What Next?

Sample sketches. Might turn the small 
illustrations into stickers.

Initial (colored) designs for stickers

Tried to apply my rooster character to a ceramic figurine

I've created several designs, though I think that my next step is trying to communicate the context of my work. I think I might need some text to accompany my illustrations. For instance, I designed these particular pages: 

Real headlines on our local newspapers

"Pabrik/Factory" - I wanted to address
issues about our education system.
It is like a prison for being told what to do
and not allowed to question the authority.

"Dilarang Orang LGBT Masuk Komplek" - "Anyone from the LGBT community are not allowed in this housing complex/neighborhood" 

This is a banner that I saw hung over the entrance into a neighborhood close to my house and I thought it was ridiculous. Seeing that some parts of my society are still conservative about these things.

Sometimes, growing up, I feel like a robot. Everyday, going to school, being talked at, learning for hours at school and after just to meet our parent's expectations and dreams. In some families, children were not able to speak their mind. 

Art References

Based my illustrations on photographs I took when I was back home in Indonesia. I wouldn't exactly consider this a reportage work, however, the content of the illustrations are all based on my experience as well as the people around me.

Yogyakarta, Indonesia - Netflix Documentary: Street Food

Jajan Pasar Moderen - Modern sweet street food

I realized my tone of voice is strongly drawn from my culture in terms of everything inspired by nature such as clothes, food etc. (lots of colors, greens, blue and earthy tones). Even our food tends to be very colorful. The modern sweet street food are often colorful because they are usually for celebrations. 

I am constantly surrounded by color and it's vibrance somehow draws me in.  

Change of plans! (ㆆᴗㆆ) *internally screaming*

Makoto Shinkai - Artbook

• I might create a publication -an art book. I would compile my individual designs I made for this self-initiated project into a book to give more context to my work? 

• Confusion - I hit a stump at where this project was going. I needed direction. I had a lot of source and material to work from but I just couldn't see how I can communicate it all effectively. 

• Throughout this project, I had unnecessary thoughts of not doing enough or being ambitious enough. I suppose this project is one of my biggest challenge for the year because I am not used to being 'set free', to do things my way. I was accustomed to responding to briefs and having set on what to do.

Research & Contextualizing: Indonesian Youths Pt. 2

I decided to ask a friend from high school her decision to wear a hijab (at a young age) and how it has impacted her daily life. 

For the second question, she discussed that nothing really changed because it is quite common in Indonesia and she was being congratulated for it. She is currently doing her undergraduate degree in Singapore and faced a lot of benefits from wearing the hijab. She was initially scared of wearing it because her friends and the community would view her differently for being conservative etc. 

Her concern was that the hijab is a common thing in Indonesia, but it might not be for her circle of friends. Though she states that "it's just all in her head".

I had to block out my
friend's display picture and name
for privacy.

She is a friend from high school and throughout
my life knowing her, she never used a hijab.
The sudden realization fascinates me as there are
mixed opinions towards the hijab,
even back in Indonesia.

Indonesia is a diverse country, with over 300 ethnic groups and 6 recognized religions. Islam, being the majority. There are a lot of communities, though not everyone is conservative. There are Indonesians that consider themselves to be quite liberal. 

Within the Muslim community, women are praised to wear a hijab that at times it could be a problem of pressuring the younger generation into wearing one because it will make them a "better Muslim". I, myself, is a Muslim, though often I get comments saying that I am not a 'good' Muslim for not wearing the hijab or not following some of their 'rules', even though I equally believe the same things they do. 

It is a difficult society to be in and to fit in. Things such as the LGBT community, converting religions (or not having a religion at all. it is a MUST to have a religion in our citizen ID) and mental health are often not seen in a positive light. I think I could feel it even more as someone from the younger generation, things change but the majority hasn't. 

Research & Contextualizing: Indonesian Youths

As much as Indonesia is rich culture, flora and fauna, the society is terribly behind times and it is something that is not often discussed in public. The country isn't open to its citizen on discussing 'controversial' issues due to rules and regulations -we are not given enough freedom of speech.

Older generation & younger generation: there is a huge gap between these two generations in terms of culture and traditions. We still have a strong sense of seniority and it is important for us to keep our traditions. Some Indonesians from the older generations are known to be conservative. Whereas the younger generation have adapted a more progressive and liberal mindset due to Westernization and access to information (internet, world news etc).

The youths however nowadays are more willing to 
stand up for what they think is right

Topics such as the LGBTQ+ is a 'taboo' back in Indonesia and it is something that isn't exactly celebrated (Aceh: a city in the Sumatran island, would resort to public flogging if a couple of the same sex would be seen being intimate https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/01/asia/indonesia-teens-publicly-flogged-for-cuddling-intl/index.html). Slandering or portraying the government in a negative light is also a big no. 

Not only do young Indonesians face pressure from society, but also from their own families. It is important for us to maintain our family's honor and success is everything. I have been in education for so long (17 years). On top of school, we are also expected to have extra-curricular classes (such as math tutoring, sports, piano lessons etc) after school. Being educated is highly celebrated. The quality of eduction on the other hand, is not so great. Most private schools get international curriculums, though the government run ones doesn't give students the education they deserve. We are taught by strictly by the textbook and do multiple exams, not giving the youth space to grow and achieve. (schools are like a factory)

Leading back to those conservative views, where Indonesians are known to purely listen to their community, word of mouth and not do enough research -not wanting to know more. Though this attitude can be explained by the collective nature of the society but also societal pressure. This is problem of having a closed mindset is addressed by a talk below:

Up coming presidential election. A lot of young people
are thinking of abstaining from voting

The granddaughter of Indonesia's former 
vice-president 

This is a side that I want to disclose to the public about the difficulties of being a youth in Indonesia. However, this DOES NOT apply to ALL Indonesians.

Clients: I Stress ಥ_ಥ

A not so 'quick project' - I didn't hear back from them for over 2 weeks, though I eventually managed to get through to them. I didn't touch this project for a while until I got a green light from them.

what they like instead

what I made and like

• Communication is key -this had been the highlight of the project. There were several emails going back and forth simply deciding how the character will look like and how many designs they wanted. There is a 7 hour difference between us, so the communication got a little bit stagnant at some point

• Design - they left most of the creative decisions to me, though I had to adapt to their wants and change the way I illustrate things. Though, I honestly I wasn't too bothered by this. There were a lot of directions about the movement and angles of the character, but I preferred being given directions than being left to my own devices.
• Pricing - copyright laws and rates differ in Indonesia, so I had to adjust to local rates there

Challenges (￣^￣)ゞ

Choreography by Anastasia Widya. We had to film before 

hand, cutting and editing the different angles before 

rotoscoping to get the optimum animations

• One of the challenges was meeting the wanted tone of voice, aesthetic and purpose/use. Though overall, the visual aspect of this project met with everyone's criteria and expectations

• Collaborative work: there were no major issues with working together. We had similar workflows, but there is a constant going back and forth of changing some bits here and there. 
• Thoughts on pros and cons of collaborative work is double the brain but sometimes double the pain (communication wise due to being based in different countries)

backgrounds edited by Brenda Muliawan