Mellow oldies

First off, I just wanted to say... HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAP! Yes, today's my dad's birthday. Too bad I couldn't call to send my greetings directly to him. I'm all so occupied with midterms and I assume he's been busy too. Just today I'm so bored listening to mainstream songs, and even often one or two songs were over-played on the radio they make me sick and I'm currently taking a break from Kpop since there's nothing really new from it. Later on, I bumped into this new chocolate commercial starring the gorgeous Audrey Hepburn (thanks to the insanely realistic CGI effect). The background music was captivating that I found out that it was Moon River, from Ms. Hepburn's acknowledged movie no other than Breakfast at Tiffany's (I gotta watch that movie).

Ideas are everywhere, literally..except...

These past few weeks, my roommate and I have been working profusely on our Design 2 midterm, which includes 6 different abstract compositions made into different formats of artwork (print, painting, installation, sculpture, 3D work). Basically, we need to convey the 4x4" mockups that I posted previously on this blog into a real artwork.

It's pretty hard to find ideas on what to do for these 6 compositions in color, like what materials to choose from and how you are going to execute them. The class professor suggested that the students should go out and do some activities to draw inspiration. For example, my roommate and I went to Orchard Supply Hardware to look for materials. The variety of materials the store has suddenly showered both of us with some ideas of materials and format to work on for this project.

...which ironically barely happened on my campus, or at least in my class, since everyone became stressed out due to the hard critic almost all of us got in type class.

Dots, lines, and tricks

I still don't have a chance to continue my North Sumatra story. Things have been quite hectic, particularly for one class. Yep, Design 2 has been energy and idea drenching for the past four weeks, where we all had to come up with 30 4"x4" abstract compositions. The requirements for each compositions vary, and so are the concepts.

Compositions: Symmetry, Asymmetry, Figure on Ground, Figure and Ground, Depth Gestallt, Pattern based on a decade (I chose 1920s), Unity by Diversity 

Color/Temperatures: Emphasis by Hue, Emphasis by Tint/Shades/Tones,
Emphasis by Saturation 

Concepts: Anomaly, Technology, Dynamic, Luxury (I screwed this one)

The Perks of Being in a Photography Class

So after collecting enough money (well, some of them are part of my parents' contribution), I finally got my first legit DSLR camera. I actually am a little hesitated to get it because my dad already got one but he kept it with him in Indonesia to fulfill his fondness in photography.

Since this term I'm taking photography class (and as mentioned by another photography professor that a graphic designer should be equipped with at least a good quality DSLR camera for photo references), I got one as well.

Horas North Sumatra (pt 2)

The next day after our arrival in North Sumatra would be energy spending, as we were all going on a full-day trip around Brastagi. I actually underestimated this town in the first place, but the visit proved me wrong. There was a lot to take a look in Brastagi. Anyway, our journey started with an early breakfast at the hotel, as usual. I had a plate of omelet and fried rice to kick off my day. My dad apparently already took off earlier in the morning for a stroll. The clear, unpolluted sky in the morning allowed him to take a snapshot of a nearby mountain which the hotel overlooked.

Once the breakfast was done, we set off on our first destination of the day. I was made curious with brief mentions from others that we were going to see some sort of a “golden temple”. A place like that in this pretty isolated hillside place almost sounds impossible. However, when the van started to enter a smaller road with rough surface, a glimpse of blinding gold color reflected by a tall object in the far distance caught my eye.