One of those days in a Designer's life

 

With more than enough experiences working in graphic design, there are always some days during those times when I often dealt with some challenges and struggled in fulfilling the requests related to a custom design/illustration which in the end, no matter what, should be able to meet with customer's expectation and satisfaction for the final result. It was not always easy and sometimes it felt like forever but the efforts must be made all the time with positivity in mind. 

 

These cases were perhaps 20 to 30% out of total order I've received throughout the years. In some cases, I might as well gave up when the customer didn't exactly like the result after several attempts for options. After all, we, as designers are not super magician who could always guess correctly what they truly want. However, I have in mind that patience is a virtue to work things out as long as they would explained exactly what they're looking for.

     

 *Human's true handmade art will forever be the real from the heart genuine art compared to those copycat-generated AI images which the source came from millions of human handmade arts itself. 

PSYCHEDELIC MUSHROOM: The trouble with communication in design

I've been in this field for more than a decade and dealt with many different types of clients. Graphic design and illustration, especially in custom order is always a challenge when it comes to providing the best result and fulfilling the client's expectation. The good part would be when I can achieve the goal smoothly after providing and presenting my idea to them. However, that's not always the case with the happy ending. I sometimes bump into a tricky part in doing the work and the end would be less than expected.

This was one of the rare case. The psychedelic mushroom theme for a product. The communication played a crucial part in learning and moving in steps to finish the work but it was not as easy as it seemed. Whether it was out of hesitation to comment or rather gave a silent treatment or they just chose to do whatever they want without considering the time and the effort on the design itself. Sometimes I wonder what was so hard to just honestly tell what they had in mind and I will accept it fairly. In the end I preferred to stop rather than torturing myself with providing several options and overthinking everything about it after some times and considered it as a lesson that life is not always going my way. 

Who knows one day I would find a suitable person who can accept my idea the way it is, since it luckily happened a few times before. The AI also has become the bigger threat lately with how easy and accessible it is for anyone to 'make' something. 

APT and MAMUSHI songs in Fashion Sense & Fun Drawings

 

Last year, there were some popular songs which I've heard so often that I need to put it into drawings. These two drawings are the example of how much I like the songs that time. 

The first one is APT from Blackpink's Rose in her solo album. This song was such a banger as the first time I heard it, it was directly stuck in my head until I got the urge to draw something for it. I drew the singers as cartoon character-like but the colors referred to the original music video. I like the black rocker-like leather jackets they both wore in it with plain white shirt, short stylish skirts and short pants added with red black checkers, black hat, etc. All in the sense of black and white combination with pink background in a cartoony slight-retro vibe. I like how simple yet so interesting to watch til the song ended. 

As for the 2nd song, Mamushi by Megan Thee stallion and Yuki Chiba, I like the classic Yakuza vibe in the music video. The fashion itself more like a fusion of Japanese clothes and hairstyle in modern fashion twist for the girl although it was too 'open' for my taste. As for the guy with black hoodie and baggy pants like any regular rapper would wear. Somehow it was well-matched in the overall theme of the video itself. The CGI effect, the costumes, the dance and the color tones are somehow darker compared to the simple song but I still like it a lot.

I also realized one more thing that was interesting about some similarities shared in these two songs with the singers' skin color and heritage background. Rose and Yuki with their East Asian (Korean, Japan) typical appearance and Megan (African) and Bruno (Latin) descents. I love both of these songs and drew these fan art drawing as a fun tribute for it. 

   

 

 

Once a Fashion Designer turned into Graphic Designer (part4)

 To be honest, I had to struggle more for my fashion lesson and learning English was not an easy task either. I'm the type of person who would do things willingly if I could find joy in doing it. Although drawing is my hobby but fashion is another thing rather than just drawing. I had to also know why I drew it the way it did. The clothes needed to be rational and made-able and not just a mere design. I had my share of confusion and stressful moments because I knew nothing about pattern and sewing to understand this kind of thing, especially when I didn't have any interest in the subject.   

Early months of learning these 2 subjects at the same time really dried my energy and I had a lot of things going on in my mind of why should I get through this for my life. On the other hand, I had to admit that my drawing skill and English were getting better in time. My introvert character also had influence a lot in getting in the way to achieve everything better since sometimes it was a torture to communicate better with people. The lessons were not getting any easier at that moment and I had to race with time to finish each target on schedule within a few months. I will continue more when I am in mood for it.

TIKTOK logo in SURREALISM art

Social media + art. This was a concept of social media logo in surrealism themed illustration which heavily inspired by Joan Miro style. No AI used in it. I drew it for a surrealism art appreciation event last year.

As any other social medias I've been into, the use of it (Tiktok) is merely as a hobby or showcasing some portfolios without delving too deep by scrolling the mixed contents in it and spending too much time without any beneficial gain. This illustration was for portfolio purpose only. Any use/copy/share/re-post of this illustration is not allowed.

SQUID GAME 2 (2024): Short Review, Actors' Controversy & Was it Inspired by True Story?

 

SQUID GAME 2 is South Korean dystopian survival thriller television series Squid Game season2, created by Korean television producer and writer Hwang Dong-hyuk. It was released on Netflix on December 26, 2024 with a total 7 episodes. It is a sequel from its original series in 2021.

It is set three years after Seong Gi-hun won the Squid Game in season 1. A little flashback to season 1, squid game or ojingeo game which was released on September 2021 with total 9 episodes, tells a story about Seong Gi-Hun (Lee Jung-Jae) gets fired from his job. His life is miserable. Seong Gi-Hun was offered by a stranger in a train station about a secret survival game, with a 45.6 billion won prize for the winner. He decides to take part in the game. Meanwhile, Cho Sang-Woo (Park Hae-Soo) is Gi hun's best friend which is like a brother to Seong Gi-Hun and vice versa. They grew up in the same neighborhood. Despite his poor family background, Cho Sang-Woo graduated from a prestigious university and found a good job. He now faces a crisis, due to embezzlement of company funds that he did. He decides to join the secret survival game with Seong Gi-Hun. The ending is tragic when you have to sacrifice everything just for money. 

Back to the 2nd season, Seong Gi Hun is finally canceled his plan on going to the United States  to see his daughter and instead returning to the games with the intention of stopping them once and for all. He once again dives into the mysterious survival game, starting another life-or-death game with new participants gathered to win the prize of ₩45.6 billion. Unknown to him, his plan won't be easy to be done no matter how meticulous his plan was. The third and final season, which was filmed back-to-back with the second season, will be released this year in 2025.

As successful as it is, squid game also has its own Controversies surrounding the actors and story. Some actors are allegedly related to criminal cases such as sexual misconduct, marijuana, prostitution, DUI, etc. and inspiration for its story was said to be the case of Brothers' Home: South Korea's 1980s 'concentration camp'. As quoted from BBC; According to testimonies and evidence gathered from the site, detainees say they were used as slave labor at construction sites, farms, and factories during the 1970s and 80s. They were also allegedly tortured and raped, with hundreds dying under the inhumane conditions.The facility at Hyungje Bokjiwon has been compared to a concentration camp, but its story is not widely known, and nobody - to this day - has been held accountable for the atrocities that reportedly happened within its walls. Although it was not officially confirmed by the producer. 

 

As for personal review, this series is definitely not suitable for minor or below +18 and quite a good watch but somehow made me uncomfortable with gory and adult scenes. And I also have to say that the previous season was far more superior than this 2nd season. The thrill to what's next on the game, how they're going to be eliminated in the game and the prominent characters are not so intriguing as the first one. This is my fan art for the drama based on its poster. The iconic part from this series perhaps related to the simple green with white combination jumpsuit costume for the game participants, the pink soldiers costume and also the simple front man black leather coat. 

 

FASHION IN MANHUA (CHINESE COMIC): Zheng Shuyi's outfit in Accidental Love/ Only For Love manhua

I happened to read it randomly a couple of months ago on website for this interesting Manhua named Accidental Love /Only for love. Unfortunately, I didn't know how to pronounce the original title in Chinese language. 

It was released since last year in 2024 by author Qiao Yao with genre a mixed of romance, comedy, office, drama, and josei. This manhua is an adaptation from the novel which previously already adapted into live action drama played by Bai Lu and Dylan Wang in 2023. However, some people said the manhua has a bit different approach in storytelling. 

 

I was instantly hooked since the first time I read it in English version. Starting from the art, the story, and most of all the fashion wore by the female lead character, Zheng Shuyi. I would give the art a French kiss of 9.5 out 10, simply awesome. As for the story, although it might be a little cliche or cringe office - rich handsome young guy vs ordinary but pretty girl -slow burn romance, I still love it. The thing that I admire the most is the fashion. It seems like the author does really take her time in doing it to be able to show some great office attire examples for the characters, most of all the main girl. It ranges from coats, dress, blazers, casual clothes, hoodies, bags, etc.

 

I put some of the reference pictures from the original Manhua which belong to the rightful owner and not mine.