GBDA Blog: GBDA BLOG

Good evening, guys!

It's me, with 2 other buddies: Kris and Lumia.

All three of us are very unskilled photographers with hands more unsteady than our future but we made our efforts to capturing the beauty of Stratford through our cameras.

Making our first stop at the City Hall monument, we decided to draw in ourselves because we were unable to take any decent selfies and have a decent background. Also we were too shy to ask anyone to take photos for us.

We stopped by a platform and decided that it was a good idea to pose by it. We all chose very unique poses that showed our characteristics and personality. I personally chose the DAB.

The city hall building looked really nice but it seemed empty so we used our imagination to fill in the white space.

Let's upgrade shall we?

PERFECT.

On the way there, we spotted this statue and even though it was extremely pleasing to look at...it's lacking in A E S T H E T I C S. Pretty bland.

You know what this means. QUE IN THE MODELS.

Very A E S T H E T I C A L L Y pleasing isn't it?

So this concludes our Stratford shooting session with crappy photo techniques hidden by lame crappy 10 minute doodles. Hopefully with more research and dedication into learning about photography in GBDA, we won't have to resort to THIS:

Thank you for reading :)

-Buuchau Chau

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BLOG 2

It's been a long time since I've stepped out of this confined studio, I almost forgot what the sea looks like, let alone what it smells like. All about that work. No breaks. Well...maybe a few here and there but it was mostly mental labor in this tight room.

Ever since I moved away, my desires of returning to the beach coast faded and the addition of the workload made it even easier to forget to give time for my own self until today.

But I guess once in a while, it doesn't hurt to relive that childhood memory again..right?

I plan on having a sea of goldfish to relive that aquatic fantasy of the Ha Long Bay sea parks and the smell of sea foam from Da Lac. To speak the language of art, you must be art.

The only picture frames I found were the huge and they proved to be an inconvenience as I tried putting my arms through in a tight ass room. A few supplies and stands were knocked down but that's the norm in a tight ass room like this. Frames prove to be the borderline between art and reality so crossing its borders can enable you to change properties and abilities lacking in the previous world.

Alright, now we need some ink and a brush. There was this cheap ink I bought from a street vendor over the weekend so I decided to try it out.

I guess these would do. India ink is just a salty enough for this to last a good 30 minutes.

One long stroke should fill a good 3 L of water. We need a good 60 L so enough to wade in, but not enough to drown in.

Right when I was almost finished, something brushed by my arm only to see a red carcass following the current leading to more floating bodies.

How could such a cheerful nostalgic painting...turn into a graveyard of memories?

TO BE CONTINUED...

Notes from Author: I've always been intrigued with aquatic biology so most of my artworks contain bodies of water or fish (preferably goldfish). This story addresses the relationship between humans and the species around them and that whatever they do affects everything as a whole. The artist in shock of a swarm of bodies gives the readers the realization that things aren't always going to be the same, just like the contrast between a sea of life during childhood and black remains during the artist's adulthood. And also, what is beneficial to you may harm others. To attempt to change the outcome, it's up to the artist to decide whether he wants to save these goldfish or helplessly wallow in black murky guilt forever.

Notes about photos:

These were all genuine photos taken from a DSLR, I had to pose in each of the characters shown and then draw ontop using photoshop careful to take note of the blurry edges of some out of focus objects. So even though the character looks cartoony, the background remains unmodified (except filters but who cares about filters-). This blog today focuses mostly on focal points and lighting.

Sources/Inspiration:

http://www.diyphotography.net/create-magical-framed-portraits/

http://www.demilked.com/magazine/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/pollution-environmental-issues-photography-china-7.jpg

http://alliswall.com/art/mind-blowing-photo-retouch-bridge-downside-of-the-upside-illusion

https://www.fne.asso.fr/sites/default/files/oce╠üan%20photo%20sous%20l'eau.jpg

Drawing (to lazy to upload here):

https://www.instagram.com/p/BKhD2bHhGU8/?taken-by=ohm_ustard

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BLOG #3

Notes:

A challenge has been added to make this more of a designing/marketing side so I've decided to release a preview of a comic I'm making someday. (For part 2, a small payment of a dollar is needed- jkjkjk lmao) I swear if I'm going to do a comic....I will never...EVER...photograph myself and smack it in my comic pages...

I've put more effort into making it look like an actual comic preview page so it won't be like the lame post last time :'v

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Midnight. I

What is a man if he cannot be free?

Joseph Vang, a 16 year old home schooled student longs to step outside his room to feel the sun's heat he senses through the curtains and the cold steam that condensates on his windows. Due to a strict schedule arranged by his traditional parents of vigorous online classes and tutors, he lacks freedom and freewill. For his 16th birthday, he received his first fictional book on ancient Egypt and references his life heavily on the young King Tutankhamun whom also was ushered in his palace and was forbidden contact with outsiders. Even though Joseph possesses the knowledge of a 3rd year honors university student at a young age, he has the social ability of a three year old therefore he lacks the basic traits of humanity: humor, open mindedness and sympathy. Switching back and forth between the life of a modern day pharaoh and a hardworking student, he eventually becomes sick and tired of being locked up in his room so impulsively, he escapes the house to chase the golden sun land his books have always talked about...at midnight.

Preview:

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Blog 4

Preview (the real one):

Click to zoom in

Book 2 Cover Preview: Morning

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Blog 5

Blog notes: So this process is much more of a trial and error process just to get the final poster for this project, jesus christ.

So for the sketches, my tiny brain can think of two themes that would fit Lumia's business: FLEEMAR, a trading online market.

The 90's theme and the isometric flat theme which would compliment the business branding philosophy. Since this market is for every age, I wanted to make the theme simple but also attractive to all ages. The 90's geometric theme brings back the nostalgia and the "good times" vibe while the isometric is more modern yet compliments the logo.

Here are some attempts to create the logo after hours of brainstorming and like....right after i decided to doodle the sketches of the poster, I also drew the logos and it was one that I was actually satisfied with.

Lesson learned: Create when you are free, not when you're stressed.

Nevertheless, I tried making the logo in illustrator again but later on, after working for 6 h on it, it crashed and I never saved. Giving up on illustrator, I just drew the rest of the stuff in photoshop and colored it in there adjusting the filter colors and BOOM, it looks like this now:

The logo colors were then inspired by the main colors of each section of the cube and even though the thought was last minute, I still am extremely proud to this day. My first rational decision I'm ever proud of.

Critiquing:

The goods:

The poster that was made by Katerina (the one with the black background and mug) went through a lot of progress for the logo design so the logo from before compared to the after result was very satisfying to see. The change between the two plus the geometric low-poly style added to the logo and poster added a sense of "cool" and modernism to it. From a group of posters, that poster was one of the ones that stood out from the crowd in a good way and was satisfying to the eyes.

Whether it was the fault of the printer or the color choice or it was just a color scheme that needed improvement, I didn't think the black background to the logo was the best idea since the logo sinks in with the background. The logo is dark blue and purple which gives a neon feel but at the same time, it doesn't stand very well with the black. If this was the fault of the printer for making the overall logo look darker, then I would understand but then, the logo is on FLEEK.

The bads:

One poster that I saw was something along with Kanz-Arts was something that I frowned upon. Not to be judgmental but the overall design was confusing and gave mixed messages. From a cheap water color background and poorly photo shopped roads that failed to blend in well with the overall image, it seems that the whole image and the subjects were put in a rush without much consideration. The emoji in the name was quite cringey since this their company is supposed to be a place where people embraced their art side and the emoji gives off that low-class ghetto ratchet look. In all words, it looks like an absolute meme and the trees...didn't have any significant meaning to add to the poster. Overall it didn't give a professional but creative vibe to the art community poster, it came close to a poorly photo shopped meme in a cringe compilation.

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Animation

I've started animations with after effects for some time without any prior knowledge and just right now, I knew after effects was not the best at it but I tried this where I would make subtle changes and the next video I do, I make/change more. Since I specialize in semi-realism faces, I decided to test those out, I tried animating facial features through liquifying them or letting a frame to have a blink (which was painted over) and some eye color changes. I also tried playing around with the light effects and some other extra curricular stuff with sound effects.

Here's my first one where there are 2 frames, both keyframed.