December 25, 2020

Monday, December 28 2020

New Year, new resolutions!! It's been a few years since I've drawn for anything asides from freelance- time to stop putting off all the projects for fear of insufficient technical skills! Starting off with concepts for a pitch deck on a secret project as well as another idea I've had floating around 🤫.

Fell behind on my intentions to learn Blender, GLSL, and Unity for lack of time as I've refocused on studying for upcoming swe interviews but I'm itching to get started! See you all next year 🎉

August 16, 2020

Sunday, August 16, 2020

I keep forgetting to update until it's time to apply again. The past year's been a bit wild. Went from coding bootcamp in March, graduating in July, working at my bootcamp until I was able to get my feet wet with my first software engineering job in November and it's come time to start again.

Taking the time alongside studying to try a little bit of everything! Although I intended to use engineering to further enhance my art background, I haven't really had the chance to put the two together yet as I was focused on getting more experienced programming. So, starting with taking on some freelance contract work which unfortunately I'm not sure if I'm allowed to share yet as well as a few designs for quick toy projects I want to play with via codepen:

Finally getting into blender with Andrew Price's donut tutorial:

As well as exploring making mini-games in Unity- albeit might have to go back to basics here as I'm unfamiliar with Unity's component based game engine and new to C#..

And ending with looking into sketching out some prospective new designs for a portfolio website now that I have the fullstack knowledge to actually build my own! Albeit I love being able to rely on Google's platform for performant image loading, security, and easy editing/posting access, hacking together css/html/js in a blog html browser is pretty limiting 😂.

September 10, 2019

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Long time no update! Have a lot to unpack from the past 7 months, including transitioning from illustration to software engineering, moving, and just finishing up my first artist alley experience at LightBox Expo this past weekend!

I only told a few friends but these past few months I've been stealthily switching industries. I was pretty unhappy at Monomi Park and thought being in SF was the perfect opportunity to learn programming rather than the hassle of packing back down to LA for the chance to work at more relevant studios (the curse of owning furniture). My first experience with programming was back in my senior year of college. I'd fallen in love with the flexibility + possibilities of exploring interactivity through code but wasn't quite sure how to develop my skills. So, although I had tried to teach myself some computer graphics and python through the years, I thought I'd try the fast track with a bootcamp.

I chose App Academy purely for the strong community vibe that reminded me of RISD's bonding through suffering environment (and I suppose the ratings) and it's been an interesting journey! The excitement of learning something new and meeting new people let me keep up a brutal pace of waking up at 6am, commuting for 2hrs, studying from 9am-9pm, commuting 2hrs back, trying to keep up with homework until 3am with 3 hours of sleep @ - @. And although I resented the program at times for some pacing problems, it was incredible to discover how much an individual is capable of in those conditions and I could never regret the people I met and continue to meet; the App Academy network is truly a family!

In art news, LightBox was a blast for meeting up with a lot of old and new friends I hadn't seen for several years; ran into multiple classmates and it's crazy to see where everyone has ended up! And also managed to snag a few things, including a print by Sophie Diao I had been eyeballing for 2 years!

Tabling was a different experience from other cons I had a chance to attend; a beautiful venue and a chance to explore Pasadena again; the audience was definitely more geared towards entertainment professionals and it was wonderful to be able to strike up conversations with anyone who passed by. I was sharing a table with HumanForScale and we got to test out a pvc display that he had thought up- super lightweight and breaks down easily for travel!

Overall, would recommend going as an attendee if coming from outside of the area (unless you've got a huge fanbase or industry clout; then go for it!). A great event to meet other creatives, get some autographs from industry giants ;), and check out some interesting panels! Until next time!

March 5, 2019

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

More of a personal update this time.

Hoping to manage making merchandise on throughout the next few months allowing as I've committed to artist alley at LightBox Expo (my first!). I'm thinking sticky notes next 😏😏.

I've drawn a ridiculous amount of food throughout the past few years and it was surprising how difficult it was to draw something so simple keeping in mind that the result had to be flatly lit enough that writing could easily be seen while remaining recognizable. Embarrassingly enough, it took me a few tries.

Everything I make merchandise-wise is secretly inspired by the packaging I want to make. Still a few more ideas I want to test out and have several more breads I want to include, but drew up an initial backing card:

Also dedicating the next 3 months to intensively learning programming :)...

February 26, 2019

Thursday, February 26, 2019

Initially started as an idea for a public anthology, I've recently stumbled into designing potential merchandise based off the zodiac. Starting off with a prospective plushie design based off boars in the shape of steamed buns for the Year of the Boar- literal pork buns ;)

I planned on having 8 different color options as I wanted to create super indulgent hypothetical packaging in the form of a paper bamboo steamer. Color variations were thus based off other known steamed bun fillings.

Ultimately I cut down to 4 colors to start as production costs were higher than I expected and would have been unwise to invest in an idea that might not sell. I held an incredibly rudimentary vote via social media to see which colors were most popular and went with top 3 in addition to the original color.

Unfortunately due to the limitations of Pantone swatches, final colors differed slightly from initial design.

Sent off final color design sheets today, so I'm currently holding out for a prototype :).

As for packaging, did I say hypothetical?

I spent 2 days that I probably shouldn't have creating a proof of concept prototype :'). Constructed entirely out of chipboard and paper, I wanted to use the idea behind soda cup lids to create packaging that didn't rely on plastic molding and so was entirely recyclable. Albeit, being handmade and relying purely on layering to keep a solid structure, the box was a lot heavier and bulkier than ideal.