @ gmail . com without spaces.

It's probably going to take years before I can make a full-time living off Patreon alone. LOL. Youtube is probably going to bring me to that goal faster.