Reminders & Work Stuff

Indo CG Submission Noise Singapore

Personal reminders to submit works to these two competitions. Shitzor mah boxzor. Dead tired. My hands felt numb. Fingers finding it hard to move the mouse and clicking the left side. Reason is because of this.





Posters for Ministry of Manpower. Of which I still need to do another one, by the end of the day. I'm so fucked.

On another note, I did some more digging around at work and found this (below, below) - one of my favorite cover design I've done so far in Lancer. It's for SuperBowl, who is quite a large entertainment company in Singapore. They mentioned how they did not want to point too much towards bowling and wanted us to shine the spotlight on their other ventures, like the country club, properties, etc etc. My concept was to show a sort of pinball machine layout, with all the bright colours and illustrative icons to represent each of their various ventures. The idea was how pinball machine is a very common fun machine and while playing, you bounce the balls through various sections to earn more points. As such, its quite similar to how the shareholders and putting their trust in SuperBowl, who in turn 'bounces' (invests) in various ventures to earn more profits.

Fun. But of course, it didnt get selected. And you know which cover they selected instead? A cover design showing a bowling ball, rolling down the alley..... What. The. Fuck.... -_-

Zapfino and Times New Roman

I'm not sure how you guys felt about Field of Dreams - the closing of National Stadium event - but I personally enjoyed it~! Hope you guys feel the same! It was a damn shame tho, Jun Wen, Wen Jie, Lamb, Mom and Shu Yu couldn't make it. Hopefully we can organize another similar outing yah~ in the new National Stadium .. maybe, Singapore vs Indonesia? This time around, I will 'locate' the proper supplier for face paint from way before the event =D

I have to say that my own personal memories of the stadium aren't much to count for. But at least I actually experienced NDP there, in the stadium. Once, from the spectator stand. Once, with the Boys Brigade. And that last competitive match, Singapore vs Thailand - is a great memory unto itself. The crowd was amazing, the real Kallang wave - all complete with the earth-shaking thumping~ I remember how the Thai supporters were sectioned right next to our left, and there were plenty whistles and and not-so-friendly cheers and jeers from both sets of supporters (but that's how it's meant to be yeah). Fresh in memory also was how a group of ang-mohs was having lots of fun, dancing and cheering around - they really know how to let loose! And the group of nine with painted shirts, spelling out 'S I N G A P O R E' - And the Malay uncle who came walking past our section - towards the Thais, chastising, swearing and cursing - before turning back and having a laugh as the rest of us voiced our backing for him~! Well, can't wait for the opening of the new stadium is all I can say!

One thing I can't help noticing was how the Singapore Sports Council decided to use that particular font for the headlines in promoting the event. It's a font that's actually a favorite of mine, so I can't help smiling when I recognized it's sexy curves =) Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, ... Zapfino!



This very Shakespearean font is perfect for that night out on a classy beach-side restaurant. First class and by the sea, accompanied with an elegant live band performing classics from the all time greats. Follow it up with an inspiring play in the theater and then off to a cozy setting to round up the perfect date. Basically, when I think high-class, elegant and or classic, I think of you, Zapfino. My only complaint is that she can do with a little more bulk, her thin frame can really be quite drastic and dangerously close to being invisible.

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Here's an interesting article that once again proves Designers to be .. well .. designers. We don't do things the normal way .. =) I'm off to design a poster for a faux artist performing at a faux event in a faux country!

It probably also explains my undying attraction towards poster design. A part of me wants to call my poster designs 'art', but another part chides me for being so naive and shameless. Getting paid to do something so fun has got to be a sin! But as I browsed through my old works today I surprised myself with how much work I have done that I can't even remember of. A lot of fun stuff that I really should be quite proud of~ (not surprisingly, a lot of poster designs). A part of me really really wants to go back to those old days working with (fake) clients that really allows me to let loose, and just go crazy with whatever is in my head. Is there such a job out there in Singapore?

Here's some of my extremely early poster works for promoting Times New Roman. My bullcrap reasoning was that Times New Roman being the standard font used in newspaper, magazines, and word processing softwares - it's gotta be quite legible. In fact, the very first thing that comes to mind when you mention Times New Roman are words like : standard, simple, strict, legible, normal, and most of all - boring. So I set out to disturb this perception of Times New Roman as all of that. I set the fonts up, tore them, break them apart, randomly stack them amongst each other and just had a little too much fun to call it work/study =) The end results are a set of posters that portrayed the font in a totally different light, which I feel works well to promote it amongst designers. My aim was to have them look at these posters and goes "oh hey, thats an interesting way to use Times New Roman,"






Hmm, I actually bullcrapped my way presenting works from 5-6 years back. Apparently I have reached a new level in bullcrapping .. +15 Intel

Finished - C&C Time

Finished. Or at least as far as I can push it. Will post on DeviantArt for C&C, will be interesting.

Short Term Goals

Art - Personal
Further my education into 3D Animation/Game Development. Develop my Illustration/Drawing technique into such a level that I can break into the Illustration/Comic/Art industry comfortably. Participate and win an Art/Design Competition/Award. Get featured in a magazine.

Ventures - Personal
Continue working on this current project I'm involved in (FS) and see it to the finish. Develop and learn new business skills as I work with two others who are (arguably) more experienced in the business side. Setting up a milestone to ready the prototype (design wise) in the coming month or two. Start working on other projects.

Work - Career
Advance my current position in Lancer Design. My boss has been talking about picking out me and two other designer to form a new unit, which will focus on something else altogether. Rendy (another Indonesian designer) will head that team while me and the other designer (Edmond) will assist and support him. This will be interesting, and if I do stay till this came around, I will hope to make it a more conducive environment to design and work. If it doesn't work, then I aim to at least obtain a PR Status - and then get a better job.

Portfolio - Personal
Work on finishing a portfolio site that I can be proud of, and update it regularly. Start printing newer pieces. Apply to 20/20.

Health & Personal
Exercise! Continue Sunday morning sports activities, when the weather permits. Set out at least one hour each day to develop my drawing skills. Maintain and update my blog!