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This paper investigates the development of Singapore watercolor art. Although watercolor is a western painting medium, Singapore watercolor art adopted its concepts from both the traditional British watercolor and Chinese ink painting. While it inherited its painting techniques from the British watercolor, the concept of calligraphic brushwork was adopted in two diverse directions, one from the British watercolor and the other from the Chinese calligraphy and ink painting due to the diverse backgrounds of artists. The application of various forms of calligraphic brushwork and their developments have shown connections to their origins. However, deviations were observed as compared to contemporary western watercolor brushwork. The study has also uncovered how the abstraction of Chinese character design concept and ink painting compositions were adopted by contemporary regional artists. The outcomes have created potential applications in animation and digital painting, especially in the area of visual simplification. National Arts Council Published version I would like to thank National Arts Council for sponsoring this research and Nanyang Technological University for support me with all the administrative process related to this research work.

The objective of this project was to experiment with the essence of Chinese calligraphical brushwork and showcase its advantages for animation. The Maya built-in functions and its programmable environment provided us the flexibility to simulate the concept of Chinese calligraphy in depicting various brush and ink movements. The write-up by our local master calligrapher, Mr. Tan Kee Ser, summarizes the fundamental concepts of Chinese ink painting and how it applies the essence and abstract design of Chinese calligraphy. Computer programming has enabled 3D animation to borrow the merits of the Chinese calligraphy language. The flexibility and sophistication of the Maya software and its programmable Python interface have opened up many new possibilities. Its near omnipotent textural functions enabled Chinese calligraphy to be presented in a 3D visual environment, allowing its simple and illusional quality to expand the scope of 3D movement presentation. It verified the idea discussed in the previous exhibition and upgraded Chinese calligraphy from a two-dimensional to a three-dimensional interface1, 2. In a 3D visual space, the programmed brushwork is reusable and different angles of the presentation can be chosen to achieve the best visual results. As a result, the charming characteristics and brushworks of Chinese calligraphy can now be combined with three-dimensional animation to showcase its strength in abstraction. This book also presents traditional two-dimensional animation clips as a comparison. The process of 3D brushwork development started with exploration of various built-in functions within the Maya environment. Since every function was not built for this purpose, additional adjustments were required to overcome the limits of each function. This was done through the flexible Python programming interface within the Maya software platform. We were lucky to have Dr. Fredy Tantri working with us. He is fluent in Python and trained 2 of our student team members in Python programming. Dr. Tantri made multiple mathematical adjustments to overcome the limitation of various Maya built-in functions, which enabled certain simulations of calligraphic brushwork in the 3D space. Finally, this E-book combines both 2D and 3D presentations of Chinese calligraphic brushwork. A series of artworks and two sets of 3D animated figures were developed for this demonstration. We wish to bring out the illusory quality of the Chinese calligraphy with animation and present to the audience. Published version

This paper explores the basic structures of Chinese calligraphy brushwork, its textures, its characteristic forms, and how its strength can be incorporated into 3D animation. It investigates how these structures could create visual simplification and suggest movement. The conceptual difference between realistic rendering and the Chinese calligraphic concept of simplification is discussed. With the help of the Python programmable environment in Maya, the concept of Chinese calligraphy in 3D space and its idea of visual simplification and abstraction were explored. The work demonstrates how the Chinese calligraphic brushwork could suggest the dynamics of motion in 3D space. Some limitations of the Maya emitting process are also discussed. Possible further explorations through additional mathematical adjustments to the selected Maya shader are also suggested to enhance the presentation. Ministry of Education (MOE) Submitted/Accepted version I would like to thank Nanyang Technological University and the Ministry of Education, Singapore for supporting this research.