Today's Special: Heal The World

It's here!!!

This is my final assignment for Illustration. We had to do an A3 marker rendering on the theme 

'Heal The World'. I chose to focus more on the result of the actions of global warming, such as melting polar ice caps and habitat destruction. The melting caps was useful to lead into my concept, which was a melting sundae. The ice cream scoops was juxtaposed with endangered animals to symbolize the creatures suffering from the destruction, and the sundae glass was built out of cramped houses and narrow streets, a nuclear plant and a train spewing black smoke. 

I was greatly inspired by Mattias Adolfsson, a fantastic fantastic artist I've been following on deviantart for many years. You know the kind of artwork that just pulls at your heartstrings and makes you want to cry? Mattias' works gets to me that way. His incredible detailed imaginative drawings are explosive. You'd wish for extra hours in the day just so you can sit and pore over his works and drink down every last detail. Do pay his site or dA page a visit, I assure you it is very much worth it :) .

I used coffee to paint the sundae glass! Started with a weak one, then added more coffee to get stronger, darker shades. The even darker shades I added with markers. Oh, the best wake up smell ever is an orgasmic cocktail of coffee and Copic ink! :D. One could get high on it, not like I did, but, yeah. Haha.

To update, I have aced the final presentation of the semester! Now there is a final group compilation project that will headache me for the next few days, and the semester will be utterly, completely completed! I can't say I didn't enjoy the semester, though I thought it dragged on for a tad too long. I'm glad I did all that I did, and I'm just as glad that it's soon to be over so I may concentrate on some personal work and self-reflection :).

TGIF everybody! And have a great great weekend! 

Sneak Preview!

Today (or yesterday...since it's been today for half an hour already), I made a new friend:

He is a useful friend, but probably a very formidable enemy. I'm surprised I never got one of these precision knives earlier in my 'artsy-designy' life. It isn't very cheap, though. But it's nice and heavy, and it feels reliable. And being new, the blade is gloriously sharp, so that I actually cut what needed cutting quickly and effortlessly. 

Here's a sneak preview of what I was cutting, more of it very very soon!

Two more blog posts till I celebrate the 400th post on this 'ere blog! Come around for the party, everybody! I shall unveil something pretty awesome then :D. It's the 25th right now, which marks exactly one month to Christmas and my birthday! So many things to do, so little time ><. 

Hope I'll be feeling better than I do now this time next month. Till then, have a happy happy Sunday!

Meant For Each Other

A few months ago, Esmond and I helped a good buddy out by being 'actors' to a short video clip assignment of his. It was a pretty interesting experience! I must say, it felt a bit odd at first, especially when we hit the day off with an argument scene and Esmond and I were far from angry. You can (and will) notice scenes of us with twitching lips, as if we were going to burst out laughing in the next frame.

Meant For Each Other from Abdul Shakir on Vimeo.

The day of the shoot was very nice weather, with a bit of cool showers in the early afternoon and clear evening. There wasn't much of a sunset, though, which was a shame because Shakir (the good buddy, producer, primary cameraman and director) was hoping for brilliant back-lighting. 

Despite all the little hiccups, I think it was enjoyable and the video came out fab! Check it out, and try not to squirm at all the cutesy 'romantic' scenes. I know I did ;) .

Check out the rest of Shakir's videos! He is a man of varied talents, and his animations and timelapse video is particularly interesting! Have a happy Saturday everybody! 

SMASHing Good Idea!

Stumbled upon this pretty awesome ad-vid of SMASH, and scrapbook-cum-journal-cum-sketchbook! I've always liked sketching and sticking and journalling, but SMASH apparently brings all three together and makes it all so much easier and fun :).

SMASH by K& Company

The glue stick/pen combo is incredibly interesting! I would love to have a few of those pens myself. I like how everything is just thrown in anyhow, and I think we could all come up with our own personalized idea books as presented here. It'd be more fun to collect our own favourite tapes and stickers and notepads to further personalize our books. 

Interesting video! I'll definitely keep this in mind for a holiday project. I haven't been journalling at all now since I've got this blog, but watching this has inspired me to do something traditional all over again :D.

A Paper Flour Fairytale

Hello hello! It's Friday and the lovely maftermoom is draped with a misty curtain of rain.

(Maftermoom: the time between 10.50-11.59, when it doesn't feel like morning, neither does it feel like lunchtime yet)

Because the last post looked a tad bit out of place in this pastel-hued blog, I would like to share something very pretty today! Emilie Guelpa is a French art director and culinary artist. Her blog Griottes (cherries! ^^) is a tasty feast of lovely travel photos and gorgeous crafts. Most posts are in French, but Google Translate does a fairly apt job of translating, but the photos also tend to speak for themselves :) .

In one of her posts in September, she shows off her latest projects, collaborating with a fellow creative to create beautiful collages. What is most interesting is that it is a combination of baked goods and paper crafts! The whole project revolves around fairy tales of the old, and each collage looks utterly divine.

All photo credits to Griottes

It's amazing how the simplest of ideas and give the most wondrous results. I love how well the detailed paper crafts match perfectly with the little meringues and biscuits. At times you can't even be sure what's edible and what's not ;).

I particularly like the Moby Dick collage, with the adorable biscuit ship and swirl of piped icing for the wave. It gives the rest of the collage that extra pop and twist to it.

Visit Griottes for more close-up shots and other wonderfully inspiring projects! TGIF everyone! :D

Revenge is Everything

 Dishonored

To all who have not played this game, fear not, there are no spoilers in here. Just generalities you will probably find elsewhere.

Anyway, I don't quite agree on the whole 'Revenge is Everything' motto of the game, but as I progressed through the game I thought, hell, with a life like this anyone would go rambo on revenge. Lol. And, yes. I've played Dishonored! I really only played it because I wanted to see if my tortured, overly-exploited slave of a laptop could withstand the game. It could have probably been a lot prettier, but I'm not a fussy gamer. I've completed games on full-speed lag. What I saw on my screen for Dishonored was considered pretty darn good. Of course, veterans and purists would scream 'hoshit you're killing the game what are you doing stahp look at it staaahp', but if you don't like it, go max out your settings on your badass machines while I totter happily away at mine. Not that there was any lag, but, you get what I mean.

pcgamer

So, Dishonored is basically a game where you play as Corvo Attano, man with greasy hair that you don't really see through most of the game because you're far too busy being him. You've just been framed for murdering the Empress and kidnapping the heir of a rat-plagued, corrupt-filled city, the world is against you, and you are armed with some swanky weapons and mystical powers given to you by some random floating man that just wants to watch the world burn. 

And, as casually as I'd summarized the whole game, it was good gameplay. I've only ever played Skyrim for five minutes. But in that five minutes I hacked at a few guards and ate things and collected things that were not mine. The awesome news is that I could do all that in Dishonored as well, with the even bigger plus that I could go all stealth and climb shyt, like in Assassin's Creed. And I could see through walls, which was like Splinter Cell. If ever you had a wish that you could have the best of all the games mentioned above and you haven't played Dishonored, well, hallelujah :D.

 Dishonored

It was a gloriously dark game, with so much things to do, so many people to kill, and (apparently) so many different paths to choose from. I believe I took the 'Revenge is Everything' motto a twee bit too seriously, because I chose the darkest of everything, and even opted for a 'if it ain't still, I kill' mindset. The result was dark lashing rain and gloomy skies and everything else to make the already emo game a whole lot rattier (pun wholely intended). I shall play the game again, and when I do I will probably do something more Buddha-zen. Lol.

The game was mostly dark, eerie, and, if you have a tendency to maneuver awkwardly like I do (and waltz into rooms without checking them out beforehand), you're probably going to have minor heart attacks every once in awhile. The atmosphere certainly has a way of drawing you into the whole world, and when you leave it you still have an unsettled, haunting feeling about you. Or maybe it's just me and I'm too darn emotional.  

I am not ashamed to say that I played the game on Easy mode. Because there is a first for everything and Dishonored is actually the first first-person game I've ever completed and enjoyed. The hours spent playing Minecraft has done wonders to my nausea-tolerance and motion-sickness! :D. 

Overall. the game was awesome, I enjoyed it, and I'm glad I wasn't *too* distracted with it (despite me playing it during the peak of my busy-ness). And it certainly answered my question: my exploited house-elf of a laptop will not entirely fuck up the game so that I will take revenge on all the world.

Assassin's Creed 3, I'm coming for thee. 

Live By The Creed

It's almost the middle of November, and I'm lost in the clouds. Self Motivation sat with me and worked so hard to stay by me whenever I needed him. He kept me working late nights, he woke me up before my alarm rang every morning. He kept me bright and cheery day after day. When I was down, he kindly invited his sibling Inspiration over and we three had so much fun I always felt better afterwards.

He kept at me all through the semester, but now I believe he has flown out of the window. 

Self Motivation is probably the only thing that keeps me alive, lol. Besides a few others, like Purpose Driven and Hope and Sleep (wait, how did he get into the picture), but Self Motivation is certainly the most important figure. Though right now quite a lot of it has been used up and I'm not quite sure how to replenish him.

On a plus side, Assassin's Creed 3 is coming out for PC in 5 days. Amongst other things. Like my final Advertising presentation and the final day for submitting some ideas and the second day of another busy busy week. It's almost as if all these activities are swarming about in red coats and tricornes and muskets and I'm the lone hooded fella armed to the teeth.

gamerswwag

I'll go a-swinging and a-swishing...

gamerswwag

And the cannons will explode at my dramatic finish.

We all have a creed we live by. Maybe not a Bible-full of rules and regulations; a simple phrase or saying could probably suffice to help some of us along our way. But I'm sure we all have some belief that sticks to us, something that makes us move on whether we know it or not. What's yours? I think one of mine would be best explained in a simple, neat sentence:

"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time"

the receiving end

It's Friday tomorrow and another weekend to be productive! Have a good one everybody :D.

100 Acre Bills

Poketo collaborated with five different artists to come up with five designs for their latest wallet collection. The theme? Winnie The Pooh!

I'm not actually a fan of Winnie The Pooh. I only ever read one book about the little honey coloured bear and his imaginary human friend...oh, sorry? Christopher Robin is the real boy with an imaginary honey coloured bear friend? My bad. Fan or not, I would buy all the wallets just because they are all so eye-catching and pretty!

 The designs are lovely, though. It's interesting to see how one theme can be explored in such different ways by artists. Vintage, pixel, and one that is rainbow-gummy-bear inspired, there seems to be one wallet for every kind of fan. And at the same time each artist managed to capture the childish, imaginary world of stories in his or her own way.

These two are my favourite designs. The first one is so bright and cheerful, almost as if it popped right out of a chidren's storybook. The other makes use of the colour palette of autumn leaves, incorporating it into shapes and textures to give and overall sensation of floating in a warm, woodsy sea of leaves :D.

What's your favourite childhood story? I think the Wind In The Willows has to be one of my favourites; I'd be incredibly excited if I could see the Mole and Rat and Badger and Toad gambolling over green meadows and sandy banks of wallets. I think Alice In Wonderland is nice, though just a tad bit overdone. What kind of storybook character would you like on your wallet?

The week is just beginning, but sooner than you think it'll be at an end. That is probably the case with most things in life. But let's hope our childhood innocence and carefreeness stay with us for a long while yet :) . 

All photo credits to Poketo

Jingly Snowbells

I should really be still dating posts as October, because I still haven't quite gotten over how quickly the month passed by. I feel as if nothing was done, and yet, oh so many assignments submitted, even more gained and are now in progress. Still a long way to go, though how do I intend to complete them all, I have no idea. 

And suddenly, it's November, and I am one step closer to being a twenty year old.

Lol, okay, that was a bit of overreacting right there. But yes, I am soon to be twenty...in another 52 days 14 hours 21 minutes. I found a little flash site that does a countdown to Christmas, so I don't actually have to add up numbers in my head :P.

Xmas Clock

Looking at the clock with my jingly blog bells certainly add some sort of festive spirit about the place.

I wonder, is it too tacky if I add some widgets to my blog? Say, like falling snow. Or more jingly bells. Or Santa flying across the screen on his sleigh yelling HO HO HO!!! Hm, maybe not that last one. But I do like the idea of falling snow. Makes you feel a bit more of the brrr that Malaysia constantly lacks.

Some of us may not be beginning November on too good a foot, but there's a silver lining in every cloud, and bad days can only come and go, never stay. So cheer on, people! We will all pull through hard times cheerfully, with maybe one or two little cries just to let things out along the way. That's always the best way to go about it.