Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Concept Artist

If I ever were to reach my fullest potential as a designer and an artist, this would be the job for
me - A concept artist.

A concept artist draws out imagined scenes, characters, objects etc - mainly for the video game, movie and the comic industries. Concept Artists need superb art skills in order to communicate their vision for completely (awesome) imaginary worlds and characters.

They are the creme-de-la-creme of today's artists.

And they get paid very well, or so I've heard.

We're talking seriously lofty aspirations here as it'll take me yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaarssssss to be even remotely worthy to post my work along side the masters on this site:

Click on the image and head to a more captivating world beyond our own...
(Artwork by Linda Bergvist. I did not create this or own it.)

Stationery Designer

Another thing I've always fancied is specializing in Stationery Design.

I always liked owning good looking stationery, especially since I used so much of it throughout high school.

During those years, I've noticed that this company stand out from the rest - a.e.i.o.u. Studio

It's a local design house that comes out with cutesy, nearly always girly designs in their wrapping paper, gift boxes, gift mugs, photo albums, greeting cards, etc.


(Image - a a.e.i.o.u glass)



(Image - an a.e.i.o.u greeting card)


(Image - an a.e.i.o.u gift bag. I see this one almost everywhere - from MPH to the little Ah Kow & Sons Stationery shop in front of my house!)

Also, I think I can meet the skill scope to work with this company - most of their products looks like they can be easily created with some illustrating skills and a vector programme.

Manga Artist / Mangaka

Hehe, I’ve kept my interest for Anime and Manga well and alive all these years through university.

I was introduced to this sort of comic during high school, and I’ve always been amazed at the details and the emotions that the Manga style can bring out. I’ve always been drawing some of my own doujins since then.

This job would require me to tell powerful stories through my art. I would need to design visual storyboards fluid and strong enough to inspire my readers, or at least, to entertain them.

I’m pretty confident that career prospects as a Manga-ka (Manga Artist) are looking up in Malaysia - there are many magazines that showcase local artists nowadays. One of my favorites would be Gempak! (Click on title to go to the website)

Gempak

I still remember a time where this magazine looked just like the other Bahasa Melayu mags out there – not that I’ve something against it, but it just isn’t my cup of tea.

This mag was one of the pioneers that pushed the Manga style; hence one of the first few tastes of Malaysian – geared Manga. It has, alongside some great comics, news on the latest movies, animation, comics and gossip out there.

It has been growing from strength to strength, providing a platform for local artists to produce and distribute their own graphic novels.

One of them, Ben, even received international acclaim for his graphic novel, Le Gardenie.

And now, Ben, has struck out on his own and is publishing his own Magazine, called Powder

I’m anxious to see how this all develops over the next few years. One day, we young Malaysian Mangakas might even be good enough that anyone would recognize our work at first look! Ganbatte! (Let’s keep it up!)

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Fashion Graphic Designer

Hi again!

Recently, I had a hand at designing and selling some T-shirts with a couple of friends of mine.
I like how things are going, and I am considering to continue this line after graduation.

It seemed like a fairly simple at first - then I found it was actually quite difficult to find out what the average Malaysian would like to wear on their shirts. Sadly, I think most are still content with Godawful prints of "BILLABONG" or "QUICKSILVER" stamped across their chests... sigh

Someday, I'll find out how to get better looking shirts to more people.
Anyways, here are some links for you guys, for a closer look into fashion graphic design (Click on the link to go to the page):

tokidoki



The Top of the Fashion Graphics Foodchain...for the moment
.

The creator's ITALIAN!! Yes, this Latino called Simone Legno started tokidoki as a brand fronting his Japanese-Kawaii vector art.

Soon enough, Hard Candy cosmetic's co founder stumbled upon his website and fell in love with his work, and was so into his designs they actually helped him build
tokidoki from ground up!

Since then, he has gone and done work for Le Sportsac, which pirated versions you can see being sold everywhere in Sg. Wang, MTV, Volkswagen, Microsoft and even took the cake of LA's 2005 Mercedes Benz's Fashion Show.

I can only wish for half his skill and luck...and he's not even Asian for crying out loud.




Music = Life - My FIRST shirt!


This shirt was meant for the Audiophile in us - I wanted to make a shirt that expresses that music is the heart of its wearer, that they were permanently plugged in to their music.

Business is slow at the moment. It took me a whole week to come up with this design... mainly because I couldn't identify what the people at the LowYat forums would want to spend money on. I'm so going to design better ones! I'm working on a video game themed one right now... I welcome any suggestions!

Well, that's it for now. Thanks to everyone who ordered some! Shipment'll be here Early - Mid April, thanks for being patient yeah =P