Paper Sculptures

For extended practice, I am making a paper cut "yearbook" - I wanted to practice my character design skill and also improve on my paper illustration skill that I came to love after completing my YCN Alice. So I thought illustrating my classmates in this way would allow me to do that!

One day whilst I was working on one of my paper cuts, Fred showed me this book (can't remember what its called now) but it is a collection of work by people who use paper to create their artwork but actually in 3D. Fred told me this should be my next endeavour haha! to keep pushing and challenging myself. and I'm pretty interested actually, I would like to try this out but maybe not now since I have soooo much work to do! maybe after graduation..

Today, one of my fave people (Brittney Lee) finally revealed something she's been working on of a while - she's actually created something similar! she already does paper cut illustrations (my inspiration for my own work) but now she has pushed herself and created something at a larger scale and also in 3D! I absolutely adore her new work! look at the detail and in that dress! I think projects like this not only challenges your art/design skill, but also tests your patience - she must have a lot of patience and perseverance to create something as detailed as this! those little squares on her dress would've made me crazy! view her post here.

I am definitely going to try this out in the future!

LCA website story!

oooh I just got emailed about this! full post here. I'm kind of overwhelmed with all the coverage I'm getting for this particular project, but I'm really thankful for them! so very thankful! hopefully it'll reach people far and wide. I'm determined to do better on the next transplant book and also on other projects in the future - I'm really excited for whatever is going to come my way! (hopefully there will be something) I just feel so pumped right now!

LCA Art Market

This was posted months ago but I just came across it! I love hearing comments from satisfied customers - it motivates me! So nice of her to mention my other social medias too! the photography section on my tumblr is very outdated though! that was before university when I thought I was good, but to be quite honest, I'm not really hahaha. My Tumblr is kind of a mess to be honest! I just use it to collect things I like now, like an inspiration type thing.

I am definitely going to participate again if the college is doing another art market at the end of the year. It's very good exposure indeed! Read Hayley's full blog post here. I also feel like creating a blog for personal use now because I actually enjoy blogging on this uni blog hahaha (so sad).. but I'll think about it. when I don't have so much uni work to worry about!

Congrats!

Graduation is coming up in a few days for the MA students of Leeds Uni and I was asked to create these black and white designs by the Leeds Indonesian Student Association. I think they're going to frame these - I wasn't really informed what they were going to do with them after. But this was a good little task to wind down from dissertation writing!

Edit 16/12/15: I've just been tagged! I was also informed yesterday that these were printed and framed and given to the respective graduates.

LinkedIn first update!

In the feedback John gave me on my PPP so far, he suggested that I should use LinkedIn more and 'get a great profile'. I was advised to write 'a post re the ‘Kidney Book’ and how proud you are and this potentially can be seen by more than 2.5 million people already on Linkedin… a great experiment to try and see what happens?? It may be another ‘Holy guacamole..’ moment or moments. Try to make your posts a little longer and explanatory so we can all share in the ‘magic’' 

After reading John's feedback, I've decided that I'm going to be more active on LinkedIn! - hopefully this way I can build on my profile and get more people interested in what I do. At the moment most of my connections are people I already know, but I'm hoping it'll grow soon. I've decided that I'm going to make a post on LinkedIn for every noteworthy/interesting experiences/things happening in my career (like being commended by YCN Student Awards, and the Kidney Book project) from now on. But until then, I'm going to make smaller updates on projects I'm working on (like my first ever update below). After the completion of a project, maybe I will make a bigger post with a bit more explanation so we can all share in the 'magic' haha.

Edit: I've published my first post on LinkedIn! My first experiment! I'm interested to see if anything will happen as John said. ooooh.

Article!

ooooh, I only just seen this now!

check it yo! click here.

Drake Brodahl!

Drake Brodahl, background painter at Walt Disney TV Animation started following me!! Is this real life?! first it was Jamey, now its Drake. Am I in their 'circle' yet? I feel so unbelievably motivated to improve and up the standard of my work tonight! I WILL get that job at Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks/etc. even if it will take me a long time! I am on it! YES! I will continue to network in the meantime.

What's amazing about Drake's work, like Stephanie Buscema who I've talked about before, is that he works primarily in traditional mediums (gouache & cel-vinyl acrylic) but his works look so digital! He has such control of his brush and paint, I'm truly amazed! I don't understand how he can get such vibrant lighting in his work - it's so hard to achieve this with traditional paints, I have tried with my own plein air paintings! I guess I need more practice! This is where understanding of colour and lighting also becomes important. I must improve!

(left: gouache, right: cel-vinyl acrylic, bottom: photoshop)

Hallmark Freelance Directory

Exactly last week I emailed Hallmark about placement opportunities and today I was forwarded this Freelance Directory Profile by them. I feel like I should talk to John or Patrick first before filling anything out though because I'm not quite sure how this works haha.. I thought I would get an interview like how Zatul was offered one. hmm..

Jamey Christoph!

YES YES YES YES YES!

Jamey Christoph is following me on Instagram! He likes my posts/work! I'm so happy!

It's so weird because not long ago I made a post about him and his work on my CoP blog and here he is following me and I feel like my work has just been Jamey approved! I feel accepted haha I must talk to him now!

Some of Jamey's work below (I love love love love his work. very much. I'm trying to improve my background paintings and using his work as motivation and inspiration! I want to be as good as this!):

I'm exhibiting in Dubai again!

Remember when I exhibited in MEFCC last April? Well I've been invited again!!! Project manager (Somaya aka 'Ka May') is like the best sister I never had hahaha! I'm so excited right now because Networking opportunities! getting in contact with professionals/people from the industry! Wanna look for plane tickets now right now!

I've found a new motivation to get work done! so I can sell sell sell hahah!

Griz and Norm's Tuesday Tips!

A while ago I made a post about this book and now I finally have it and I can't wait to get learning! I'm so excited! I can finally cross this off my book wish list! I really want to contact Griz and Norm - They look like really nice people. Griz and I also have something in common, she's from Indonesia and so am I!

A video posted by Aghnia Mardiyah (@amardiyah) on Nov 30, 2015 at 6:38am PST

Ty Carter's Portfolio Tips

Tylur Carter is an Illustrator and Vis Dev Artist for animated films. Currently working at Blue Sky Studios, on the Peanuts movie. I was suggested to look at his Portfolio tips by Nick and now I feel like I've a lot of improving to do! but I also feel so motivated to try and do new stuff! I'm excited! maybe I should also contact him!

1. Put your best foot forward by concentrating the portfolio content around one area - stay focused to begin with, then can start showing more after you've secured a job.

 2. Art in Animation can be broken down into:

• Design: Character Design, set design, prop design, graphic design.
• Colour: Colour keys/script, moment paintings, colour callouts.  

3. Content should represent you!

• Life experience 
• Inspiration 
• Ability 
• Observation 
• Vision 

 4. Quantity is often associated with quality but when it comes to art, quality trumps everything!

 5. Have both digital and physical copy of portfolio

 6. No smaller than 8.5x11 inches. 11x17 inches can be especially complimentary to an artist applying for environment and layout design.

 7. Portfolio reviews are good - show portfolio often and honestly to professionals in the field.

Nick Kennedy

Nick and I follow each other on Tumblr - I follow him for his background paintings and tutorials, I don't know why he's following me really haha.. but we started talking on the new messaging chat thing on Tumblr (he started the chat actually hehehe) and I decided to ask him some stuff! I asked him about portfolios and he gave me a link to Ty Carter's 'Making A Successful Portfolio' post and I am sooooo glad! I now have a guideline and general idea on what areas I need to improve on! more about Ty's post here.

My Family And The Wolf

wow! I came across this animation whilst going through the motion graphics section on Hallmark's creative studio website, and its sooooo nice! colour, lighting, characters, pace, flow, story is absolutely spot on! The animation is by a Spanish studio called Headless Studio and I think I might just send them a little email to say how lovely their work is! and maybe ask for a bit of advice here and there, maybe even get them to do a portfolio review for me over the web!

Hallmark Placements

Zatul was telling me about this today, and I feel like applying! 

Every experience is a good experience so it would be a waste if I didn't try!

The creative placements themselves are unpaid but they will provide me with accommodation (if requested) and if there is a room available. Also any work that is subsequently selected by Hallmark as a result of the creative placement will be paid for. so not all too bad!

I used some of what I said in my previous cover letter for the animation studios I contacted, but changed it slightly so it would fit this better - I wasn't sure which email address to send it to as there are two on the hallmark website; Laura's and the one on the poster, so I sent it to both. I've also changed my signature image so that it would match with my website and cv - gotta keep it consistent with everything to illustrate my understanding of branding! Also added all my links at the bottom like John said I should, so they can find me else where if they're curious and want to see more:

Now the waiting game begins.

CTN Expo

This weekend everyone - well, nearly everyone I follow on Instagram - went to CTN and its not fair! I am going to make it my goal to one day go there! CTN is very much like comic cons except its more animation based and therefore, where all those animator/character designer/visual development people hang out and I want to be a part of that! I want to make friends with people from the industry!

People like Chris Sasaki and Craig Knowles (both I met in person) went and I'm so jealous! But one day, one day I'll be part of all this, maybe even exhibit my work there. you'll see :-)

Zine, Zine, Zine

Awww lookie! I've been tagged in a picture by someone who bought my zine at ThoughtBubble! I have 2 zines left over from TBubz which means I sold 3! yay!

I had a look through Emma's posts and it looked like she worked at an animation studio at one point which is all very exciting, because that means more connections! The studio she is associated with is an animation studio in Manchester called Kilogramme! I've followed her back and I want to ask her whether she did actually work for them at one point, because it did look like it! I think she did some character designs for one of their animations.. Then I will also contact the studio to see whether they do any placements or work experience or if I could simply come to their studio just to see how it all works!

Yes. Very good.

Website!

I made a website and I finished it.. for now! still waiting for a few images and trying to figure out how to change fonts, but other than that I'm pretty happy with it! Check it yo! amardiyahart.com

ooh! I also made a new little 'logo' thing because previous branding seemed a little too complex. I still wanted it to include my name or initials but something simple that could be easily remembered and recognised, so I came up with this - which is a slightly altered version of my old logo I came up with for my Tumblr header.

Bengal

French comic artist and illustrator Bengal was at ThoughtBubble! and I fell in love with his Spider Gwen piece! The composition, lighting, colour, mood, and details were just so spot on - it felt like there was a strong force pulling me towards it, like it wanted me to buy it and I was so tempted to! but it was raining that day and I had no suitable bag to carry it in if I did buy it, so I didn't.

Then when I got home, I instantly felt regret! I couldn't stop thinking about it haha! so I decided to ask Zatul (who had a table there) if she could buy it for me and she did! bless her, she even got it signed for me and I am a very very happy girl. I need to get it framed asap!

The colour is a bit dodgy in the photo, its way nicer in real life!

Fred Aldous

Decided to visit this shop after thought bubble with Becca since its pretty new and I've not been. It's kinda like Colours May Vary but bigger and also less prints and more products! I liked the colourful bunting, made it very friendly looking and welcoming!

Also found some books on paper cutting! I've been doing some paper cut illustrations for extended practice and theres some really interesting tips and tricks in these books that I want to try out! but going to see how much they are online first, incase they might be cheaper - if anyone wants to give me a present, just buy me books! I want books, but books are expensive!

Art supply heaven downstairs!

Though I think some stuff might be cheaper and more complete in Hobbycraft?

Chris Thornley

Chris, also known as Raid71, is a screen print master!

Amazing large scale screen prints at his table today. Really jam packed and detailed too! After speaking to him, we found out that the secret is to print on coloured paper even if most of the coloured area is black! I guess the process is quite similar to how a CMYK would be printed - black last. This way the other colours would turn out more vibrant and the black would pull it all in and neaten everything up if some of the coloured inks didn't align as well. I think he mentioned having his prints printed in the US, and how screen prints are really big over there at the moment. His prints weren't too bad in price as well actually; they were really quite big prints, maybe A2+ and more than 3 colours (I'm sure of it) for £30/40, which I think is a pretty reasonable price! Do you know how much stuff I wanted to buy today but didn't and couldn't because of the rain?! damn it.