My soon-to-be mother-in-law is obsessed with Taiwanese pop star Aska Yang. She spends hours every day in a chat room on a fan site, and has even gone all the way to Taiwan just to meet some of these other fans. An extra bonus was that she somehow managed to have dinner with Aska himself while over there! Anyway, when I go to Pittsburgh for the wedding next week, it will be my first time in her home. As a gift, I decide to do this painting.
One challenge for me is that I don’t really know what Aska Yang looks like. Photos found on the Internet are often too low res, and since people tend to look different in every picture, it’s hard to know where to start. Stars are often glammed up, and the photos themselves are often touched up, which makes it even more difficult. Since Mrs. Cheung has seen Aska up close and personal, she REALLY knows what he looks like, so there wasn’t much room for error. The other problem is that I didn’t want to work from just one photo because I wanted the composition of the painting to be somewhat original. I’m not worried about using a copyrighted picture for a painting if I am not selling it, but just as a matter of respect for the photographer, I don’t ever like to copy exactly. Also, there were things I liked and things I didn’t in each of the pics I came across. I ended up painting his neck and jacket pretty much from imagination, and I am not really happy with the way they came out. I could have done better if I had more time, but once I get into trying to fix every little thing that bothers me, it never ends. A painting would never be finished if I didn’t force myself to put the brush down and walk away. Overall, I am pretty happy with how the face came out, though. Hopefully, my mother-in-law will think it’s a good likeness. If any of you happen to know what Aska Yang looks like, please leave a comment here telling me what you think.
