About Me
Showing posts with label Serious Steps. Show all posts
Those memes that highlight art student's money problems aren't funny as I find it unfair; stereotyping that art students are ignorant towards business or dissing the media industry in general. But I must admit that my distastes for it is caused by my fear of my finances. Of course, I wish to live happily and while I go through that journey of finding out what that means specifically, it would be nice to have a stable income. Based on my limited experience, you'll never have enough money because human's wants and needs are boundless. However, it's nice to have the power of decision; to decide for yourself and the ones you love without the baggage of insufficient money. Which is why I chose the picture above; as an example of many items that I can spend my money on. Collecting figures is one of my hobbies and I love being able to choose which ever brands I want without worrying about money too much. So, in this article, I'll update you with my current attempts of overcoming this fear; sharing you with a few designs I did.
Now, this is a familiar concept I tried; involving hype and all. Here's an article that tackles on that topic.
I've been designing a few vectors for t-shirts so that, In Shaa Allah, I can start a part time business. I believe that, without hype, nobody will notice your product and it's incredibly important in the film business. Technically, I'm not done with the designs and they may change. I plan on sharing the process of changing as a part of the hype; in hopes of getting feedbacks while gaining interested customers. It's too early for that now but I see no harm in sharing them in my blog; for the sake of writing my heart's desire, of course. Haha.
In a recent class of mine, I learned a more in depth perspective of today's way of promoting Intellectual Properties. What makes it more interesting is that it's something that I've definitely noticed thus motivating me to try out the concept of Transmedia. To be more precised, it's not just a way to promote films, video games or any other expressive mediums you can think of, it's a way of sharing stories; turning us into a more active audience rather than just consuming. The best example of this phenomenon is fan fiction or , as I've constantly referred to, fan art.
Here's the concept:
Due to my fascination of discovering various mediums of expression (General stuff like films or specific stuffs like being a Star Wars fan), I implied that in the designs. Each design will feature the phrase "Discover me through" followed by any pop culture or media I can think of. For marketing purposes, I'll start with the obvious; topics that would attract wider customers or, at least, customers that I can reach to.
The style would revolve around the flat vector style (The previous picture was just a random picture I took while I was in South Korea). The above design is just an early concept and has definitely change prior to this post. I'll update the latest ones when it's ready.
I started with two media that I'm really invested on. Although I'm more of a console fan (No PC master race debate please), I decided to design a mouse and keyboard vector because it could attract a more specific audience. Plus, the whole controller vector thing is done quite often. But I'll design it in the future nonetheless; for variety purposes.
Other topics that I plan on working next is Kaiju (To add some uniqueness), Anime (I have tones of friends whom are Otakus) and Islam (For holiday or seasoned specials such as Eid or Ramadhan).
In Shaa Allah, I hope, to the very least, that this project would start. Sometimes, I forget that business involves tones of risks. What's keeping me from doing this is the fear that all this effort will go to waste if it fails. But after thinking about it, a wasted effort is much cheaper than doing nothing at all; relying only on parents or student loan's allowance. This is phase 1 of 3 of the business plan. Now, I won't go into the details of the phases but to summarize it, it's basically differs in the designs.
Feedback are much welcome. Alhamdulillah, Salam and thanks for reading!
What's worst than my lack of consistency of updating this blog is the lack of my own works presented in it. It's been a while since I've written something in this label; 'Serious Steps' usually contains visual works of mine. But as of late, I've been focusing more and more on screen writing thus leaving little amount of sketches. I do miss drawing very much and I intend to update one in the near future; In Shaa Allah. However, I have been practicing in various fields of film making besides my University's assignments. Most of it involving writing and photography. So, in this short article, I'd like to share some of my pictures and a script I wrote for class.
Most of these pictures are taken during this year's Ramadhan. Alhamdulillah, it's one my most memorable ramadhan; spending much time with friends and, of course, family. As mentioned in previous posts, I've been fond of geometric shapes. Even though I'm not as excited as I was before when tackling the subject, it has left a mark in me; influencing some of my photography. I don't design geometric vectors anymore but I do, unintentionally, apply them in my pictures.
It's funny how you can't really fully grasp an art form once you learn it. You still need time to learn, understand and, especially, use it to your advantage. But yet the lecturers in my University expects great results. Even with raw talent--and I've seen people with it--they probably spent hours of practice prior to the course. There is no shortcut and I must admit that I couldn't accept that fact in the first place. Perhaps, it was my childish perspective of only focusing on the work load. You should and can have fun with practice...I think it's called a hobby. This factor fascinates me so much because it's so different than learning Math or Science during high school. You study a specific topic for an exam that asks only of those topics. But when you paint or film for an assignment, not only you haven't mastered the topics taught in class but, sometimes, the topics outside the class will also affect your outcome. This sounds like frustration but, in time, it will turn into a motivation for you to strive; to express you thoughts and feelings better through countless mediums of expressions.
And so, as I continue to practice writing and--hopefully--drawing, here's a short script I wrote for class.
Constructive criticisms are always welcomed. Salam and thanks for reading!
A final article before I start my second semester in film studies.
To recap, Serious Steps are articles that highlight my works for my studies; a more serious effort (That's debatable) for causes outside my own. Only this time, I'm going to center works I did for a carnival that I'm volunteering since I'm not ready to share my videos to the world yet.
Soul Carnival , being held in MMU Cyberjaya, is a carnival that centers the idea of spreading the love and Islam; to share smiles and joy with all. It's a one day event that has games for children, talks and celebrity guests. Click on the link for more information!
Because I'm here to talk about my proposed artworks.
The artworks were done months ago! But execution of releasing them to the public was only recently; even then, only one or two were used. Why I designed these works is because of two things:
1. The longing for da'wah; my responsibility of sharing the teachings of Islam.
2. I had an idea. Once I have an idea, I tend to become obsessed with it
Earlier this year, I missed my post-SPM days where I spend my times teaching kids. I loved every single moment of it. I felt I was doing something meaningful for myself, society and Islam. So, after months of absence in the field, and the much stressful assignments, I figured that I could help out a little with the Islamic clubs in my university.
I volunteered for this carnival and I was tasked as a 'security' or an 'escort' for the celebrities attending. During one of briefing, I reached to one of the leading coordinators to pitch an idea that I've had for a long time.
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| Constructive criticisms are welcomed |
The Idea came from an observation as a geek; that hype loyal fans whom are artists create for their beloved work of fiction. I see so much of beautiful fan arts that are unique, passionate and satisfying. Sometimes, I prefer fan arts over original ones. For instance, due to the fact that Jaegers aren't real, we'll only see the same movie stills and posters of the characters. As fans, we want to see more and waiting two to three years for the sequel won't cut it. Thus the answer is fan art.
The fact that the artworks also create strong hype is also interesting; a free publicity, you might say. Thus with this carnival offering an opportunity, I just can't help but to experiment my styles and knowledge.
I've created a few concepts of art styles based on my observation and the type of audience it captures. The above picture is a Sepia style; a constant style that I see in social networks. Due to it's, especially, simplicity and artistic nature, it's quite teen-friendly. I believe anyone who has Instagram can do this; with a picture, a quote and the filters.
The picture above is an example I did; an extra picture I took for my previous assignments. I knew keeping those extra pics would come in handy someday. The picture beside is more experimental; mashing in random lines and textures. I, kind of, like it but I know it's not presentable.
The Cartoon/Mascot Style
This is a more kid friendly style. The idea was having people creating their own 'little me'; the same shape of body with a different colors and headgear. This could have been a stronger trend setter though but alas, there's not much time to rely on people designing their own. But one of the head coordinator did use it as a profile picture on facebook; that's it.
After seeing a tutorial of making pixel art, I just had to do it! Initially, it was intended to be another mascot style but instead it turned into my personal profile picture. Haha. I love it very much. To be on a safe side, it's 'me' wearing my favorite green hoodie.
Recently, I am fascinated by geometric art. I am not keen on visual art. I can come up with a decent story but not a solid canvas. This weakness lead to some fascinating discoveries of geometrical beauties . One where I find most interesting is rearranging photo(s) into shapes such as triangles, hexagon, octagon and so on. I think it's really cool and, frustratingly, it makes me jealous because I couldn't come up with something like that. Darn. This discovery was observed in social networks; those selfies that are distorted into some new found 'artistic' shapes. But I was impressed with a work I saw on a Photoshop tutorial page. That's when I became fond of this style. So, I did some for myself; for this carnival. And of course I did add some 'me' in it; a restriction if you might say.
The first draft
It's not much of a drastic rearrangement to a point you can't tell what it is. I have this strict 'style' that I must put some 'sanity' to it. It's a puzzle. That's what I could think of and I'm fond of it. The little misplacement of the clouds is something I really like....I can't elaborate why for the moment. I just do.
How would this help the bring hype to the carnival? I thought it would be interesting to bring hype to the fan art itself. Yes, the fan art is to bring hype for the carnival but having more hype before it happens just scream out certainty to me. People would like and share this artwork to reveal the logo and the fan art project. After decent amount of those two, we would introduce the project. Alas...again, there's no time to wait for a decent amount of 'social acceptance' (Likes and Share). This idea was scraped.
The final product. I love it! hehehe~
Finally, as always, I leave the best for last. Come to think of it, I love most of the works I did! Let's not get carried away now. Most fan arts I stumble upon are digital or manual drawings. From Assassin's Creed to Batman, there are thousands of designers dedicating their time to draw an awesome fan art. All the above is experimental with satisfying results but below is not; no new styles, no observing the masses. It's just me being me with my drawing. Sigh, I miss drawing. Take note that this was done months ago, around February. Film assignments doesn't give me much room to draw.
The Sketch
I forgot to mention that it's a collaboration with a friend. I would sketch and he would color. I drew with pencils and thicken the lines with pen to ease the vectorizing.
Yes, I'm aware that they don't have legs. I was, admittedly, lazy. Plus, I can't draw satisfying legs. I was afraid that I might ruin it if I keep erasing it with my eraser. If you'd ask me, I personally love the woman in the middle. I drew my favorite hijab style on her.
Colored
My friend had some problem deciding what colors to use. In the end though, it's really good. It took awhile for me to digest. I know his style and this is definitely his style; seeing it fused with mine was just odd at first. In time, I did enjoy this product. Heck, even others complimented the colors. Here is his blog:
There would be booths and talks special for Muslim women; Sister's Zone. Some of my favorite Celebrity Muslimahs would be there, man! I wanna meet her! Men aren't allowed. I am sad. Najwa Latif, Diana Amir and the lovely Heliza Helmi! Weeee~!
Okay, calm yourself, man.
The Final Product!
Of course, the colored sketch wasn't enough. I need to put the logo to make it more obvious. So, this is the final that I went for. The background I did was a combo with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to mimic the textures. It turn out well, Almahdulillah. I like how our names were incorporated. That's essential. I don't think most people would bother to read the descriptions.
Alhamdulillah, it's been awhile since I've updated my Serious Steps articles. Don't even get me started on the rare Islamic articles! I think this is the first one where I'm not that emotional. That's one of the reasons why I call it 'serious'; to show the lessons I learned from these works. I'm grateful that I could help the function in ways that I could. It doesn't end here though, there's still the even itself. What wonders and horrors awaits?
That's it for the third Serious Steps article, constructive criticisms are welcomed.
Salam and have a good day readers!
