Q&A from 7 Jan 2019's Live Stream

Below are all the questions I was able to extract from the Chat Replay from today's live stream on Youtube.

I've already answered some of the questions in the live stream, but there are too many questions for me to answer. Some of you asked good questions so I want to answer them here. I also want to have this list of questions that I can look back at when it comes to generating ideas for my Youtube videos.

The Internet Is For Cats​ - Are you Taiwanese?
I'm Singaporean, from Singapore.

Bakuras Wrath - ​What books are you interested in reading?
I like books that are related to business, start-ups, self development, and of course those art instructional books.

Dan The Gamer Man​ - QN What's one of your favorite books?
It's difficult to pick a specific favourite. The book that I'm currently reading now is Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen.

Bakuras Wrath​ - QN Whyy did you call your blog Parka Blogs?
I can't remember specifically where I got the name Parka from. It was such a long time ago, like a decade ago. Sometimes you may see or hear people refer to me as Parka, that's how you know that they have been following my blog from the early years. Nowadays, I go by Teoh on Youtube.

P3rformula​ - Do you have a process for saving & organizing reference images? Pinterest and Instagram are convenient, but do not work without an internet connection.
I don't save reference images on my computer. Most of the time, I just search for them online or from Flickr. If I were to organise photo references, I may go by subject matter. Eg Buildings, people, animals, furniture, trees, props, interior design, etc.

REAL DEE​ - QN - will you be one of the instructors at the USK Amsterdam? Or attending?
I'm not teaching at the USK Symposium in Amsterdam. I don't like to teach at these events because the schedule is hectic. I prefer a casual schedule when I'm overseas. I find it more enjoyable that way to travel and sketch. I'm not sure if I'm going to Amsterdam yet. The 13hr non-stop or 17hr transit flight from Singapore is a bit scary.

For those who don't know, the USK Symposium in Amsterdam will be happening on 24 - 27 July 2019. Registration will start on 2 Feb at 3pm CET time. Get that date on your calendar because workshop passes sell out fast.

Ronnie Baga - ​How did you start getting interested with skecthing
I've always like drawing. It's only until I joined the Urban Sketchers Singapore group in 2009 that I began to sketch outdoors more often. Hanging out with friends while sketching is enjoyable and is one main reason why I enjoy sketching.

Nicholas Sully - ​Teoh, do you thumbs down your own videos just for fun? I can't imagine anyone doing that. Must be you or a friend!
I don't like, dislike or heart my videos. I know of people who do that, but I don't know why.

Mikey Finger - ​Do you really think that your eyesight got bad from video games?
Most likely because I played a lot of games when I was a kid.

Kiara Lee​may - i ask if any tutorial about the sketching techniques of the scale, it's a nightmare for me when i sketch on the street.
If you're talking about scale or proportion, you have to focus on observation, paying attention to what you are looking at. Draw what you see instead of what you think you see. It takes practice to get better. You will get there. One book I would recommend is Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson. If you prefer learning from video tutorials, I have a course on drawing from observation that's available on my Gumroad page at https://gumroad.com/parkablogs

Flaming Failure​ - What is your opinion on despacito
It's a catchy song but I won't want to listen to it again. :-P

Soe Moe - ​How many hours do you usually sketch everyday?
I don't sketch everyday. But when I do sketch, usually with my friends, it's around 2 hours.

Won​how do u motivate yourself to finish a piece that u dont want to work on?
I don't think I've ever had a piece that I can't finish. But that's because most of the pieces, or sketches, that I work on don't require that long a time to complete.

The Internet Is For Cats​ - Super Mario Bros?
I like the music Super Mario Bros too. My favourite video game music are from Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross and the early Final Fantasy series. And some of the musicians I like on Youtube are PoopPoopFart, moonbowmusicmovie and lara6683. Oh, I like Joe Hisashi's music for Studio Ghibli's films too.

The Internet Is For Cats​I thought gelatin was made from cows' guts???
I did not know that gelatin is made from animal parts.

Ken Katz - ​My resolution is to learn urban sketching. Do you think learning sketching with an iPad is good?
The drawing experience on the iPad is good. But the medium you use doesn't matter as much as your willingness to practice.

Iris Gross​ - is art school worth the money or is it better to be self taught, in your opinion?
I believe art school is beneficial for certain subjects. For example, if you want to learn painting, fine art, going to an art school would train you faster because there's a proper structure to learning. If you just want to draw for casual purposes, there's no need to go for art school. There are also artists who are making a living who do not go to art school.

Bakuras Wrath​ - QN do you prefer sketching or painting?
Painting is more difficult compare to sketching. With sketching, you have the lines to fall back on. You need to think different when painting. Same applies when you're using other media. Using different media will make you think different. For example, with watercolour, you paint from light to dark, with oil you paint from dark to light. With coloured pencil, markers or pen and ink, the thought process and techniques are different again.

Sara M​Question — What age did you start skateboarding? What board(s) do you use? — greetings from New York 10:00pm
I only started skateboarding in 2017. That's like two years ago. The skateboard I'm using is an electric skateboard. It saves me so much time compared to walking. With the time I saved, I could draw more.

Nicholas Sully​ - QN: What is the model of your electric skateboard?
The one that I have is called Infinity Board. It's a rather generic looking electric skateboard imported by a Singapore company. It's really worth the money. The heavily marketed Boosted Board cost twice as much compared to my electric skateboard. I just want to get something that's cheaper but does the same thing, getting me from point A to B.

Julie Raulerson - ​from your experience what is the best ink for the kuratake 50 brush for watercolor inking if you want it to be water proof
Right now, the waterproof black inks I would recommend are the Platinum Carbon, Sailor KiwaGuro and De Atramentis Archive. I will be using brush pens more often this year because I have a watercolour sketchbook that has faulty paper and can't handle watercolour well anymore.

sandishee sama - ​Mr. Teoh, I want to start making short videos of myself painting. whatvkind of camera should I use? Do I need to invest in a mic as well? please give me advice
Start by using equipment that you already have, which is probably your smart phone. Having a proper mic will improve the quality of your video more than having better visual quality. There are clip-on mics that can connect to the phone. There are many such mics on Amazon, be sure to check out the reviews before you get one.

To improve the video quality, record with good lighting. It's best if you have a window beside and there's strong sun to give you the fill light. Most of the videos I make are in front of the window.

As for video editing apps, free ones are iMovie if you're using a Mac. Or check out Da Vinci Resolve. There's a learning curve to learning software though.

ugotjams? - ​QUESTION: any advice about colour correction since pc isnt as good as apple monitors
There aren't any distinction between PC and Apple monitors. Monitors are just monitors and can be use with any computer.

Most monitors these days should have decent colours out of the box, and will work fine for majority of users. They are even good enough for photo, video editing. If you need professional colour calibration, then get the Spyder5Pro.

Ibtihaj Khan - ​QN: How is your baby doing??
Tiffany is doing fine. She's more than 9 months old now. She can turn over and back, and sit on her own. She's now learning to climb sofas. lol

The Internet Is For Cats - ​do hard watercolor pans go "bad"?
Some do if you don't use them for a long time. Some may crack. Some may turn really hard that it becomes difficult to rewet. Some will form some sort of coating on it that makes it difficult to rewet. Some may even grow mould if there's too much humidity for long periods of time.

QN...... is there a way to fix the issues with the sizing in windsor and newton watercolour sketchbooks.
I'm not too sure about it. You can probably apply a ground, eg Daniel Smith watercolour ground, to the paper surface to make it suitable for use with watercolour. I've not tried the ground before so do some research before getting one.

Tin Tan - ​What can you suggest to a student who wants to pursue arts in college but his/her parents do not want to?
This is a difficult question to answer. It's the classic parent-knows-what's-best-for-their-kid scenario. It may help if the student can show his/her parents just how serious he/she is with art. If the parents are scared about the kid not being able to make a living with art, well, artists nowadays have a much easier life because of the internet to help them get exposure. Ultimately, the success will come down to how serious you are.

Iris Gross​ - QN - how do you recommend NOT getting frustrated with trying to draw moving subjects
Is this about drawing people? Drawing cars? Animals? It does feel frustrating to draw things that move. The first thing I would do is to spend some time observing the subject first. I want to find out how likely is the subject going to move. Then I will try and remember the important "landmarks" or features I should draw in case the subject moves off. It gets easier with more practice. For example, if you draw a lot of people, you will know subconsciously how a person will look like. So even if the person you're drawing were to move off, it would not be too difficult to fill in the blanks.

REAL DEE​QN - If you can recall (and show), what's the worst watercolor painting you did last year in your opinion? And why?
There are a lot. The lousy ones are usually those drawn without planning or consideration for the composition. Or ones where I used too many colours and in the end the colours turn out muddy.

Yasmine S.​What about your coming back to Bali Indonesia ?
I love Bali and have been there three or four times. I would love to go back there again because it is such a beautiful and relaxing place. Food is great and there are so many things to draw.

Julie Raulerson​ - Question: which ink do you suggest for the kuratake 50 brush for watercolor inking that is water proof. I'm using the dr Martin but it's not working as well as I'd like it too. it moves too much

karin pellaers​ - QN: I just bought an I Pad Pro and the app Pro Create I find it all quite daunting, does it get easier with practise. Can you give me some encouragement or advice
Using software for drawing can be overwhelming because there are so many features. My suggest is to stick with just one tool, get familiar with it first before moving on to other tools or features. For example, draw with one brush, ink pen, for a week before you switch out. Next week, practice colour. And the following week, practice using selections, layers, or other features.

One good thing to do with Procreate is to learn and memorise all the finger gesture shortcuts. The finger gestures are incredibly convenient and save a lot of time. Once again, spend the time to master those shortcuts before moving to new shortcuts.

You can find those shortcuts in the Procreate handbook. Or search for Procreate shortcuts online.

Tin Tan - ​Where’s the best place to buy art stuff in Singapore?
ArtFriend, Overjoyed and Straits Commercial. You can search for them on Google Maps.

Gabriel Paiva Lago​ - Have you been to Australia or planning to come?
I've been to Queensland, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. I would love to go back there again to draw. It's such a huge and beautiful country. There are so many things to draw. These are all the sketches I drew while I was in Australia in 2015.

Tantal Elko - ​My Art teacher doesn't like urban sketching very much. Never the less I find a teacher very important. Otherwise you are drawing allways the same and make the same mistakes. What's Your oppinion?
A teacher can help you learn fast. But don't let a teacher limit what you enjoy, or what you can and cannot do. Art is subjective. There will be people who like fine art, abstract (I can't understand it), anime (I love it), urban sketching, modern art, sculptures, etc. What's important is to understand the rationale behind why your teacher don't like about urban sketching.

Shayan Raj - ​can you suggest a stylus that is very cheap and works well?
Those rubber tip styluses are cheap. For drawing purposes, Adonit and MEKO styluses are good. But they do not support pressure sensitivity. Those styluses that support pressure sensitivity are significantly more expensive.

Marie Rodriguez​ - What would you suggest for someone who has very minimal knowledge on drawing but wants to start with urban sketching?
Learn the basics of drawing first, and practice, a lot. One book I would recommend is Keys to Drawing by Bert Dodson. If you prefer learning from video tutorials, I have a course on drawing from observation that's available on my Gumroad page at https://gumroad.com/parkablogs

If you don't want to spend money, search for art tutorials on Youtube. Check out the free tutorials I have created.

The Internet Is For Cats​ - do you ever draw/paint from your own photos?
I do draw from my own photos at times. But as much as possible, I try to draw on location.

I use photo references when I'm making my Youtube tutorial videos. It's more convenient that way. And it's more comfortable too compared to sweating it out outside.

*Chibijulie * - ​Question: any thoughts on Higgins black magic for the kuratake brush pen?
I've not used Higgins black magic before so I can't say much. From what I can see in its description, it's meant for dip pens and brushes. It did not mention brush pens or fountain pens so I would not recommend using it with brush pens. The pigmented ink may clog the pen and make it difficult to clean later on. If you really want to try, get a cheap brush pen to try so that at least if your brush pen is damaged, you don't waste too much money.

lizziedae91​What is your full time job? Love ur videos! Always watch them from the U.S. got some great Christmas gifts of products you recommended, thanks for all your teaching!
What I do for work is explained in this video.

Ronnie Baga - ​QN. Have you met Paul Heaston in one of your Sketchwalk tour?
I met him in Manchester, UK, during the Urban Sketchers Symposium. He's incredibly talented and hardworking. I love his work. He just keeps getting better and better.