First Time in Ages

Ok, I admit - my mother graduated from art college, and she used to teach fine art to neighborhood kids, but I was NEVER good at it. Mostly, I was a lazy kid and didn't like cleaning up the mess after the art class even though part of me always loved creating things. I would have enjoyed more and gotten better if the aftermath cleaning was not part of the art-creation process, tbh. Didn't prefer to literally get my hands dirty. What a kid. I mean, seriously.

The time has changed and thanks to technology advancement, we have a choice to draw pictures without the tools that we have to wash afterward. As you may know by now, I am into graphic design outside my academic focus maybe because it fulfills my satisfactory level - after you're done, you only need to close the application.

And so..... now that Coursera for Students is my friend (ref: Coursera Course Certified!) and of course I want to study graphic design FOR FREE using my student privilege. Luckily I found a course literally named "Graphic Design" offered by California Institute of the Arts. This is a semester-long course with a certificate upon completion so that I can flex maybe this time on LinkedIn. XD I register for the course right away, yes in the middle of my final MBA semester.

Then this happened.

In the first week of the "Fundamentals of Graphic Design" (first part of the whole Graphic Design course. I'm currently in week 3), we learn imagemaking techniques and processes on both connotative and denotative ways. I watched the videos and they were pretty cool because even though it's an art class, I found some science in it. At the end of each week, we have assignments. Ok, what's the first one could be....?

>>> Choose a household object. Choose something that comes in different varieties, something that isn’t too visually complicated, or too simple, and something that is easily recognizable.

Make at least 10 images of your object. Make each image with different techniques, and in a different way.

..................What???

>>> To create your images, here are some materials you can consider:

• Pencil

• Crayon Charcoal

• Photograph

• Watercolor

• Colored pencil

• Marker

• Collage

• Flat

• Illustrator drawing

• Scanned objects

• Clay

• Chalk

• Sculpture

• Found trash

• Scraperboard

• Lino cut

• Monoprint

......

...... (and so forth)

OMG Shokolatte, isn't it THAT part of art that you're not excited about??? Do I really have to draw a picture by hand for the first time in ages? But then again, my life last 5 years - since I decided to start my academic career from undergrad - is all about pushing myself into doing assignments whether I like it or not. Ok, I'm used to that part. Let's get it.

Good thing is we're allowed to use Illustrator (9th from the top). So after all I decided to make 5 of them by hand and 5 by Illustrator because I don't have much choice of art materials. Ok now, what could be my household object??? A wine bottle of course. I'm an adult.

And here are my pieces;

#1 Pencil

Not quite interesting. Next.

#2 Sharpie

Am I really drawing the same object as #1?? Looks different.

#3 Pencil and Highlighter

I need to practice more in drawing. I know.

#4 Illustrator

To be honest, I just wanted to experiment how my drawing would be traced in Illustrator. Meh.

#5 Shredded Business Cards

Thanks to Covid who ended our business card tradition. I printed 300 business cards early this year for networking purposes while job hunting, ended up being a bunch of piece of junks, now reborn as an art material.

#6 My Nieces' Dory Stickers

I bought these cute Dory stickers for my nieces and was gonna send the stickers to them, but then again, Covid impeded the postal service so these stickers successfully became my art material (click on the image to see Dory's in it).

#7 Illustrator - Trace Sillouette

I must have been growing up in 80s. This resembles some famous arts from 80s.... doesn't it?

#8 Illustrator - Traced with 16 Colors

Just randomly copied everywhere.

#9 Illustrator - Traced with 16 Colors

This time I shaped the bottle itself with copied bottle images.

#10 Illustrator - Traced in Black and White

I changed the black into brown. Just because.

After we submit the images, students evaluate each other. We were required to do so for at least two other students. I received 15 points out of 16 from two of my randomly chosen peers. Aye, who missed that 1?? Lol Just kidding, I totally wasn't there with confidence. They made it a good start for me. Thanks, classmates!

What did YOU think of my pieces though? Comment below!! (And I take criticism (at this point as a beginner) too!)

#graphicdesign #mba #mbastudent #gradstudent #gradlife #artschool #artpieces #CalArts #CaliforniaInstituteofArts #Coursera #CourseraforStudents #graphics #ILoveFreeCourses #brokegradstudent

P.S. Btw, here's the original bottle. Yes, I only drink cheap wines that suit my broke grad student status. ;)