Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Color Wheel Opposites


These were a lot of fun to make. I found this gorgeous photo of a lilac and yellow flower in a magazine. My only problem with the photo was that it was too small to be made into something large and substantial, and I was feeling vaguely in an abstract sort of mood that day.

So, of course, I started cutting it into little rectangles and squares, after which I fiddled with them on my desk, trying to figure out what would look best.

I ended up creating the necklace pendant first. I think I meant for it to be an earring, but unfortunately I didn't have enough of the photo to make the same size arrangement and settled for using it as a necklace pendant. I decided to complete the set, so I used the other scraps to make the earrings.

I think the actual date of this set was last summer, probably August sometime (2008), while I was waiting for college to begin. All my friends were on the semester system, and here I was, waiting for my quarter system school to begin a good month after they'd all departed. This year's even longer; without freshman orientation, the wait is nearly a week longer! Ah, quarter system.

Craft Commencement

So, I launched this blog with the initial goal of using it to chronicle my crafts and other artistic endeavors, which included such shindigs as comics, paintings, and doodles.

Alas for my mild case of self-diagnosed AHD, I have so far not had such luck in updating this properly with my artwork.

Therefore, I now pronounce the commencement of my arts and crafts blog at last with my first craft entry!

Today: The Royal Jelly Earrings


If you've never heard of Royal Jelly, take a moment to familiarize yourself through this Wikipedia article. I'll add a few photos of the actual boxes and bottles I had myself when I get a chance to take them.

I was given about four bottles of these royal jelly capsules, and each bottle came in a dainty, shiny gold box. I was planning on throwing the cardboard boxes into the recycling (yes, recycling) when I thought, I really like these boxes; do I really have to throw them out?

Well, I didn't end up throwing them out. Instead, I started cutting them, watching the design of the writing and images along the boxes and working on the fly. It was very improvised work; I didn't have an end-design in mind, but I liked the way straight lines seemed to make themselves easily likeable with the writing on the box.

Instead of dangling them off those fish-hook earrings, I pulled out a pair of black studs I'd been keeping in my little box of studs. I ended up using a jump ring to attach the smaller square to the bigger, and because it seemed lonely I added the other two rings on top, more for decoration than any architectural support.

I've actually had a lot of fun wearing these a few times; because I bike around my school campus all the time, it's fun to feel your earrings flap around (though I have to admit, it gets a little worrisome when you don't think you've made your earrings structurally sound).


Sunday, August 16, 2009

Yoshitaka Amano and New People

And after my excitement about Vienna, I slipped away to San Francisco and woke up the next morning to wander the JPop Festival and the grand opening of New People. Courtesy of Quinkee. (August 15, 2009)

I'd planned on leaving the house anyway because my sister had invited a throng of maybe twenty students she worked with at her community service group and I wanted out.

Going to bed at 1am and then waking up at 6am was slightly disgruntling. I have to admit though, it was rather exhilarating. Including the part where we had to sneak in and out of Wilson's house.

Quink, Amy, Wilson and I eventually made our way to Japantown at around 7am to discover the street blocked off and mini tents standing around. No sign of any long standing crowd of people waiting to get in; in fact, the store had barely unpacked its boxes! I suppose they did have five hours ahead of them before the doors officially opened, but you'd think they would have been a little further ahead in their schedule.

While Wilson parked the car in a more convenient location, the three of us decided to sit up high on a ledge overlooking the street and watch for any signs of a line. Amy immersed herself in her book and I happily sang along to "Hotel California," for the twenty times they played it.

Suddenly Andrew boy came walking past, recognized us, and informed us that he and his troupe were also looking for a line, only they'd heard more about the event than we did - there was apparently a line for getting tickets to get into the building somewhere, and we had to find her. A lady who worked at the store overheard our conversation as she walked past and pointed us in the right direction. Our tickets ended up being around the 107, 108, and 109 mark, slightly disappointing considering how early we had arrived. If only they'd put a sign somewhere explaining the process.

We wandered for a good few hours, stalking the vendors that were popping up and setting their items out. There was a stage at one end of the street and little white tents lining down the opposite direction. I don't think I'd ever been to a festival so early that the vendors hadn't even finished setting up their tents yet; I even managed to help a couple of women set up their tent because they had no idea how to use the tent. It was a much nicer and newer version of the ones we'd been using at archery camp, so I knew the basic idea of the tents.

We finally decided to wait outside the store with other people who had meandered over to wait and stake out a spot in line. Not that there really was much of a line; it consisted of a huge crowd of people squashing outside the store window, including some whose odors did not sweeten the deal.

At around 11am (mind you, by then we'd been on our feet for nearly four hours, on approximately four hours' sleep) they began lining us up in order of our ticket numbers. Damn, we thought. That means we're really going to be missing out on the Amano signatures, since only the first 50 customers who buy his books and tshirts will receive a ticket.

With the last hour before the opening, activity on the stage began. Some representatives of Japantown SF spoke about their enthusiasm and excitement at the success of this project, actors from the movie 20th Century Boys (movie 1) went onstage, and a few people from the city read Mayor Newsom's proclamation that August 15 be made into official JPop day. They broke the sake barrel (which nobody beyond the first row of people could really see, since the average height of the crowd was likely around the 5ft mark), cut the ribbon, and announced the doors open.

I think the prospects were pretty good, and despite not having heard about this event until Quinkee mentioned it to me, I had a lot of fun and excitement. For some reason I really anticipated the opening, and going inside among the first "VIPs," as they called people with tickets 1-150. Apparently they'd only given out 300 tickets, so that everyone else had to wait in line afterward. What an entrance for this store.

We hurried inside as the man ripped our tickets (I'm sure we went in way before our actual number - so many ticket numbers were missing before ours!) and found a huge crowd of cameras pointing at us. I laughed, a little shocked, but scrambled after Quinkee up the stairs. A line already formed at the cashier and I offered to wait in line as she looked for the right merchandise. Finally settled, we felt a little more calm, because now there really was nothing to do but wait.

I looked around and settled on "The Book of Genji." When the Final Fantasy art book came out, I took a look at it. I really did enjoy the book, but I felt much more drawn toward his Genji work and went with that, throwing a little packet of stickers into the mix to bring my total up to 30 dollars to receive my free tote bag and goodies. All that was left was to wait, and as we checked out each one by one we felt so relieved. I was a little sad that my book cover had a little nick in the corner, but they had none left even in the storage so I decided to just roll with it.

At last! Nothing more to push and complain about. At more of a leisurely pace we went upstairs, guffawed at the ridiculous pricing on some items in the clothing department, conceded that some of the prices were reasonable, admired Amano's work in his gallery on the third floor, and went down to the basement to find something dubbed playing on the screen. A commercial, I think, for the evening's premier of 20th Century Boys. I think it was funny that there were already technically three movies, but the first was only having its premier in the States.

LUNCH. I don't know what happened, but the lady serving us seemed to have a grudge against us; she skipped us for water, and apparently never gave our order to the kitchen, resulting in nearly an hour's wait for food. Really, lady, seriously? Was it what we were wearing? Because that is god honest discrimination. If we had worn our evening best, hair done up and in flowing dress, would you have kissed our toes then? Sigh.

We ended up lining up for the signing at around 3:30pm, a good half hour before the start. Quinkee was written up as number 15, two off from her favorite number 13. I was 16 and Wilson 17. Heehee~

As we rounded the corner and he came into view, I somehow became suddenly nervous. Probably because there were cameras and Amano didn't speak English and it was all very serious lining up business since he had to go through so many, many people...

I took photos for Quinkee as she went and hurriedly passed the camera on to Wilson, flipping open my book and finding myself in front of him. I think I was nervous at first because it looked like he was not in the best mood and I had heard he wasn't feeling his best, but he and the lady standing by his side smiled at me. He didn't begin drawing until he had a quick look at me, and proceeded to draw what I'm pretty sure was - well, me. The hair was exactly the way mine was. The lady beside him started speaking to me in Japanese; I had a little guess at what she was saying, because she was gesturing toward her shirt, but when I sort of showed that I wasn't quite understanding, I think she may have switched vaguely to English and I realized she was asking if I'd made my shirt myself. I sort of laughed inwardly as I said yes that it was probably pretty obvious I'd cobbled it together, as my ribbons were trailing threads and the shirt was cut somewhat haphazardly. Mr. Amano finished his signing and I thanked him and took my leave.

I think I somehow picked up this bowing thing from someone in high school. I want to say it was Jo, but I can't really remember. I was just reminded of it strongly when I stepped up to Amano and gave a little bow and left with a little bow. It really has become habit for me to dip my head and such in hello and thanks.

Thanks Quink, Amy, and Wilson!

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Vienna Teng


Last night, I went to Vienna Teng's concert in her hometown of Palo Alto. Finally, after hearing Sameera tell me of the previous concerts she had been to, and after listening to one of them live through my cell phone while Sameera sat on the other end in the concert in LA, I went to her concert at one of the best locations possible.

It was a wonderful gift from Sim for my birthday. Not to mention excellent seats; second row, center skewed to the left, the perfect angle to see her sing.

The concert was special to me, and I think Vienna had a very interesting platform and audience to work with this time. We all were locals and knew the various places she spoke of, especially Stanford and the Red Rock Cafe out in Mountain View. Her stories about her upbringing in an immigrant Chinese family were equally familiar to me, and I just found so much of last night so relevant to my own life. Having Chinese immigrant parents, feeling compelled to do something "techie" but knowing that wasn't quite right, wanting to go far away for college but ending up blocks from your own house, artificially setting up the feeling of being far away in college... There was a lot in there that I just laughed and poked Sim about, with reciprocated gestures from her.

She had her new toy with her this time as well, an interesting gadget that allowed her to play something or sing life, have it recorded, and replayed over the sound system, so that she managed to sing with herself in harmony and as her own background instruments. I was so happy to see that I was so familiar with every song she sang, except for the new ones for her upcoming musical.

Meeting her in person was actually somehow a surprise. Her presence on stage and off were, well, different in some ways, though of course Vienna was Vienna. A picture, a joking conversation, and then Sim and I were off back home.

The audience was so lively, and I loved it. A few memorable moments...

For Antebellum, Alex Wong wasn't present, so at the moment when he was to sing she suddenly spoke into the microphone, "Those of you who know Alex Wong's part can sing along..."
This is what a concert can give you, so much more than what listening to a recording can. The audience picked up Alex Wong's lines and we softly as Vienna sang her part above us.

I have heard Passage many times before, but for some reason last night when she sang it live, though I'd heard the song before, I teared up for the first time.

The Grandmother Song brought about a great opportunity for audience participation and hilarity. We provided the stamp clap! stamp clap! along to Vienna's singing, and she encouraged us to yell and howl just as the song had but that she couldn't provide herself as she sang. A great "AIYA!" came from some man behind and to the left, and the audience burst out in laughter.

I was pleasantly surprised - though I really knew this and shoudn't have been surprised - to see that the audience was made mostly of older people, adult and older. Many Caucasians, too, though Asians had their presence.

She's so mellow when she talks, but she surprises me with her outbursts on stage. Kind of like Erica, actually. I liked it.

It was a great concert, and finally the one I had been really wanting to go to. I couldn't think of a better place to see her in concert than this hometown.

I think Sim and I were also the most vocal during this concert; we kept yelling approval when we heard a familiar reference.

For her autograph, I brought my sketchbook to have her sign it. It was so plain, but I couldn't think of something else I would have rather her sign. As I was sitting waiting for the concert to begin, however, I noticed how cool the stage looked... and drew it. During the concert, I recorded each song name in a little column down the left, and managed to squeeze in a few drawings of Vienna in the dark. She signed in the blank I left, and it sealed my day.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Work: open houses, secretary-related, and websites

Work.

I got a job randomly on weekends as an open house hostess. I am also starting a temporary job tomorrow, which I have mixed feelings about. I want to work, because I need the extra funds, but I had originally planned to spend the whole day with Quinkee (and co, I suspect) because, well, it's her birthday :( Maybe I can get off work early?

Progress is also coming along with the website I am writing. I finally put my frustration on hold and started teaching myself HTML and CSS, while also reading about how XML is taking over the world.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

The Ship

Now includes the sky. I'm pretty happy with the result; it's been a while since I did such a complete piece, background and all.

This is a small version of the image; to see the bigger image, you'll have to visit my deviantART.


Again, lineart is by Momo-mole on deviantART, coloring by carologica.
This is for OCBZ's contest, The Ship (also on deviantART).

Oh, and a note about Photoshop

If you notice in my previous post... I'm using Photoshop 6.0. Six. Point. Oh.
Lol.
Basically, somehow our home computer got a hold of CS2 or CS3 (don't remember which), and this computer (my laptop) had some form of CS3 before that died and is forcing me to revert to 6.0. For some reason this computer just can't get a hold of a drawing program...
... Mostly because I rely on my dad, who doesn't really know about drawing programs, haha~

The Ship: Work in Progress

Well, to tell the truth, I've pretty much finished it - in the sense that I've spent a great amount of time today coloring this, and am leaving it to tomorrow to see what I think of it in the morning.

On deviantART, there is a group "OCBZ", or Original Character Battle Zone, that I am a part of. Another member and I have teamed up to make a collaboration entry for one of the group's competitions, called "The Ship." We take one character from each of us and put the two characters together, a "shipping." Momo-mole did the lineart, and I am doing the coloring.

The man is Eirik, Momo's character. He's a forty-year-old Viking, and he loves children. Ariya, the girl on his back, is my character; she's a sixteen-year-old teenager who has already seen battle in "Decimation," an original character tournament I took part in last summer.

In any case, this upload is not complete - I made the sky invisible for this screenshot because I thought it looked cool without the sky :P I'll be uploading the full image later anyway once I've completely decided it's finished.


Let's see how this entry ends up! :D