Coloring is fun. Really.

A few days ago, I found myself a fun project: coloring the dull thing. The dull thing was a little shelf(?), whatever it should be called, that my brother made in school. I forgot to take a picture before I colored it; however, I found another thing that has the very same wooden material.

So this is the original color

The theme for the wooden product was "the ancient jewelry box that was once covered with gold but now with violet fungus." I tried to match the wooden thing with its surrounding items which are the tissue container and the frame in the picture below.

the tissue container and the frame. note: I didn't draw this picture.

 And after two hours...

front

side 1

side 2

back

front close up

front

top

And here is the whole view with its surrounding item.

I thought the color matched with the tissue container and the picture frame. Thus, I bragged about this to my mother. (and who else is really there that I could brag this to?) My mom said "My goodness. it came back hackneyed."

It's alright. I enjoyed coloring it. 

#4: What Happened in the Drawing Class

One of my least favorite drawing. Like the skull drawing, I didn't enjoy working on this piece. I knew I wouldn't like it from the beginning, because I moved on putting values without perfecting the proportion. As a result, proportion came out ugly and this project was rather disappointing.

As I was working so hard on finding the just-right proportion for this piece, I sneaked to see how others were making progress. The ones who used charcoal were already almost done, when I was still struggling to sketch the outline!! I was determined then. "I am using charcoal next time."

so here we go.

Next project time, I held out the charcoal that I prepared with my determined heart. I did NOT know much about charcoal. I did NOT know my charcoal's hardness was medium, which would be harder to use especially for a beginner like me. I learned what charcoal was and how to use it that day. 

Charcoal is weird and fun. It is so much smoother than a pencil that it would shed its powder(?) on the paper, as if it is falling apart on paper while I'm using it. At the same time, it would leave deep, strong traces on paper. You will not be able to get that out perfectly with your super eraser.  

I had to go through unsuccessful trials for two hours, just to figure out how to play with charcoal. Then, this. 

Much better contrast in value. Compare this drawing with the glass drawing above. You can definitely see wider range of values in this drawing. 

And the story goes. Aria fell in love with charcoal and was faithful to it till the end. 

I love charcoal. It's simply amazing!!!

#3: What Happened in the Drawing Class

I personally do not like this piece. At that time, I was very discouraged by getting two B+'s on my first two drawings. Also, I was very tired of hearing the same comment "the drawing needs to be crisp" again, not knowing how to fix that "crisp" problem!!

It was ironic because my instructor told me NOT to line the object but rather create that "line" by differing the values. I took that literally. Later, I found it is OKAY to draw a line to define the object a little.

I still remember how I rushed through this piece mumbling "I don't like this. This is ridiculous. He told me the lines are not clear. well, now he will see the line." And I continued pressing down on my 2B pencil really hard along the boundaries of the object on paper.

Guess what. He gave me an A on this drawing. I still don't think this is a good drawing at all. the shadow and some parts of the scull need to have some darker shading. The antler (right) is ugly. Oh, well. The grade did encourage me to do next ones, though.

#2: What Happened in the Drawing Class

second drawing class-the metals

The second drawing class was interesting. As I began to study the surface of the metals, I grew intimidated by numerous lines and surprisingly vague boundaries of each line. The taller metal had more blunt and rougher surface. The smaller one expressed sharped and highly reflective texture.

Again, I spent way too much time just to draw an outline with a right proportion: one and a half hours.

Finding different shades of lines and highlights in the smaller metal was very enjoyable in a painful way (if you know what that means..:)

Bobcat Jacket

Back of the Jacket

 

The mascot for my sonority-like-university-organization is bobcat, as you might have guessed. Currently, I am their designing officer. This semester’s project is track jackets.

I don’t know how much time I have spent on this. Although it is a great time killer, I have learned important lessons through the project.

 

First lesson: I can't always strive for the ideal.

As an artist, I strive to pull out the ideal from any work that I do. However, with an impending deadline that affects about fifty other bodies, I have to learn when to stop appropriately.

Second lesson: I can't please everyone.

Not everyone is going to buy the track jacket. Some won't, simply because they don't like my design.

Third lesson: Screen printing is common for 

customizing apparels. and adding color& location 

of prints cost money. Less is more.

-Design Process-

1) I sketched a rough idea on paper.

2) I used a tablet to copy the idea on adobe illustrator.

Idea #1

Idea #2

3) Then I edited them QUITE A BIT, spending hours and hours.

Edited #1

Edited #2

4) Voting process with the other officers.. and then more editing..yay...

Finally...heww..

Personally, I like the second design. It has more stories and meanings to it. Some people have said it would be more fitting for t-shirt not track jacket. 

The second was harder to edit, because it had more details and lines. Plus, simply because my file didn't get saved twice, after several hours of work.  

Almost always, seeing through LCD screen and on the real apparel are quite different. I can't wait to see how it is going to turn out. When it comes, I will post the real product ASAP! 

Discipline

"Easy! easy..!

Look. life is still beautiful.

...

See? we've got time.

Everything depends on 

one's view of life.

Picture positive things.

take a breath and 

get some life, my friend!"

.

.

.

"Many have ambitions which are never realized, goals which are never reached, aspirations for usefulness which are never fulfilled, visions which never materialize."

 - Richard S. Taylor in The Disciplined Life

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Hope is the best remedy for those who suffer adversaries in life at the moment. It provides a compelling vision that attracts weary bodies forward. However, undisciplined hope only blocks one's sight from the reality. 

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

#1: What Happened in the Drawing Class

I took a drawing class at my university as an elective. This course was targeted for non-art major/minor people like me. It surveyed the very top surface of the deep art world. Here, I would like to share with you what happened in my drawing class. You may glean some new tips about drawing. Or you may mitigate your boredom a bit by reading my story about the class. Well, I hope it will be enjoyable to you in anyway.

The very first official drawing.
Used a 2B pencil, an eraser, and a finger tip.

There were three different tea pots. Obviously, I picked the most interesting looking pot. The chosen one was really really reeealy black. (Little did I know I had to work harder to catch all the different values on that dark surface!)

As a result of being unnecessarily meticulous about proportion, I spent nearly 60 minutes to have a ROUGH sketch on the paper. At this point, I looked around and panicked at other people's 70% done drawings!

In spite of my great expectation for receiving specific instructions, such as "use your blending tool like this way" "you achieve good value by doing that way" and etc. My instructor only left me a profound statement, which, throughout the entire five-month-long course, faithfully continued to comfort struggling/lost students. In a simple and insightful way, his deep voice tossed the words into the air: "Draw. what you see."

I enjoyed observing the pot. Its dark surface was transforming the somewhat stark classroom into a romantic city at dark, starry night.