STAC LIVE mural.

Fun fun fun in the sun

Plague Doctor

Late

II started a new little thing in my sketch book! I'm very happy with how it's coming along so far. I was inspired by this fashion magazine I had lying around... 

And I came up with this:

I've started the hardest part already...the coloring. And surprisingly, I haven't messed up yet. Maybe I'm wearing my lucky underpants. Here goes nothing!

**EDIT**

I finished it! Eep!

Surgery

Surgery has made me extremely emotional..

I want to take some time out of my day to really thank and appreciate the amount of people in my life that are concerned for and care about me. It's unfortunate how the best always come out when the worst happens, but wow, I was truly overwhelmed and blown away by the amount of people that cared about my health and how I was doing. I don't know whether it was post-op emotions or the result of me being drugged up, but I was bawling to find out the amount of support I was recieving. 

Andrew surprised me with flowers on my doorstep, and another friend of mine showed up at my house unannounced with cheesecake. I am so lucky to have such incredibly nice and caring people in my life, especially the doctors who operated on me.

I can't even begin to express my gratitude.

Model

I've heard the whole "realism is boring" shpeal a bunch of times, but I can't help but somewhat enjoy it. 

I used pastels for the first time, and of course I wanted to draw a portrait using them. 

I'm quite pleased with how this turned out, and I'm eager to draw more things like this in the future. I need to work on the lips a little bit more on the final piece, because they look like they're drooping down a bit. The eyes are a little wonky too. But that's okay! I'll get better with practice.

The Power of Myth

I find this topic so interesting, but his voice just unbearably monotonous. Don't get me wrong- the man is a wonderfully phenomenal speaker - the tone of his voice just wants to put me to sleep. 

Anyway.

One thing he said that really intrigued me and blew my mind was when he mentioned how everyone has already experienced eternity, that this everlasting concept has been tangible this entire time. He described eternity as the now without the application of time. In other words, when you enter a Flow state. 

This statement really brang me back to when I worked on linocuts and printing last year; I could've printed for hours on end, and I did. 

It truly is fascinating to understand. 

Oogie Art

I recently began attending a portfolio art class at this place called Oogie Art. I've only had two classes so far, and I've finished a quick self portrait and a full charcoal composition. I'm pretty happy with the level of work, and to be quote frank, it was simple. Not simple enough to the point where I was bored, but simple enough to where I maintained an interest in the subject.

"Lovelier Girl"

This piece took me long enough to finish!

 

From its start to its finish, it probably took me around 10 hours of consecutive working, I'd say. 

I'm pleased. This will be a nice addition to my art show coming up! Squee! 

Hookah Bar Hookup

I have a friend who runs a hookah bar with his older brother, and he approached me with a job- to create a painting/logo to hang up inside their cafe. Of course I said yes! So today, I went out and bought some UV paint.

I have a couple of ideas floating around, and I'm sort of excited. He's been bugging me for months to get around to doing this. Hopefully it'll turn out and meet my expectations! 

For now, I just made some swatches of paint to see how they will look under black light. It's always important to check this kind of stuff before diving right in. 

Gridding Part 2

Today was part 2 of the gridding workshop with the lovely Cathryn Mezzo. Today's focus was on pumpkins, and I think I did well. Better than my first time, anyway. 

I think what contributed to it being a better workshop for me this time around was the structure. There was instruction, but enough freedom to work without being lost in typography heaven. And I liked how although everyone was given the same materials, different looking layouts were created. 

I still think that gridding is somewhat difficult, but that's just because all this is new to me. I liked it better this time around and certainly had more fun than I did last time. 

Maybe it was the weather.

Sushi: The Global Catch

Sushi’s hearth used to be restricted to Japan, perceived as bizarre or weird to outsiders. With one of the most extensive histories of its origin, sushi and sashimi have been traditionally considered a delicacy. In Japan, where sushi is highly reveled, the best of the best bluefin tuna can go for up to $400,000 USD per fish. The Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market, or more commonly known as the Tsukiji fish market, is the largest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world. Famous sushi masters, such as Jiro from Jiro Dreams of Sushi, exclusively buys from this fish market.

However, through the process of globalization, the sheer scale of the market for sushi has exploded in insurmountable numbers. This industry has dramatically impacted the global supply and demand of fish, specifically the bluefin tuna. Now spreading to ecumenes such as Russia, China, and even India, the ecological environment is struggling to keep up with the expensive palates of its consumers. The documentary, Sushi: The Global Catch, examines in depth what might just happen once the entire planet catches onto this trend.

Enjoyed in Texas at football matches or at high-end restaurants in bustling cities, sushi has certainly made its mark in our modern day culture. What many consumers fail to stop and think about is how their love for this exquisite dish may impact the future of our oceans. Bluefin tuna are apex predators, which means that they thrive on the top of their ecological food chain. They are predators with few to no predators of their own—except in this case, where their largest predators are humans. Prized for its fatty consistency, fishermen every day are hauling in tons and tons of Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern bluefin tuna. The danger that lurks in overfishing this tuna is that eventually once it’s all gone, we will be left with nothing but jellyfish and sea urchins. If the predator in a food chain disappears, the second level of the food chain will begin to overpopulate the high seas. They will then deplete the third level of the chain, which consequently will lead to them wiping themselves out due to starvation. So, not only is it detrimental to the survival of the bluefin tuna, but to its lower counterparts as well. This is the future that we will face if we don’t start taking responsibility of our gluttonous sushi habits, or at least find a solution to make it sustainable.

It’s truly terrifying to watch this documentary and hear that once this trend latches onto China, there’s no other answer but extinction for the bluefin tuna. At over 1.3 billion people, it’s no wonder that once sushi takes traction, extinction becomes a very real and scary possibility. The amount of tuna that swim our oceans now are only 20-30% of what used to populate the oceans only 50 years ago.

Now, there have been multiple efforts in trying to make sushi more sustainable. From restaurants that only serve what is considered sustainable fish to groundbreaking bluefin tuna hatcheries, hopefully a dent will be made in the journey towards repopulation.  

The largest obstacle that this process will face is changing the opinions of its consumers. While it’s possible to serve farmed tuna, there will be no doubt that some will still be willing to seek out wild bluefin tuna, regardless of the price. Humans are simply too obstinate to want to change their behaviors if it compromises their wants or needs.

Grid

It might've been the weather, it might've been the day, but I just couldn't get too excited for it. 

In simpler terms, I was bored.

I love using magazines, glue, and scissors to make collages, but for some reason once you attach a grid to it, I can't seem to get excited. The restrictions dulled me and my mind drifted elsewhere. 

Maybe I'll try again.

Comic Con 2013

I'm a sucker for NYCC, so it's no surprise that I went again this year. This time around however, I decided to step it up a notch and make my entire costume from a pattern! I also went with my lovely partner in crime, Sarah. 

Clearly, my cosplay was pretty simple (I made a bow and a dress) but it was a really good learning curve for me since it have virtually no experience in dress sewing whatsoever. So I took the dive, bought some fabric, a pattern and went to work.

 

I'm cosplaying as Kiki, from Kiki's Delivery Service by Miyazaki.

I think I did a pretty good job, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. You know that you have a good cosplay when it takes you half an hour to move from one side of the show floor to the other side. 

Skull Girl

Okay! Where do I begin?

My initial idea with this started with me wanted to move on to working with different types of canvases. I chose wood as my medium of choice.

I had a road bump in the middle of working with this once my sketch was finalized; I didn't know what to do with it next. I let it sit for a couple of weeks and fortunately, ideas flowed right back into my thought process. 

I'm sort of in a "teal period" right now. Kind of like Picasso's blue period, cept I'm not Picasso and I'm not living in Europe. 

Underlying this piece has a lot of symbolic meaning because it's based off the lyrics of a song called "Lovelier Girl" by Beach House. 

I'm really happy with how this piece is progressing. I wonder what I'll end up doing next.

The Whitney Museum

Last Friday, I went to the Whitney Museum instead of attending Homecoming. I'm pretty glad I skipped out - while I did miss some fun with friends, I gained a plethora if influence instead. 

I originally went for the Edward Hopper exhibition that was going on, but found myself engorged with much more than I had gambled for. I fell in love with Robert Indiana's work as well. What I find really endearing about his work is the sheer size of his paintings. If it was on a smaller scale, I think I would just pass it off as something pretty but since all of the pieces in his exhibition were huge, I was really captivated. I am also just a Pop Art enthusiast and a sucker for clean, straight, bold designs. 

Anyway, back to Hopper. I liked his paintings, but I enjoyed his watercolors and charcoal sketches far more. He really was more of a designer than he was a painter. His defined, confident strides on the paper really show through in many of his works- I mistakes a lot of the steer colors for being lithographs or prints! 

Overall, this was a very succesful library hual for my brain. 

"Why Would You Eat That?"

Next to music and death, food is the largest way through which people connect with each other. It gives insight into a culture's traditions and history. This is one of the largest reasons why food is so important to me, and why it's so completely personal. Food is the equivalent of total trust; it passes from the exterior into the interior- your body. Every culture is unique within itself and this theory applies to food as well. I believe that no food is disgusting enough to not at least try once and judging it before trying it is unacceptable. 

I came across this video web series called "Tasted" and it's about well, food. This particular video that I've linked is one of their sub-series, "Why Would You Eat That?" and showing is an episode about Shirako, or more crudely put, fish semen. Check it out:

Dorming In A "Mini-Village"

http://bigthink.com/ideafeed/instead-of-a-dorm-room-how-about-a-tiny-wooden-house

I think this is so interesting because over this past summer, I dormed at one of Pratt's campus housing sites and I basically felt like I was living in a prison. The room was small, the walls were concrete blocks, and the shared bathroom was completely made of metal. It was cold and unpleasant. But it did give me the whole "hipster-living-conditions" feel that made me feel strangely cool. Whatever that means.

I would love nothing more to go to college and live in a wonderfully designed dorm, such as the ones they're trying to build in Sweden. I would also just love to live in Sweden. And I mean c'mon- you get your own kitchen, bathroom, sleeping space and patio- all for half the price of a regular dorming situation! How can you go wrong?

Marketing Groundwork

http://www.palantir.com/what-we-believe/
- The pictures that link the different parts of the website are very abstract. I feel like that's quite an important aspect in terms of design and ideas- for example, if you're trying to represent "open software", don't use something that will literally represent software (like Apple or Windows). Palantir's choice in using a photo of planes flying across a vast sky is wonderful.

http://www.behance.net/gallery/Google-Visual-Assets-Guidelines-Part-2/9084309
- I LOVE the way that Google has the whole design reduction policy and the use of crisp colors. Nothing dull or any shadows with gradients. Gradients have become something of the "past" to me. Defined colors are the design of the future. The whole geometric pattern they have going on is also very attention grabbing for me.

http://www.palantir.com/engineering-culture/
- Geez....I'm blown away by the design of this section of the website. Simply flawless. I don't even know what to say; everything about this particular page is amazing. The yellow hover bios that pop up when you scroll over the pictures are super. Sweet and short to the point while giving you a little insight on the individual. It tells you the person's name and a form of social networking that can be used to contact them (Twitter). The interchangeable usage of sans serif / serif typeface is so smart and legible.

http://www.directorsnotes.com/2010/11/14/sound-it-out-adventures-in-crowd-funding/

"It’s planning the PR, marketing and outreach before the film is even made. We’ve tried to reach out to all the different groups of people who may be interested in our film, so we’ve really tried to cast the net far and wide. "

This is pretty good- take tips on people who have done it and what has gone wrong and what to keep in mind.

Kodak Moments

I think I have a new found love for Kodak disposable cameras. It's like a Kinder Surprise. You never know what you're going to get since you can't see the photo that you just took, which to me is the best part. I bought one during my time at Pratt and I recently just got the photos developed, and I'm in love with how the photos came up. It's funny because my mom saw them and she commented on how crappy the quality of the photos were- I guess she's not in the loop with taking "artsy-fartsy-vintage-esque" photos. Here's a couple:

"How Predator Eats His Cereal"

If you guys aren't already familiar with the video app called "Vine," it's a social networking site similar to Instagram in which users can share 6-second videos instead of photos. As I was surfing the web (as I usually do with a lot of my free time), I came across this little gold nugget. It's a British man showing his audience how aliens in the movie Predator would eat their cereal if they weren't eating y'know, human faces.

Since Vine has a 6-second video limit, its users must be quick, creative, and straight to the point. It's useful in a way that it teaches people not to waste time  with useless filler. Now, I find this particularly interesting and worthy to share not only because of the platform it's posted on, but because it reminds me of when I was a child. As a kid, I used to always have alligator hair clips lying around the house. Using my little 6 year old imagination, I would pretend that they were some sort of robot pterodactyl.

The combination of found objects and a little creativity goes a long way.

Them Heavy People - An Add-on

We're always who we are
Yet we are never the same
Change coming at us so fast
Heads spin, looking for someone to blame

Kingdom Hearts Fanart

Anime, manga, cartoons, call it what you want- its still a form of art. In this case, I decided to draw some fanart for a game that has stuck around my entire life. This was done in watercolor and ink. Took around 5 1/2 hours. 

Started a blog for my baking and foodie adventures!

http://foodie-fantasia.tumblr.com/

Human race